C+Bb 4TUe
Book formatting for print use, 2023 Scientific Publication for the Department of the Built Environment, TU Eindhoven, edited by Juliette Bekkering, Cristina Nan and Torsten Schröder, original graphic design done by Marius Schwarz. Circularity and biobased buildings are currently a pressing and key topic in the design sector and the building industry. The global challenges we are facing due to climate change and the depletion of natural resources is forcing us to radically change the way we shape our built environment and to take a critical and new look at how we design and construct. The building sector plays a central role in all industrial sectors, as it currently is responsible for a large share of resource consumption, energy use, CO2 emissions and waste generation. The Dutch government’s goal is to make the building industry completely circular by 2050. This means that we will develop our buildings and infrastructure in such a way that all materials and raw materials are reusable or biobased and we will no longer use fossil energy sources. The emphasis is on achieving (higher-) quality reuse (including dismantlable construction) and the implementation of biobased materials in all submarkets of the construction industry (De Bouwagenda, 2018). This is an ambitious plan and requires a radical change in how the building sector designs and builds, but also in how we view our buildings and interact with the built environment. This paradigm shift lies at the core of the architecture profession and will not only affect the execution of buildings, but will in fact require a radically new design attitude.