Designing the Reuse Economy: How Architects Can Build Supply Chains, Not Just Buildings

"As rising emissions targets collide with shrinking material supplies and the growing urgency of climate commitments, the built environment is being forced into a deeper reckoning with how it consumes, circulates, and discards resources. What was once considered waste is now revealing itself as a dormant architectural archive, an urban ecosystem of materials waiting to be reclaimed, revalued, or reimagined."

"This emerging mindset is reshaping the foundations of practice. Instead of depending on long, extractive supply chains, designers are beginning to build their own closed-loop networks, establishing material banks, negotiating deconstruction protocols, and participating in new forms of urban mining. The goal is not merely to reduce waste but to cultivate new economies of continuity, where components move fluidly from one life to the next."

"A Climate Reckoning Construction's climate impact is now impossible to ignore. Almost 40% of global carbon emissions originate from buildings, with a growing proportion tied to embodied carbon, the emissions locked into concrete, steel, insulation, and glass before a structure is even occupied. The traditional demolition cycle, which discards these materials after only decades of use, undermines any progress made in operational efficiency. Cities are discovering the limitations of linear systems as landfill sites reach capacity and resource extraction becomes increasingly costly and unpredictable."

Architects face a turning point as rising emissions targets, shrinking material supplies, and urgent climate commitments force a reevaluation of resource consumption, circulation, and disposal. Waste is reframed as a dormant architectural archive and an urban ecosystem of reclaimable materials. Architects are expanding roles to orchestrate material flows, not just design buildings. Designers build closed-loop networks, establish material banks, negotiate deconstruction protocols, and practice urban mining. The aim is to create economies of continuity that keep components moving between lives and reduce embodied carbon. Construction contributes nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, and linear demolition practices strain landfills and undermine efficiency. Salvaged materials are gaining legitimacy.

Read at ArchDaily