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Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
Sprache: Englisch

Beschreibung

A valuable source of information, insight, and fresh ideas about a crucial aspect of the growing sustainable design movement

Mounting resource shortages worldwide coupled with skyrocketing extraction costs for new materials have made the prospect of materials reuse and recycling an issue of paramount importance. A fundamental goal of the sustainable design movement is to derive utmost use from construction materials and components, including energy, water, materials, building components, whole structures, and even entire infrastructures. Written by an expert with many years of experience in both industry and academe, this book explores a wide range of sustainable design strategies which designers around the globe are using to create efficient and aesthetically pleasing buildings from waste streams and discarded items. Emphasizing performance issues, design considerations and process constraints, it describes numerous fully realized projects, and explores theoretical applications still on the drawing board.

There is a growing awareness worldwide of the need for cyclical systems of materials reuse. Pioneering efforts at “closed-loop” design date as far back as 1960s, but only recently have architects and designers begun to focus on the opportunities which discarded materials can provide for creating high performance structures. A source of insight and fresh ideas for architects, engineers, and designers, Resource Salvation:

Reviews the theory and practice of building material and waste reuse and describes best practices in that area worldwide
Describes projects that use closed-loop thinking to influence and inspire the design of components, interiors, whole buildings, or urban landscapes
Illustrates how using discarded materials and focusing on closed loops can lead to new concepts in architecture, building science, and urban design
Demonstrates how designers have developed aesthetically compelling solutions to the demands of rigorous performance standards

Resource Salvation is a source of information and inspiration for architects, civil engineers, green building professionals, building materials suppliers, landscape designers, urban designers, and government policymakers. It is certain to become required reading in university courses in sustainable architecture, as well as materials engineering and environmental engineering curricula with a sustainable design component.

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Leseprobe

Title Page

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Definitions

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background

1.2 Scarcity Of Resource

1.3 Waste And Obsolescence

1.4 Permanence And Repair

1.5 Material Efficiency

1.6 Embodied Energy And Carbon

1.7 The Circular Economy

1.8 Reuse v Recycling

1.9 Summary

References

Image Credits

Chapter 2: Concepts Supporting Reuse

2.1 History of Building Component Reuse

2.2 Barriers to Reuse

2.3 Urban Metabolism and Resource Flows

2.4 Urban Mining

2.5 Upcycling – Cradle to Cradle

2.6 Salvageability and Design for Deconstruction (DfD)

2.7 Information – Materials Passports

2.8 Component Redesign – Design for Reassembly and Secondary Use

2.9 Typologies of Material Reuse

References

Image Credits

Chapter 3: Case Studies

3.1 Adaptive Reuse With Component Reuse

3.2 Reusing What is Available at the Site

3.3 Reusing Construction Materials From Elsewhere

3.4 Secondary Use of Non-Construction Materials

References

Image Credits

Chapter 4: Materials Investigations

4.1 Nordic Built Component Reuse

4.2 Storywood

4.3 Reuse of Structural Steel

4.4 Rebrick Project

References

Image Credits

Chapter 5: Practitioners

5.1 Rotor

5.2 Milestone Project Management

5.3 Lendagergroup

5.4 Superuse Studios

Image Credits

Chapter 6: Implications For Design

6.1 Design Process Characteristics

6.2 Performance Issues

6.3 Understanding Sources and Opportunities

6.4 Decision Process

6.5 Conclusion

References

Image Credits

Bibliography

Further Information

Index

End User License Agreement

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Guide

Table of Contents

Foreword

Begin Reading

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1: Introduction

Figure 1.1 The TAXI building in Denver, CO, was entirely modernized by tres birds workshop using reclaimed materials, including a thermal exterior wall system fabricated from 21 000 recycled PET plastic water bottles.

Figure 1.2 ‘Atlas (Carlão)’ is one of several amazing portraits created by photographer Vik Muniz and the catadores – self-designated pickers of recyclable materials, using waste from Jardim Gramacho waste dump located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Figure 1.3 The Mountain Equipment Coop explored the potential for material reuse in several of its stores such as this one in Winnipeg, Canada.

Figure 1.4 Conceptual model of obsolescence redrawn based on Thomsen and van der Flier.

Figure 1.5 This Victorian industrial building in London has been regularly transformed to a new use throughout its life. It has been used for industrial, commercial, retail and catering uses in the last 40 years.

Figure 1.6 Building layers of change (from

Adaptable Futures

based on the work of Brand and Duffy).

Figure 1.7 The Re:START temporary mall was created using shipping containers to breath new life to the devastated centre of Christchurch NZ, after the 2011 earthquake.

Figure 1.8 The circular economy.

Figure 1.9 The Bedzed project in south London featured reused steel components; BRE calculated that this had only 4% the environmental impact of new steel.

Chapter 2: Concepts Supporting Reuse

Figure 2.1 Architect Juan Luis Martínez Nahuel reused laminated beams, steel components, glazed doors in the main façade and parquet flooring in the Recycled Materials Cottage in Pirihueico, Chile.

Figure 2.2 The great mosque in Cordoba, Spain, reuses stone columns from various older Mediterranean structures.

Figure 2.5 The Eugene and Nancy Bavinger Residence, Norman, OK, 1950. Architect Bruce Goff used found materials in the area to create some of his houses such as this one.

Figure 2.3 The Heineken WOBO bottle designed by John Harbraken for a second use as a building component to make walls in developing communities.

Figure 2.4 The Orangeville Earthship in Ontario, Canada, was built using the system of waste tires developed by Michael Reynolds.

Figure 2.6 An example of a materials flow analysis chart created by Superuse Studios.

Figure 2.7 The offices of 3XN Architects in Copenhagen were designed to be easily dismantled with mechanical connections.

Figure 2.8 Detail of 3XN Offices' in Copenhagen showing bolted connections.

Chapter 3: Case Studies

Figure 3.1 Alliander offices in Duiven.

Figure 3.2 The old buildings prior to reconstruction.

Figure 3.3 The new Alliander offices were based on how to get most value out of the existing buildings.

Figure 3.4 The new atrium clad with reused timber.

Figure 3.5 Deconstructed materials were recorded and stored for reuse.

Figure 3.6 Additional floors were added to some blocks.

Figure 3.7 Prefabricated overcladding was installed.

Figure 3.8 Waste wood from nearby was used for internal cladding.

Figure 3.9 High quality interior spaces lined with reused timber cladding.

Figure 3.11 The building was in a very poor state of repair.

Figure 3.10 The reconstructed Posner Centre.

Figure 3.12 The interior was transformed using mainly reclaimed materials.

Figure 3.13 The new atrium space required some restructuring.

Figure 3.14 Maple from rail boxcars was used for many interior elements, including built in desks.

Figure 3.15 Maple from rail boxcars used for new stairs.

Figure 3.16 Washroom fittings came from the dismantled Hewlett Packard office building.

Figure 3.17 The refurbished Energy Resource Center.

Figure 3.18 The middle section of the Energy Resource Center in the process of being rebuilt.

Figure 3.19 Recycled brick stockpile; the original building is in the background.

Figure 3.20 Interior lobby with a staircase reused from a movie set, and floor reused from a warehouse.

Figure 3.21 Aluminium from aircraft was used as decorative wall covering.

Figure 3.22 The Hughes warehouse transformed into an office building.

Figure 3.23 The new interior preserves much of the original character.

Figure 3.24 A new courtyard was created by careful demolition.

Figure 3.25 Old elements such as the brick façade were upgraded whenever possible.

Figure 3.26 A life cycle assessment suggests significant reductions in carbon footprint for the renovation compared to using new materials.

Figure 3.27 The relocated Roy Stibbs School building.

Figure 3.28 The steel frame being deconstructed.

Figure 3.29 The layout for the new school was changed.

Figure 3.30 Hindmarsh Shire Council's new offices.

Figure 3.31

Figure 3.32 The remodelled interior.

Figure 3.34 Axonometric of stages of renovation.

Figure 3.33 Exterior unifying timber screen.

Figure 3.35 The new entrance area.

Figure 3.36 Rendering of the south side of the Ford Calumet Environmental Center.

Figure 3.37 An inventory of salvaged material: (a) timber, (b) steel, (c) aluminium tube, and (d) steel reinforcement.

Figure 3.38 The building section.

Figure 3.39 South porch with a steel mesh protecting the birds.

Figure 3.40 Test samples of terrazzo.

Figure 3.41 Hill End Eco-house.

Figure 3.42 Schematic of the Hill End Eco-house.

Figure 3.43 Reused framing.

Figure 3.44 Laminated beams came from the Commonwealth games.

Figure 3.45 Hoop pine was used for the stair balustrade.

Figure 3.46 Interior linings were salvaged tongue-and-groove boarding.

Figure 3.47 Interiors feature many reused components and recycled content concrete floors.

Figure 3.48 Tyson Living Learning Centre is located in a forested setting.

Figure 3.49 The timber was locally harvested.

Figure 3.50 Processing of timber occurred nearby by local tradespersons.

Figure 3.51 The cedar was used for cladding for the building.

Figure 3.52 The flooring was from maple and walnut trees harvested nearby.

Figure 3.53 The interior included many reused items.

Figure 3.54 The building features passive solar design strategies to minimize energy use.

Figure 3.55 The existing building was stripped back to the steel frame.

Figure 3.56 Additional steel framing was added.

Figure 3.57 Two floors were added to part of the building.

Figure 3.58

Figure 3.59 Minor steelwork was necessary to upgrade the seismic performance.

Figure 3.60 The completed part of the building.

Figure 3.61 The façade of the headquarters of the European Council and Council of the European Union.

Figure 3.63 Installation of the window panels.

Figure 3.62 The geometry of the façade was carefully worked out.

Figure 3.64 The new façade against the old.

Figure 3.65 The completed Headquarters of the European Council and Council of the European Union building.

Figure 3.66 La Cuisine building at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Figure 3.67 Deconstruction of a steel-framed building nearby provided structural material for the new building.

Figure 3.68 Investigation of design alternatives using available steel.

Figure 3.69 The steel during erection.

Figure 3.70 Section of the front canopy.

Figure 3.71 The front canopy.

Figure 3.72 Detail of column base and flooring from reclaimed wood.

Figure 3.73 Point Valaine Community Centre.

Figure 3.74 Delivery of the used prefabricated panels.

Figure 3.75 Cutting the prefabricated panels on site.

Figure 3.78 The reused concrete panels can be clearly seen on the elevation.

Figure 3.76 Installation of the prefabricated panels.

Figure 3.77 The building interior with the reuse wall panels.

Figure 3.80 The old unused Coin Street building.

Figure 3.79 The Oasis Children's Venture building.

Figure 3.81 Framing transformation.

Figure 3.82 The office area.

Figure 3.83 Raising the new frames.

Figure 3.84 New framing takes shape.

Figure 3.86 The Old Oak Dojo.

Figure 3.87 Timber from a movie set was used in the building.

Figure 3.88 Reclaimed timber floor.

Figure 3.89 Cabinetry removed from a local house.

Figure 3.90 Shelving made from recovered cabinetry.

Figure 3.91 Cladding from reclaimed timber.

Figure 3.92 The finished building.

Figure 3.93 Recycled tyre call cladding at the Pocono Environmental Education Center.

Figure 3.95 Entrance elevation.

Figure 3.94 Sketch of the tyre cladding detail.

Figure 3.96 Tyres were collected locally.

Figure 3.97 The tyres were processed on site.

Figure 3.98 Tyre strips installed on the building.

Figure 3.99 Tyres are screwed to the sheathing.

Figure 3.100 The passive solar south façade.

Figure 3.102 Inverset components used in a highway.

Figure 3.105 The Inverset panels in storage.

Figure 3.103 Design proposals for the initial unbuilt project for a multi-unit ‘Big Dig Building’.

Figure 3.101 The Big Dig House was built using highway components.

Figure 3.104 Schematic of the Big Dig House construction.

Figure 3.106 Assembly on site.

Figure 3.107 Interior featuring tall spaces and highlighting the structure.

Figure 3.110 The form and materials of the Kaap Skil Museum were chosen to integrate it into a village on the island of Texel.

Figure 3.109 Elevations and sections.

Figure 3.108 Detail of the elevation.

Figure 3.111 Elevation.

Figure 3.112 Interior full of interesting daylighting effects.

Figure 3.113 Interior with exhibition items.

Figure 3.115 The structure was assembled from salvaged timber.

Figure 3.116 The walls were insulated with various discarded materials such as packaging chips and denim clothing.

Figure 3.117 Vinyl exhibition banners installed here as the vapour control layer shown before the drywall was installed.

Figure 3.118 Offcuts of drywall were used to create an interesting internal finish.

Chapter 4: Materials Investigations

Figure 4.1 The concrete wall cladding prototype.

Figure 4.2 Performance diagram for the concrete prototype.

Figure 4.3 The clay wall cladding prototype.

Figure 4.4 Performance diagram for the clay prototype.

Figure 4.5 The metal façade prototype.

Figure 4.6 Performance diagram for the metal façade prototype.

Figure 4.7 The reused window façade screen prototype.

Figure 4.8 Performance diagram for the window façade screen prototype.

Figure 4.15 Diagram of REBRICK value stream.

Figure 4.16 Brick recycling process.

Figure 4.17 These town houses on Brygge Island, Copenhagen, designed by Vandkunsten were built using 640 000 yellow machine scrubbed brick that came from Værløse airfield and Hunsballe Seed facility in Slagelse.

Figure 4.18 Interior of the town houses on Brygge Island, Copenhagen.

Chapter 5: Practitioners

Figure 5.1 Ceiling elements salvaged from a bank building.

Figure 5.2 Ceiling elements reused as shelving components in Parodi's bookshop.

Figure 5.3 Wall covering reused from the Brussels Royal Opera in Parodi's bookshop.

Figure 5.4 Proposal for MAD Brussels for a design and fashion talent incubator.

Figure 5.5 The cafeteria of Bomel reuses furniture from a former Générale de Banque.

Figure 5.6 Ceiling elements from the Générale de Banque used in the cafeteria of Bomel.

Figure 5.7 L-shaped melamine plywood components salvaged from an office.

Figure 5.9 Mountain Equipment Coop in Winnipeg.

Figure 5.10 West End Cultural Centre, Winnipeg.

Figure 5.11 Storefront removed from Calgary courthouse.

Figure 5.12 Storefront of the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg which reuses components from a Calgary courthouse.

Figure 5.13 This hospital building was deconstructed by Milestone using trainee labour.

Figure 5.14 The interior of this former church in Winnipeg was deconstructed and converted to new uses.

Figure 5.15 Upcycle House is built from upcycled and reused materials and components.

Figure 5.16 Upcycle House interior finishes are mainly reused.

Figure 5.17 Upcycle Wood Panel in the Copenhagen Towers II.

Figure 5.18 Rendering of the proposed Pelican Self Storage project using recycled concrete.

Figure 5.19 Experimenting with recycled concrete wall panels for the Pelican Self Storage project.

Figure 5.20 Acoustic panel made from recycled PET plastic bottles.

Figure 5.21 Brick panels being cut from old houses.

Figure 5.22 Recycled brick panel.

Figure 5.23 Resource Row housing using salvaged brick panels.

Figure 5.24 Harvest map for The Netherlands showing potential sources of used materials.

Figure 5.25 Wikado childrens play park in Rotterdam uses old wind turbines.

Figure 5.26 Harvest map showing sources for materials used in the Villa Welpeloo.

Figure 5.27 Kringloop Zuid Recycling Centre.

Figure 5.29 Schematic of the Villa Welpeloo in Enschede, The Netherlands which indicates material sources.

Figure 5.28 Cable reels which are deconstructed and the timber used for cladding.

Figure 5.30 Villa Welpeloo in Enschede, The Netherlands, uses heat treated cable reel timber as cladding.

Chapter 6: Implications For Design

Figure 6.1 Salvaged baseboards and crown mouldings were mounted in vertical strips inspiring beautifully patterned, corrugated walls and screens at the NRDC office renovation in Chicago by Studio Gang.

Figure 6.2 The University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Student's Centre featured reused steel taken from a local demolition which required careful coordination of the two projects and nearly failed due to scheduling issues.

Figure 6.3 This clay tile wall panel created by the Nordic Built Component Reuse project features the imperfections of the reused pantiles (see Chapter 4.1).

Figure 6.4 At the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Student's Centre the old markings and brackets were left in place to identify the steel as reused.

Figure 6.5 CK Choi building in Vancouver reused heavy timbers from locally dismantled buildings.

Figure 6.6 This wall system was created by tres birds workshop for the TAXI project with a layer of sandblasted Plexiglass, 5-inch reclaimed PET bottle cylinders and a clear layer of Plexiglass.

Figure 6.7 Mountain Equipment Coop store in Ottawa built with components from the previous building on the site.

Figure 6.8 The City of Vancouver Materials Testing Laboratory uses materials from local demolitions.

Figure 6.9 Shipping containers used in the Upcycle House.

List of Tables

Chapter 4: Materials Investigations

Table 4.1 Embodied carbon comparison for 1 kg of steel.

Resource Salvation

The Architecture of Reuse

Mark Gorgolewski

Ryerson University

Toronto

This edition first published 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

The right of Mark Gorgolewski to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gorgolewski, Mark, author.

Title: Resource Salvation: The Architecture of Reuse / Mark Gorgolewski,

Ryerson University, Toronto.

Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2018. | Includes bibliographical References

and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2017023333 (print) | LCCN 2017036799 (ebook) | ISBN

9781118928783 (pdf) | ISBN 9781118928790 (epub) | ISBN 9781118928776 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Sustainable architecture. | Buildings-Salvaging. | Building

materials-Recycling.

Classification: LCC NA2542.36 (ebook) | LCC NA2542.36 .G67 2017 (print) | DDC

720/.47-dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023333

Cover design by Wiley

Cover images: (Headquarters of the European Council and Council of the European Union) courtesy of Philippe SAMYN and PARTNERS architects & engineers, LEAD and DESIGN PARTNER, With Studio Valle Progettazioni architects, Buro Happold engineers; (Nordic Built Component Reuse) Courtesy of Kristine Autzen & Vandkunsten; (Kaap Skil Maritime and Beachcombers Museum) Courtesy of Mecanoo Architecten; (The Taxi building) Courtesy of Brooks Freehill/Michael Moore and tres birds workshop; (The Old Oak Dojo) Courtesy of Next Phase Studios; Auckland Port Building by author

Foreword

The notion of using the site and surrounding area as the first place to look for resources is unfamiliar and foreign to most current designers. But in the past, and in some parts of the world even today, discarding materials was not an option, as new materials were expensive or not easily available, and innovation included working creatively with materials that had a past life.

In any urban society there is a massive stock of available materials from demolition and industrial waste that is currently discarded but has potential value. Although the infrastructure to locate and use these resources is currently lacking, some industry leaders are establishing design strategies, material recovery processes, construction management approaches and manufacturing systems to create innovative new ways of using them in the built environment. This book explores the creative opportunities and practical aspects of this gradual move to a more circular way of thinking about material resources in the built environment. In particular, the focus is on reuse of materials and components, including both construction salvage and waste streams from other industries.

In The Science of the Artificial, Herbert Simon describes design as ‘the process by which we devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones’. If we wish to create a more ecologically based built environment, we need not only to design more sustainable buildings but, more fundamentally, to devise a system and infrastructure that will achieve this. This is what this book is working towards.

Acknowledgements

The book is dedicated to my wonderful and supportive family, Grazyna, Krysia, Adam and Stefan – thank you.

Thanks go to all the various architects, designers, builders and others who have provided information, images, comments, edits, ideas and help in compiling the case studies and practitioner examples in this book. I am also grateful to Sandra Wojtecki for her help in compiling some of the case studies.

Definitions

Circular Economy refers to a closed-loop model of an economy where waste is eliminated and product are sold, consumed, collected and then reused, remade into new products, returned as nutrients to the environment or incorporated into global energy flows.

Cradle to Cradle (also referred to as C2C) models human industry on nature's processes viewing materials as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms and separates these into technical and biological nutrients.

Deconstruction describes a process of selective disassembly of a building at the end of its life to recover materials and components or systems for potential reuse or recycling. It is an approach to building removal that can extract resources so they can be used for high value future uses.

Design for deconstruction (or disassembly) describes how a building is designed to be readily taken apart at the end of its useful life so that the components can have a second use. To facilitate this, a design team needs to consider how the major systems can be deconstructed during renovations and end-of-life.

Design for durability considers extending the life of a building and its individual components. This can mean choosing long-life components but also creating adaptability in a building as a means to extend its service life and its potential for repurposing.

Diversion (waste diversion, landfill diversion) is the process of diverting waste from landfills or incinerators through various means such as reuse, recycling, composting or gas production through anaerobic digestion. Waste diversion is a key component of effective and sustainable waste management and a major policy objective of many governments.

Embodied energy/carbon is the energy (and resultant carbon emission) used in all the processes necessary to produce a material or component.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy approach in which a producer is held responsible (physically and/or financially) for a product in the post-consumer stage of a product's life cycle. EPR makes producers consider what will happen to their products after first use and incentivises them to use resources in a way that allows them to have second lives.

Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a comprehensive method for assessing a range of environmental impacts across the full life cycle of a product system, from materials acquisition to manufacturing, use and final disposition. The ISO standard ISO 14040 defines the processes for carrying out LCA calculations.

Linear Economy is a consumption model of an economy where a product is sold, consumed and discarded (take–make–waste).

Reclaim is to recover something of value from a waste stream.

Salvage is typically something extracted from the waste stream as valuable or useful.

Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is an approach to promote sustainable materials use, integrating actions targeted at reducing negative environmental impacts and preserving natural capital throughout the life cycle of materials, taking into account economic efficiency and social equity.

Virgin materials (also known as primary materials) are resources extracted from nature in their raw form, such as stone, timber or metal ore that have not been previously used or consumed.

Zero Waste is a policy concept that focuses on creating a cyclical system, reducing waste, reusing products and recycling and composting/digesting the rest, with the ultimate goal of eliminating all waste and achieving zero waste to landfill.

Chapter 1Introduction

Our whole economy has become a waste economy, in which things must be almost as quickly devoured and discarded as they have appeared in the world, if the process itself is not to come to a sudden catastrophic end.

(Hannah Arendt1)

Today buildings are a graveyard for materials – once used they rarely have a further life. We hear that increasing percentages of demolition waste is ‘recycled’, but what value comes from this? Most recycling actually means crushing and use as road base or for other low value uses. Much of the usefulness and financial value is lost. Yet existing buildings and industrial waste streams are huge reservoirs of materials and components that can potentially be mined to provide much needed construction resources. There is increasing recognition that a building at the end of its life is an asset to be valued and that innovation and imaginative design can offer new opportunities for using discarded materials and components as valuable parts of buildings. In the developed world we can learn from ecological systems and from resource strategies in poorer parts of the world, where materials are more precious and salvaged items are more highly valued. This may help to create material systems for construction that replicate and integrate with the cyclical features of nature.

But what would our cities look like if our buildings were to be built from locally available, renewable and salvaged resources? What sort of new urban vernacular may emerge if we focus on previously used materials and components that come from the local area and do not need large amounts of energy and other primary resources? How does value in old materials get transformed and reconceptualized into new value? How can we transfer heritage value in components and not just whole buildings? Will the process of designing and constructing buildings need to change if it is based on a harvest of local, salvaged materials? What infrastructure is required to make this happen?

Today there is increasing interest in exploring how buildings are made and un-made, and in finding new business models that make use of discarded materials, components, and buildings (Figure 1.1). The above questions are addressed in this book, which draws on the experience of practitioners and case study projects to explore the potential for a new type of architecture that places a high economic, social and ecological value on existing materials and treats the urban environment as a transient store of resources that should be redeployed once their initial use is complete. The book focuses on the experience of designers who have started to explore ways to close resource loops, attempting to create systems where less is wasted. Materials destined for landfill are put back to use, with positive effects on the economy, society and the environment. As architect Jeanne Gang put it, they have begun to explore an ‘architecture originated in the material itself rather than in a formal language or design concept’.2

Box 1.1 Venice Architecture Biennale 2016

For the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena created two introductory rooms using over 90 tonnes of waste generated by the previous year's art biennale in Venice. Short lengths of previously used crumpled metal channelling were suspended vertically, creating a unique ceiling using waste. Also, the walls were covered by 10 000 m2 (100 000 sq. ft.) of multicoloured leftover plasterboard (drywall) pieces which were stacked to create a moulded surface that included protruding display shelves.

1.1 Background

Architecture in its traditional role is probably a dying profession. Today, architects must work with systems; they must design new ways of living and working in which buildings play a key role. We desperately need mediators between human need and the enduring cycles of nature. Architects can, and must inhabit this new role.

(Paul Hawken3)

Architecture is created from a fusion of concept and matter, what Louis Kahn called ‘the measurable and the unmeasurable’, and throughout history architecture has been shaped by a dialogue between ideas and materials. Kieran and Timberlake in their book Refabricating Architecture state that ‘architecture requires control, deep control, not merely of the idea, but also of the stuff we use to give form to the idea’.4 Traditionally this has led to a fascination with the newest and most innovative materials, and the evolution in architectural history has a strong association with new technology. Today the vast majority of materials used to create the built environment are new and pristine, and our consumer culture leads us to assume that new is best. At the same time, most materials are unrelated to place, and predominantly come from all over the world – aluminium may come from South America, steel from Russia, glass from China, timber from Canada and so on.

Material and component selection is a vital part of architecture because it holds such potential to communicate meaning in our built environment. In the developed world today we do not normally conceive of buildings as being made from local, salvaged, pre-used materials. We are used to the off-the-shelf method of choosing materials (and technologies). But up until the twentieth century many building components were custom designed by architects. Windows, columns and so on were not standardized. More recently, architects have come to rely on a readily available architectural palette of standardized components from catalogues or web sites. Information such as specifications, dimensions, and standard details for globally produced building components are readily available and their use is facilitated by digital technologies. Design and construction for most buildings is organized as a process of integration of appropriate components. This has isolated designers from a better understanding of materials and their tectonic potential and has removed some creative possibilities and discovery from design.

Furthermore, the quantity of these materials that we use has grown hugely. In the last 50 years the world population has doubled yet our use of some engineering materials has grown by 4–15 times.5 This huge increase has enabled us to increase our living standards, creating and servicing a huge urban infrastructure connected by extensive transport networks. But, as architect Thomas Rau has pointed out, unlike energy, which is widely available from the sun (we just need to implement appropriate technologies for harvesting it), access to materials is effectively limited by what is available on earth, and for some materials we have consumed most of the easily obtainable supply.

In a world faced with climate change, increased resource scarcity, and other environmental, social and economic challenges, access to new material resources and disposal of waste are becoming far more costly and constrained. Growing concerns about the loss of useful resources and physical limits of the earth's capacity to provide new resources and absorb the mountains of waste accumulating in landfills, as well as the increasing cost of disposal, are leading some to a rethink how we deal with resources.6 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has noted that ‘As global population continues to rise, and the demand for resources continues to grow, there is significant potential for conflicts over natural resources to intensify in the coming decades’.7

The work of photographers such as Edward Burtynsky, Timo Lieber and Vik Muniz (Figure 1.2) brings to light the vastness of the process of dealing with materials throughout their linear life cycle and highlight some of the impacts this has on individuals, society and the natural world. As buildings gradually become less carbon intensive for operating energy use, the impact of extracting, processing and installing the materials used to create the built environment become increasingly important and the embodied energy and carbon that occurs from this becomes progressively more of a concern.

It is now commonly recognized that a linear economy, which focuses on maximizing ‘throughput’, is wasteful because it permanently disposes of valuable resources after their first use. There is an increasing awareness of the need to move towards a circular economy, based on cyclical systems as observed in nature, which aims to transform the value of existing resources that have come to the end of their usefulness in their current form. Many governments around the world are beginning to consider resource efficiency, resource productivity and waste reduction, in addition to climate change and other development issues in their policies. In 1999, John Prescott MP (then UK Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions) stated that ‘In the past, focus has centred mainly on improving labour productivity. In the future, greater emphasis will be needed on resource efficiency. We need to break the link between continued economic growth and increasing use of resources and environmental impacts’.8 These factors will, in future, have significant repercussions for materials availability and, thus, architectural design and building construction. Supply of bulky, low value, construction materials may in future be far more dependent on local proximity and local availability. The need to design and build using local, readily available, renewable or reused resources, and to develop closed-loop systems for the life cycle of building materials are likely to become major drivers for the design of the future built environment. And this will create new design opportunities, but will also change the design and construction processes.

Some designers and building owners have begun to explore alternatives to the produce–use–dispose linear model of resource use in the built environment and to consider closed-loop approaches that aim to find use, value and inspiration in what was previously classified as waste (Figure 1.3). Materials destined for landfill can be put back to use, with positive effects on the economy, society and the environment. Such an approach has potential to alter the design and construction processes in ways that may lead to more place-based architectural solutions. It is also important to differentiate between reuse today, which has to deal with material that is already in use, and future reuse of materials that we can now ensure will be more readily reusable.

Figure 1.3 The Mountain Equipment Coop explored the potential for material reuse in several of its stores such as this one in Winnipeg, Canada.

Although green building rating systems such as LEED and BREEAM encourage a move towards closed-loop systems through strategies such as choosing recycled materials and reused components, at present in the developed world the reused building material sector is fragmented. There is an absence of a clear system or infrastructure with recognized business models and processes aimed at reuse. There is a need to establish a supply chain and inform designers about the potential of such materials and components, and to create a demand that will encourage demolition contractors to deconstruct old buildings due to the value they can get from them. Inventories are needed of salvaged products to enable designers and their clients to have confidence in the availability of materials. And certification processes for materials are needed to facilitate their use without concern.

At present, such factors are preventing the construction industry in most countries from embracing a more long-term view of the value and potential of existing materials and components, and this is hindering the establishment of mechanisms for their widespread reuse. However, in future, when choosing materials, it will be necessary to consider the social, ecological, and technical relationships and the networks that materials are part of.9 Identifying new business models that make such strategies profitable, and using appropriate design approaches that address consumer needs and create unique buildings, can overcome industry hesitance to embrace new material ecologies.

Successful case studies of reuse of components and materials in building projects discussed in this book are gradually becoming accepted in the mainstream. Although the designers featured are innovators and leaders in this field, they present a foretaste of a potential future that recognizes the value of existing resources, how they can be transformed and the resulting environment that can be created. They also offer some ideas about the infrastructure that will be necessary to establish reuse as a common feature of the built environment.

Box 1.2 Current Resource Use10

It is estimated that as much as 40% of the raw materials consumed in North America is for construction.

The European Union (EU) uses 8 566 million tonnes of material resources, of which 7 654 million tonnes (89%) are non-renewable.

From 1980 to 2010 worldwide metals and minerals use increased 66% from 19 bill tonnes to 31.5 billion tonnes (and is expected to grow to 53.7 billion tonnes by 2030).

Typically we still use materials on average only once.

People in rich countries consume up to 10 times more natural resources than those in the poorest countries. On average an inhabitant of North America consumes around 90 kilograms (kg) of resources each day. In Europe, consumption is around 45 kg per day, while in Africa people consume only around 10 kg per day.

Sixty percent of discarded materials is either put in a landfill or incinerated, while only 40% is recycled or reused, but usually for low value uses.

Ninety-five percent of the value of material and energy is typically lost at the end of the first use. Material recycling and waste-based energy recovery captures only 5% of the original raw material value.

1.2 Scarcity Of Resource

Scarcity appears to be a simple concept based on the notions of availability and shortage. However, it is a term that encompasses economic, political, social and ecological domains each with different associations to resource allocation and material use. Systems-theorists, such as Donella Meadows and others, suggest that scarcities occur when resource flows are in some way constrained or exhausted. Economic doctrine encourages us to dismiss such concerns, relying on the market to achieve optimal flows. In the 1970s, economist Georgescu-Roegen was the first to apply the thermodynamic law of entropy (which states that energy tends to be degraded to ever poorer qualities) to mineral resources, arguing that resources are irreversibly degraded and will eventually be exhausted when put to economic use.11 His work inspired the field of ecological economics and the study of natural resource flows in economic modelling and analysis. He claimed that the economic process irreversibly transforms low entropy (valuable natural resources) into high entropy (valueless waste and pollution), thereby providing a flow of natural resources for people to live on but at the same time degrading the value of these resources.

Others argue that scarcity is a socially and economically constructed condition – there is enough food in the world, it is just in the wrong place. There is enough housing in the developed world, just in the wrong ownership. In the developed world of seeming abundance it is difficult to comprehend the relevance of the concept of resource scarcity. Thus, in reality, scarcity is extremely complex and mutable, and fundamental to the essential question of whether we can really have continual growth on a bounded and limited planet.

There is growing consensus that material availability in the future will be significantly constrained compared to the recent past. This may be due to physical exhaustion of supply of some materials (such as rare metals or platinum) but in many cases scarcity is linked to ease of availability, energy intensity of processing, cost of extraction and processing, and transport. There may be a lot of iron ore or aluminium ore in the earth but it may not be realistic to extract such large amounts of it in future. Conversely, as we have seen with the recent advent of fracking and tar sands oil extraction, sources become more or less economically and politically viable due to price changes for a particular resource and government policies and ideaologies.

Nevertheless, there is mounting evidence for all the major resources – energy, water, food and materials – that our existing global industrial models are leading to a series of persistent shortages and/or uncertainties. The Stockholm Resilience Centre has shown that using the concept of planetary boundaries, of the nine boundaries that the Centre has identified, by 2015 four have already been breached and several others are close to the threshold.12 In 2007 the New Scientist magazine looked at the availability of many key minerals and calculated how many years these minerals would last based on various use scenarios.13 They speculated that material scarcity will call into doubt the aim that the planet might one day provide all its citizens with the sort of lifestyle now enjoyed in the west. Researchers at Yale University suggest that ‘virgin stocks of several metals appear inadequate to sustain the modern “developed world” quality of life for all of Earth’s people under contemporary technology'.14 The Worldwatch Institute has estimated that by the year 2030 the world will have run out of many raw building materials and we will be reliant on recycling and mining landfills.15 Increasingly, questions are being asked about whether we have the resources to deliver?

Consequently, consideration of building materials scarcity goes beyond simple availability and cost, to include engagement in the whole supply process from extraction, through processing, delivery, technologies used, skills required, assembly on site, use, maintenance and end-of-life disposal methods. It requires consideration of all the tangled social, economic, environmental and technical networks that are necessary to make a resource useful, and their consequent impacts. As Till and Schneider16 suggest, scarcity in an architectural context is much more than just an actual lack of material, space or energy. Rather, scarcity is revealed as socially, economically and politically constructed and requires a discussion of patterns of creation, consumption and behaviour. They also suggest that scarcity presents a radical challenge to the architectural community as the most appropriate solution to a spatial problem under conditions of scarcity may often be the avoidance of new building.

A changed approach to materials, or a ‘new materialism’ based on ecological principles and recognizing limits, demands a rethinking of the nature of material processes in architecture, leading to a fundamental revision of both the way we create our built environment and what the urban environment will be like in the future. This may lead to new forms of architectural practice and new procurement processes, some of which are explored in this book.

Box 1.3 Resource Use In Construction

In England, the Construction Resources Roadmap states that around 380 million tonnes of resources are consumed by the construction industry each year. The table below provides estimates of global use of five principal construction materials.

Material

Global production (Mt/yr)

Use per person – based on world average (tonnes person/yr)

Carbon intensity (kgCO

e/kg)

Approximate % used in building construction

Steel

1400

0.2

1.5

Cement

4000