Library of Reuse

Hosted by CEA Lab, ETH Zurich

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Jan 2026

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Specialists in circular engineering for architecture and construction talk about their research, industry trends, and overcoming challenges for a sustainable built environment.

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17 recent

January 19, 2026Episode 10

CAD with woodworking technician Andreas Rhyner

Expert craftsmanship is indispensable, but having access to optimal tools can transform approaches to design. Andreas Rhyner, woodworking technician and event manager at Shaper Tools, talks with Ana Bendiek-Laranjo from the CEA Lab about his own training as a joiner and how he challenges himself to find new possibilities using digital technologies. His experience using new machines, software, and computer-aided design to build furniture has shaped his perspective on the future of woodworking and reuse.Episode credits:Interview by Ana Bendiek-Laranjo. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess with assistance from Noah Pasqualini and Reva Saksena. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture, ETH Zurich

December 16, 2025Episode 7

Community architecture with Kevin Kimwelle

Kevin Kimwelle, a Kenyan architect and researcher, was never convinced that megastructures and massive development projects are the best way to serve African communities. Yet teaching sustainability to communities who already live it seemed hypocritical. As a result, he now practices community architecture, which foregrounds local knowledge as its greatest asset. From rural villages where reuse is a way of life to urban demolition sites where waste becomes a resource, his work in South Africa reconsiders circularity in construction. He talks to Noah Pasqualini, an assistant at the CEA Lab at ETH Zurich, about how community-driven design can bridge social, economic, and environmental divides.Episode credits:Interview by Noah Pasqualini. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess with assistance from Noah Pasqualini and Reva Saksena. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

December 8, 2025Episode 6

Synthetic biology with Gizem Gumuskaya

Biology might seem like a discipline unrelated to construction. But nature self-organizes to build itself in fascinatingly complex ways. Gizem Gumuskaya brings together design aspects from synthetic biology to advance engineering methods that could one day construct self-organizing structures. She talks with Catherine De Wolf about falling in love with lab work as an architecture student, which led her to this new frontier of engineering and architecture. Episode credits:Interview by Catherine De Wolf. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

December 1, 2025Episode 5

Collective architecture with Anna MacIver-Ek and Axel Chevroulet

Reuse in construction requires experimentation. The lack of established protocols and standard materials opens new realms of engagement for architects and engineers alike. Anna MacIver-Ek and Axel Chevroulet discuss how working with like-minded colleagues in the architecture collective La Clique gives them invaluable freedom to experiment with new ideas and designs.The guests talk with Ana Bendiek-Laranjo, Arabelle de Saussure and Catherine De Wolf of the CEA Lab at ETH Zurich about the value of combining practice with academia and the importance of working with both new technologies and traditional building methods.Episode credits:Interview by Ana Bendiek-Laranjo, Arabelle de Saussure, and Catherine De Wolf. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess with assistance from Noah Pasqualini. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

November 24, 2025Episode 4

Circular design with Latifa Alkhayat

When people work with circular materials, they don’t get to start with a blank canvas of unlimited options. But Latifa Alkhayat, a teaching fellow at the MIT School of Architecture, describes how creative constraints can inspire new directions. She talks with Ana Bendiek-Laranjo and Catherine De Wolf from the CEA Lab at ETH Zurich about finding hands-on and bottom-up opportunities for creating the most impact for the afterlives of materials.Episode credits:Interview by Ana Bendiek-Laranjo and Catherine De Wolf. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess with assistance from Reva Saksena. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

November 17, 2025Episode 3

Adaptive constructions with Marirena Kladeftira

Digital manufacturing, material processing methods, and modular systems can help us create more circular structures. But how far can 3D printing and automation really take us? Marirena Kladeftira, Design Tech Innovation Fellow at Cornell Design Tech, talks with Ioanna Mitropoulou, a postdoctoral researcher at the CEA Lab at ETH Zurich about the benefits and drawbacks of new technologies and traditional materials.Episode credits:Interview by Ioanna Mitropoulou. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess with assistance from Noah Pasqualini. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

November 10, 2025Episode 2

3D printing with Virginia San Fratello

When people think of 3D printing, they often think of plastic structures. But Virginia San Fratello, Chair of Design at San Jose State University, experiments in printing with materials like sand, clay, sawdust and even bonemeal to create haptic and comfortable structures made from local waste. Vanessa Costalonga, a PhD candidate at the CEA Lab at ETH Zurich, talks with her about how her multidisciplinary approaches fuse science and art in her teaching, her practice, and even to help coral reefs regenerate.Episode credits:Interview by Vanessa Costalonga. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

November 3, 2025Episode 1

Transforming community spaces with Ana Vargas

Observation and imagination enable Ana Vargas to transform informal settlements together with their inhabitants. In this episode, she talks with Catherine De Wolf about her methods and designing together with children to co-create the playgrounds of their dreams using recovered materials.Ana Vargas is the founder and executive director of Trazando Espacios, a civic association for transforming community spaces in Venezuela. She collaborated with the CEA Lab in Insieme, a project that tracked and traced the histories of reclaimed bricks used for a structure at the 2025 Venice Biennale. The bricks, salvaged from demolition sites, highlighted the potential of creative reuse and participatory co-design. Episode credits:Interview by Catherine De Wolf. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

August 5, 2025Episode 9

Circular entrepreneurship with Ditte Lysgaard Vind

Increasing impact in the circular economy depends on investment and entrepreneurship. But how can companies and startups design a world without waste and help us stay within our planetary boundaries?Ditte Lynsgaard Vind, chair of the Danish Design Council and founder of The Circular Way, seeks out business models that ensure more product circulation and reuse. Brandon Byers, a recent PhD graduate of the CEA Lab, talks with her about what approaches are needed to make the circular economy impactful for the built environment.See Ditte Lynsgaard Vind’s book Danish Design Heritage and Global Sustainability here.Episode credits: Interview by Brandon Byers. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich

July 15, 2025Episode 8

Green transformable building with Prof. Elma Durmisevic

What if construction waste were considered the result of a design error? Elma Durmisevic suggests that innovating adaptable, dynamic and innovative building systems would help create a circular value chain to prevent waste from ever being produced.Durmisevic founded 4D Architects, a firm that focuses on transformable structures, design for disassembly and system development. She also founded the GTB Lab, the European Laboratory for Green Transformable Buildings in the Netherlands, and the Green Design Center in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Deepika Raghu a CEA postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, conducted the interview. Raghu works across the Circular Future Cities Lab Design++, and DiCE Lab, developing AI-driven tools and digital workflows for circular construction in diverse global contexts.Learn more about GTB Lab, the European Laboratory for Green Transformable Buildings in the Netherlands:https://www.gtb-lab.comRead more about the Green Design Center in Mostar: https://www.bamb2020.eu/topics/pilot-cases-in-bamb/gdc/Episode credits: Interview by Deepika Raghu. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess. Special thanks to Thomas Stahel for his sound engineering expertise. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich