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Design for Deconstruction.
Reusing and recycling construction materials.

Design for deconstruction (DFD) for “future proofing” a building 

The main principles of DFD 

Challenges and opportunities for DFD

Design for disassembly and reassembly and a market for add-ons 

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Building waste fills up a large amount of the worlds’ landfills (1/3 overall, approximately 35% in the EU) and accounts for 50% of world resource consumption. Thinking about buildings as a future resource pool for materials could have an enormous impact on lowering the amount of waste produced and would limit the pressure that the finite world resources are under. Considering buildings as a future source of raw materials, design for deconstruction is a key factor in material retrievability. 

Design for Deconstruction (DFD) is an approach to building design that ensures that “the usage, end of the building life-cycle and reuse stages” could be efficiently conducted and managed. The actions that can be conducted during these stages include remodelling, repairing and building removal for materials’ reuse and recycling. 

Design for deconstruction (DFD) for "future proofing" a building

The first goal of a sustainable building is the have a long life-spam. However, houses are constantly being remodelled or removed. Reasons for doing so can differ and overall depend on 2 main factors: 

  1. Ability to maintain structural integrity which depends on the durability of materials and quality of work done 
  2. Desirability for function and style which requires adaptability. Buildings are not remodelled or demolished only when they are technically unusable, but quite often taken down (partly or fully) as the owners see no use for them or remodelling is more expensive or complicated than re-building. 

In order to lengthen the life-spam of a building, make it as sustainable as possible and “future proof” it, durability must be balanced with adaptability. Incorporating adaptability into building design enables the building to adapt to changing demands of the intended use as well as the ability to adapt to a different use. Buildings’ design needs to offer flexibility.  

How to balance the two, the design phase needs to take into account: 

  1. The types of materials and components to be used 
  2. The way the materials and components are put together (thus able to be taken apart) and deconstructed

It has to be said that to date, less than 1% of existing buildings are fully demountable and design for deconstruction is not a mainstream concept1. Designers and builders, in general, have conceived their “creations” as being permanent and there are no existent laws to focus on deconstruction.  

The main principles of DFD

CONCEPT

PRINCIPLE

INFORMATION

     Create and keep all records: 

  • Architectural, engineering plans with components and materials used 
  • Photographs of connections, wiring systems etc.  
  • Deconstruction manual 

DESIGN AND BUILDING 

  • Incorporate flexibility into design 
  • Design for prefabrication 
  • Design building components with as little mixed materials for components as possible 
  • Design with minimal material use 
  • Design for disassembly with possible reassembly (if applicable) 

MATERIALS

  • Use the minimum number of different materials  
  • Use recyclable and recycled materials 
  • Use low to zero building materials 

CONNECTIONS

  • Use the minimum number of connections 
  • Avoid nails, bolts, screws and adhesives 
  • Use easily removable, reusable connectors 

ADDED SUSTAINABILITY GOALS TO DFD 

  • Design for renewable energy use 
  • Design for energy efficiency 

Challenges and opportunities for DFD

Challenges

  • The uncertainty of the quantity and quality of used materials 
  • The lack of rules and standards to regulate the construction with used materials
  • Low demand due the previous 2 points
  • Low demand due to a negative perception towards used building materials. They are perceived as being inferior in quality compared to virgin materials
  • The majority of existing buildings do not have a deconstruction manual or plan and deconstruction (due to lack of training) can make some components unusable
 
Other complexities
 
  • Recycling facilities are not always close to the construction sites. Construction materials are heavy and transportation of the salvaged materials for reuse and recycling would consume additional energy, time and money and make the process less environmentally and economically friendly.
  • The lack of information and education for the general public to add pressure to designers, engineers and lawmakers. Have we seen any protests against construction waste? Not to undermine other efforts in any way, but what’s in the media and under the public eye is certainly not the construction sector which has the largest impact on the environment of all sectors. 
  • The quantity and size of building materials and the existing buildings’ complex material composition makes disassembly complicated 
  • Stakeholders-related challenges, such as the lack of experience with recycling methods, inability to identify market for debris, resistance to change, contract formats etc. 

Opportunities

Having said the above, there are also major opportunities within the sector. The current market for reusing and recycling construction materials is small, but considering the quantity of materials that end of on a landfill every year, has huge potential for the benefit of the environment as well as the society (job creation) and economy. Deconstruction would stimulate the creation of a brand-new market for the salvage materials and would be a feasible alternative to demolition given the right regulations and markets to be in place first. The main challenges in deconstruction implementation can be overcome by the opportunities created by DFD, public and societal involvement.  

Design for disassembly and reassembly and a market for add-ons 

DFD is currently being widely discussed whereas design for reassembly is something that Google does not even find yet. We believe that flexible design of smaller houses should also consider possible disassembly with reassembly and easy add-ons for extension. This would allow home owners to be somewhat mobile without having to build or remodel new houses. Extensions as add-ons should also be an option that could be assembled and dissembled for the secondary market.  

This is the concept of ODYL which we would like to bring to the construction market. 

Have a look at our methods to future proof the ODYL house

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