Design for circularity
The world's population has been growing steadily for decades. At the same time, economic prosperity is increasing. Both developments are leading to growing pressure on our natural environment, our climate, and our resources. The vast majority of the materials we use for construction are, quite literally, consumed and not borrowed from natural or technological cycles to be reintegrated into them. This linear approach has profound consequences for our planet. We are deeply interfering with existing ecosystems and destroying our own life support systems, as evidenced by climate change. The built environment must therefore be understood as a repository of raw materials within an endless cycle. We urgently need new principles for the construction, deconstruction, and transformation of our built environment. At the same time, we must answer the question of how to provide new materials that meet the requirements of a circular economy and limit further CO2 emissions. We must increasingly strive for a shift towards the regenerative cultivation, breeding, and growing of building materials instead of continuing to rely on finite resources. These processes must be driven by renewable energies, which prioritise emissions in building permits and funding programmes, rather than solely focusing on primary energy consumption.
Strategies for sustainability-driven design
This article examines the development and implementation of sustainability-oriented design processes in the construction industry. Based on approaches such as bioclimatic architecture and the energy efficiency regulations introduced in the 1970s, it highlights both historical developments and the current situation. Sustainable design is described as a multi-parameter optimisation problem that integrates additional requirements such as energy efficiency, emission reduction, and resource conservation alongside classic goals such as low costs and the shortest possible construction time. Four central sustainability strategies – sufficiency, efficiency, consistency, and resilience – are presented and analysed in terms of their applicability at the system, component, and material level. Practical examples illustrate how integral methods such as BIM, life cycle assessments, and multi-parameter matrices support implementation. The article shows how a combination of early goal definition, interdisciplinary collaboration, and digital tools can contribute to the successful realisation of sustainable construction projects.
Structural behaviour of the Hybrid Flax Pavilion at the 2024 State Garden Show in Wangen im Allgäu
The Hybrid Flax Pavilion at the 2024 State Garden Show in Wangen im Allgäu serves as a demonstrator for the development, fabrication, and application of novel, robotically manufactured natural fibre elements based on flax fibres within a building structure. The aim was to demonstrate a lightweight, resource-efficient, and at the same time high-performing construction system using natural fibres for load-bearing components. The natural fibres were locally sourced and processed into complex load-bearing structures using a filament-winding process with epoxy resin. By combining full-scale experimental investigations with numerical modelling, a verification procedure for structural capacity was developed that accounts for geometry, material properties, and manufacturing conditions. Large-scale tests provided key insights into stiffness, ultimate load, and failure mechanisms, particularly fibre rupture at bolted connections. Based on these results, detailed FE models were created and subsequently simplified into hybrid models, enabling a realistic representation of the structural behaviour within an overall structural model of the pavilion.
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