Second Place Winner
Material Commonwealth
Design by
Heriberto Cruz Cruz, Grace Lawson, Adeniyi Onanuga & Ana Gonzalez
Juror’s Comment:
Systemic circular model integrating reuse, production, and adaptable mixed-use housing.
Work on:
Provide more quantified lifecycle and carbon impact analysis.
Heriberto Cruz Cruz, Grace Lawson, Adeniyi Onanuga & Ana Gonzalez
Grace Lawson
Grace Lawson is an emerging designer working toward her architecture license. With a deep commitment to innovative sustainability, she is dedicated to demonstrating that the most sustainable building of the future is the one that has already been built.
Adeniyi Onanuga
Adeniyi “Niyi” Onanuga is a licensed architect and designer whose work centers on circular construction, ecological systems, and material innovation. A graduate of Drexel University’s accredited architecture program and a recipient of multiple academic and professional honors, he explores how adaptive reuse and regenerative design can transform waste streams into architectural assets. Through research projects such as Falling Stars Protocol and Material Commonwealth, his work integrates environmental stewardship, modular systems, and design for disassembly to advance resilient urban futures.
Ana Gonzalez
Ana Gonzalez is an architectural designer based in Portland, Oregon. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from California College of the Arts and has worked with firms across California and Oregon. Her career has taken her to various parts of the world, where she has had the opportunity to study, build, and experience architecture across diverse cultural contexts.
Her passion for sustainability consistently informs both her design approach and lifestyle—from designing floating homes and practicing zero-waste living to developing systems for material recycling and reuse. She currently works at a science museum, contributing to an exhibit focused on climate change and community action. In her free time, she explores textile crafts such as crocheting, tailoring, and repair, and enjoys playing pickleball.
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
1. Concept & Interpretation
Grace Lawson:
Our central idea was to try to reuse typically wasted material and incorporate learning and participation into the recycling process. We took the theme quite literally by using scaffolding, old cranes, and recyclable waste for aesthetic purposes.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
The proposal situates the former Forrest Island Recycling complex within Detroit’s industrial legacy and the physical residue of the Industrial Revolution. Research into abandoned factories, steel plants, and automotive facilities informed the decision to preserve the existing shell as both structure and artifact. “Circular Architecture – Waste as a Resource” becomes a spatial system that inserts modular residential and commercial blocks into this heavy industrial frame. The building operates as a material commons embedded in a landscape historically defined by extraction, now redirected toward regeneration.
Ana Gonzalez:
The central idea behind our proposal was to create a modular system that could occupy an unused building shell while incorporating construction material waste. This translated to the theme of circular architecture through the use of a “material passport” that would track the use, dismantling, and reuse of several types of construction waste.
The program of the space is based on modules that create a multi-use live/work/play environment. The programming consists of modular tenant spaces, office spaces, community center, marketplace, and green spaces.
2. Addressing C&D Waste
Grace Lawson:
The design reimagines what could’ve been if the Forrest Island Recycling Center had not been demolished. It’s almost poetic, using a recycling center as the base site for a project centered on recycling, and that was one of the reasons we chose the site. Our main focus was machinery and things used during the construction process only. One example of this was using the scaffolding as a modular. decorative covering for the central walkway.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
The design targets high-volume construction and demolition materials including concrete, brick, steel, wood, plastic, and glass. Detroit’s vacant industrial typologies offered a real-world lens into material lifespan, decay, and salvage potential, including construction equipment salvaging. Waste streams are reintegrated through crushing, remilling, structural reuse, and on-site fabrication. The project reduces landfill dependency while reframing demolition debris as an active construction resource.
Ana Gonzalez:
Our team compiled research on the most common waste materials from construction sites. Using the top materials, we focused on how these could be reused for new construction including structure, exterior façade, and interior details. Creating modular, prefabricated systems for using these materials allows for future dismantling and continuous reuse.
3. Material Innovation
Grace Lawson:
We took, in my opinion, a very unique route when it came to choosing materials to reuse. The scaffolding being one of them. However, another way our project is unique is how we planned on incorporating the tenants into the building’s life cycle. Our main idea was that qualifying wasted materials like fabric, plastic, or paper could be recycled and built into custom wall panels that would reflect the things being the msot consumed within the community. For example, if there was a person living in a unit that loved sewing and knitting and other similar things, they could submit their fabric and yarn scraps to the facility manager and they would come back as a woven panel that could be added somewhere in the overall building. This incentivizes people to recycle and think about the things they use the most because they could be rewarded with their own wall panel and make a mark on their building.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
Material strategies draw from circular precedents such as Circle House and the People’s Pavilion, along with adaptive reuse case studies explored during development. Pulverized masonry and glass are incorporated into aggregate-based facade panels, producing a durable and identity-driven surface condition. Salvaged steel, scaffolding, and gantry systems define the modular grid while preserving industrial memory. Plastic waste is processed into textile and facade infill systems, allowing low-value material to take on architectural agency.
Ana Gonzalez:
The materials we chose to use for our project included concrete and masonry being re-molded into new bricks for the exterior façade, metal from scaffolding and rebar for structural elements, plastics and tarps for decorative elements, and trusswork from cranes and equipment for large structures making up the modules.
4. Design for Disassembly
Grace Lawson:
The entire building is modular. We imagined that the apartment units and shop tenant spaces could be completely removed and reinstalled in different locations and orientations based on what the current needs of the community was.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
The building is organized through 750-square-foot modular blocks that can be combined, separated, or restacked over time. Reversible assemblies rely on dry mechanical connections to support long-term adaptability. Centralized service spines minimize invasive structural modifications. The system aligns with both modular research and adaptive reuse strategies observed in Detroit’s industrial conversions.
Ana Gonzalez:
We integrated strategies like modularity and prefabricated elements for ease of construction and deconstruction. We created a “material passport” system to track the materials being repurposed and to allow for research and reports to be made on each material.
5. Waste Reduction Strategies
Grace Lawson:
Our largest savings in materials came through choosing a site. We chose a warehouse that was already modular and mostly empty. Demolition wouldn’t be much, and any of the concrete or steel could be reused for aesthetic purposes either in paving the sidewalk or providing canopy spaces for tenants so they could enjoy the outside more.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
Dimensional standardization, prefabrication, and coordination with conventional construction equipment reduce excess material use. Preservation of the existing structure limits demolition and excavation. Concentrated MEP zones improve efficiency and reduce redundancy. Lifecycle planning extends beyond initial construction to anticipate future adaptation and material recovery.
Ana Gonzalez:
To reduce waste throughout the building’s lifecycle we emphasized modular and prefabricated elements that can be easily replaced and repaired as needed. We also included a system of reuse focused on the tenants and their waste. By collecting and reusing textiles and plastics into colorful glazing panels, each tenant is able to create a unique design in their living space.
6. Aesthetics & Circularity
Grace Lawson:
The main way is obviously through the recycling program previously mentioned, but we also incorporated scaffolding and crane arms into the decorative spaces. This allows people to see construction materials in a different light. Scaffolding, which is usually just seen on active construction sites, can be used to hang hammocks from or display goods in shops, and the crane arms add interest and a moment of “where have I seen something like this before?” that we hope people would have.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
The architectural language draws directly from Detroit’s industrial character while integrating contemporary adaptive reuse principles. Exposed steel frameworks and scaffold systems maintain the visual logic of production. The evolving facade, composed of recycled panels produced on-site, makes circular participation visible. Environmental performance and architectural expression operate in tandem, reinforcing that rigor and beauty are not mutually exclusive.
Ana Gonzalez:
Several parts of our project combine sustainability and aesthetics. The composite brickwork that is made from discarded concrete and masonry are laid out in patterns that create areas of privacy and visibility as well as a visually interesting façade. Textiles and plastics are remade into colorful glazing panels that are used throughout the large windowed areas creating a customizable stained glass effect. Existing truss work from cranes and machinery add an unexpected visual element as well as structural integrity.
7. Feasibility & Implementation
Grace Lawson:
Other than the fact that the Forrest Recycling Center no longer exists, I don’t see why renovating a warehouse of that shape into apartment units and a small commercial strip wouldn’t be possible.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
The proposal is structured for phased implementation within an existing industrial envelope. Adaptive reuse lowers embodied carbon and leverages existing structural capacity. Regulatory approval for reclaimed materials and coordination of on-site fabrication present logistical challenges. These constraints also create opportunities for innovation in policy, certification, and local material economies.
Ana Gonzalez:
We see this proposal as something that is implementable today. The waste coming from construction sites all around the world can and should be reused. We are proposing feasible ways of reusing very common materials and creating systems for circular architecture that can be implemented now.
8. Message for the Future
Grace Lawson:
I believe we have to think about designing in such a way that there is less guesswork while constructing something and simplify our designs to consider such factors. One way the firm I work for is doing this already is designing with modularity in mind. When we know a building is going to contain masonry of any kind, we design all things related to that in such a way that only half or full blocks are being used. This reduces waste, makes construction easier, and adds a level of thought and insight that we can provide our clients that others might not even think about.
Adeniyi Onanuga:
Industrial cities are full of structural potential waiting to be reactivated. Architects must approach abandoned buildings as repositories of material value rather than liabilities. Circular construction requires systems thinking, traceable material flows, and reversible detailing from the outset. The future of architecture depends on shifting from extraction-driven production toward long-term material stewardship, with a willingness to design buildings that can evolve rather than expire.
Ana Gonzalez:
We believe architects and designers like ourselves should have a better understanding of the unused and discarded materials common on every construction site. When we are more aware of these things, we can better implement practices toward reuse and sustainably built environments.
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