Room 210

Climate advocates across industries are calling for a shift from linear thinking to circular systems and reduced consumption. For designers, architects, developers, city-builders, contractors, and planners, this means we must work with what already exists and see the creative potential in doing so. The concepts of both reuse and circularity in architecture are not new, and the environmental and cultural benefits of both are well researched and documented. Unfortunately, reuse is rarely applied in practice in Canada, due to concerns and challenges related, but not limited, to: financial costs, feasibility misconceptions, lack of policy, creative ownership, and knowledge of how to work with the existing. Appeal to novelty, planned obsolescence, and hyper-consumerism are also factors that result in the city-building industry favouring demolition and new construction. This session will thus focus on navigating these daily challenges and offering scalable solutions towards circular construction in Canada. Case studies will include the large-scale retrofit of the historic Hermant Buildings by Giaimo Architects, new net-zero communities by TAS, and pragmatic insights into material salvage by Ouroborous Deconstruction.