A Circularity Score for Architecture and Interior Design Projects



Developed during the METROPOLIS Circular Future Hackathon, this assessment system guides teams in evaluating progress toward circularity in the built environment.

Image: B.D. GRAFT FOR METROPOLIS

In Summer 2024 METROPOLIS brought together visionaries from across the building industry for its Circular Future Hackathon, aimed at reimagining how we design and construct in a way that aligns with circular design principles. Representatives and sustainability experts across global firms, manufacturers, and industry organizations joined forces to tackle the building sector’s greatest circularity obstacles. Following the virtual workshops, METROPOLIS shaped these concepts into comprehensive seven forward-thinking solutions.

Shown here is A Circularity Score for Architecture and Interior Design Projects by hackathon participants Peter Duckworth-Pilkington, HDR; Lauren Gardner, MSR Design; Shannon Goodman, Lifecycle Building Center; Arathi Gowda, ZGF; Ratish Namboothiry, Legrand; Ryan Smith, 3form; Kathryn Soter, The Good Future Alliance; Jennifer Stormont, MIller Hull; Frances Yang, Arup; and Avinash Rajagopal, editor in chief, METROPOLIS.

How can we assess if a building or interior project helps move us closer to the circular economy? How can we judge its achievements in eliminating waste, circulating materials at their highest value, and regenerating natural systems? The RESOLVE framework, developed in 2016 by McKinsey and the Ellen MacArthur foundation, was intended to help all sectors of the economy move toward circularity. Arup’s Circular Buildings Toolkit made the first attempt to apply its recommendations to the building sector. Here we adapt those tenets to an assessment system. While this certainly isn’t a comprehensive scoring system—the specific metrics and appropriate verification methods are far from clear, yet—the assessment inquiries and draft scores below are thought starters that enterprising project teams might adopt to gauge their own progress toward circularity.

Regenerate


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Optimize


Loop


Virtualize


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A Proposed Scoring System to Assess Circularity in Building Projects