Crafting Circularity

Symposium 27/28 September 2024 — University of Antwerp 

Participation is free of charge. Please register to allow smooth planning.

The detailed program will be published here a month before the event.

Join our symposium to discuss how to elevate circularity in architecture education through making. On 27 and 28 September 2024, we invite you to Antwerp to see the outcome of the rich Erasmus+ project and engage in a broad discussion. Through three thematic blocks, the project partners will show the work and results of all phases, each focusing on a central topic of exploration through which other educators and colleagues will connect with their work and approaches. Through a multi-layered reflection, we hope to stimulate an important discourse on educational change and student engagement. The results of this symposium will contribute to the project publication, which will be launched in spring 2025.​

Rethinking elements

The first block focuses on the basic elements of design and construction and their crucial dependency on their physical characteristics after being fabricated or already used.​

• How should we consider reclaimed materials as basic elements in an architectural design? 
• What is the relationship between these delicate elements and dynamically changing, precarious environments? 
• And how should we rethink tolerances in design and construction?

Rethinking resources

The second block will discuss the meaning of local resources and their significant relationship to the planning and construction process, as well as the fruitful consequences of limitations.

• How can we consider the possibility of local resources for construction? 
• What are the constraints of the most direct reuse of materials and components available in-situ?
• And what do dismantling and assembly processes teach us about the design for circularity?

Rethinking permanence

The third block focuses on the time layers of a building and its environment, specifically looking into the lifespan of architectural functions and the physical components enabling them.

• How can we understand the lifespan of our building materials? 
• What is the permanence of architectural programs, and are buildings framing them? 
• And how can we accommodate processes of change with the materials we already have?