Scales to Aspects Interdisciplinary Encounters

Understanding the Intricate Nature of Circular Building Components

In the ‘Scales to Aspects’ model, components are featured in between materials and buildings. In this video, Thaleia discusses what a circular building component is and how it is possible to benchmark circularity principles for components.

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Main Takeways

  • Buildings are fabricated by standardized materials, components and assemblies. The components scale is that situated between the material and the building scales.
  • Components are not monolithic and therefore, in order to understand and plan around their circular potential, a careful examination of all their elements is required. Making a component more circular means thinking all aspects of design, economy, stakeholders, technology, resource flows and management.
  • To optimize the circular performance of components we can use: [a] Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), [b] Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA), [c] the Level(s) framework, and [d] the R strategies heuristic framework.

Further Reading

  • Dodd, N., Donatello, S., & Cordella, M. (2020). Level(s) – A common EU framework of core sustainability indicators for office and residential buildings. JRC Scientific and Technical Reports, Issue. Office for Official Publications of the European Commission. Report available here.
  • Giovanardi, M., Konstantinou, T., Pollo, R., & Klein, T. (2022). Internet of Things for building façade traceability: A theoretical framework to enable circular economy through life-cycle information flows. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135261

Please see also:

  • AEGIR: Developing modular, renewable & industrialized building envelopes for low energy renovation. Project website: https://aegirproject. AEGIR on the TU Delft website: https://www.tudelft.nl/bk/onderzoek/projecten/aegir

Author

Thaleia Konstantinou
Thaleia Konstantinou
Associate Professor

Dr. Ing. Thaleia Konstantinou is Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering & Technology at the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture. Her activities are related to research and education, focusing on energy efficiency, façade and design of constructions. She graduated her MSc in Environmental Design and Engineering with distinction from The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London. During and after her studies, she has worked as an architect in Greek and international practices. She completed her PhD at TU Delft in 2014 on the topic of façade refurbishment strategies as part of the research program “Green Building Innovation”. Following this she worked as a post-doc researcher in various projects related to refurbishment and sustainability. 

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Circularity for Educators

The platform is intended to provide with content on either circularity or pedagogy for and about circularity. It is one of the outcomes of the Circular Impulse Initiative (CII), a project intending to enhance the integration of circularity in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment education. The platform mainly aims to help tutors get better acquainted with circularity in the built environment by providing a series of resources on this subject that they can either view to get better informed or directly share with their students in class or online. A large number of the Faculty's professors and researchers have contributed substantially both in creating a coherent narrative for circularity in the built environment as well as further elaborating on different aspects of it. Besides this one, a new platform for interaction and direct exchange was also established in parallel that we call ‘Educators for Circularity‘. This one offers the opportunity for all of us to meet and share our experiences and learn from one another.

Visit Educators for Circularity