Circular economy consists in maintaining and/or improving the value of products as long as possible, i.e. by extending or renewing their service live while minimizing resource depletion, waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions. When it comes to building design, a series of sometimes contradicting strategies emerges: to limit the quantity of used materials, to limit their ecological impact, to enhance the versatility of buildings, and to ensure the future repair, reuse, or recycling of their components. The class delves into recent literature and practice, aiming at providing the necessary expertise to adopt these strategies in a pragmatic state of mind.

The following themes punctuate the semester:

• Environmental Footprint of Buildings: Situation & Assessment Methods
• Circular Economy (& Industrial Ecology): History, Principles, and Expectations
• Building Use: Density & Versatility
• Low-Impact Materials & Material-Efficient Systems
• Recycling & In-Situ Improvement
• Material Sourcing & Stewardship
• Design for Upstream Reuse
• Design for Downstream Reuse (Design for Disassembly, Reversible Desing)
• Restorative and Regenerative Design

Circular Economy; Industrial Ecology; Reuse; Open Building; Regenerative Design; Product Stewardship; Material Passport; Urban Mining; Dematerialization; Depollution; Design-for-disassembly; Modularity; Reversibility; Recycling; Upcycling; Cradle-to-Cradle; Technical & Biological Cycles; Ecological Footprint; Social Ecology; Carbon Emissions; Waste Production & Management; Material Depletion; Urban Metabolism; Refurbishment; Building Management

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• Develop a critical mindset towards design theories and strategies for bettering the ecological footprint of buildings;
• Integrate design principles for building versatility, disassembly, and reuse;
• Synthesize a critical and nuanced opinion in written and oral forms;
• Recall the principles, methods, and references discussed in class;
• Assess / Evaluate the principles, methods, and references discussed in class.

• Plan and carry out activities in a way which makes optimal use of available time and other resources.
• Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
• Take responsibility for environmental impacts of her/ his actions and decisions.
• Demonstrate a capacity for creativity.
• Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
• Manage priorities.
• Summarize an article or a technical report.

The course alternates flipped classrooms with traditional delivery.

Students are expected to:

• attend and enliven all classroom sessions;
• prepare classroom sessions by reviewing selected texts and case studies;
• write an essay (one over the semester).

Grades reflect both the student's activities during the semester and the final examination.

A list of texts and case studies will be provided to the students at the beginning of the class.

The slides presented in the classroom will be made available online.

• https://go.epfl.ch/AR-497https://go.epfl.ch/AR-497