Abstract
The growing need to shift from a linear to a circular economy has inspired producers of building materials and systems to innovate their products to match the requirements of a future circular economy. Others have been developing modular systems in the past to simplify the building process and are now reconsidering these products for their potential in a circular economy. However, at this early stage on the road towards a circular economy, claims of circularity are often made too easily and many producers as well as architects and builders are still struggling with the practice of circular building. In this context and within an assignment for master students in architecture, three cavity walls, each 9m2 and composed with a different system for the inner and the outer wall, have been constructed and disassembled in order to test their potential for circularity. The extent of circularity has been critically analysed with an existing framework of evaluation criteria for design for change: three criteria on interface level (reversibility, simplicity, speed), three on component level (compatibility, durability, manageability) and three on composition level (independence, pace-layering, prefabrication). This analysis was complemented with an environmental assessment of the materials used and with interviews with contractors who have experience with these systems. In a final step, proposals for improvement of the products and systems have been made and tested on a mockup scale, in order to better fit a possible future circular economy.
Highlights
The exploitation of resources and the linear way in which materials are harvested, consumed and discarded cannot be sustained anymore
The growing need to shift from a linear to a circular economy has inspired producers of building materials and systems to innovate their products to match the requirements of a future circular economy
Others have been developing modular systems in the past to simplify the building process and are reconsidering these products for their potential in a circular economy. At this early stage on the road towards a circular economy, claims of circularity are often made too and many producers as well as architects and builders are still struggling with the practice of circular building
Summary
The exploitation of resources and the linear way in which materials are harvested, consumed and discarded cannot be sustained anymore. The risk is high that in the rush to quickly develop products, claims of circularity are made too Within this context, master students in architecture of the Faculty of Architecture and Arts of Hasselt University studied the potential for circular building of specific building systems. Secondary aim is to present tentative and illustrative outcomes of selected circular building systems. After this first section, this paper consists of four more sections. The third section presents selected systems and composed cavity wall ensembles for the student research. Illustrative results are given and discussed on both the concept of the research as on selected systems and composed ensembles.
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