Case Study K.118 – The Reuse of Building Components in Winterthur, Switzerland

The K.118 building on Winterthur’s Lagerplatz, completed in March 2021, has been widely recognised and awarded as an outstanding example for applying the principles of the circular economy to architecture. Commissioned by the Swiss pension fund Stiftung Abendrot, the architects Baubüro in situ planned and constructed a building using reclaimed components wherever possible. The planning and construction process was analysed by the Institute of Constructive Design (IKE) at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in cooperation with the architects. The study shows that the reuse of building components has great potential for saving resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions during the construction phase of buildings. In order to use this potential, economic and procedural obstacles created by the framework conditions of today’s construction industry must be tackled.