5 minute read
Considerations about the future
- A. Einstein -
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(1) Regarding policies, let’s think, for instance, to the role of promotion of circular economy in the private sector of Ellen MacArthur Foundation or, concerning the public, to the new european policies fostered by the European Green Deal. Moreover, in recent years several researches have been conducted over the topic, as the above cited ones can witness. Industry and architecture are also fostering the transition toward a circular production. In the architectural feld are remarkable, between the others, the experiences of GXN, Lendager Group and Vandkunsten. (2) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12 Today a slow but still ongoing transition toward Circular Economy seems to be underway.
Its importance is emphasized through policymaking, research and industry (1). In this regard, the frst World circular economic forum of 2017, hold in Finland, with the participation of well-known brands as Ikea, Dell and Philipps Lighting, showed that somehow a gradual change is underway.
In view of a sustainable future, new public policies and strategies are progressively emerging. European Commission is fostering processes of Circular Economy to promote a sustainable consumption, ensuring that used resources are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. Moreover, since 2017, it has periodically published pamphlets regarding Design for Disassembly and the application of Circular Economy to the construction sector (2017, 2018, 2019).
Still in the public sector, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), as one of the outcomes of the Rio + 20 conference in 2012, set up an initiative to promote sustainable public procurement (UNEP, 2014), with the goal to link the consumption side to the production side, through governmental public procurement and the development of more sustainable business models. Two years later, the UN Sustainable Development Goals had a great impact in shaping the agenda for change. In this regard, even if these global goals are intended to be used together, specifc reference to materials is identifed in goal 12, about sustainable consumption (2).
In the private sector, instead, the action of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity dedicated to promoting the global transition to Circular Economy, has been quite relevant and infuent. Its ReSOLVE framework gained a great importance, outlining six actions to guide the transition from linear to circular processes: 1. Regenerate: regenerating and restoring natural capital 2. Share: maximising asset utilisation 3. Optimise: optimising system performance 4. Loop: Keeping products and materials in cycles, prioritising inner loops 5. Virtualise: displacing resource use with virtual use 6. Exchange: Selecting resources and technology wisely
Research and design experimentation are also improving. Te Circle House by Lendager Arkitekter, GXN Innovation and 3XN, and Vandkunsten Architects, in Aarhus, Denmark marks a stepping stone for Design for Disassembly. Te project consists of 60 social housing units built through the principles of Circular economy and it has the aim to reuse 90% of the materials it is made of without appreciable loss of value. It is an experiment that has the purpose to demonstrate the possibility for Design for Disassembly to design qualitative and sustainable spaces, disseminating knowledge and know-how about circularity principles to the entire construction sector. Sustainability and afordability work in a complementary way through several smart and innovative solutions, providing both fexibility of spaces and singular components, looking at maintenance as well as the last step of dismantling process through the reuse of several building systems retaining their original value.
In this regard, the interest toward Design for Disassembly has became particularly relevant
in Denmark due to the shortage of sand that the country is currently facing and that would make the production of concrete, massively used in the construction sector, way more expensive, leading to import dynamics. Te call for the reuse of concrete components, therefore, becomes a real market need and gives the boost to deepen the research on the topic.
Nevertheless, Circular Economy and Design for Disassembly still need for their complete development technical, social, and organisational innovations throughout the value chain, from the production side to the consumption. Circular design is a complex discipline involving diferent actors, knowledges and disciplines and it can’t be parcelled out. In this vision, innovation also regards the creation of connections and cooperations, through an interdisciplinary mindset. One of the main issues about the development of Circular Economy in the construction sector is the lack of a consistent and reliable fxed method for its assessment. Generally, the environmental impact of buildings throughout their life cycle can be estimated through Life Cycle Assessment. (3) Tis computational method translates inputs and outputs passing through the building over time into a diagram. Tese fuxes are further assessed through a series of Key Performance Indicators defning how the impacts are allocated in the various cycles of a component’s life. Notwithstanding, LCA tools still require improvements, as they do not sufce in the design situation for several reasons: data intensiveness, lack of available data in the design stage, and decision-makers’ lack knowledge on how to perform and interpret LCAs (4).
In this context, every action and decision represents an important stepping stone that could be expanded, integrated and scaled up.
Therefore, it’s time to think new ways to build and live, challenging our traditional concept of housing through an inter-disciplinary approach that combines engineering, economy and design. In this vision, the project of architecture has the potential to acquire a holistic meaning which quality includes its positive efects on economy, ecology and sociality.
Sustainability doesn’t mean inevitably sacrifce. It can become, on the other hand, the necessary boost toward innovation.
(3) I. Z. Bribián, A. A. Usón, S. Scarpellini, (2009), Life cycle assessment in buildings: state-of- the-art and simplifed LCA methodology as a complement for building certifcation in Build. Environ. 44, 2510–2520, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. buildenv.2009.05.001
(4) L. C. Malabi Eberhardt, J. Rønholt, M. Birkved, H. Birgisdottir (2021), Circular Economy potential within the building stock. Mapping the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of four Danish examples, in Journal of Building Engineering 33, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jobe.2020.101845 On the right: ArcGency Studio, Copenhagen. The studio collaborated with 3XN -GXN Innovation to the publication of the series of pamphlets named Circle House Lab. Design for Adskillelse. Copenhagen, October 2020.
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The project. Circular Economy can address environmental and socioeconomic issues related to affordable housing. In a circular urban framework, the thesis develops an innovative project of Social Housing through Design for Disassembly and Adaptability. It has the aim to rethink how we design, build, fnance and share our future homes, neighbourhoods and cities, to allow for cheaper homes to enter the market, make it easier to live sustainably and affordably, and ensure more fulflling ways of living together, with the potential to tackle some of the biggest challenges of the global housing crisis.
