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Case Study K.118 – The Reuse of Building Components in Winterthur,
Switzerland
To cite this article: E Stricker et al 2023 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2600 192008
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CISBAT 2023 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2600 (2023) 192008 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192008
Case Study K.118 – The Reuse of Building Components in
Winterthur, Switzerland
E Stricker1, M Angst2, G Brandi3, B Buser2, A Sonderegger3
1
ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland /
RPTU University of Kaiserslautern Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany
2
Baubüro in situ AG / Zirkular GmbH, Zurich/Basel, Switzerland
3
ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland
[email protected]
Abstract. The K.118 building on Winterthur’s Lagerplatz, completed in March 2021, has been
widely recognised and awarded as an outstanding example for applying the principles of the
circular economy to architecture. Commissioned by the Swiss pension fund Stiftung Abendrot,
the architects Baubüro in situ planned and constructed a building using reclaimed components
wherever possible. The planning and construction process was analysed by the Institute of
Constructive Design (IKE) at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in cooperation
with the architects. The study shows that the reuse of building components has great potential
for saving resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions during the construction phase of
buildings. In order to use this potential, economic and procedural obstacles created by the
framework conditions of today's construction industry must be tackled.
1. Case Study K.118
The vertical extension of a former carpentry shop in Winterthur’s Sulzer area, planned and realised by
the Zurich- and Basel-based architectural practice Baubüro in situ, is the latest chapter in the history of
a remarkable urban transformation process. In the late 1980s, the production facilities of the Sulzer
company were shut down, and subsequently several temporary users moved into the vacated workshops
and halls. Since 2009, the area has been carefully repaired and further developed by the new owner, the
pension fund Stiftung Abendrot, relying on a participatory dialogue with the existing building and the
people who use it (Jenni, 2008). The case study discussed in this paper, K.118, is the last major sub-
project to date of this transformation, which was meant to serve as an experiment from the outset.
Wherever possible, reused components should be used, which the project team procured from
demolition sites within a 90 km radius of the construction site – nevertheless, the building should not be
more expensive than a conventional new building. Parallel to the planning and construction process,
Baubüro in situ and the ZHAW Institute for Constructive Design developed this case study with support
from several interdisciplinary experts. Consideration was given to the questions: How can the reuse of
building components, once practised as a matter of course, be implemented in the context of the current
Swiss construction industry? What constraints will this reuse come up against and what opportunities
does it offer? The case study generated fundamental findings on the ecological, procedural and economic
implications of component reuse as construction method (Stricker et al., 2022). This paper summarises
and discusses the main results.
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CISBAT 2023 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2600 (2023) 192008 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192008
2. Analysing K.118
From the start, K.118 aimed to reuse as many components as possible in order to find out to what extent
the practice of reuse can be applied in the current framework conditions of the Swiss construction
industry, and whether reuse can be practised in a cost-neutral manner and which ecological benefits it
generates, especially with regard to greenhouse gas emissions in the construction phase. The observation
of the planning and construction process also allowed insights into procedural and architectural-
constructive peculiarities of this practice.
The term “reuse” (in German: Wiederverwendung) is defined differently in several architecture- and
building-industry-related publications. In the context of this study, reuse means the use of dismantled,
already used or leftover components in processed or unprocessed form, in the original or another
function and regardless of the difference in quality standards between the original and the new use
(Stricker et al., 2022, p. 341). The reuse rate achieved in the K.118 project varies depending on the point
of view: according to material weight, only 14% of the components were reused, according to material
volume it is 41%. This difference can be explained by the fact that primarily lightweight construction
elements could be reused while primarily heavy, solid construction elements such as concrete seismic
reinforcements and foundations had to be built new. The spectrum of reused components includes almost
all the trades involved in construction, from the steel supporting structure (supports and girders, profiled
sheets of the composite ceilings) to parts of the building shell (e.g. insulating materials, sheet metal
cladding, windows) to the interior fittings (e.g. various bricks, wall and floor coverings made of wood-
based materials, doors, built-in furniture) to elements of the building services (e.g. radiators, sanitary
appliances, photovoltaic systems).
Figure 1. K.118, Photo: Martin Zeller Figure 2. Exemplary component organigram
2.1 Process and organisation
As a basis for the examination of K.118, ten specific processes and services of reuse were defined,
which either become necessary (e.g. dismantling and preparation) or have to be redistributed (e.g.
transport and storage) as a result of reuse: the search, assessment, documentation, acquisition,
dismantling, transport, storage, preparation, reinstallation and maintenance of the components. Each
component search triggers a cascade of actions and decisions that can be assigned to these processes
and services of reuse, which were defined and considered from different points of view: Which
stakeholders are involved? What services do they undertake and how do they relate to each other?
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CISBAT 2023 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2600 (2023) 192008 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192008
Using the large-format aluminium windows as an example, Fig. 02 shows how the processes and
services of reuse mentioned above were assigned to different actors. The complexity of the constellation
entails numerous organisational and also legal questions (Abegg and Streiff, 2021). It is closely related
to the project set up practised in the K.118 project. Almost all processes and services of reuse were
taken over or coordinated by the architect’s office in the role of overall management, including services
that contractors or suppliers are usually responsible for. This requires a team with a wide range of
different skills that go beyond the usual architectural profession. In addition to architects and
draftspersons, the general manager’s team also included skilled crafts and logistics experts. Since the
design, planning and component search were managed by the same firm, the project-specific search for
components with close interaction between component, design and planning became possible. This
opened up architectural possibilities, but also increased the complexity of coordination, since potential
building components must first be identified at various demolition sites and then salvaged in a
coordinated manner and integrated into the new building. Based on the experience gained while working
on the K.118 project, the responsible architects have set up a spin-off with a new business model, a
specialist planning office for reuse that can be consulted by architectural offices and builders who lack
the necessary skills and capacities in their own company. The new company represents a business field
that is symptomatic of the current early phase of transition to a circular construction industry. There is
already a demand for circular construction services, but suppliers and contractors rarely offer or work
with reused material in Switzerland at present. The market for used components is still very fragmented,
consisting mainly of local component exchanges and brokerages. Larger reuse projects therefore still
require a just-in-time search for suitable components as well as specific know-how and capacities for
their dismantling, transport, storage and processing.
2.2 Design and construction
In order to understand how reuse changes the process and results of design and construction, the main
design steps of K.118 have been retraced in relation to the components found. This process began
months before the actual project started, when windows typical of the area were kept for the new
building during the demolition of a neighbouring warehouse. The right-angled geometry of the steel
structure, made up of IPE profiles from a logistics centre in Basel, led to the design decision to have the
new storeys cantilever over the conically shaped existing building. The escape staircase of a Zurich
office building, which coincidentally matched well with the geometry of the project, triggered the
decision to access the new storeys using an external staircase instead of an internal one. Some of the
fundamental design decisions are therefore directly related to the choice of specific used components.
Also the constructive structure and the architectural expression of the façades are shaped by the
availability of components, far beyond the obvious orange-red enamel finish of the sheet metal cladding.
Due to the lack of thermally separated frames, the industrial windows already mentioned were doubled
to form box windows. In addition, large-format, triple-glazed aluminium windows were installed,
originating from the same demolition site as the outside staircase. In order to minimise planning
interfaces, they were reused, including the blind system and, wherever possible, the coupling profiles,
which now determine the axis dimension. However, the windows were originally planned for higher
floors. To ensure that the parapet height required by safety regulations is maintained at the new location,
the upper edge of the window frame protrudes over the lower edge of the ceiling front, so the windows
appear frameless at the top when viewed from the inside. On the outside, the frame is covered by the
façade-cladding of the floor above, which is composed of trapezoidal sheet metal that used to clad a
printing shop. On the one hand, the floor-by-floor layering of the cladding created the necessary
tolerance for a priori fixed window dimensions, which do not exactly fit the measurements of the
structure. On the other hand, this form of joining allows scope for the slightly varying profiles of the
metal sheets. In addition to such design decisions primarily relevant for the external appearance, the
combination of materials and their structural design also directly reflects the approach of using reused
components wherever possible and choosing regenerative building materials with a favourable
greenhouse gas balance for new additions. (Fig. 03)
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CISBAT 2023 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2600 (2023) 192008 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192008
Figure 3. Mock-up of façade, photo: Yusuf Supuk Figure 4. Cumulation of Costs
2.3 Costs
From the outset, case study K.118 was also intended to examine the question of whether the reuse of
building components is economically competitive under the current conditions of the Swiss construction
industry. In the first step, the composition of costs was determined for every single component, taking
all relevant processes and services of reuse into account, such as the search, assessment, documentation
and coordination of all other services, acquisition (purchase price), dismantling, transport, storage,
preparation (cleaning, upgrading and adjustments) and reinstallation. Maintenance costs were taken into
account if specially agreed guarantees and maintenance work were included in the scope of services
provided by the contractor. The actual purchase price was usually negligibly small (between 0 and
3.4%). By far the largest part of the costs accrued after the components had been purchased, due to the
labour involved in dismantling, processing and reassembly. Considering the high labour costs in
Switzerland, these services proved to be mainly responsible for the overall costs.
The next step was to compare each component with the values for equivalent new components. These
values were calculated as average prices based on data provided by the Swiss Research Centre for
Rationalisation in Building and Civil Engineering (CRB, 2019/2020), tenders of the contracted
companies and comparative offers of a general contractor. In order to achieve the cost target, the
preparation of the components was limited to the technically necessary steps. Merely aesthetic
corrections were avoided. Despite this, in some cases it was not possible to undercut the price of new
components. This primarily affects large and heavy components that required heavy equipment to be
handled, such as the steel structure, and components made of very common, inexpensive materials, such
as the floor coverings made of solid spruce wood, for which reuse was not worthwhile from a merely
economic point of view. In the case of components with complex manufacturing processes such as doors
or windows, on the other hand, thanks to the “embodied craft”, being the expensive labour stored in the
component, in most cases savings could be achieved compared to the price of new components.
Looking at the accumulation of construction costs over the course of the project (Fig. 04), another
peculiarity becomes apparent. While in the conventional planning and construction process only
planning costs and fees are incurred up to the start of construction, in project K.118, component costs
of around 11% of the total construction costs had accumulated by this point. Although the total costs
ended up being only 2.5% more than the cost estimate, which was calculated assuming a conventional
building process, the client had to make considerable advance payments for the purchase of components
very early in the planning process without having the security of a building permit.
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CISBAT 2023 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2600 (2023) 192008 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192008
2.4. Greenhouse gas emissions
As part of the Gestaltungsplan Areal Lagerplatz (overall concept for the area), the K.118 project has to
meet the requirements of the SIA 2040 Energy Efficiency Path (2017), which are significantly stricter
than the legal requirements. In addition to the energy consumption during operation, grey energy and
greenhouse gas emissions as well as aspects of mobility are taken into account. In the course of this
study, greenhouse gas emissions in the construction phase of K.118 were analysed in three steps. All
values are based on Pfäffli (2022), worked out as part of the ZHAW research project Circular
Construction based on the leaflet SIA 2032 (2020).
In the first step, the greenhouse gas emissions were examined with regard to their composition per
component. With dismantling (R1), transport (R2 + R4), preparation (R3) and reinstallation (R5), all
relevant processes and services of reuse were taken into account. This also includes the transport from
the interim storage facility to the construction site and the reinstallation, which are usually neglected in
the life cycle assessment according to SIA 2032 (2020). The assignment of the services to the life cycle
model according to SN EN 15804+A1 / SIA 490.052+A1 (2013) can be seen in Fig. 05. Although all
the components come from within a maximum radius of 90 km, transport proved to be crucial for the
remaining greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to compare the emissions for the reused components with values for new components, the
benefits of reuse were compared to the life cycle model according to SN EN 15804+A1/SIA
490.052+A1 (2013). The comparative values for new components are based on the database of the Swiss
coordination conference of the building and real estate bodies of the public builders KBOB (2016), plus
the costs for phases A4 and A5, which are neglected in the KBOB data and according to the SIA 2032
(2020) information leaflet. Since no statistical values are available for these phases, the values
determined for the K.118 project were used (A4=R4, A5=R5). Their share is on average 50% of the
value for reused components and 4% of the comparative value for new components. Comparing the
greenhouse gas emissions per component with identical but new parts makes the potential for reuse
obvious: the reused components save 85-99% of greenhouse gas emissions in the production phase.
Transport within the specified radius also seems insignificant in comparison with the savings achieved.
Overall, the construction saved 494 t CO2eq in the construction phase compared to a hypothetical
project with same but new components – this corresponds to around 59%. The remaining 41% is made
up as follows: 1% reused components, 1% regenerative building materials such as straw and clay, 23%
recycled concrete and 16% other new building materials.
Figure 5. Phases of reuse and life cycle model Figure 6. Costs and CO2eq emissions of reused components
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CISBAT 2023 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2600 (2023) 192008 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2600/19/192008
3. Conclusions
The study clearly shows the great potential of reusing components to save greenhouse gas emissions
during the construction phase of buildings, to save primary material and to avoid waste. Preservation of
building stock and further use on site is obviously the first option to be discussed. In line with the Swiss
internal development strategy (Federal Law on Spatial Planning RPG, 01.05.2014, Art.1), no further
building land can generally be developed, which has been found to support sustainable development in
many ways. As a side effect however, this policy is also putting relatively young, technically flawless
buildings under pressure to be renewed. Wherever preservation of building stock is not possible, the
reuse of entire components can offer a valuable alternative.
Given the high labour costs in Switzerland, the labour-intensive practice of reuse has however proven
to be relatively complex, above all in terms of the organisation and economics. This is due less to the
peculiarities of reuse itself than to the fact that the planning and construction industry in Switzerland is
not – or is no longer – prepared for this practice. The market for used components is not yet sufficiently
established while there is a lack of specialised planning offices, service providers and workshops.
In order to change this situation, business models including reuse would have to become more
economically attractive. Findings from case study K.118 point to different possible approaches to
promoting component reuse. Comparing the costs per component with the greenhouse gas emissions
saved shows how much influence a higher price for emissions could have on the economic attractiveness
of reuse (Fig. 06) – as an important incentive for the development of a corresponding market.
The approval practice also offers scope for development. That the greenhouse gas emissions saved
in the construction phase of the K.118 played a role at all is due to the exceptional fact that the
Gestaltungsplan stipulated the application of the SIA 2040 energy efficiency path for the building permit
process instead of the usual SIA 380/I standard, which only records the heating demand. In order to
generally promote that careful management of the building stock, e.g. a mandatory demolition permit
would be conceivable, which is linked to a coherent concept for the climate-friendly and resource-saving
subsequent use of the materials.The remaining emissions are largely due to the use of recycled concrete,
without which the applicable norms and standards, e.g. on fire protection, noise protection and
earthquake safety, could not have been complied with. On the one hand, it is important to develop
alternative constructions that are ready for implementation. On the other hand, the norms and standards
must also be questioned in balance with ecological interests as to which requirements are actually
sensible and necessary instead of merely reflecting what is technically possible.
Acknowledgements
The Project Case Study K.118 was financially supported by Stiftung Abendrot, the Federal Office for the Environment, the
Office for Sustainable Construction of the City of Zurich and the Office for the Environment Basel
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