Rethinking the Office from the Inside Out
- Apr 17
- 7 min read
How Juunoo is Turning Interior Walls into Circular Assets
Commercial buildings are often seen as long-term assets—but their interiors are not. That’s because modern office spaces are in constant flux: Companies will typically do a full renovation every decade with additional changes every three to five years, design companies say.
Each year, millions of square feet of interior space are renovated or torn out, generating large volumes of construction and demolition waste.
While office-specific figures are limited, renovation projects such as tenant improvements and interior demolition contribute significantly to the roughly 600 million tons of construction and demolition waste produced annually in the United States.
In 2025, a notable shift occurred: Office conversions and demolitions surpassed new construction for the first time in years. At the same time, vacancies reached record highs, with nearly 19% of office space sitting empty. These trends are forcing a rethink, not just of where people work but how offices are built and rebuilt.
Modular interior systems are emerging as one response. Designed to reduce waste and allow flexible layouts, they offer a pathway toward circular construction.
In a sector responsible for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, rethinking interior spaces may be as important as improving building envelopes or energy systems.
Building for Change, Not Disposal
Belgian-founded Juunoo is among those companies reimagining office interiors. Its modular systems replace traditional drywall with easy-to-configure demountable walls, glass partitions, and soundproof pods that can be installed quickly and removed without generating waste.
[Juunoo’s] modular systems replace traditional drywall with easy-to-configure demountable walls, glass partitions, and soundproof pods that can be installed quickly and removed without generating waste.
The company’s approach reflects a broader shift toward designing buildings for change rather than permanence. Instead of treating renovations as a cycle of demolition and replacement, modular systems allow materials to be reused across multiple life cycles.
Juunoo aligns its work with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those focused on infrastructure and sustainable cities.
“We design systems that separate what changes from what doesn’t,” Maxime De Scheemaeker, Co-CEO at Juunoo, told The Earth & I.
In practice, this means structural components are built for durability and repeated use, while finishes can be updated to match evolving design trends. Even finishes are reused or repurposed when possible. “Without restarting from zero every time—that’s where sustainability and design finally align,” said De Scheemaeker.
Breaking the Build–Demolish Cycle
Traditional construction follows a familiar pattern: build, use, demolish, repeat. This linear model generates waste and locks in emissions each time materials are discarded and replaced.
Modular construction offers prefabricated systems that can be installed faster, with less disruption and waste. More importantly, they allow spaces to evolve—without being torn apart.
With modular interiors, companies can reconfigure offices quickly—sometimes within days or even over a weekend—while keeping the workspace operational. This reduces downtime and allows organizations to respond to changing needs without major construction.
That flexibility is increasingly important. Office use patterns are shifting, and interiors usually change far more frequently than buildings, which may last more than 50 years.
“[Renovation] is a big piece of global embodied carbon pollution and waste, especially since many spaces are turning over quickly as companies and workers are weighing the pros and cons of work from home versus a central office,” Kjell Anderson, Principal at LMN architects, told The Earth & I.
"[Renovation] is a big piece of global embodied carbon pollution and waste."
Measuring What Matters
The environmental promise of modular construction is linked to reducing Scope 3 emissions, which refer to a company’s indirect emissions—particularly those tied to materials and supply chains. Scope 3 emissions account for a significant share of the built environment’s climate impact. They include emissions from:
Manufacturing and transporting building materials
Construction and renovation activities
Waste generated during demolition
The full life cycle of products used in a building
In construction, Scope 3 emissions are closely tied to “embodied carbon” or the emissions produced during the extraction, production, transport, and disposal of materials. Modular interior systems aim to reduce Scope 3 emissions by extending the life of materials.
While modular systems are still relatively new, experts see strong potential.
“As none of the modular systems available today have a very long track record, it's hard to tell [what their impact will be]; however, I think there is a high potential to reduce emissions,” University of Washington Professor Kathrina Simonen, founder of the Carbon Leadership Forum, told The Earth & I.
Juunoo uses life cycle assessments to evaluate impact across a product’s full lifespan. "They tell the full story, covering not only production but the entire lifespan," said De Scheemaeker.
Still, trade-offs exist. Modular systems often rely on transportable components, but larger prefabricated units may increase emissions due to shipping.
“In some cases, [prefab units] save embodied carbon, but in others, they add embodied carbon since they need to be transported as a unit,” said Anderson.
“In some cases, [prefab units] save embodied carbon, but in others, they add embodied carbon since they need to be transported as a unit.”
Design firms are already experimenting with ways to reduce these impacts. LMN Architects has incorporated reuse and material recovery into its projects, including its own renovation in 2015, which later inspired Metropolis Magazine’s Interiors Embodied Carbon Toolkit.
LMN’s more recent renovation of Hines Seattle Headquarters was designed to push the envelope on in-place reuse, salvage, and reuse.
Offices and Beyond
Juunoo began with office interiors, where change is frequent and the benefits of reuse are immediate. The company is now expanding into the education and residential sectors, where similar principles can apply. Its reusable drywall system, DryClick, offers a cost-neutral alternative to conventional materials—an important factor in encouraging adoption.
“Ultimately, this model can scale anywhere interiors are built and rebuilt,” De Scheemaeker said.
For that to happen, however, circular construction must be economically viable. “It has to. Otherwise, it won’t scale,” De Scheemaeker said. “We believe the idea of a ‘green premium' should disappear,” he added.
Juunoo’s model emphasizes residual value: Materials retain worth after use and can be redeployed rather than discarded. The concept is straightforward—more like LEGO than landfill, to paraphrase Juunoo’s Founder, Chris Van de Voorde, in an interview with Kamp C.
The Barriers to Circularity
Despite its promise, circular construction faces significant challenges.
Regulations, market structures, and industry habits still favor linear systems built around single-use materials.
“We currently live in the least circular economy that humans have ever been part of, and our laws, policies, and practices have been built around cheap, single-use items,” Anderson added.
“We currently live in the least circular economy that humans have ever been part of, and our laws, policies, and practices have been built around cheap, single-use items.”
One major obstacle is the lack of infrastructure for reused materials. Unlike new products, salvaged components are harder to source, store, and certify.
There is no consistent supply chain, and maintaining inventory requires storage space. Reused materials may also lack warranties, making them less attractive to buyers.
Lease agreements can further complicate matters. Many require tenants to return spaces to a basic “grey shell,” encouraging demolition rather than careful removal.
“Since they are moving out, they have no desire to do anything but demolish everything in the space as cheaply as possible,” said Anderson.
Deconstruction—removing materials for reuse—also takes more time and effort than demolition.
“It happens when there is a ready market for materials, but the market doesn’t (yet) exist for most products/materials,” said Anderson.
Navigating Trade-offs and Standards
Sustainability in construction is rarely straightforward. Certification systems such as LEED, WELL, and BREEAM help guide decision-making but can be complex to navigate.
“There can always be unintended trade-offs,” Simonen said.
Transportation impacts, durability, and energy use all influence whether a modular system delivers net environmental benefits.
Inspection and regulatory systems can also create friction. Prefabricated components may not align with local codes or inspection practices, slowing adoption. Efforts to standardize these processes have had mixed success. For example, the ICC/MBI 1200 Standards Adoption Bill, which has been adopted in Virginia, was proposed in Washington State, but did not pass in its latest review.
Ultimately, the environmental impact of modular construction depends on how often systems are reused. “The modular system might actually be more durable than standard construction but [it’s] less flexible,” said Simonen.
Closing the Loop
Having recently secured $6.6 million in funding and a New York expansion, Juunoo has positioned itself as both a climate solution and a capital efficiency offer.
Under Juunoo’s buy-back warranty—designed to keep materials in circulation—components can be returned, reused, or resold. The warranty allows clients to recover 10% to 30% of the original value, creating a financial incentive for reuse.
In practice, many clients simply reuse the materials themselves. Office pods, for example, are often relocated with the company.
“That’s when you know it works—when circularity becomes the obvious, practical choice,” said De Scheemaeker.
Buy-back and product-as-a-service models could become standard across the industry. “We see Interface carpets being able to beneficially recycle their own carpet tiles into new backing,” says Anderson. “This addresses the issue that most companies are heavily incentivized to make poor quality products since [their products] are likely to be removed and landfilled quickly,” Anderson added.
*Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe is a freelance journalist and editor. Over the past 14 years, Natasha has reported for a host of publications, exploring the wider world and industries from environmental, scientific, business, legal, and sociological perspectives. Natasha has also been interviewed as an insight provider for research institutes and conferences.
Editorial notes
Sources:
Interview with Maxime De Scheemaeker, CO-CEO at Juunoo
Interview with Kathrina Simonen, Professor at the University of Washington and Founder of the Carbon Leadership Forum
Interview with Kjell Anderson, Principal at LMN
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