Learning Outcomes:
On completion of the module, students should be able to
1. Identify specific consequences of material choices and potentials within design
2. Understand meaning and value of construction materials within the framework of the sustainability mandate
3. Understand relevance of construction materials to the design process
4. Demonstrate knowledge of practical and innovative construction techniques
Indicative Module Content:
Designing for Disassembly & Reuse (DfDR) and Material Intensity (MI)
The World Bank has projected that global timber demand may quadruple by 2050, representing a growing threat to the sustainable management of the world’s forest resources if virgin resources alone are to fulfill this demand. This makes the reuse of timber products increasingly important. The recent EU Circular Economy Action Plan proposed revising material recovery targets set in EU legislation for construction and demolition waste, the introduction of recycled content requirements for certain construction products, and promoting measures to improve the durability and adaptability of buildings and developing digital logbooks for buildings to track material use and reuse.
Timber recovered from the demolition of buildings in Ireland is currently chipped and used either for energy generation in Northern Ireland, reconstituted into pallets, or land-filled. A number of issues hinder the recapture of timber for reuse as a building product, including the absence of grading guidelines and lack of a market for salvaged timber. There are also difficulties in dismantling buildings to salvage timber and the difficulty of embedded nails, screws or indeed glues or other chemicals which can restrict its reuse. Architects have a role to play in addressing these last issues, as how we design a building to be assembled will impact how easy it is to disassemble.
This semester we will review the theories and practice on Designing for Disassembly & Reuse (DfDR) and investigate the material intensity (MI) of different forms of timber construction through group design studies.