Project description Design With Debris
Project content
The research project Design With Debris investigates how computer-based design can contribute to a circular economy in architecture. Together with students from architecture and related disciplines such as civil engineering and computer science, a demonstrator is being designed and built. The materials used are those that would otherwise be considered waste.

Digital tools and methods are being developed and applied to scan, catalogue, and recombine fragments, offcuts, construction debris, and rubble in order to design new compositions and constructions. An ecological life cycle analysis highlights the necessity of circular thinking and provides a holistic perspective on resource use and environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions.

The teaching and research project explores the potential of novel digital design and construction methods in connection with ecological impacts. The source material as well as the deconstruction and recycling potential of the construction are recorded, assessed, and digitally integrated within the framework of a life cycle assessment. In addition, social implications are taken into account, raising student awareness of the reuse of building materials and components: scrap, offcuts, construction waste, and rubble form the basis for a new digital design process. These components are reused and recombined to create and construct a new structure.

The aim is to develop strategies to overcome both aesthetic conventions rooted in established viewing habits and the mental barriers associated with the reuse of existing building components within circular design and construction. The topic of circular economy is not viewed merely as a technical problem to be solved, but rather as a design challenge that primarily requires social acceptance. Design With Debris seeks to contribute to this discourse.
Participants
Prof. Christoph Kuhn (Design and Sustainable Building)

Dipl.-Ing. Anne Wagner (Design and Sustainable Building)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Tessmann (Digital Design)

Dipl.-Des. Max Eschenbach (Digital Design)
Duration March 29, 2022 – March 29, 2023
Funding Sto Foundation, within the framework of the funding program DesignBuild
€8,000
Project website https://www.sto-stiftung.de/de/content-detail_114432.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com