There were three main objectives: 1) to connect existing knowledge and strategies of circular construction among universities and industry partners and, additionally, extend the architecture design studio to a design & build practice in education. It will also contribute substantial knowledge directly to the building practice in general. Within the larger European context, the project shall extend the notion of circular construction reflecting the very different local contexts. 2) to establish a novel integration of teaching methods with once a year full-scale design and build workshops at a single place with mixed teams of all partnering universities, 3) to set up and demonstrate a complete methodology of integrated theory and practice courses with international digitally connected student groups and highly active and participatory online tools and platforms which, altogether, shall serve as a blueprint for direct implementation in a near-future curriculum of architectural education.
Architects are essential agents in the necessary shift towards a sustainable construction sector, as they develop ideas that shape buildings and our infrastructure, essentially choosing building materials and moderating building processes. While researchers and practitioners have taken on the issue and explored alternatives based on the circular use of materials, construction parts or buildings, the education of architects is still largely disconnected from the reflection of new design strategies for a more sustainable built environment. The actual design practice in architectural education needs to be connected to the state-of-the-art knowledge about sustainable design, and students and teachers need to establish and train resource (availability) based design as a new paradigm in our building culture. There needs to be a broader understanding of what sustainability and circularity mean and what they can bring to the diverse contexts within Europe. Embedding circularity thinking and making actual objects in the very context of places are powerful elements of architectural education that need to be tools in future-proof architecture curricula.