Architectural RDM Pipeline – enabling FAIR and efficient architectural research data management

• Applicants: Professor Achim Menges; Professor Dr. Thomas Stäcker
• Subject Area: Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 557989970

In contemporary architectural research, access to structured data is becoming more and more crucial for progress and innovation. However, researchers face significant challenges due to a lack of available, structured, and usable data, making it difficult to efficiently capture and utilise data, but also to make research findings accessible according to FAIR principles. Unresolved copyright issues, lack of standards, and heterogeneous data sources, coupled with low data literacy, lead to error-prone and inefficient workflows. Additionally, complex and often proprietary visual data, such as drawings with their underlying CAD data, further complicate the publication. This results in fragmented and unstructured data that is rarely published, both due to the high manual workload required and the inadequate representation of visual data in research data repositories. Building on the NFDI4ING Seed Fund project "RDM-Workflows for Construction Engineering and Architecture," this project aims to develop an "Architectural Research Data Management Pipeline", an easy-to-use web application, integrating existing NFDI services to transform research data into linked knowledge graphs. The pipeline will ultimately lead to enriched datasets available for publication as FAIR Digital Objects. The project pursues two main objectives: First, the pipeline, along with corresponding workflows and templates, will support researchers in efficiently managing data, files, and sources to improve the quality of available data in architectural research. Second, the development process, in close cooperation with researchers and NFDI services, will ensure that the solution is practical and meets the requirements of the research community. To achieve these objectives, the project is divided into three key work packages: First, the development of the pipeline based on an existing prototype from the Seed Fund project. Second, the preparation and documentation of a showcase demonstrator based on representative data on multi-story timber building projects. Third, interaction with the research and infrastructure community through presentations and discussions at workshops and conferences about the current state of the project. The "Architectural Research Data Management Pipeline" will provide a scalable service that can be adapted to other research fields. Through close collaboration between research and infrastructure, a modular workflow will be offered that efficiently supports data-driven research methods, ensures the publication of FAIR research data, and appropriately presents visual data. Ultimately, the project aims to improve knowledge in research data management within architectural research, thereby enhancing transparency, reproducibility, quality of architectural datasets, and collaboration within the research community.

• DFG Programme: Research data and software (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)