International students explore DBLs at VU Amsterdam workshop

Earlier this month, Sultan Çetin from TU Delft led an engaging workshop on digitalisation in the built environment at the Circular Economy Summer School hosted by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The session welcomed around 15 international students from diverse backgrounds, ranging from the United States to Kenya.

The workshop focused on the role of digital tools in advancing circularity in the building sector. Çetin introduced participants to the concept of the Digital Building Logbook (DBL) and presented the Demo-BLog project and its partners. Students learned about the environmental impact of the building industry and examined national strategies for sustainable construction in countries of their choosing, including France and Iceland.

The workshop was very “hands-on”, with students using printed wireframes to design DBL interfaces tailored to the specific national contexts they chose to focus on. Working in small groups, they followed a step-by-step framework to outline necessary data and key functionalities for their tools, culminating in brief final pitches of their proposed solutions.

The workshop aimed to raise awareness about how digitalisation can drive more sustainable and circular building practices, empowering students with practical knowledge and collaborative design experience.