Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs spoke to a panel of experts today in Eindhoven about the circular economy and architecture, as part of Dutch Design Week 2019.

The panel included Overtreders W's co-founder Hester van Dijk, architect and author Thomas Rau and architect Marco Vermeulen.

A circular economy is an economic model that minimises consumption, the waste of finite resources and the destruction of ecosystems, by instead continually reusing materials.

The talk explored the ways in which built environment practitioners can reconcile this alternative economic system with their designs, processes and business models.

Van Dijk is the co-founder of Amsterdam design agency Overtreders W, which often employs the principles of the circular economy in it projects.

Examples include a temporary, zero-waste barn and restaurant made from borrowed materials, and a pavilion for Dutch Design Week last year that had almost no ecological footprint.

Rau is the founder of Amsterdam-based firm RAU Architects. Earlier this year, the practice built a thatched observatory for bird watching, which can be deconstructed and rebuilt in a different location.

With Sabine Oberhuber, he is also the co-author of Material Matters. The book explores sustainable methods of consumption and production.

Vermeulen is the founder of Studio Marco Vermeulen, a design office working within and outside the field of architecture to explore alternative design strategies.

The studio has previously designed an energy-efficient museum situated within a wetland area in Rotterdam.

The discussion added to the conversation about the unprecedented push by the architecture and design industry to combat runaway climate change.

Examples of recent events exploring sustainability include the Architecture of Emergency climate summit at the Barbican and the Oslo Architecture Triennale, which took de-growth as its central theme.

Dezeen hosts and livestreams talks and panel discussions from around the world. Recent examples include the annual architecture lecture given by Jean-Philippe Vassal at the Royal Academy in London and a conversation with Arthur Mamou Mani about his bioplastic installation for COS.