Design for Building Disassembly
State College, PA; Atlanta, GA; Monterey, CA (2004-2005)

Project Team: Brad Guy, Nicholas Ciarimboli, Cecilia Da Rocha

Partners: Community Housing Resource Center, Pinnacle Custom Builders, US EPA Region IX, US EPA Region IV, Chartwell School, EHDD Architecture, Resource Venture, Inc., King County, WA

The Hamer Center is engaged with local governments, housing agencies, environmental organizations, and architects in an international initiative to develop principles and practices of “Design for Building Disassembly” (DfD). This initiative includes discussions with Canadian counterparts to make design for building disassembly part of mainstream architectural practice. Building DfD is design that uses methods and materials of design and construction to allow buildings to be flexible, adaptable and dis-mantleable at all stages of their lives. This includes formal design, and design processes, and also re-examining materials selection and connection details in light of facilitating materials recovery and continued life of the materials.

The ultimate goal of this initiative is extending a building's life beyond its original use; the construction of future buildings from renewable, reused and re-useable materials; and the ready means to recover materials at all stages of a building's life. Taking form in a series of design for disassembly case studies, theoretical designs, and guidebooks, we are exploring the precedents, techniques, details, implementation, and education of the architecture community for the creation of buildings designed to minimize the materials-use impacts over the entire life-cycle of buildings.