Abstract
This study investigates the interconnection methods used to create a circular economy building featuring modularity and designed for disassembly and relocation. Designing modular buildings for disassembly and reuse can decrease waste production and material depletion, in line with the circular economy framework. Disassemblable buildings require connections to be easily accessible. Visible connections may be unpopular features; however, concealing these, yet leaving these accessible, presents a substantial design challenge. This study demonstrates solutions to this challenge by analyzing a purposely designed case study: the Legacy Living Lab. The challenges of disguising and sealing, such as by waterproofing, two types of connections are analysed: structural and non-structural. This study details the materials and connections used across the two analyzed connection types and compares the weights and reusability of components. Thus, a necessary case study is provided for practitioners to advance circular economy theory in the building industry. Notably, all connections in the Legacy Living Lab can be easily accessed with standard building tools, facilitating its disassembly and fostering component reusability.
Highlights
The construction industry generates the largest percentage of waste globally [1,2].Buildings produce a more significant proportion of this waste when demolished at the end of life [3]
The literature that has attempted to solve the issue of the generation of large volumes of construction and demolition waste focuses typically on material recycling [7]
The Buildings 2021, 11, 535 case study method includes a thorough explanation of how L3 was designed and built as an eight module disassemblable circular economy building in which all the connections are concealed
Summary
The construction industry generates the largest percentage of waste globally [1,2].Buildings produce a more significant proportion of this waste when demolished at the end of life [3]. Design for disassembly may enable the reuse of the deconstructed components, saving materials from landfills and avoiding additional resource consumption through producing new components [6]. The literature that has attempted to solve the issue of the generation of large volumes of construction and demolition waste focuses typically on material recycling [7]. To prevent the environmental effects of landfills and downcycling, scholars and practitioners should consider end-of-life constructions as valuable resources rather than waste, as suggested by the circular economy approach [10,11,12]. A circular economy in construction can be defined as the economic system that replaces the end-of-life concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling and recovering materials in the production/distribution and consumption process [13].
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