Circular economy in facades

This chapter introduces circular economy (CE) as a central part of the rethinking building skins for a sustainable development of the Anthropocene. Successful transition to CE in facades will require new design processes, new construction methods, new systems of logistics and supply chains and new business models. Building skins constitute a complex part of architecture, which affects—and is affected by—a range of disciplines and many different parts of the value chain. Moreover, facades have a relatively limited service life compared with the main structure. It is, therefore, challenging but potentially very important to resolve CE in facades with a view to transitioning from the take–make–waste mindset to one of reduce–reuse–recycle. The chapter describes the challenges and sets out the opportunities for a rethinking of processes made possible by a new mindset and technological progress.