Stuttgart, Germany
The CYCLOMETRIC research project focused on developing a decision support tool that helps integrate sustainability and circularity criteria at an early stage of product development (fuzzy front end). For this purpose, the method and software tool CYCLOP were developed.
In parallel, a car center console was designed as a demonstrator, with insights from this real-world development directly informing the method and software.
Although the automotive industry was chosen due to its complexity and industrial relevance, the results are transferable across industries.
Cyclometric – Circular Product Development by The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, won a 2026 Green Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies.
The center console was selected as a technology carrier because it combines structure, surfaces, interfaces, and user interaction in one assembly, making circular design requirements tangible.
It was developed collaboratively with an OEM, a design agency, and an engineering service provider, and realized as a prototype by an interdisciplinary team.
Observing this process enabled the derivation of concrete functional requirements for the software tool.
Circular design principles are implemented through modularity and design for disassembly.
Detachable connections enable repair, reuse, and recycling. Reversible fastening solutions, such as plugging, screwing, clamping, and tensioning, allow fast and clean separation with minimal material contamination.
Material selection and connection principles were treated as equally important circular design factors.
The lightweight supporting structure consists of fiber composite half-shells and a form-fitting cover that combines stiffness with low material usage and a separable architecture.
Prototype development included a digitally monitored fiber composite manufacturing process, recording material and energy consumption as well as environmental conditions to support later optimization and ecological evaluation.
The console’s role as a technology carrier is extended through intelligent functions.
Modular smart textile interfaces, such as a textile touchpad, buttons, and a rotary climate control, demonstrate “circular smartification.”
These interfaces are based on conductive textiles produced by embroidery and screen printing, and their layered design enables replacement or refurbishment without changing the entire component.
Overall, the CYCLOMETRIC center console demonstrates how modular architecture, reversible connections, lightweight composites, data-driven engineering, and interchangeable smart textile interfaces can be combined to realize circular product design.
The CYCLOP software integrates product architecture with life cycle modeling and LCA-based evaluation, enabling iterative sustainability assessments and transparent trade-off decisions even with incomplete data.
The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the program “Transformation to Sustainable Value Creation” and led by Fraunhofer IAO.
The CYCLOMETRIC research project focused on developing a decision support tool that helps integrate sustainability and circularity criteria at an early stage of product development (fuzzy front end). For this purpose, the method and software tool CYCLOP were developed.
In parallel, a car center console was designed as a demonstrator, with insights from this real-world development directly informing the method and software.
Although the automotive industry was chosen due to its complexity and industrial relevance, the results are transferable across industries.
The center console was selected as a technology carrier because it combines structure, surfaces, interfaces, and user interaction in one assembly, making circular design requirements tangible.
It was developed collaboratively with an OEM, a design agency, and an engineering service provider, and realized as a prototype by an interdisciplinary team.
Observing this process enabled the derivation of concrete functional requirements for the software tool.
Circular design principles are implemented through modularity and design for disassembly.
Detachable connections enable repair, reuse, and recycling. Reversible fastening solutions, such as plugging, screwing, clamping, and tensioning, allow fast and clean separation with minimal material contamination.
Material selection and connection principles were treated as equally important circular design factors.
The lightweight supporting structure consists of fiber composite half-shells and a form-fitting cover that combines stiffness with low material usage and a separable architecture.
Prototype development included a digitally monitored fiber composite manufacturing process, recording material and energy consumption as well as environmental conditions to support later optimization and ecological evaluation.
The console’s role as a technology carrier is extended through intelligent functions.
Modular smart textile interfaces, such as a textile touchpad, buttons, and a rotary climate control, demonstrate “circular smartification.”
These interfaces are based on conductive textiles produced by embroidery and screen printing, and their layered design enables replacement or refurbishment without changing the entire component.
Overall, the CYCLOMETRIC center console demonstrates how modular architecture, reversible connections, lightweight composites, data-driven engineering, and interchangeable smart textile interfaces can be combined to realize circular product design.
The CYCLOP software integrates product architecture with life cycle modeling and LCA-based evaluation, enabling iterative sustainability assessments and transparent trade-off decisions even with incomplete data.
The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the program “Transformation to Sustainable Value Creation” and led by Fraunhofer IAO.
Project: Cyclometric – Circular Product Development
Designers: The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO and Schweizer Design Consulting GmbH
Design Teams: Franziska Braun, Fabian Edel, Sebastian Stegmüller, (The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO), Tomas Grupp, Félix Lespagnol, Robin Ritter, Oliver Schweizer, (Schweizer Design Consulting GmbH)
Manufacturer: The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
Photographers: Ludmilla Parsyak
