Studio Circular addresses the perpetual housing crisis by challenging the status quo through circular concepts and non-speculative ownership models, claiming that enough is enough – both in that the crisis has to end, and in that there are enough ideas and resources to do so! Non-speculative models are seen as catalysts to explore forgotten, transform existing, envision new, as well as develop collective, shared, democratic, communal, public, and hybrid forms of construction, ownership, and housing strategies. In tandem, the studio strives for implementing circularity at various levels: circular design (adaptive, flexible, incremental designs and programs etc.); circular construction (reuse, repurpose, recycle, upcycle materials and buildings, etc.); circular economies (supporting local skills, businesses, knowledge, etc.); circular resources (sustainable energy concepts, shared utilities, supply chains, etc.). While every student started by identifying a specific housing challenge, Studio Circular sees the resulting projects as a complementary set of proposals that can address the housing crisis from multiple perspectives and scales: from unit design to neighborhood design strategies, from sustainable building materials to incremental construction, from individual participation to community engagement, from democratized ownership to collective stewardship.
