Alana Vice joined the Portland studio as a summer design intern, participating in the firm’s robust internship program that includes conducting an in-depth research project. Currently pursuing a Master of Architecture at the University of Oregon in Portland, she also received a Bachelor of Architecture at Mississippi State University. Read more from our 2026 internship cohort and all our past intern research projects here.
Embodied Carbon, Building Waste & Resource Scarcity (Oh My!)
According to the Institute for Health in the Built Environment, the building industry alone accounts for roughly 40% of global CO2 emissions. Of that, only 13% is attributed to embodied carbon, and the remaining to operational carbon. But while operational carbon can be offset over time through sustainable, active practices (such as renewable energy), the embodied carbon has already been emitted before a building’s doors even open. Embodied carbon accounts for the CO2 emissions emitted to acquire materials; manufacture and transport materials; construct, maintain, and upkeep the project; demolish or deconstruct the project; and lastly, to dispose of the materials. Speaking of disposal, the building industry is responsible for a third of the world’s overall waste. This is an interesting problem, when considering the concern of resource scarcity. According to GXN, a research studio by 3XN Architects, humans currently use 1.5 times the number of resources the planet can reasonably provide. With consideration to the embodied carbon impact of building materials, the accumulation of building waste, and resource scarcity, the building industry must lean toward a circular economy — going beyond the standard, linear “cradle-to-grave” model to a circular “cradle-to-cradle” process.
Embodied Carbon Within Interiors
Normally, work on existing structures fluctuates with the economy: when the economy is at a low point, extant work increases, and new construction halts (and vice versa). However, in the last couple of decades, that trend has changed. According to the AIA, existing buildings make up around 43% of architectural billings, holding steady even after the country recovered from the Great Recession. As work on existing buildings increases, the embodied carbon footprint of interiors becomes an area that can make a real impact.
Interiors can be a tricky subject when it comes to embodied carbon. Although the embodied carbon associated with one renovation is not necessarily harmful by itself, the frequency of redevelopment means emitted embodied carbon accumulates over time. Tenant improvements happen roughly every 10-20 years; this is multiplied by the amount of units within one building. The Carbon Leadership Forum found that the impact of recurring tenant improvements cumulates in an immense embodied carbon footprint, rivaling an entire new construction footprint.
The Hidden Footprint: The Cost of Furniture
The options for furniture range from “fast furniture,” which is quickly mass-produced and made to last a few years (widely available), to “slow furniture,” which is more thoughtfully designed and manufactured to withstand 20+ years (few and far between). So, whereas interior materials are generally replaced on an already quick 10-year timeline, furniture is lucky to make it even to that number. According to the Carbon Leadership Forum, furniture is among the “hot spot” items within the embodied carbon of tenant improvements.
With the frequency that furniture is replaced, it should be no surprise it has become a growing category in the landfill. Considering EPA data, the United States saw a 450 % increase of furniture waste from the 1960s to 2018. Most furniture is sent to the landfill or incinerated — rarely is the material recycled or composted. The need to think concurrently about embodied carbon and waste within furniture design and selection is crucial to creating a circular economy.
Better Practices for Furniture Manufacturing & Design
Circular
Some furniture manufacturers understand furniture’s extensive contribution to waste, so their business models have shifted to promote a more circular economy. Some companies, like Koskela, offer furniture-as-service models and refurbishment and repair services. This keeps the pieces in a continuous state of use rather than going to the landfill.
Flexible
Designers are looking past the immediate future when considering furniture selection. Adaptable spaces need furniture that can keep up. Furniture manufacturers and designers are looking at modular adaptations and the ability for furniture to literally move and conform to different spaces. The company Ocee & Four created a modular sofa system, with different pieces that can be arranged in a multitude of ways, depending on the needs of the space. A piece of furniture that can be used in a wide array of arrangements can surpass the typical furniture timescale.
Local
Using local materials creates an opportunity to scale down the embodied carbon associated with transportation to the site and manufacturer. For Hennebery Eddy’s Portland office, local custom furniture company InHouse PDX was hired to craft a staff-designed set of modular couches and a mega-table for use in “The Eddy,” a place of collaboration in the studio.
Disassembly
Manufacturers are considering the end-of-life of their furniture, allowing for more material transparency and circular analysis. Furniture manufacturers like Keilhauer are looking at chairs as a kit-of-parts. Similar to how some furniture pieces carry instruction packets of assembly instructions, they provide information on how to disassemble the piece, with information about what materials can be recycled and what parts can be repaired. This keeps the chair in use longer and the materials in the loop.
Reusable
Reuse is the main piece to the puzzle. The furniture and building industries must analyze what can be reused realistically and what materials need to be phased out if they cannot be reused. Reuse happens in many ways. For example, on the manufacturing side, Wehlers uses post-consumer materials collected from recycled injection pens, reclaimed fishing nets, and e-waste for the main material in their “R.U.M” chairs. On the designer side, the architects at Hennebery Eddy found opportunities to reuse glulam beams from the existing structure at the Multnomah County Library Operations Center as benches and stairs, expressing the beauty of the material and telling the story of the adaptive reuse. The remaining materials were saved and later repurposed as a bench in the Northwest Library branch, also designed by Hennebery Eddy.
Renewable
Although it’s not common to find renewable materials used in office furniture, there are companies experimenting with the implementation of innovative, renewable materials within furniture in general. The company Vepa is experimenting with a hemp and bio-resin chair, which can be shredded up and used for a future chair without any chemicals.
Reuse vs. New Furniture: A Study
With these practices in mind, I ran a series of studies to quantify how much embodied carbon could be saved by salvaging existing furniture or using a low-carbon alternative in a “typical” tenant improvement, using an open office layout with 70 workstations and the Herman Miller “Aeron” chair, which has a relatively standard embodied carbon of 87 kg CO2e. In the study diagrams, the orange chairs represent existing “Aeron” chairs (chairs already in use in the existing workplace), with an embodied carbon of 1.2 kg CO2e each to account for the chairs’ future disposal. In this scenario, the embodied carbon to make these chairs has already been emitted. The black chairs represent new “Aeron” chairs to be purchased as part of a tenant improvement project, with an embodied carbon of 88.2 kg CO2e each to account for the disposal of the existing chairs and the embodied carbon footprint of buying new chairs. The blue chairs represent new Wehlers “R.U.M.” chairs, a lower-carbon alternative to new “Aeron” chairs with an embodied carbon of 15 kg CO2e. The embodied carbon of these blue “R.U.M.” chairs is calculated at 16.2 kg CO2e each to account for the disposal of the existing orange chairs and purchase the new blue chairs.
Studies found that the embodied carbon emitted by the eventual disposal of all 70 existing Herman Miller “Aeron” chairs is still less than the embodied carbon emitted to make, use, and dispose of a single new chair. A lower-carbon alternative, the Wehlers “R.U.M.” chair made from post-consumer material, offers a lower embodied carbon project impact, but not as low as reusing all 70 existing chairs.
These studies revealed how significant the salvaging of furniture could be to the overall embodied carbon impact of a interior renovation. For example, the baseline study considered 70 all new chairs and resulted in an embodied carbon of 6,173 kg CO2e, or 15, 721 miles driven by an average gasoline-fueled vehicle. The study considering all salvaged/reused chairs revealed an embodied carbon of 84 kg CO2e, or 214 miles driven by an average gasoline-fueled vehicle. See chart below for results and additional details.
Takeaways
- The embodied carbon impact of interiors is largely driven by the cyclical nature of tenant improvements and renovations. At the beginning of the design phase, consider simplicity and adaptability when it comes to selecting interior materials and furniture.
- Furniture should be considered for embodied carbon calculations because of its significant footprint.
- At the beginning of the design phase, consider the impact of material or furniture disposal at end-of-life.
- The best way to address embodied carbon is by reuse — both the object and its materials.
- A circular economy relies on the fundamentals of maintenance and repair.
Internship Experience
Working with Hennebery Eddy over the summer has been an incredible experience where I have learned so much valuable information about the profession. I appreciate the diversity in experience I received, from going on a site visit, working with my hands on a model, producing graphics as part of a team, and learning more about 3D printing! One thing I really admire about the people at Hennebery Eddy is the collaborative nature of the studio — not just with each other, but with a wide range of consultants. I was able to sit in meetings where I got to experience this collaboration firsthand. Being a part of such a passionate studio and working with talented mentors has fueled my curiosity for architecture and design. I am excited to let this experience inform my design process in my terminal studio in my final year at the University of Oregon.
Research Sources
- Logan, Katharine. “Renovate, retrofit, reuse: Uncovering the hidden value in America’s existing building stock” (Washington, D.C.: The American Institute of Architects, 2019).
- Huang, M., Simonen, K., Ditto, J. (2018) “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Low Carbon Construction: Tenant Improvements in Commercial Office Buildings, Final Report.”
- Institute for Health in the Built Environment, “Carbon Narratives for Design Planning” (2023).
- GXN by 3XN, “Building a Circular Future” (3rd ed.). (2016).
- EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, “Durable Goods: Product-Specific Data” (2025).
- Furniture manufacturers: Koskela, Ocee & Four, Keilhauer, Wehlers, Vepa