A Digital Ecosystem for Recyclable Digital Twins

By 2030, the demand for natural resources will exceed the equivalent of two Earths. The construction industry in particular accounts for around 60% of global raw material extraction and 25% of global waste generation. A transition to circular systems is therefore essential.
 

Circular Twin is a digital ecosystem that combines the principles of the circular economy with end-to-end digitalisation in construction through the use of digital twins, generative design algorithms and virtual reality. The aim is to enable informed decisions for sustainable, flexible and reusable buildings to be made early on in the planning phase.

Why Circular Twin?
 

• 50% of all construction waste is generated at the end of a building's life cycle.
• Early planning phases offer the greatest potential for reducing resource consumption and CO₂ emissions.
• The EU taxonomy defines clear environmental targets for assessing sustainable investments – Circular Twin supports compliance.

Project
 

The construction industry is responsible for approximately 38% of all CO₂ emissions. The integration of reuse, recycling and end-of-life scenarios must therefore be carried out early and systematically. This is where Circular Twin comes in:

• Building on the Wohnen 4.0 project, Circular Twin uses existing BIM object libraries and material building passports.
   
• It integrates results from the BIMMaterial project to develop BIM-supported building passports.
• With the help of generative design, a wide range of variants are automatically generated in early planning phases and reuse scenarios.
• Algorithms for assessing recyclability enable transparent and traceable sustainability decisions.
   
• An interactive VR platform visualises variants and end-of-life scenarios for all relevant stakeholders.

Vision

Circular Twin is more than a research project – it is a step towards a sustainable building culture. It combines technology, sustainability and planning expertise in a digital ecosystem that actively supports the transition to a circular construction industry.