Construction 5.0 in Early Architectural Design Phases

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2026) | Viewed by 730

Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
Interests: computational design; BIM; design decision support; AI; public participation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso 2390123, Chile
Interests: robotic timber joinery; traditional timber framing; robotic fabrication; affordable housing design; constraint-based design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
Interests: mixed reality; AI; early design stages; design decision support; computational design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Construction and manufacturing are currently undergoing a paradigm shift from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0. While the former focused on full automation and machine-to-machine communication to increase productivity, the latter centers on collaborative automation and communication between humans and machines. The new approach prioritizes human needs within production processes, employing technology to empower workers rather than replace them. Industry 5.0 transcends efficiency and productivity, reaffirming the social role of industry and its contribution to collective well-being.

In this new scenario, the integration of traditional crafts, artisanal techniques, cultural characteristics, and local practices—enabled by information technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics—will once again transform the design-to-production process, paving the way toward a Construction 5.0 that is sustainable, human-centered, and resilient.

This Special Issue offers scientists working with digital methods in the field of Construction 5.0, particularly those involved in early-stage design processes at the building level, the opportunity to publish their work and discuss potential areas of application with a broad scientific community.

Prof. Dr. Frank Petzold
Prof. Luis Felipe González Böhme
Dr. Gerhard Schubert
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • AI
  • blockchain
  • 3D printing
  • AR, VR, MR
  • Cobot/Human–Robot
  • collaboration
  • IOT
  • digital twin(s)
  • BIM

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

32 pages, 1819 KB  
Article
NERF2BIM: AI-Driven Detailing-on-Demand Through Sustainable Point Cloud Surveys and Semantic 3D Understanding for Advanced Modeling of Existing Buildings
by Ivan Bratoev, Omar Faig Orujlu, Ziyang Xu, Ziya Erkoc, Matthias Nießner, Christoph Holst and Frank Petzold
Buildings 2026, 16(14), 2791; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16142791 - 14 Jul 2026
Viewed by 282
Abstract
The refurbishment and energy-efficient renovation of existing buildings, specifically those before 1945, with complex architectural building elements, require a level of building information that is often unavailable, incomplete or imprecise. As they represent a large percentage of current building stock (up to 25% [...] Read more.
The refurbishment and energy-efficient renovation of existing buildings, specifically those before 1945, with complex architectural building elements, require a level of building information that is often unavailable, incomplete or imprecise. As they represent a large percentage of current building stock (up to 25% of all buildings), it is crucial to address such an issue, as such buildings are ideal targets for renovation and energy retrofitting projects. This paper presents a conceptual pipeline, developed through the NERF2BIM research project, focusing on an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-supported holistic pipeline for the creation of as-is Building Information Modeling (BIM) models of existing buildings, expanding upon existing methodologies with the embedding of knowledge-driven semi-automatic detailing-on-demand task. The proposed pipeline integrates uncertainty-aware spatial capture, semantic interpretation and reconstruction, and knowledge-based reasoning within a BIM-oriented workflow. The paper provides an overview of current advancements in the respective aspects of the pipeline, highlighting current gaps. The proposed conceptual pipeline aims at addressing these issues through novel applications of AI and knowledge-driven solutions. Key contributions include: (1) a conceptual approach in addressing the imprecision of more sustainable data gathering approaches; (2) a context-aware BIM reconstruction process, providing multiple data output types; and (3) a formalization of architectural and construction knowledge and its utilization in a detailing-on-demand approach of the reconstructed BIM models. Through the integration of uncertainty-aware data gathering, context-aware reconstructions and domain expertise into existing reconstruction pipelines, the proposed pipeline bridges the data gap for existing buildings, enabling more efficient and knowledge-driven renovation processes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Construction 5.0 in Early Architectural Design Phases)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop