Mountains of waste cannot be seen in the cycle of nature. When humans are involved in this cycle, consumption emerges. The waste issue, which can be considered the inevitable outcome of progress, was a situation that we didn’t care about as long as it was out of our sight. As we moved away from the cyclical operation of nature and the distance between nature and humans increased, we faced many disasters when we came to the point of dominating nature and in the process that we boasted about under the name of development. Today, productions take place in which many resources are recklessly consumed and turned into waste. While drawing attention to this issue, this article aims to present the circular economy and the position of architecture and examples of a promising mode of production.
Built Environment, Resource Consumption, and Linear Economy | Circular Economy
The built environment can be described as remarkable, where the human relationship with nature can be seen most clearly. Production is disconnected from the cyclical economy of nature with the excitement of development and continues with an approach that focuses only on what is obtained from the heart, creating a linear operation; the take-make-waste. We can observe this process in many things, but it is not incorrect to say that architecture represents the sector we face most clearly. The linear operation in architecture can be observed from the beginning of construction by witnessing the raw materials used. When a building is demolished, the end of the raw materials used is called rubble. Even though the rubble is in front of the eyes up to a point, it is removed from daily life and reaches the end of the linear process, where what is taken from nature cannot be returned to nature. Ilka and Andreas Ruby highlight an essential issue of resource depletion in their text Mine the City (Ruby and Ruby, 2010). They are showing that it is possible to mine the city rather than the earth today because there is more copper in the buildings than in the planet itself.
If the practice of architecture is introduced as producing the built environment wisely, the problematic resource consumption is a situation that needs to be resolved in architectural practice.
Changing Architecture Production
Confronted rates such as the construction and demolition industry being responsible for more than 35% of total waste generation in the EU, being the world’s largest consumer of raw materials at around 3 billion tonnes per year, and causing more than 40% of CO2 emissions (ARUP, 2016) triggered the idea that architectural production needed to change.
Creating this circularity in the industry requires redefining how resources are managed in the architecture and construction industries. To create a circular approach, some principles to be adopted have been suggested. These principles can be listed as follows; use of renewable, low environmental impact, reusable, detachable, recyclable, and durable materials. In addition, keeping an inventory of resources is one of the essential suggestions for maintaining the cyclical operation and preventing the use of resources from getting out of control as it is today. A document, defined as a material passport, in which the physical information of each material, where it has been used before, and the areas where it can potentially be used are entered. Thus, the material flow in the construction sector will be recorded, and the resources used in each new production will be planned from this inventory. This will reduce the production of materials from scratch while allowing materials to cycle through reuse.
It is possible to find examples of circularity at different scales in architecture, which has been increasing lately. Various research-based architectural offices and universities have adopted initiatives to popularise this approach. The following examples include physical structures in the circular economy and architecture, with deep research and environmental and social awareness in their background.
Buitenplaats Brienenoord by SuperUse Studios | Circular Economy
Superuser Studios can be an example of research-based architectural offices in the circular economy and architecture. Although the Buitenplaats Brienenoord projects are chosen as examples here, the basic principle of the studio is based on circularity. This Netherlands-based office has an important initiative for the establishment of material inventory. The harvest map they established (https://www.oogstkaart.nl/) serves as an infrastructure where passports and locations of reusable materials are recorded.
The Buitenplaats Brienenoord project was also created with 90% reuse. The building currently in the project area has acted as an input for the new formation. There is no new material except for fastening, five wooden trusses, column boots, and glazing. Recording the materials used preserves their potential for reuse in possible future scenarios.
“Yoo, Bence Güzel Pavilyon!” by graduate students of Alternative Architectural Practices
Yoo, Bence Güzel Pavilyon! Translated as Nah, I Think It’s Beautiful Pavillion! The name of this pavilion draws attention to the aesthetic concern over productions made from materials labelled as waste. This project, which was produced as a result of extensive research on the theme of waste by the Istanbul MEF University architecture graduate program team, consists of %90 reused and %100 reusable materials. The project, located on the campus of the Istanbul Planning Agency, is transforming the solar panel structure, the lower part of which is idle, into an activity, exhibition, and recreation area. The pavilion, which does not touch the ground by being wrapped around the steel structure and is hung with completely dry connection details, is aimed to allow the reuse of all materials and leave no trace in case of possible disassembly. The project, which aims to popularise the approach of reuse of materials and to keep an inventory, was designed by the team and built with the team and volunteer participants who are concerned about this issue.
The project consists of three parts: the Platform, a sitting, presentation, and meeting area; the Tea Garden, designed with pots removed from the vertical gardens of the municipality; and the Kitchenette, which is the preparation area for the plants collected from this garden.
Circulating Matters by Cornell Circular Construction Lab | Circular Economy
The Circulating Matters installation comprises reused materials from the Catherine Commons Deconstruction Project. This project is a deconstruction.
of a residential structure from 1910 by academic and community stakeholders supported by the Engaged Cornell Grant in January 2022. Circulating Matters is reactivating the material qualities and values of the building by producing the installation. The project is designed for the 2022 Cornell Bienal by Circular Construction Lab students and members. The spatial design occurs on circulation concepts by re-imagining a staircase as a multi-directional, re-engaged with its materials’ past and future.
The examples given to projects and subjects that adopt the circular economy in architectural practice can be significantly increased. It is hopeful to see the continuity of these increasing initiatives today. The steps taken during the education period are precious for redefining the use of resources in the architecture and construction sector and for the practice to change and develop in this sense. The conscious design and production of architects who grew up with this point of view are a step towards repairing the relationship between nature and human beings that has opened up today.
Please check the resources for further information about the subject.
References:
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