Circle House
Aarhus, Denmark Construction and Development, Environment and Resource efficiency
Description
Circle House is Denmark’s first circular housing project, and its purpose is to disseminate knowledge and know-how about circularity principles to the entire construction sector, as a scalable lighthouse building project offered and constructed on market terms.
Context
The Circle House project consists of 60 social housing units in the expanding Lisbjerg Bakke district, a development zone focused on sustainability, on the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark, which are schedules for completion in 2020. Besides providing housing, Circle House will serve as a scalable demonstration project that will bring new know-how about circularity in architecture and construction to the building industry. The objective is that 90% of the projects materials can be reused without loss of value. The project was mounted with funding from the Danish Environmental Protection Authority and the Realdania philanthropic association. It also involves more than 30 enterprises from the Danish construction sector across the value chain.
Actors involved
- Danish Building Research Institute
- The Danish Association for Responsible Construction
- Danish Environmental Protection Agency
- Realdania Philanthropic Association
Results
The project’s buildings are designed to be dismantlable so that is structural components can be reused with scarcely any loss of value. Circle House consists of a range of building systems that can be assembled, disassembled and reassembled into other buildings while keeping their economic and aesthetic values intact.
Why it works
– Focus on relevant trends and scenarios: Digitisation, Prefabrication and New Partnership Models
– Cross-industry collaboration: It is a learning by doing project, where all links in the value chain are seated around the table with a positive atmosphere among the partners. Partnerships between many companies are crucial because the best solutions often lie in the interaction between several companies.
– Demonstration of how sustainability and financial gain can go hand in hand to inspire future constructions, so that we get even more housing that reduce CO2 emissions, have lower maintenance costs, and can be recycled.
– Sustainable construction on regular market conditions: the project presents new constructions to reflect an integration of social responsibility and financial circumstances, making circular construction marketable and, thus, scalable.
Scale
local