Woodcircles Travelling Demonstrator
Putting research into practice
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Woodcircles is a four-year research project co-funded by the European Union to investigate how circular and sustainable solutions for timber in construction can be developed. Coordinated by the Danish Technological Institute, Woodcircles brings together 20 organisations spanning the entire timber value chain, from architects, developers, contractors, timber suppliers to academics, with the aim of accelerating the green transition of the construction sector.
The Woodcircles Travelling Demonstrator puts this research into practice, demonstrating how buildings can be designed from the outset as material banks, with components that retain their value and can continue to be used across multiple life cycles.
The Demonstrator is a full-scale prototype developed by Waugh Thistleton and the Woodcircles consortium to demonstrate a circular timber building system. It showcases how design for manufacture, assembly, disassembly and reuse can be applied to create adaptable, low-carbon buildings while testing the system through a series of public installations across Europe.
The demonstrator is conceived as architecture in motion: a reusable building that can be repeatedly assembled, disassembled and reconfigured. Combining new and reclaimed timber components, it illustrates how buildings can become long-term material resources rather than disposable structures, with each component retaining both its value and history.
The building is based on a modular kit of parts comprising glulam (GLT) beams and columns, cross-laminated timber (CLT) wall and floor panels made from both reclaimed and new timber, and reversible mechanical connections. Prefabricated components are digitally identified to support efficient assembly, maintenance and future reuse.
Using the same kit of parts, the demonstrator can be reconfigured into different layouts to suit a variety of sites and uses. This adaptability demonstrates how circular timber buildings can evolve over time rather than being demolished, extending their lifespan and reducing material waste.
Manufactured in Austria, the demonstrator will travel to Tartu, Turin and Rotterdam before being permanently reassembled at the Danish Technological Institute in Taastrup, Denmark, where it will remain as a lasting showcase of the Woodcircles circular building system.
