Rethinking Materials for a Circular Built Environment
Shane Totten has 30+ years of experience in architecture, sustainable design, urban planning, interior design, historic preservation and building systems consulting. His career has included a wide range of responsibility, including VP of Programs, Strategy + Impact at Southface and Associate Chair of Interior Design at SCAD.
In all of Shane’s work, he prioritizes regenerative design as a unique opportunity for innovation, conservation and profitability.
Architect Shannon Goodman is the Executive Director of the Lifecycle Building Center. After a firm-wide sustainability initiative in her previous role at Perkins&Will, Shannon began focusing on the life-cycle of construction materials, leading to the founding of LBC in 2011. Since then, LBC has kept over 12 million pounds of building materials out of landfills, redirecting them back into the community through reuse.
Cindy Kaufman has crafted experiences for a wide range of brands — the Olympic Games, Red Bull Energy Drink, Kellogg’s, Turner Broadcasting — always focused on establishing long-term emotional connections to drive brand equity, at the international and grassroots levels.
Trained as an interior designer, Kaufman now leads marketing for Mannington Commercial.
As Gensler's Sustainability Director, Benjamin Holsinger advises design teams and manufacturers on sustainable practices to minimize environmental and human impacts. He also consults on sustainability and wellbeing strategies.
Holsinger holds M.Arch and M.S. degrees in Sustainable Design and has worked in Sustainability Consulting as well as Product Development in his 10+ years with Gensler.
Rachel Palopoli is EVP and Sustainability Director at Tarkett, driving effective business and sustainability solutions through strategic planning and efficiencies that deliver cost savings, revenue growth and expansion.
As construction and design sectors confront mounting environmental pressures, the path toward sustainable materials is fraught with technical, cultural and infrastructural challenges. In this session, experts including Shane Totten and Cindy Kaufman of Mannington Commercial, Shannon Goodman of Lifecycle Building Center, Rachel Palopoli of Tarkett and Benjamin Holsinger of Gensler shared insights on the barriers and breakthroughs shaping circular design in the built environment.
Designing for Deconstruction, Not Just Durability
A recurring theme across the discussion was the mismatch between how buildings are designed and how they are eventually dismantled. Most products and architectural features are created for permanence rather than future disassembly. Multi-layered flooring systems, aggressive adhesives, and composite materials make it difficult or impossible to separate components at the end of life, reducing the potential for reuse or recycling. The panelists emphasized that this lack of foresight builds waste into every project from the start. Even when materials technically can be reused, their value is often lost due to poor installation methods or contamination from adjacent materials.
The panelists echoed this concern, noting that true sustainability requires products to be designed with disassembly and material recovery in mind. Yet the reality is that economic pressures and traditional construction timelines often incentivize speed over longevity, complicating any effort to embed circular principles into the design process.
Traceability and Infrastructure: The Missing Links
Even when materials are technically recyclable, a lack of traceability severely limits recovery. The panelists highlighted how the identity of a product—its chemical makeup, manufacturer or installation method—is frequently lost once it enters the built environment. Without that data, companies cannot safely reintroduce reclaimed materials into their production processes. This is especially critical for items like carpet tile and vinyl flooring, where precise chemical content determines recycling eligibility.
Compounding this problem is the absence of widespread infrastructure for collection, sorting, and processing reclaimed materials. Carpet recycling facilities remain scarce, and existing systems rely heavily on nonprofits or niche networks. Without coordinated logistical and policy support, even the most circular products often end up in landfills due to lack of access to the right channels or economic disincentives for reuse.
A Cultural Shift in Design and Communication
The panelists emphasized that many designers still prioritize aesthetics and permanence, while clients rarely ask what happens to materials when a building reaches the end of its useful life. Shifting this mindset requires embedding end-of-life thinking into early design decisions and making circular design aspirational—not just utilitarian.
Fundamental to circularity is a cultural change among architects, designers and clients.
The panelists also stressed the importance of storytelling and education in reframing the narrative. Highlighting successful reuse projects and quantifying environmental savings can inspire replication and build trust. But effective communication also means speaking the right language: some clients are moved by financial returns or risk mitigation, while others respond to public health or moral imperatives. Understanding these motivators and tailoring the circularity pitch accordingly is key to expanding industry buy-in.
Navigating Trade-Offs with Data and Empathy
Finally, the panel addressed the inherent complexity of sustainability decision-making. Materials that score well in one category, such as low embodied carbon, might underperform in others, like chemical safety or recyclability. The panelists pointed to tools like the Gensler Product Sustainability (GPS) framework as helpful guides, though acknowledged that designers must often make trade-offs without a single clear solution.
In this space, empathy is critical—not only toward clients but also toward fellow practitioners navigating outdated systems and competing priorities. Incremental wins, when celebrated and shared, can drive momentum for systemic change. As the panel concluded, circularity isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a human one, requiring collaboration, patience, and a long view of progress.
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