COTE-versations

Date: September 26, 2025
Time: 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm
Format: Zoom (1 hour)
Cost: AIA/Associate AIA/Students Free, Non member $10
Registration Required to receive Zoom link
AIA Credit: 1 AIA HSW PDF

Today’s architects are reimagining not just what we build - but what we unbuild too. As embodied carbon becomes a central design concern, circular strategies like material salvage, deconstruction, and innovative reuse are becoming vital to sustainable practice. This session explores how both interiors and exteriors can become sources of carbon savings through careful disassembly, creative reuse, and next-generation building materials. Featuring real project examples and technical innovations, join us for an open conversation on how to shift the industry from extractive to circular thinking - one project at a time.

Learning Objectives

Identify circular design strategies—such as deconstruction, material salvage, and reuse- that reduce embodied carbon.

Evaluate the performance and sustainability impact of emerging low-carbon and recycled-content materials.

Explore how circularity can be applied across both interiors and exteriors to enhance project outcomes.

Discuss how policy, procurement, and collaboration can support and scale material reuse and deconstruction in practice.

Gretchen Worth
Gretchen Worth is the Director of the Susan Christopherson Center for Community Planning, which helps New York communities build more equitable, climate-resilient environments. She co-founded CR0WD, a network advancing circular construction and reuse. Gretchen holds degrees in journalism, historic preservation planning, and global development. She also serves on the board of Restoration Works International and advises the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Alliance.

Felix Heisel
Felix Heisel is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Circular Construction Lab at Cornell University, where he leads research on sustainable, circular design. He is a licensed architect in Germany and partner at 2hs Architekten, and his work explores buildings as material depots for future reuse. Heisel has published widely on circular construction and has taught internationally at institutions like ETH Zürich, Harvard GSD, and the Future Cities Lab in Singapore