concrete rubble reuse for load-bearing walls

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 simple digital algorithms and pre-existing construction tools.

Wall 2.2m x 2.7m built using large irregular concrete rubble pieces credits : Maxence Grangeot – SXL & CRLC – EPFL

Demonstrators

Completion date: 02.11.2023

Design and construction process

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

Scientific papers:

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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