upcycling concrete rubble

Despite the enormous emissions and raw materials needed to produce concrete, healthy structures made of concrete are demolished daily under the jaws of hydraulic excavators and energy-intensive crushers. We propose to upcycle large irregular concrete rubble pieces from demolition sites into walls with the help of digital tools and through minimal material processing.

Wall 2.2m x 2.7m built using large irregular concrete rubble pieces with the help of a digitally-hacked crane and a drill mounted on a robotic arm – credits : Maxence Grangeot – SXL & CRLC – EPFL

Our real-scale demonstrators are walls of approx. 2.5m tall, 2.7m long, 30cm thick, built out of large “off the pile” concrete rubble pieces. Digital tools are used to harness the geometrical complexity inherent to found irregular concrete rubble pieces and to precisely assemble them into a slender yet stable wall. Due to its commodity and environmental potential, using unaltered concrete rubble as a new construction material hints at new possibilities for circular construction.

Latest demonstrator

Completion date: 02.11.2023

more information on the construction process
more information on the construction process

Publications:

Large Concrete Rubble as a New Structural Construction Material: Opportunities and Digital Processes for Load-Bearing Walls

M. Grangeot; M. Bastien-Masse; C. Fivet; S. Parascho 

Buildings

2025

Vol. 15 , num. 9.

DOI : 10.3390/buildings15091437

Detailed record

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New tectonics of concrete through rubble reuse

M. Grangeot; T. Auffret-Postel; S. Parascho; C. Fivet 

2025. International Conference on Structures and Architecture, Antwerp, Belgium, 2025-07-08 – 2025-07-11. p. 1185 – 1192. DOI : 10.1201/9781003658641-141.

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Concrete rubble as a new construction material: Panorama of applications to known structural typologies

M. Grangeot; S. Parascho; C. Fivet 

2024. IASS Symposium 2024 – Redefining the Art of Structural Design, Zürich, Switzerland, 2024-08-26 – 2024-08-30.

Detailed record

Upcycling concrete rubble into masonry walls: Design and assessment of two prototypes built with digitally augmented tools

M. Grangeot; M. Bastien Masse; S. Parascho; C. Fivet 

2024. 4th fib International Conference on Concrete Sustainability, Guimarães, Portugal, 2024-09-11 – 2024-09-13. p. 324 – 331. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-031-80724-4_40.

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Structural Concrete Rubble Arrangements – A Framework for Upcycling Demolition Waste into Slender Masonry Walls for Buildings

M. Grangeot; Q. Wang; K. Beyer; C. Fivet; S. Parascho 

2024. Design Modelling Symposium 2024 Kassel – Scalable Disruptors, Kassel, Germany, 2024-09-16 – 2024-09-19. p. 15 – 27. DOI : 10.1007/978-3-031-68275-9_2.

Detailed record

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An Investigation into Machine Learning Matchmaking for Reused Rubble Concrete Masonry Units (RR-CMU)

D. J. M. Marshall; M. Grangeot 

2024. IASS Symposium 2024 – Redefining the Art of Structural Design, Zürich, Switzerland, 2024-08-26 – 2024-08-30.

Detailed record

Rising from rubble – Leveraging existing construction tools for upcycling concrete waste into slender walls

M. Grangeot; Q. Wang; K. Beyer; C. Fivet; S. Parascho 

2024. ROB|ARCH Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art, and Design, Toronto, Canada, May 21-25, 2024.

Detailed record

From soon-to-be demolished mushroom column slabs to reused reinforced concrete saw-cut assemblies: the case of the rebuiLT pavilion

C. Küpfer; M. Bastien-Masse; M. Grangeot; C. Meier; L. Graulich et al. 

2024. World Sustainable Built Environment Conference, Virtual, Online, 2024-06-12 – 2024-06-14. DOI : 10.1088/1755-1315/1363/1/012052.

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From concrete waste to walls: An investigation of reclamation and digital technologies for new load-bearing structures

M. Grangeot; C. Fivet; S. Parascho 

2023. cisbat 2023 The Built Environment in Transition, Lausanne, Switzerland, September 13-15, 2023. DOI : 10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192019.

Detailed record

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Earlier demonstrator

Completion date: 08.09.2023

Sourcing

Design process

Construction process

Tools

Research by Maxence Grangeot

 

With the supervision of:

Prof. Corentin Fivet (SXL)

Prof. Stefana Parascho (CRCL)

 

With the support of :

SXL: Dr. Maléna Bastien-Masse, Dr. Célia Küpfer

EESD: Qianqing Wang, Prof. Katrin Beyer

GIS: Gilles Guignet, Luca Mari, Frédérique Dubugnon, Gregory Spirlet, François Perrin

Atelier PopUp: Claude-Alain Jacot, Stéphane Pilloud

Imaging Center: Edward Andò

Tinguely: Benjamin Mamzer, Sylvain Montant, Daniel Savic, Gomez Juvino, Luis, Philippe Guédat

Sika: Cédric Chetelat

Lullin Engineering: Simon Lullin

Prelco: Jérémy Bras, Pierre-Alain L’Hote

NFIC: Sarra Ben Haouala, Adrien Salvo

Friderici:  Vincent Mollard

Re-FER: Julien Michels

Antiglio: Benoit Friedli, Roland Hohl

SRREC: Yann Verboux, Antonio, Alain

Gallo transport: Céline Gallo

XXL Group: Valentin Corpataux

LMC: Béatrice Malchiodi

 

keywords: circular economy, reuse, concrete, rubble, debris, demolition, waste, recycling, upcycling, cement, local, material, digital, tools, construction, industry, academia, scientific, research, stone, researchers, sustainable, sustainability, drill, industrial, low-tech, panel, housing, prefabrication, Kharkiv, challenge, competition, architecture, Foster, engineering, structural, prima cb, stone, art, installation, student, quarry, revalorisation, Vaud, Lausanne

mots clés : économie circulaire, réutilisation, réemploi, remploi, béton, gravats, débris, démolition, déchets, recyclage, upcycling, ciment, local, matériau, numérique, outils, construction, industrie, académie, recherche, scientifique, maçonnerie, pierre, sèche, innovation, avancée, chercheurs, publication, durable, durabilité, robot, perceuse, vertueux, solution,  structure