Circular Economy: Thomas Rau at TEDxZwolle

Thomas Rau studied fine arts and dance at the Alanus University of Arts in Bonn and architecture at RWTH Aachen University both in Germany. He has been working as an architect in Amsterdam since 1990, where he established RAU architects in 1992, the oneplanetarchitecture institute think tank in 2008 and ®turntoo in 2011. He is ranked no. 18 of the Top100 Dutch key players in sustainability, a ranking published by the renowned national newspaper Trouw. Social and environmental commitment, regard for the cultural context and mutual respect are at the heart of Thomas Rau's approach to work. For this reason, he works closely with clients in the design of their projects. Thomas Rau regards 'state-of-the-art' to be merely the starting point for his work. The WWF Netherlands head office in Zeist (NL, 2006) is CO2 neutral and self-sustaining, while the Woopa office Lyon (FR, 2011) and the Christian Huygens College in Eindhoven (NL, 2011) both produce a surplus of energy. In response to the increasing scarcity of raw materials, and inspired by Cradle to Cradle, Thomas Rau founded Turntoo, a company which, by means of a new business model, acts as a driver for the circular economy. http://www.tedxzwolle.nl In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)