Blockchain for Construction (eBook)

This book highlights the design, use and structure of blockchain systems and decentralized ledger technologies (B/DLT) for use in the construction industry. Construction remains a fragmented change-resistant industry with chronic problems of underproductivity and a very low digitization factor compared to other fields. In parallel, the convergence, embedding and coordination of digital technologies in the physical world provides a unique opportunity for the construction industry to leap ahead and adopt fourth industrial revolution technologies. Within this context, B/DLT are an excellent fit for the digitization of the construction industry. B/DLT are effective in this as they organize and align digital and physical supply chains, produce stigmergic coordination out of decentralization, enable the governance of complex projects for multiple stakeholders, while enabling the creation of a new class of business models and legal instruments for construction.

Dr Theodoros (Theo) Dounas is an architect and an academic expert in design computation for architecture. His research focuses on decentralised production via blockchain, generative and parametric systems with a tight orchestration between design and fabrication. He is currently directing www.archchain.cc, a project that seeks to establish a decentralised Building Information Modelling toolset and mechanisms for the AEC industry. He is a member of the technical committee of the Consortium for Blockchain in Construction, contributing to the efforts for decentralized Building Information Modelling. He is registered and chartered in the UK and the EU, and currently the learning excellence leader at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland where he directs the MSc in Advanced Architectural Design and orchestrates the school's efforts in digitisation. He has practiced as an architect in Greece and China. Additionally he is a director in the RGU spin-off Roubo, a company specialising in robotic fabrication with timber. He was one of the founding members of the Xian Jiatong-Liverpool University Department of Architecture in Suzhou, China.

 

Dr Davide Lombardi is Associate Professor, Head of Department, Director of the Digital Design Research group and Master program Director at the Architecture Department of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, in Suzhou, China. He is an architect and educator with extensive expertise in computational strategies spanning from computational structural to digital fabrication and blockchain applications in the AEC. His research has been published in books and proceedings as well as disseminated in international conferences. He has been guest lecturer at the Oxford-Brookes Rome Visiting School, UDLAP Mexico, Beijing Institute of Fashion and Technology, Nanjing University and The Royal University of Buthan. As chartered architect he collaborated with various architecture firms on award-winning international large-scale projects and competitions in China, Greece, Russia. He previously served as Teaching Fellow in Digital Design and Architecture at the University of Edinburgh.

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This book highlights the design, use and structure of blockchain systems and decentralized ledger technologies (B/DLT) for use in the construction industry. Construction remains a fragmented change-resistant industry with chronic problems of underproductivity and a very low digitization factor compared to other fields. In parallel, the convergence, embedding and coordination of digital technologies in the physical world provides a unique opportunity for the construction industry to leap ahead and adopt fourth industrial revolution technologies. Within this context, B/DLT are an excellent fit for the digitization of the construction industry. B/DLT are effective in this as they organize and align digital and physical supply chains, produce stigmergic coordination out of decentralization, enable the governance of complex projects for multiple stakeholders, while enabling the creation of a new class of business models and legal instruments for construction.