circular building in flanders

Circular building in FlandersDrive 0 kick-off event

Thursday 24 October 2019, Geleen

Prof. Griet Verbeeck, Faculty of Architecture & Arts

Content

▪ Introduction

▪ The case of Flanders

▪ Towards a real circular construction sector

Circular building within sustainable building

Energy efficient buildings

↓

LCA (life cycle assessment)

↓

Circular buildings

None of these approaches

is sustainable in itself

Circular building within a circular economy

Source: A framework for circular buildings – indicators for possible inclusion in BREEAM, 2018

materials

energy

water

biodiversity

value creation

health andwellbeing

society andculture

Initiatives for circular building in Flanders

Regional authority = OVAM: coordinator of Vlaanderen Circulair (Circular Flanders)

▪ Main focus = material flows and material-related aspects of building, combined with an economic drive

▪ Other aspects of circular thinking are of secondary focus

▪ Energy

▪ Health and wellbeing

▪ Water

▪ Biodiversity

▪ Social and cultural aspects

www.ovam.be

http://www.ovam.be/


▪ Vlaanderen Circulair http://vlaanderen-circulair.be

▪ Living Lab Circular Building: ▪ research project by VITO, WTCB, UHasselt, VUB on juridical, economic, … barriers for CE

▪ Green Deal Circular Building with > 300 stakeholders from constructionsector

▪ At least 1 CB pilot project

▪ Actively participate in learning network

▪ Share experiences with research team

▪ Embedding structurally principles of CE in own organisation

Green Deal signed by

http://vlaanderen-circulair.be/


▪ Vlaanderen Circulair▪ ‘Do-ers’ in Flanders

▪ Open Calls for CE subsidy

http://vlaanderen-circulair.be/en/cases-in-flanders

(54 items for construction)

Frameworks for circular building on building level

Source: Waldo Galle, Design for change – towards a circular economy in construction, 2018

Current building practice



buildings:- redesign- rebuild- reuse

materials and products:- recover- redesign- reuse

components:- recover- redesign- reuse

Design for change



materials and products:- recover- redesign- reuse

Design for change

▪ Technological building materials

▪ Concrete, brick, glass, metals, plastics,…

▪ Materials from technological production processes

▪ Biological or bio-based building materials

▪ Wood, straw, flax, bamboo, earth, reed, grass, …

▪ Also new bio-based building materials

▪ To be harvested from nature and to be digested by nature

Up to now in (circular) building sector

▪ Dominance of technological building materials

▪ Underrepresentation of bio-based materials: are theonly materials with a real potential for regeneration in a reasonable time/space

Circular reuse of materials and products

Example for technological materials: ROTOR DC, Brussels

www.rotordc.com


http://www.rotordc.com/


Zero Pentathlon (AY 19-20):

architectural students UHasselt design a low impact dwellingrenovation based on reuse of materials

Source: María Gago, Burak Kayikce, Elif Yilmaz, Janne Pelgrims, Malinde Valee, Ignacio Pérez

Source: Pauline Borremans, Stien Coorevits, Marie Cornoedus, Laura Vascoconcelos

Example for biobased materials: Glimps Biodesign

https://glimps.bio/


https://glimps.bio/

Example for biobased materials: Glimps Biodesign

https://glimps.bio/


bacterial leather

mycelium

Source: https://www.instagram.com/glimpsbiodesign/

https://glimps.bio/

https://www.instagram.com/glimpsbiodesign/

Example for biobased materials: open source BioFab Forum

https://biofabforum.org/


https://glimps.bio/


Seminar on circularity (AY 19-20):

architectural students UHasselt experiment withbioregenerative materials for an exhibition stand for Batibouw2020

mycelium

earth



components:- recover- redesign- reuse

Design for change

Circular reuse of components

Framework to evaluate design for change

Source: Vandenbroucke Mieke, Ontwerprichtlijnen demonteerbare gebouwelementen, 2016

Circular reuse of components


architectural students UHasselttest and evaluate circular buildingsystems


Facadeclick-Construclick

Source: presentation students Facadeclick & Construclick, 2018

Clickbrick-Systimber

Source: presentation students Systimber & Clickbrick, 2018

Testing and evaluating circular building systems

Reversibility

= feasibility to disassemble components without damage



Reversibility

= feasibility to disassemble components without damage

Facadeclick-Construclick

Systimber-Clickbrick

Source: presentations students Systimber & Clickbrick and Facadeclick & Construclick, 2018


Suggestions for improvement of the systems

Source: Janssens B., Knapen E., Winkels P. & Verbeeck G. (2019) In-situ testing and improving of circular building systems for cavity walls, Conference SBE19, Graz

Three suggested improvements for systems 1 & 2 – composition A: a) a mounting lath for a circular connection with the foundation; b) a connecting block to fix the watertight slab between foundation and inner

wall; c) with c1 the existing cavity anchor, and c2 an alternative cavity anchor.



buildings:- redesign- rebuild- reuse

Design for change

Circular reuse of buildings

Focus on reuse of buildings:

▪ Not only from point of view of resource use

▪ Also from point of view of land use → higher spatial

efficiency and lower land use

▪ Policy plan Spatial Flanders 2020-2040 (White paper Ruimte Vlaanderen 2017)

▪ Concrete stop 2040: from 6ha/day extra land use now to0ha/day in 2040

▪ Spatial development principles:▪ Intertwining

▪ Intensifying

▪ Reuse

▪ Reversible spatial use (a.o. temporary spatial use)

Bron: Witboek Ruimte Vlaanderen, 2017


▪ Initiatives for reuse of existing buildings:

▪ Miss Miyagi Placemaking: (http://missmiyagi.eu)▪ Project management for real estate projects developed for and by

the end users

▪ Real estate platform to bring together offer and demand for reuseand redestination of buildings

offer demand

http://missmiyagi.eu/


▪ Website www.tijdelijkgebruiken.be▪ 103 projects of temporary use of buildings and plots in Flanders

and beyond

▪ Reuse and redestination = only a first step!

▪ Redesign and refurbishment should also be in a circular way

cases

Critical successfactors

Charac-teristics

Role authorities

Intentions andambitions of participants andinitiative takers

Definition

http://www.tijdelijkgebruiken.be/



architectural students UHasselt investigate circular renovationscenarios for their faculty building

evaluated with the RESOLVE framework

▪ Flemish University of Brussels (VUB):

▪ Circular Retrofit Lab, BAMB, Atelier Circulair,…

Some more examples of circular building initiatives

https://ateliercirculair.be

http://vub.be/arch/projects

https://ateliercirculair.be/

https://vub.be/arch/projects

▪ Blieberg A.C.E. Architects of a Circular Economy

▪ Antwerp Circular South for and with citizens

Some more examples of circular building initiatives

http://blieberg.eu

http://blieberg.eu/

Content

▪ Introduction



Circular building in a broader framework

Some pressing questions to be answered:

▪ Mutual compatibility of materials and systems▪ Intellectual property rights vs open source developments

▪ Matching systems to each other

▪ Cfr. Fairphone

▪ Who will be the owner of the building materials?▪ Storage of materials and systems for reuse

▪ Who will be the owner of the buildings?▪ Can a building still serve as deposit for a loan?

▪ Can a building still be inherited?

▪ Cultural impact of circular buildings▪ Ever changing streetview?

▪ Will there still be historical buildings?

Bron: A resource efficient pathway towards a greenhouse gas neutral Germany, 2019

Link between raw material use and energy use

A lot of positivefeedback loops between material useand energy use

▪ To (re)use materials, energy is needed

▪ To produce (renewable) energy, raw materialsare needed

▪ CE leads to more efficient resource use, but higherefficiencies might lead to

▪ Rebound effect

▪ Jevon’s paradox

▪ Rebound effect:

▪ If a service of product becomes available more easily(cheaper, less environmental impact,…), we tend to usemore of it

▪ Jevon’s paradox:

▪ Technological progress that makes production more efficient, leads to higher consumption which nullifies theefficiency gain

▪ Point of attention: CE does not lead necessarilyto lower production and consumption

Scale of the economy

Bron: Korhonen et al, 2018 The concept and its limitations, Ecological Economics 143:37-46

▪ Buildings are material banks

▪ But at this moment the material stocks are onlyenlarging

Bron: SBE19 BAMB2020 Keynote Thomas Lützkendorf www.bamb2020.eu

Lock-in of resources

+▪ Very interesting developments

▪ You can still be a pioneer!

-▪ Not feasible within the current economic model

▪ Does not lead automatically to a real sustainablebuilt environment

→ Let’s look, think and collaborate with an open

and critical view, to make sure we end up in thedoughnut!

Conclusions for circular building


Bron: OVAM 24 Ontwerprichtlijnen veranderingsgericht bouwen, 2016

componentsinterfaces composition

building

neighbourhood

reversibility demountability

reusability

extendability

changeablefunctions

reuse

dimensions

demountability

simplicity

evolution

spatial structure

polyvalent spaces

diversity

inclusion of function changes

reversibility

simplicity

speed

durability

manageability

compatibility

pace layering

independence

prefabrication

Bron: OVAM 24 Ontwerprichtlijnen veranderingsgericht bouwen, 2016

Demountability

Building consists of different layers(Shearing layers by S.Brand)

Each layer has a different lifespan

→ need for demountability

differs from layer to layer

Content

▪ Introduction

▪ Frameworks for circular building



▪ Circular building beyond energy and materials

▪ Some critical reflections

▪ Interesting links

Circular building in a broader framework

Bron: Kamp C 7 pijlers van circulair bouwen, 2018

Circulair bouwen binnen een ruimer kader

Circular

MATERIALS

Materials that are regenerative, reusable,

re- or upcyclable to keep them in the loop as long

as possible

Circular

WORKING

Offering workspace as a service. Open anddynamic office spacewith hightech support. Communication andconnection with othercollaborators andcompanies is key.

Circular

FINANCING

Forms of financing via totalcost of ownership, life cyclecost, investments paid back

by savings or merits over time, material deposits,

leasing forms

Circular

DESIGN

Design building elements in a way that

the building is dynamic, adaptable,

demountable andmodular and functionsas a temporary stock

of materials

Circular

DEVELOPMENTS

Subdivide a neighbourhood based on available material, waste,

energy,… flows so thatremainders or waste fromone can serve as resource

for others.

Circular

TENDERING

A package of openlyformulated ambitions with a

fixed budget to challenge themarket to make consortia and

to come up with innovativebuilding solutions

Circular

BUSINESS MODELS

Using products as services with the producer as the

owner, responsible formaintenance and take back

Bron: Kamp C 7 pijlers van circulair bouwen, 2018


Critical reflections on CE

▪ Is 100% circular economy physically possible or are we trying to create a perpetuum mobile?

▪ 2nd law of thermodynamics: increase of entropy, i.e. every process leads to losses:

▪ Quantities

▪ Quality loss

▪ Emissions of harmful substances

▪ CE is linear, but with a (very) strong delay

▪ How big is the delay of depletion we can realize?

▪ Too often only the next loop is taken into account

Laws of thermodynamics


▪ Within circular building very strong focus on:

▪ technological loop

▪ the building and its users

▪ Possibilities for regenerative solutions?

▪ Contributions to biodiversity

▪ Positive impact buildings https://dakdokters.nl/

▪ Nature exploration 2050: 4 scenario’s for 2050, each from a different view on nature and society

Attention for real regeneration

Bron: https://www.natuurrapport.be/natuurverkenning-2050/

https://dakdokters.nl/

https://www.natuurrapport.be/natuurverkenning-2050/

circular building in flanders

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