Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry plays an important role in addressing present and future global challenges regarding climate protection and limited resources. Today, most building production is based on traditional handcrafted manufacturing techniques that encourage simple mass-intensive design strategies to be economical. Subsequently, the construction industry has an enormous environmental impact (40% of global energy consumption, 38% of global greenhouse gas emissions, 12% of global potable water use, and 40% of solid waste generation in developed countries) and is considered responsible for causing large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions due to the production of cement (5–7% of the global anthropogenic carbon emissions). Due to the steadily growing population, the need for new buildings and infrastructure construction will further increase in the coming decades. This will push future demand for materials and energy, which is associated with even higher CO₂ emissions. In this context, additive manufacturing is of particular importance, as it enables the application of novel design principles and the intelligent and efficient use of materials and resources. Thus, the implementation of additive manufacturing in construction could significantly reduce material usage and help to transform the building industry into sustainable digital construction.

This Special Issue aims to provide a forum for the discussion of additive manufacturing technologies in terms of their potential for sustainability for the construction industry. The aim is to facilitate a cross-material and cross-process discussion that takes into account aspects of materials science, process engineering, structural design, process control, construction site processes, and large-scale applications in practice. Furthermore, innovative ideas and strategies for the digital control of planning, construction, and operation of buildings through artificial intelligence or machine learning for sustainable digital construction are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Dirk Lowke
Prof. Dr. Harald Kloft
Guest Editors

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• additive manufacturing in construction
• sustainable digital construction
• structural design
• 3D printing
• resource efficiency
• artificial intelligence
• machine learning