Design for Circularity: The Case of the Building Construction Industry

The role of design in transitioning towards a circular economy (CE) is strategic in the building construction industry as the potential for creating, developing, and sustaining circular value throughout the whole building life cycle is largely determined by the building design. Circular building design approaches that are being commonly deployed are often based on technical perspectives that assume buildings to be static products of the building construction industry. However, buildings are complex and dynamic with components and materials having their own individual life cycles, interacting dynamically with each other over space and time in a continual state of change. Moreover, changing stakeholder needs and expectations and other external factors add further layers of complexity in developing and sustaining the circular value created by the initial building design. Therefore, a holistic approach that accounts for the above contributors and integrates the building dynamism across its life cycle including stakeholder involvement, was ideated, based on the extant literature gap and the industrial need. The study conceptualised a holistic ‘design for circularity’ (DfC) framework based on a comprehensive literature review. The literature review was followed by 07 preliminary semi-structured interviews of relevant experts, so as to address relevant industry needs in developing this framework further. The findings enable the formulation of an overarching design centred framework to not only create, but also to develop and sustain circular value throughout the whole building life cycle, as presented in this paper.

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