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Wood is one of the main materials used in buildings and furniture worldwide. After a disaster, indeed, a considerable amount of timber waste is produced. Wood waste is generally downcycled—i.e., recycled into low-quality products, incinerated for energy production—or, worse, landfilled, but in a post-disaster situation, it not only represents a quantitative issue and an environmental hazard but also acquires a cultural, social, economic and emotional value, thus requiring more effective ways to be managed. The Katrina Furniture Project, led by Sergio Palleroni in 2006 for the regions hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, provides a valuable precedent. Through pilot initiatives in New Orleans, furniture design emerged as a resilient practice within the reconstruction process. Affected people were involved for six weeks in a collaborative design workshop, enabling the generation of income, the acquisition of professional skills and, moreover, the rebuilding of a sense of community through collective work and the intrinsic gathering value of the crafted objects. The research develops a desk analysis and an on-field survey to reflect on the social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts of this case study and on the role of furniture design for resilient wood waste upcycling. Finally, the paper discusses the “legacy” of such practices from a digital perspective, analyzing limitations and opportunities within current research in design and manufacturing.

The article analyses the potential and limitations of using enabling technologies of the digital transition for construction and demolition waste in construction management (BIM, GIS, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Digital Manufacturing, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Digital Twin, Artificial Intelligence) in the context of the European Union. The study adopts the Scoping Review method to return the outcomes of a scientific literature review since 2016, that is the year of the First European Circular Economy Action Plan and the first Selective Demolition Protocol. The results are classified by geographic origin, year of publication, disciplinary field, number of citations, and content. The overall objective of the contribution is to identify scientifically validated contributions to refine further original lines of research in the relationship between digital technologies and circularity culture in the construction sector. Article info Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 08/05/2023; Accepted: 11/05/2023

This paper develops a decision-making methodology for urban regeneration projects based on the use of data-driven procedures and technologies for the conversion of former industrial areas to residential use. The proposed approach is aimed at the elaboration of an information management protocol for the generation of design scenarios, starting from the assessment of the regulatory and technical compatibility of the possible transformations with the existing constraints. This paper describes the application of the methodology to several buildings in the ex-Corradini complex in Naples to be used for different types of residential functions, in a framework of high uncertainty and complexity, also due to the inaccessibility and abandonment of the site.

The paper investigates the cultural and technical transformations in architectural design produced by digital technologies, considering ‘data’ as a strategic asset for the definition of new connections between the physical environment, virtuality and digitalization in order to improve the decision-making processes underpinning design choices. The article explores the case of the urban regeneration of the Corradini ex-industrial area in Naples, offering an experimental application of rule-based compliance protocols within a high informative uncertainty context. The application of BIM-based procedures in the early design process stage becomes an opportunity to develop a multi-scenario approach, which employs Code and Model Checking systems as ‘heuristic’ tools to support decisions and enhancing risk management in complex projects.

The paper aims to offer insights into the new conditions the designer is called upon to face in the wake of the technical, cultural and cognitive transformations the spread of ICT is triggering in the construction industry. Digitization, in particular, might place architects in a position of intermediation between new forms of intelligence and new professional skills, defining a design ecosystem in which the effectiveness of decision-making increasingly depends on the way information is managed. In such a scenario, the designer is asked to perform tasks of coordination and “meaning control” of complex and automated processes, which require a deep understanding of the digital phenomenon.

This paper aims to investigate the possibilities offered by the design and production paradigms of Industry 4.0 in the Architecture, Engineering & Construction industry, through the coordination between systems for the integrated management of the design process (Building Information Modeling) and rapid prototyping tools (Computer-Aided Manufacturing). Is hereby proposed an interpretation of the meaning that an industrial transformation of the AEC industry takes over for the Architectural design, simulating a methodology in a BIM environment for the design of residential buildings in Cold-Formed Steel with drywall envelopes, exploiting the potential of digital manufacturing and computational design advanced tools.