Outcomes of a Student Research Project on Circular Building Systems – Focus on the Educational Aspect

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.