The Circular Retrofit Lab (CRL), completed in 2019, is one of Europe's first full-scale circular renovation demonstrators. Located at the heart of the VUB campus in Brussels, it shows how ageing student housing - once considered obsolete - can be transformed into a flexible, future-proof building without losing the value embedded in its structure and spaces.

Key insights

  1. The project tested demountable, adaptable and reusable building solutions, including facade, multiple wall and roof systems to drastically reduce construction and demolition waste. [bamb2020.eu], [vub.be]
  2. Circularity was explored across multiple scales: building, components and materials, always guided by throughtful scenario planning and environmental life cycle analyses. [circularactions.be], [bamb2020.eu]
  3. The project relied on extensive co-creation, including stakeholder roundtables, industry collaboration and hands-on student workshops. After all, circular technologies are already available. It’s a matter of applying them. [bamb2020.eu]
  4. Different interior layouts, façade systems and technical installations were designed to be changed, upgraded and reused over time, anticipating future uses rather than fixed functions. [vub.be], [circularactions.be]

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Project context

The Circular Retrofit Lab was developed as one of the demonstration cases within the European Buildings as Material Banks (BAMB) project, funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme. The project ran from 2016 to 2020.

VUB Architectural Engineering and KADERSTUDIO realised the CRL together with a broad ecosystem of product manufacturers, contractors, designers and circular-building innovators, including Geberit, Reynaers, Jaga, Saint-Gobain, Tarkett, Bao Living, JuuNoo and many others.

Related publications & outputs

Report D14 – 4 pilots built & feedback report – Testing BAMB results through prototyping and pilot projects https://www.bamb2020.eu/topics/pilot-cases-in-bamb/retrofit-lab/

Project Page of the Circular Retrofit Lab on the VUB Architectural Engineering website https://www.vub.be/arch/project/circularretrofitlab