CA²RE / Kayali / Reconnecting Waste

Abstract

This contribution presents an ongoing first-year PhD design-led research project investigating how workflows can be designed to support the circular reuse of out-of-spec bricks from demolition. Situated in Hamburg, the research focuses on integrating material irregularities into design and fabrication processes through iterative experimentation.

Rather than defining a fixed technical solution, the project examines how sequences of actions—spanning material sourcing, digital modelling, and fabrication—can be structured to accommodate variability in reclaimed materials. Digital fabrication is approached as a mediator within this workflow, enabling continuous negotiation between material conditions and design decisions.

The research develops through iterative cycles of testing, adjustment, and refinement, in which both material configurations and workflow structures are continuously reconfigured. In this process, contradictions and frictions between material behaviour and computational assumptions become productive moments that inform subsequent steps.

In the project, knowledge emerges through processes of making, prototyping, and spatial experimentation aligning with design-driven and knowledge-by-making approach. Rather than separating analysis and production, the research operates through connected design actions, framing reuse as an active condition embedded within the workflow itself.

Keywords: circular construction, practice-based research, collaboration, bricks.