Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ECOLOPES (ECOlogical building enveLOPES: a game-changing design approach for regenerative urban ecosystems)
Période du rapport: 2023-10-01 au 2025-03-31
Urbanization constitutes a major environmental issue of the 21st century. Within cities, densification, the decrease of green open spaces, and a continued reliance on grey infrastructure approaches result in increasing separation of people from nature and decreased access to ecosystem services. This decreases the livability of cities and reduces human well-being. Current approaches fall short in providing breakthrough solutions, because they perpetuate the human-nature dichotomy due to anthropocentric design. Making cities sustainable, resilient, and livable is thus one of the greatest challenges for humans.
ECOLOPES started from the premise that to create a healthy environment for humans in cities, architecture needs to be activated for the support for urban biodiversity. This is because buildings and constructions are the essence of cities, and designing these buildings is the domain of architecture. ECOLOPES proposed that a first step in creating such a multi-species habitat is the design of an ecolope, an ecologically designed building envelope that provides a habitat for many organisms. Because such an ecolope does not exist yet, the aim of ECOLOPES was to develop a design strategy that draws on knowledge from ecology, as well as architecture, sustainable building design, and design computation. The aim of this design strategy is to make ecological knowledge available to the architectural design process, enabling practitioners to find architectural solutions that facilitate synergies from a multi-species perspective.
ECOLOPES started from the premise that to create a healthy environment for humans in cities, architecture needs to be activated for the support for urban biodiversity. This is because buildings and constructions are the essence of cities, and designing these buildings is the domain of architecture. ECOLOPES proposed that a first step in creating such a multi-species habitat is the design of an ecolope, an ecologically designed building envelope that provides a habitat for many organisms. Because such an ecolope does not exist yet, the aim of ECOLOPES was to develop a design strategy that draws on knowledge from ecology, as well as architecture, sustainable building design, and design computation. The aim of this design strategy is to make ecological knowledge available to the architectural design process, enabling practitioners to find architectural solutions that facilitate synergies from a multi-species perspective.
The objective of ECOLOPES was to develop a novel design approach that not only focusses on humans, but also includes other organisms such as plants, animals, and even microorganisms in the design strategy. For this, ECOLOPES aimed to make ecological knowledge available for the architectural design process, to find architectural solutions that enable synergies and limit conflicts between humans and the other inhabitants. ECOLOPES aimed to provide guidelines on how to in principle design ecolopes for future cities, and tools, models, algorithms, optimization approaches and databases that will help to achieve the vision of an integrated urban ecosystem. The ECOLOPES project development relies on a systematic approach which results from a strong collaboration between disciplines. This systematic approach is needed to be able to consider the interactions between the abiotic environment, including architecture, and the different biota of the ecolope, and between the different inhabitants themselves. ECOLOPES has tackled the challenge by developing models to simulate the ecolope ecosystem, to provide data on building envelope requirements.
TUM and SAAD developed a soil-microbe-plant-animal model consisting of separate submodels that can be run alone and in combination, as well as a regional model. The plant and the animal submodels can be parametrized to fit species communities worldwide using newly developed algorithm based on the concept of plant and animal functional groups developed by UNIGE.
One of the significant achievements is the development of the ECOLOPES computational framework in WP3 (lead McNeel). Therefore, the ECOLOPES computational framework was key to facilitating an interdisciplinary collaborative project among ecologists, architects, computational designers, and experts in human-nature interaction, providing a solid foundation for a joint understanding and the connection between methods in ecology and computational design in architecture.
The plant model by SAAD has been successfully coupled by McNeel with their software Rhinoceros/Grasshopper in the new Rhino/Grasshopper plugin (© McNeel). This new software seamlessly integrates an external C++ open-source ecological plant model, enabling ecological simulations of 3D building envelopes and 3D models in general. Furthermore, the Knowledge Generation Framework (KGF) was developed in WP3 and a second new software application by McNeel that systematically computes correlations between 3D geometry and ecological performance by linking geometric, environmental, and ecological attributes derived from McNeel’s new Rhino/ Grasshopper plugin.
To enable a systematic approach, Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) measure the consequences of a particular design for and non-human inhabitants. A further result is the completion of an optimization workflow based on existing tools, that allows to specifically assess the trade-offs between optimizing a building for human needs, and optimizing for other organisms. The relationships between architecture and ecology can be stored in a knowledge graph by TU VIENNA. The ECOLOPES approach and individual components have been validated using a number of approaches.
UNIGE and TUM have come up with a comprehensive exploitation strategy. Short-term projects include McNeel’s Rhino/ Grasshopper plugin as a design-making decision tool (TRL7-TRL9), and the Knowledge Graph by TU Vienna. Mid-term projects encompass the ecological model and the ECOLOPES Façade System. Longer-term initiatives involve development of further ecologically based analysis tools.
TUM and SAAD developed a soil-microbe-plant-animal model consisting of separate submodels that can be run alone and in combination, as well as a regional model. The plant and the animal submodels can be parametrized to fit species communities worldwide using newly developed algorithm based on the concept of plant and animal functional groups developed by UNIGE.
One of the significant achievements is the development of the ECOLOPES computational framework in WP3 (lead McNeel). Therefore, the ECOLOPES computational framework was key to facilitating an interdisciplinary collaborative project among ecologists, architects, computational designers, and experts in human-nature interaction, providing a solid foundation for a joint understanding and the connection between methods in ecology and computational design in architecture.
The plant model by SAAD has been successfully coupled by McNeel with their software Rhinoceros/Grasshopper in the new Rhino/Grasshopper plugin (© McNeel). This new software seamlessly integrates an external C++ open-source ecological plant model, enabling ecological simulations of 3D building envelopes and 3D models in general. Furthermore, the Knowledge Generation Framework (KGF) was developed in WP3 and a second new software application by McNeel that systematically computes correlations between 3D geometry and ecological performance by linking geometric, environmental, and ecological attributes derived from McNeel’s new Rhino/ Grasshopper plugin.
To enable a systematic approach, Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) measure the consequences of a particular design for and non-human inhabitants. A further result is the completion of an optimization workflow based on existing tools, that allows to specifically assess the trade-offs between optimizing a building for human needs, and optimizing for other organisms. The relationships between architecture and ecology can be stored in a knowledge graph by TU VIENNA. The ECOLOPES approach and individual components have been validated using a number of approaches.
UNIGE and TUM have come up with a comprehensive exploitation strategy. Short-term projects include McNeel’s Rhino/ Grasshopper plugin as a design-making decision tool (TRL7-TRL9), and the Knowledge Graph by TU Vienna. Mid-term projects encompass the ecological model and the ECOLOPES Façade System. Longer-term initiatives involve development of further ecologically based analysis tools.
Ecolope is a forward-thinking concept that applies ecological principles to urban architecture by designing multifunctional building surfaces, including walls and roofs, that promote biodiversity, multitrophic interactions and ecosystem services. Its goal is to make cities more sustainable and resilient by fostering habitats for various plants, pollinators, and wildlife while also improving energy efficiency and climate adaptation strategies. The advantages of ecolopes encompass enhanced air quality, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, greater biodiversity, and increased aesthetic and recreational benefits for city dwellers. This method aligns with green infrastructure objectives, supporting the development of healthier and more sustainable urban environments.
Conventional green building envelopes lack ecological functionality. Traditional walls and roofs that do not support biodiversity, ecosystem services, or sustainability principles fall outside the scope of ecolopes. Simply implementing green elements without integrating ecological principles—such as isolated rooftop gardens that do not contribute to urban resilience or biodiversity—would also not qualify as ecolopes. ECOLOPES is a new way of conceiving the building enclosure as a living ecosystem considering the complexity of all the living components interactions.
The results of the ECOLOPES project have been regularly disseminated and the feedback received suggest that the approach of ECOLOPES is already inspiring both academics and the building sector. Our outreach activities successfully attracted a large and diverse group of stakeholders. On February 24, 2025, the ECOLOPES conference was held as a hybrid event, hosted at the Architecture and Design Department of the University of Genoa, Italy.
The computational system developed by McNeel and SAAD makes biological knowledge available for the architectural design process, to find architectural solutions that enable synergies and limit conflicts between the inhabitants. The ECOLOPES approach supports urban biodiversity and restore the beneficial human – nature relationships in cities. As such, the ECOLOPES project might have wider societal implications.
Conventional green building envelopes lack ecological functionality. Traditional walls and roofs that do not support biodiversity, ecosystem services, or sustainability principles fall outside the scope of ecolopes. Simply implementing green elements without integrating ecological principles—such as isolated rooftop gardens that do not contribute to urban resilience or biodiversity—would also not qualify as ecolopes. ECOLOPES is a new way of conceiving the building enclosure as a living ecosystem considering the complexity of all the living components interactions.
The results of the ECOLOPES project have been regularly disseminated and the feedback received suggest that the approach of ECOLOPES is already inspiring both academics and the building sector. Our outreach activities successfully attracted a large and diverse group of stakeholders. On February 24, 2025, the ECOLOPES conference was held as a hybrid event, hosted at the Architecture and Design Department of the University of Genoa, Italy.
The computational system developed by McNeel and SAAD makes biological knowledge available for the architectural design process, to find architectural solutions that enable synergies and limit conflicts between the inhabitants. The ECOLOPES approach supports urban biodiversity and restore the beneficial human – nature relationships in cities. As such, the ECOLOPES project might have wider societal implications.