CIA²: Circular Intelligent Interior Architecture & Approach

Moving toward a holistic approach to construction projects

CIA² stands for Circular Intelligent Interior Architecture & Approach. The partners AVC Gemino, Designregio Kortrijk, Bopro and Ingenium are advocates of the circular building economy. However, they see that the circular principles are still insufficiently applied in practice. This is because there is too little collaboration throughout the chain and the building process is too fragmented, both vertically and horizontally.

The complexity of building, for example, leads to profound specialization of companies. This offers advantages but at the same time leads to the unraveling of the specifications into a multitude of lots. The allocation is often made to contractors who are not the manufacturers of the materials used. Each interface between phases and contractors thus becomes a potential area of conflict.

The interfaces are also ignored horizontally. The classic building process is linear: the client says what he wants, architects make a design, which is executed, delivered and put into use. Different parties each take care of the realization of one part and then disappear. They have nothing to gain from the sustainable nature of the overall building process.

The CIA² partners want to help formulate a radically innovative answer to this problem. In doing so, CIA² zooms in for the first time on the interfaces: the in-between spaces that make connection possible. It is about literal interfaces, but also about figurative interfaces between stakeholders and phases in the building process.

The CIA²-partners use the principles of design thinking. The starting point is the needs and interests of all types of stakeholders in a building process. From there, the scope is defined, ideas are generated, prototypes are tested and lessons learned are incorporated into an open source roadmap and specifications for interfaces in circular interior construction projects. Anyone who wants to get started with circular building projects can use and refine this model for other phases and aspects of the building process.