Building the future with FRP composites

This paper focuses on the state-of-the-art research that has been done on fibre-reinforced polymer composites that are used to design a rapidly constructed building with an all-in-one skin. The past few hundred years, buildings have only been made from a small selection of materials. Mankind’s search for new building materials has produced many innovative solutions in all fields of technology. Composites are already being used in civil engineering and aerospace technology as bridge decks and aeroplane parts, but have not yet been fully integrated in the field of architecture. These fields have shown that composite material – or more specifically, fibre-reinforced polymer – offers a great potential for applications in buildings, because of their favourable material properties compared to traditional building materials. Literature and a number of case studies prove that sandwich elements, which consist out of glass-fibre-reinforced polymer with a polyurethane core, can be load carrying and be used to waterproof and thermally insulate a building simultaneously as an all-in-one skin. Furthermore, sandwich elements can also be used to design a rapidly constructed building. Because there is a lot of research still to be done on fibre-reinforced composites and their applications to building sciences, there is even more potential for the future.Architectural EngineeringArchitectureArchitecture and The Built Environmen