CLT_Plumbing_Design - Computer-aided planning process for the automated design of bathrooms for timber construction

Timber is an ecological construction material with high potential for the future. Its excellent machinability makes timber a predestined material for off-site construction with high degrees of prefabrication utilizing new possibilities of digitalization (‘construction 4.0’). A sustainable development of the timber construction industry does not only require sufficient production capabilities in order to secure the availability of the material but also know-how and experience of the stakeholders involved in the design, planning and construction of timber buildings. While considerable progress has been made in certain aspects of design and construction (e. g. structural design or fire protection), only little attention has been paid to issues related to building services engineering so far. However, the correct integration of water bearing pipes is of utmost importance in this context as undetected water leakages can cause significant damage to timber structures which is difficult and expensive to repair. Cases that have occurred in practice underline this problem. An increase in such moisture damage would shatter confidence in timber construction and damage the entire timber construction industry. The adequate integration of water bearing pipes in timber buildings is currently a challenge as suitable design principles and easy-to-use solutions are missing. Hence, there is a strong need for such solutions capable of meeting the requirements of timber construction in terms of protecting the wooden building structures from water leakage. In addition, planning tools are needed to support the design and application of such solutions in a project. Both topics are addressed in this research project. The first goal is the development of design solutions for installations enabling a proper integration of water bearing pipes in bathrooms of timber buildings. Typical bathroom layouts are considered and analyzed for this purpose. The second goal is the development of digital planning tools that enable an easy-to-use application of the developed design solutions in the planning process. Methods such as building information modeling (BIM), parametric modeling and automated design are used in this context. The final goal is the appropriate dissemination of the project results among relevant stakeholders. This includes workshops and publications as well as an open web-based tool (configurator) which is developed in the project.