The CHARMSbio project develops and validates sustainable construction methods in Thailand using local biomass, and integrates these into education, training and practical application. The aim is to reduce energy consumption, establish cities as carbon sinks, and sustainably improve the quality of life in urban areas across Southeast Asia.
Rapidly growing cities in Southeast Asia face significant challenges amid the interplay of urbanization, climate change and resource scarcity. In hot and humid climates such as Thailand, the growing building stock is leading to a sharp rise in cooling energy demand. The widespread use of construction methods that are not adapted to the climate, as well as CO₂-intensive building materials, exacerbates urban heat islands, increases operational and embodied carbon emissions, and impairs indoor comfort and quality of life. Bio-based building materials offer significant potential for reducing embodied carbon emissions, improving building physics properties and enabling long-term carbon sequestration in urban areas. However, despite locally available biomass, existing knowledge and initial successful applications, their widespread implementation has so far remained limited. Key obstacles lie less in the technological maturity of the solutions and more in the lack of climate-appropriate standards and building regulations, unstable local supply chains, skills gaps along the value chain, and shortcomings in governance, planning and approval processes.
Against this backdrop, it becomes clear that the bio-based transformation of urban spaces is not merely a technological challenge. Integrated approaches are required in order to systematically combine materials development, building physics, training, institutional embedding and transfer into practice. Particularly in the rapidly growing metropolitan regions of Southeast Asia, there has been a lack of robust guidance and practical knowledge to establish bio-based construction methods permanently in teaching, planning and practice.
The CHARMSbio project addresses this challenge by setting up and establishing a centre of excellence for bio-based urban development at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) in Bangkok. The aim is to further develop sustainable bio-based construction methods based on locally available biomass – including Typha (cattail) and rice straw – to validate them in terms of building physics and to embed them within institutional frameworks.
CHARMSbio aims to systematically translate bio-based construction methods from the material and construction level into teaching, training, institutional decision-making processes and practical application. This is intended to promote energy-efficient buildings, reduce operational and embodied carbon emissions, and improve indoor comfort and quality of life in urban areas. The project is aimed at universities, knowledge transfer institutions, local authorities and the construction industry, and contributes to the long-term establishment of the planning principle ‘City as a CO₂ sink’.
CHARMSbio is structured as an implementation and sustainability project comprising three closely interlinked modules:
Local bio-based building materials are systematically catalogued, further developed and tested under real-world climatic conditions. Building on the results of the predecessor project CHARMS, findings in building physics are validated and expanded, including through investigations into thermal insulation, moisture behaviour and indoor air quality. In addition, the requirements, expectations and perspectives of relevant stakeholder groups along the value chain are analysed.
The Competence Centre for Bio-Based Urbanism (CBU) is being established at the KMITL. It serves as an institutional platform for research, teaching and knowledge transfer, bringing together scientific expertise, training and further education programmes, and practical demonstrations. The competence centre acts as a central hub for exchange between academia, local authorities and the construction industry, and forms the basis for the long-term integration of bio-based construction methods.
The insights gained from the project are specifically translated into training and knowledge transfer formats. These include the training of trainers, the development of teaching and online modules, and structured technology transfer in collaboration with local authorities and companies in the construction industry.
A key component of this module is the piloting of a transfer certificate for R&D results at KMITL. This certificate serves as an institutional assessment and guidance tool to systematically evaluate research and development results in terms of their readiness for transfer, applicability and governance compatibility. The aim is to provide transparent decision-making tools for universities, funding bodies and industry partners, and to facilitate the transition from research to application. The transfer certificate thus strengthens sustainable innovation pathways beyond individual demonstration projects and supports the long-term implementation of bio-based construction methods in an urban context.
The intended outcomes of CHARMSbio include:
All results are consistently geared towards applicability, scalability and long-term institutional embedding.
CHARMSbio is being implemented by an interdisciplinary consortium. Scientific coordination is handled by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Leipzig. The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP is contributing its expertise in building physics measurement and assessment methods. Other partners include Bau Bildung Sachsen e.V. (BBSN), Manufacturing Cities – Urban Development & Consulting, and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) as the key local partner in Thailand.
1.10.2025−30.9.2027
CHARMSbio builds on its predecessor project, CHARMS (2021–2025), and translates its R&D findings into a phase of implementation and mainstreaming. Within the Innovation Acceptance Group at Fraunhofer ISI, CHARMSbio is positioned as an application- and transfer-oriented project that integrates technological, institutional and societal aspects of bio-based urban development.
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the Research for Sustainability (FONA) strategy, and managed by the DLR Project Management Agency.
www.biobasedasia.com (This website is still under construction)
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI