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The purpose of this paper is to explain a current implementation of a programmable and computational material, Logic Matter, and to describe potential applications for computational materials and self‐guided assembly.

Following an introduction, the paper describes the types of information currently found in architectural construction, then introduces Logic Matter, a building block embodying physical digital logic. Examples of structural optimization and construction scenarios are given, to demonstrate the benefits of programmable and computational physical materials for assembly.

Logic Matter demonstrates a prototype with embedded digital logic and programmability, offering new applications for automated assembly, online material analysis and physical computing.

The paper describes the existing types of architectural construction information and proposes a novel application of programmable and computational material for automated assembly.

The construction of residential projects constitutes a major portion of the building activities in the State of Kuwait. This paper presents the findings of a research project, which aims to determine the causes of delays and cost‐overruns in the construction of housing projects in Kuwait. The owners of 450 residential projects (just completed or near completion), spread over 27 systematic‐randomly selected metropolitan districts, were personally interviewed. Data on owners' socio‐demographic traits and project characteristics, including those involving time and cost overruns, were obtained. The paper highlights the impacts of construction materials on time‐delays and cost‐increases. Project‐related variables affecting the on‐time delivery of materials to the construction site are examined and quantified. The material selection‐time, type of materials, their availability in the local market and the presence of a supervising engineer, all demonstrated a statistically significant impact on the on‐time delivery of materials to construction sites.

The increasing urgency to address climate change in construction has made green construction (GC) and sustainability critical topics for academia and industry professionals. However, the volume of literature in this field has made it impractical to rely solely on traditional systematic evidence mapping methodologies.

This study employs machine learning (ML) techniques to analyze the extensive evidence-base on GC. Using both supervised and unsupervised ML, 5,462 relevant papers were filtered from 10,739 studies published from 2010 to 2022, retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Key themes in GC encompass green building materials, construction techniques, assessment methodologies and management practices. GC assessment and techniques were prominent, while management requires more research. The results from prevalence of topics and heatmaps revealed important patterns and interconnections, emphasizing the prominent role of materials as major contributors to the construction sector. Consistency of the results with VOSviewer analysis further validated the findings, demonstrating the robustness of the review approach.

Unlike other reviews focusing only on specific aspects of GC, use of ML techniques to review a large pool of literature provided a holistic understanding of the research landscape. It sets a precedent by demonstrating the effectiveness of ML techniques in addressing the challenge of analyzing a large body of literature. By showcasing the connections between various facets of GC and identifying research gaps, this research aids in guiding future initiatives in the field.

In the construction industry, it is well known that there is a relatively large volume of material being wasted due to a variety of reasons. The problem of material waste on construction sites is not an isolated issue and is of environmental concern. Therefore, waste minimization has become an important issue in the construction industry. The aim of this research was mainly to identify the pre‐cast contribution to the construction waste minimization in the Sri Lankan construction industry, through a comparison of material waste arising from pre‐cast, ready‐mixed and site‐mixed concrete.

Data were collected from 27 building construction projects and three concrete elements: slabs, beams, and columns, were considered to quantify construction waste. To compare the wastage due to pre‐cast involvement with other types, three categories of building projects were used, including projects using pre‐cast concrete elements, in situ concrete elements – site mix, and in‐ situ concrete elements – ready mix.

The study found that mean wastages of cement, sand and metal in PC elements amounted to 5.34 per cent, 13.86 per cent and 7.62 per cent respectively showing lower values compared with the material wastages in the other two technologies (in situ concrete elements – site mix, and in situ concrete elements – ready mix). Further, statistical t‐test and ANOVA were carried out to ascertain whether these results were significant. Results revealed that there is a significant waste reduction when pre‐cast concrete is used.

The paper provides useful information on pre‐cast contribution to the construction waste minimization in the Sri Lankan construction industry.

The United Nations has demonstrated a commitment to preserving the ecosystem through its 2030 sustainable development goals agenda. One crucial objective of these goals is to promote a healthy ecosystem and discourage practices that harm it. Building materials production significantly contributes to the emissions of greenhouse gases. This poses a threat to the ecosystem and prompts a growing demand for sustainable building materials (SBMs). The purpose of this study is to investigate SBMs to determine their utilization in construction operations and the potential impact their application could have on construction productivity.

A systematic review of the existing literature in the field of SBMs was conducted for the study. The search strings used were “sustainable” AND (“building” OR “construction”) AND “materials” AND “productivity”. A total of 146 articles were obtained from the Scopus database and reviewed.

Bio-based, cementitious and phase change materials were the main categories of SBMs. Materials in these categories have the potential to substantially contribute to sustainability in the construction sector. However, challenges such as availability, cost, expertise, awareness, social acceptance and resistance to innovation must be addressed to promote the increased utilization of SBMs and enhance construction productivity.

Many studies have explored SBMs, but there is a dearth of studies that address productivity in the context of SBMs, which leaves a gap in understanding. This study addresses this gap by drawing on existing studies to determine the potential implications that using SBMs could have on construction productivity.

The study aims to explore factors affecting stilt construction and the possibilities of using innovative materials and construction methods to re-establish the traditional stilt structures.

The study employs a qualitative research method using an in-depth interview with selected architects to document experience and insights of the architects on the challenges and possibilities of using innovative materials and construction methods to re-establish the traditional stilt structures. Purposive sampling was used to determine the respondents for the study. Architects with experience designing stilt houses in architects' architectural practice were selected to take in the study.

Study revealed that generally architects are keen on using stilt structures. Building materials and costs associated with designing and constructing stilt structures were identified as the key challenges. However, architects suggest using recycled building materials as possible solutions to encourage the construction of stilt structures in Malaysia. The architects also preferred to use hybridized recycled materials for stilt structures as hybridized materials have improved structural properties and functions. Additionally, the study identified “psychological hesitation” or “accessibility” as a factor affecting the construction of stilt buildings.

Throughout this study, some limitations have been dealt with. The first is the limitation of sample size. Contemporary stilt architecture is not very common in Malaysia today, and not many architects have experience in designing stilt houses. Although the method of purposive sampling was used, a larger sample size could have generated a more diverse result. The second limitation is the dearth of research on contemporary stilt houses in Malaysia. As stilt construction is uncommon in Malaysia and the existing material focuses primarily on traditional Malay houses, this has been one of the major challenges. Finally, most of the literature on stilt construction is from Southeast Asia, limited or insufficient studies and literature on local stilt construction would have a greater benefit to the study.

The outcomes from this study would benefit the scholars who have an interest in exploring stilts construction in contemporary architecture as well as innovative construction materials and construction methods. As the study brings forth the challenges and possibilities of restoring the traditional stilt constructions, the study can be used as a reference by designers to garner a deeper understanding of the traditional stilt construction and encourage designers to focus on possible innovations for stilt construction from the aspects of materials and methods in ensuring the traditional element is present in future design and construction.

The study is a response to an obvious dearth body of knowledge in stilt construction in the Malaysian context. The study identifies the key challenges and possible and practical solutions. The findings of this study represent a scholastic effort that can be used as a reference by academics and scholars.

Although the adverse effects of construction activities on the environment and the need for sustainable construction practices are recognised in both research and practice, any significant shift in the selection and use of construction materials from the sustainability perspective has not taken place in many building projects. Still, conventional construction materials are widely used in building projects in both developed and developing countries. This study attempts to identify the main barriers to the use of sustainable materials in building projects in an advanced economy such as Australia.

This study adopted a questionnaire survey approach to examine the main reasons behind the low usage of sustainable materials in building projects. Based on the relative importance index, exploratory factor analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis, the study examined the main barrier measures and barrier factors to the use of sustainable materials in building projects.

The findings reveal that critical barriers to the use of sustainable materials are related to cost and profit considerations, the unwillingness of the key stakeholders to incorporate these materials into building projects, lack of incentives and government policies. The factor analysis reduced the critical barrier measures into three factors: techno-economic considerations, cost and delay concerns and resistance to use. Furthermore, multinomial regression analysis based on the extracted factors identified techno-economic considerations as the main barrier factor to the use of sustainable materials in building projects.

The empirical results of this research can inform construction practitioners, organisations and policymakers on how to increase the use of sustainable building materials in the construction industry.

Identification of barriers to the use of sustainable building materials is a prerequisite to improve their uptake and use in the construction industry. The study fills a gap in the existing research on the use of sustainable materials in building projects in Australia.

In recent years, 3D printing technologies have been widely used in the construction industry. 3D printing in construction is very attractive because of its capability of process automation and the possibility of saving labor, waste materials, construction time and hazardous procedures for humans. Significant researches were conducted to identify the performance of the materials, while some researches focused on the development of novel techniques and methods, such as building information modeling. This paper aims to provide a detailed overview of the state-of-the-art of currently used 3D printing technologies in the construction areas and global acceptance in its applications.

The working principle of additive manufacturing in construction engineering (CE) is presented in terms of structural design, materials used and theoretical background of the leading technologies that are used to construct buildings and structures as well as their distinctive features.

The trends of 3D printing processes in CE are very promising, as well as the development of novel materials, will gain further momentum. The findings also indicate that the digital twin (DT) in construction technology would bring the industry a step forward toward achieving the goal of Industry 5.0.

This review highlights the prospects of digital manufacturing and the DT in construction engineering. It also indicates the future research direction of 3D printing in various constriction sectors.

Construction is possibly one of the most cost orientated industries in any economy. The primary mode of supplier selection has always tended to be on the basis of lowest material or service cost at point of consumption. Indeed, this remains the case even in the post‐Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) world in which we live. In general, construction cost estimates are based on a straight ‘take off’ of the quantities required. All further ‘other’ costs in the form of overhead, profit, labour and wastage are consolidated into the cost of the materials. Construction is unique within the various industries making up a modern economy in that the bulk of the materials and components that it uses are of relatively low value while being of high volume. Consequently, a significant proportion of the ‘other’ costs associated with materials purchases must be in the form of transportation from the point of extraction and / or production to the point of consumption. This paper provides an overview of the hidden costs associated with the transportation of construction materials within the industry and proposes improved methods of managing the logistics of the construction process e.g. reverse logistics, in order to reduce costs and increase the basic sustainability of the construction process.

Urbanization and globalization in India have led to the depletion of resources and degradation of the environment to meet the demands. Because of these issues, researchers and practitioners have begun to study various strategies to reduce the level consumption of resources to utilize it for present and future needs. In pursuit of finding solutions to the problems, sustainable building construction is found as the best key to avoid depletion of resources. Sustainable material selection is found as a vital strategy in construction. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

A three-phase methodology is proposed for framing the assessment model for construction industries to select materials for construction. In the first phase, a total of 23 sub-criteria of triple bottom line (TBL) and four brick materials as alternatives were identified. The second phase finds the weights and ranks of criteria and sub-criteria using the best worst methodology (BWM) the third phase involves ranking of materials concerning sub-criteria weights determined in phase II using Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS).

The objective of study is fixed to identify the criteria list for the selection of material in construction industries from the literature review especially for Indian construction industries; to rank the criteria for selection of materials with the help of the BWM approach; and to prioritize the identified materials in the view of sustainability with the help of Fuzzy TOPSIS in construction industries perspective. This study analyzed and choosing right sustainable materials by the three pillars of sustainability which are the environment, economic and social, also called TBL, for Indian construction companies by framing a sustainable material assessment model.

The results of this study facilitate to frame an assessment model for evaluating and selecting sustainable building materials.