Prof. Dr. Niels Bartels

Dr.-Ing.
Prof. Dr. Niels Bartels

Campus Deutz
Betzdorfer Straße 2
50679 Köln
Mailing address


  • Phone: +49 221-8275-4118

Office hours

Winter term 2025/2026

Campus Deutz, Betzdorfer Str. 2, Altbau, Room 218f
By prior appointment

Teaching disciplines

  • Digital Design and Construction
  • Lifecycle Engineering

Research fields

  • Smart Building and Digital Twins
  • Data exchange across the life cycle
  • Reality Capturing of buildings Photogrammetrie, 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS), Laserscanning
  • BIM and Sustainable Construction
  • Metaverse for Architecture, Engineering, Constuction and Operation Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR)
  • DARTS – Data-Based Routing of Routes for Underground Energy Transfer Infrastructures
    “DARTS – Data-Based Routing of Routes for Underground Energy Transfer Infrastructures” is a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of “GeoResearch for Sustainability (GEO:N).” Companies and research institutions are developing an AI-based solution for the automated route planning of underground energy transfer infrastructures. Project partner: STUVA, Socotec, DMT Funding by: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Geoforschung für Nachhaltigkeit (GEO:N) Project duration: 01.04.2024 bis 31.03.2027.
    DARTS
  • Optimization of engineering processes for municipal building automation based on standardized system types and information models (OptGA4.0)
    Currently, engineering processes in building technology with regard to planning, construction, commissioning and operation are characterized by high manual effort, low performance and many disruptions with a high loss of information between the process phases. This leads to considerable quality deficits in the construction and operation of technical building equipment . During operation, there are deficits in the implementation of automation functions and in facility management (FM), which leads to suboptimal operating processes and unnecessary energy consumption. The fundamental aim of the research project is to develop an information model that describes the information management of technical building equipment (TBE) in building services applications in a standardized, lifecycle-consistent and machine-readable manner. On this basis, TBE types are semantically defined, taking existing descriptions into account. The focus of this information technology standardization is on the use cases of process management, quality assurance of automation functions and FM. The TBE systems, which are usually described semantically inconsistently in practice, are mapped to the developed information standard by AI applications, so that a homogeneous language space (syntax and semantics) is created as the basis for the implementation of rule-based automatisms. This forms the basis for the development of SelfX-FM applications, e.g. asset and energy monitoring, which avoid manual effort for information engineering during initial setup and over the life cycle. SelfX is understood here as the ability of systems to explore their environment independently and to realize automated, i.e. engineering-free, interactions with other systems. Project partners: Gebäudewirtschaft der Stadt Köln, Schulbau Hamburg, Kieback&Peter, VDI, buildingSmart, VDMA - Fachverband Automation+Management für Haus+Gebäude, AMEV, eTASK, Faculty for Architecture and Civil Engineering University of Wuppertal Funding by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research - FH-Kooperativ Duration: 01.01.2024 to 31.12.2027.
  • Scientific support for 3D concrete Printing (3DCP) in Lünen and Capelle
    Scientific support for the 3D concrete printing of a residential building in Lünen and a clubhouse in Capelle (municipality of Nordkirchen) Duration: 2025-2026
  • Integration of metaverse into the teaching of civil engineering
    The teaching research project investigates the influence of the metaverse on teaching in the field of civil engineering. To this end, elements of the metaverse were integrated and evaluated as teaching support in various modules. The results show that the metaverse can contribute to an optimization of learning outcomes. Funded via TransferING, duration: 2023-2024
  • Challenges and Potentials of 3D Concrete Printing: Technical and Economic Perspectives from a Practice-Based Case Study
    ICCCBE 2026
    26.03.2026
  • Data Modeling in the Context of Industry 4.0 and Semantic Web
    ICCCBE 2026
    24.03.2026
  • The Future of Civil Engineering with AI
    Keynote 1. Symposium Künstliche Intelligenz im Ingenieurbau – Innovationen für die Praxis
    03.11.2025
  • AI and Metaverse – A New Era in Engineering?
    2025 German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Oak Ridge, TN
    28.03.2025
  • Energy-efficient refurbishment - comprehensively explained
    17. European Congress for Timber Construction, Cologne
    16.10.2024
  • Automating As-built Modelling by Using Delivery Documents
    2024 European Conference on Computing in Construction, Chania, Crete, Greece
    16.07.2024
  • Metaverse and XR in teaching
    XR Expo, Stuttgart
    04.04.2024
  • Use of robotics to coordinate health and safety on the construction site
    International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) 2024, Lille France
    05.06.2024
  • Smart Buildings in the buildings' lifecycle
    Summit4builders, Munich
    22.11.2022
  • Status Quo BIM & Sustainability
    BIM Next Forum 2023, Cologne
    23.11.2023
  • Integration of dynamic facility management data in a digital building model by using the building information modeling method
    International Conference on Real Estate Development and Management (ICREDM) 2023, Ankara
    02.02.2023
  • BIM and Lifecycle Analysis - Status Quo and future challenges
    VDI-Conference BIM and HVAC, Düsseldorf
    24.05.2023
  • Life cycle-oriented decision making based on data-driven building models
    40th International Symposium for Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC), Chennai
    04.07.2023-07.07.2023
  • Integrated life-cycle orientated teaching of the Big-open-BIM method
    2023 European Conference on Computing in Construction / 40th International CIB 078Conference, Crete
    10.06.2023-12.06.2023
  • Project-based learning in Civil Engineering
    TURN Conference 2023, Cologne
    13.09.-15.09.2023
  • Digital technologies as the key to circular value creation
    Ringvorlesung FH Münster
    11.10.2023
  • Bim in practice
    16. Europäischer Kongress (EBH) - Effizientes Bauen mit Holz im urbanen Raum
    17.10.2023
  • A Technology-Based Facility Management (FM) Approach: Addressing the Challenges of Future FM
    28th EuroFM Facility Management Conference & 22nd EuroFM Research Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey
    09.11.2023
  • In the context of digital transformation: an analysis of future requirements for the FM labour market
    28th EuroFM Facility Management Conference & 22nd EuroFM Research Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey
    09.11.2023
  • Implementation of the metaverse in Teaching Digital Construction
    Night of the Scholars 2023, Aachen
    13.11.2023
  • BIM NEXT FORUM 2023
    22.11.2023
  • Carbon-Neutral Construction: Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    EUTech online webinar
    01.10.2024
  • Professoral member of Doctoral School for Applied Research in North Rhine-Westphalia
    PK NRW
  • Education Committee European Council on Computing in Construction (EC3)
    EC3
  • Spokesperson Regional group Rhineland buildingSMART
    RG Rheinland
  • Working Group Digitization RealFM
    RealFM
  • Member of the Committee for Responsibility in research
    TH Köln

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