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Public Summary

This EngD project examines the state of the art in applying circular economy to the structural design process and contributes to the transition of buildings from a linear to a circular economy, particularly focusing on the design of structural systems. The design project starts by evaluating key existing guidelines, frameworks, and tools for integrating circular economy principles into structural design and critically assessing their type of design support, tools and methods, scope, system boundary, criteria (indicators), and deliverable outcome. That leadsto finding strengths and limitations of current approaches integrating circularity into building structural design.

To find out in which way analytical tools can assess circularity, a crucial aspect of guideline development is establishing a framework for integrating quantified circularity assessments with environmental impact assessments during the preliminary design phase. This project addresses a common gap where broad environmental assessments lack a specific focus on circularity. Moreover, the report reviews selective European green building certification and labelling systems for potential circular design credits at early stage planning. It further analyzes the applications of life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA), applying these methods in selected case studies as a part of the guideline validation. The framework considers circularity measures alongside key indicators such as embodied emissions and embodied energy. Additionally, the stakeholders' and actors' network for circular interventions is explored.

Adapting existing Circular Economy Design guidelines to support the Structural Design process and ensuring their effective implementation is a key element of this guideline. This report also aims to bridge the gap between circular economy principles and specific design choices in structural systems.

In order to support circular structural design, this work elaborates on how general circular design strategic principles can be translated into an adapted design guideline, and therefore six main circular design principles are defined: 1) Design with Biobased (DwB), 2) Design with Efficiency (DwE), 3) Design with Reuse (DwR), 4) Design for Longevity (DfL), 5) Design for Disassembly (DfD), and 6) Design for Adaptability (DfA). This project develops a systematic design guideline that also offers specific circular actions and potential examples, supported by exploring design options during the design process, empowering designers to apply circular economy seamlessly into the structural design.

Lastly, the report concludes with advancing circular practices by providing insights on tools and methods integration, assessment frameworks, and an elaborative circular design guideline, facilitating the incorporation of circular economy principles throughout the building design process.

Co-funded by Circular Structural Design