Abstract:

Zero Waste Project, identifies the climatic emergency and the limited condition of the natural resources of our planet related to the architectural practice, both as relevant questions to give an answer through alternative design processes.

Circularity in design will be the methodology to redefine the exploration of material in architectural practice. Each student must work throughout the course with a finite material and must not generate any material considered as waste. Through research-based learning, students and the teaching team will carry out a collaborative project for the definition of a Manual of Circular Processes in Architectural Design.

The project is structured in four different phases:
Phase 1 _ Documentation and experimentation (1 month)
The course begins with an individual process of research, gathering information regarding the possible materials to work with during the semester. Working groups are organized to experiment with selected material. A certain amount of material is collected to be handled, exchanged and processed. This volume is managed in such a way that at the end of the course, each student records their transformations, proving no waste has been produced in their evolution.
Phase 2 _ Development and production (2 months)
Each student develops three specific architectural projects. They experiment different ways of assembling and disassembling the selected materials, working with small prototypes, testing multiple solutions that optimize the condition of circularity in the design process. Controlled production and organizational dynamics reduce waste to the minimum possible, as reusing already manipulated materials within a closed cycle in the design process. Exchanges between students are encouraged, both of the materials used and of the ideas explored. As the main requirement of this research project, the final requested balance of matter should be accomplished.
Phase 3 _ Analysis and compilation (1 month)
To explain the circular strategies applied, both in the management of immediately assigned material and in the design process, the final projects are described through graphic documentation, plans and models, and also several data sheets. This step is relevant to explain not only the built solutions, but the possible future scenarios to reuse the generated matter.
Phase 4 _ Materials Regeneration Center (fall semester)
The end of this project is the starting point to generate an open and collaborative space in which the products resulting from the course are cataloged. Its creation aims to expand the scope of the experience carried out, to disseminate among the students the condition of circularity as a possible methodology to evolve the design processes.

Keywords:

Circular Design, Architecture, Upcycling, Assembling, Matter.