Designing a steel connection with a high degree of disassembly: a practice-based experience

Francesco Incelli,Luciano Cardellicchio

doi:10.36253/techne-10574

Abstract

This article is derived from a feasibility study for a single-story elevation at the Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) in the United Kingdom. This project embraced two fundamental principles of the circular economy: flexibility of interior spaces and Design for Disassembly (DfD). The goals were to reduce the risk of demolition and preserve the value of the building material to empower its later use. These principles formed the solution for the structural frame. For this paper, the engineering phase was carried out to improve the structural connections designed according to DfD principles and following generative design methods.

Highlights

This article stems from an in-depth study of the feasibility of a roof elevation for the educational building housing the Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) in the United Kingdom
The material used for the timber element is standard GL26, and the material for the node was treated as part of the generative design as a variable, i.e. materials of different strengths were included for the generative design, including aluminium alloys and high strength steels to capture a variety of shapes
Starting from a preliminary proposal of a node composed of 5 mm thick steel plates, the beams and columns were set as obstacle entities, meaning that the algorithmically generated steel connection does not interpenetrate with the volumes of adjacent wooden elements, instead of avoiding and bypassing them as intended

Summary

Introduction

This article stems from an in-depth study of the feasibility of a roof elevation for the educational building housing the Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) in the United Kingdom. The original study, conducted in 2018, focused on the technical feasibility of the elevation, following circular economy principles at the building scale. Given the need for large spaces to accommodate architectural teaching activities within the school and to allow for their agile adaptation to potential transformations of educational methods, the experimental development of the roof extension placed the concept of flexibility at the heart of the design process. Interior space flexibility is considered one of the critical principles of the circular economy applied at the building scale. Since the functional request of the client suggested in itself an idea of circularity translated into the internal flexibility of spaces, the design team decided to embrace circular princi-

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