Circle House is a pioneering circular social housing project located in the Lisbjerg Bakke district on the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark. Consisting of about 60 general/social housing units, it is conceived as a scalable demonstration project that embeds circular economy principles into mainstream residential construction. The development is situated in a new sustainable urban area and combines two- and three-storey terraced houses with five-storey tower blocks, complemented by shared communal facilities.
The project was developed in collaboration with the Danish social housing provider Lejerbo and supported by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Technology Development and Demonstration Program (MUDP) and the philanthropic association Realdania. More than 30 companies from across the Danish construction value chain are involved, making Circle House a broad industry testbed for new business models, value chains and regulatory approaches related to circular building.
Architecturally, Circle House was designed by a dedicated “Collaboration Studio” composed of three Danish architecture firms: Vandkunsten Architects, Lendager Group and 3XN Architects, with GXN Innovation (3XN’s green innovation unit) facilitating and coordinating the process. Their shared goal is that approximately 90% of the building materials can be reused without significant loss of value.
Technically, the project is based on a limited set of prefabricated concrete elements and mechanical joints designed for disassembly, allowing the buildings to be efficiently taken apart and their components reused or reconfigured. In this way, Circle House functions both as a real housing scheme and as a full-scale laboratory, generating knowledge, guidance and inspiration for transitioning the wider construction sector toward circular, low-waste building practices.