Building a climate-resilient future
MULTICARE aims to safeguard against extreme climate events, but also ensure that in the face of adversity, buildings and cities can recover and thrive. It is developing tools that would fulfill Europe’s lack of integrated adaptation solutions, resilience control methods, and cost-effective, low-carbon technologies — both for existing buildings and future construction.
Integrated climate resilience
The project (2023-2027) covers the whole technical value chain required for solutions in resilient and sustainable buildings. Large-scale pilots in Italy, Romania, and the Netherlands test digital and physical solutions that address three key dimensions: multiple hazards (earthquakes, floods, and heat stresses), multiple scales (at the material, component, building, and urban levels), and multiple domains (technical, economic, environmental, and social factors in risk assessment, resilience analysis, and technology design).
Amsterdam pilot: physical and virtual solutions
In Amsterdam, the physical demonstrator focuses on the construction of a six-story building with a modular timber structure and concrete raft foundation, promoting a long lifespan and adaptability. The virtual demonstrator evaluates the energy performance, climate resilience, and circularity in city interventions, with a focus on historical buildings. A responsive design tool is developed supports urban design by providing optimal scenarios, considering variations in parameters like building material prices and climate.
Impact
This is a holistic approach towards a future that demands both innovation and resilience. It is creating a blueprint for a sustainable and user-centric built environment. This includes optimizing energy use and storage, maintenance predictors for long-term durable housing, climate risk modeling, early warning and rapid response to climate events, and construction that is earthquake-proof yet energy efficient. Strengthening the built environment's resilience is crucial and can be paired with the EU's aim to decarbonize and reduce environmental impact.