Defab: Architecture for a Circular Economy

Mainstream construction practices result in the production of large quantities of toxic waste at all stages of a building’s life cycle. This can be attributed to widespread adoption of irreversible fixing methods that prioritise rapid assembly, bespoke design practices and the increased use of ‘low-value’ materials. Unprecedented levels of consumption and waste production are set to continue as demand for residential housing in New Zealand grows rapidly. In response to these concerns, this thesis aims to develop innovative construction methods that facilitate the development of a Circular Economy for the building industry.  The resulting design proposal is a modular architectural construction system with integrated jointing capacity, redundant expansion potential and details that enable the effective separation of discrete building layers. This proposed assembly specification calls for the mass-standardisation of structural components to promote economically viable material retrieval and resale at the end of a building’s useful life. Computer-aided manufacturing technologies are used to facilitate the incorporation of sophisticated reusable assembly parameters into connection details on a large scale.  Analysis of the proposed solution indicates that waste over an entire building’s life can be reduced by more than 94% through the deployment of alternative architectural assemblies. Additionally, optimised assemblies enable deconstruction times to be reduced by up to 30% versus conventional light timber framing.