BUILT MATTER. REVIEW OF BUILDING BETTER - LESS - DIFFERENT: CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY, BY FELIX HEISEL AND DIRK E. HEBEL, IN COLLABORATION WITH KEN WEBSTER (BIRKHÄUSER, 2022)

Abstract

With the built environment being responsible for nearly 40 per cent of global carbon emissions, architects and their role in the design and execution of buildings play an increasingly vital role in helping to fight climate change. Furthermore, interconnected issues of material scarcity, energy- intensive manufacturing processes, and wasteful construction practices make architectural and design decisions ever more important. This paper reviews a series of sustainable architecture strategies outlined in the recent publication, Building Better - Less - Different: Circular Construction and Circular Economy. A collection of writings and case study projects offer a series of answers to how architects may begin to address our profession’s current linear habits of consumption. Through discussing a series of concepts, methods, and examples of circularity in architecture and the global economy, it is quickly understood that there is no quick fix to this problem. Instead, a holistic approach that combines technical and material innovations as well as social, economic, ecological, and ethical strategies, is required if architecture is to operate as a truly circular economy.