Design Frameworks for Circular Buildings: Circular Principles, Building Lifecycle Phases and Design Strategies

Abstract

This chapter explored the current theory and practices on circular building design to provide an overview of what a circular building is and how a circular building has been implemented by design through a literature review. Until now, the circular economy in the built environment has mainly been implemented through technological innovation focusing on materials, products, business models and industrial systems. Design for a circular economy in the built environment has progressively expanded from single products and components to building and urban systems. The enlargement of the design scope has entailed a shift from insular to system innovation. Besides a technocentric approach focused on circulating resources through economic and technical innovation, a holistic vision has emerged in the literature that sees circularity as a transformation which integrates technological, social, organizational and institutional considerations of circularity to promote systemic changes in large urban social-technical systems. This study initially investigated the current understanding of the circular building concept, and then analysed design frameworks applied to develop circular buildings by reviewing the literature. Finally, it defined propositions for evaluating the current level of implementation of circular buildings This exploration provided an overview of the current body of knowledge on the circular building concept, a classification of existing design frameworks and strategies for implementing the circular building concept and the identification of relevant propositions to test through case study research to assess the level of implementation of circular buildings.