<html>
<body>
Gennaro brings up a great topic.<br><br>
"Unbuilding" (as he called it) is similar to what is known as
Design for Disassembly in product/industrial design. When I talk
about DfD in architecture classes and events (and I have a section on it
in my about-to-be-released book -- apologies for plug), I typically start
out with some photos of standard building assemblies and demolition,
illustrating how they make it<br><br>
1. Difficult -- often near impossible -- to separate materials for
recycling<br>
2. Difficult to upgrade or maintain buildings without destructive
reconstruction.<br><br>
There are at least a couple of (non-exclusive) approaches to dealing with
this. In the industrial design version, we focus on using mechanical
fasteners and assemblies that allow easy separation of parts for repair
or recycling. The goal is using fewer (often toxic) adhesives or other
methods of attaching disparate materials so that disassembly -- affecting
both repair and recycling -- is made simpler. I'm sure you can imagine
the building construction parallels.<br><br>
In conjunction with that, I'm a fan of Open Building (or Shearing
Layers), which recognizes that different building elements last differing
amounts of time and that the arrangement and fastening of building
systems should reflect this. For instance, make it simpler to relocate
electrical or plumbing with destroying finished surfaces. Make it simpler
to replace elements that wear out (e.g. windows) or become
technologically outmoded (e.g. lighting) so that a building can more
effectively be upgraded and thereby delay or obviate the point at which
it makes more sense to tear it down than to upgrade.<br><br>
Gennaro's Lego analogy is pretty good though Erector Sets might
illustrate it a bit better. There are better yet examples in the natural
world. I'm thinking, for instance, of the processes by which trees grow:
layers transforming over time; parts (leaves) that separate easily to
allow growth and replacement, while themselves becoming nutrients for the
growth of trees an other organisms.<br><br>
From a designer's point of view, we should not think of our
responsibilities ending when the C of O is signed. (I'm not talking about
legal responsibilities.) But instead view our "children" as
growing, evolving creatures.<br><br>
David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
<font size=2 color="#808080"><b>DAVID BERGMAN</b> ARCHITECT / <b>FIRE
& WATER</b> LIGHTING + FURNITURE<br>
</font><font color="#808080">architecture . interiors .
</font><font color="#008080">ecodesign</font><font color="#808080"> .
lighting . furniture<br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">bergman@cyberg.com
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl"><u>www.cyberg.com</a>
</u></font><font color="#808080"> <br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY
10002<br>
</font><font color="#808080">t </font><font size=2 color="#808080">212
475 3106 f 212 677 7291</font><font color="#808080">
<br><br>
author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide<br>
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design</font> <br><br>
At 08:57 AM 2/26/2012, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Something that is definitely not
focused on enough is the art of<br>
building for future unbuilding. If houses were easilly unbuilt there<br>
wouldn't be this chasm between new construction and renovation.<br>
Building would be like Lego. My company definitely does that now,
for<br>
example we have YET to buy new wood. We only salvage old. But it
does<br>
mean a lot of denailing and working with odd shapes. But most<br>
difficult of all it requires more thinking. Is it financially worth
it<br>
after storage and labor (as if that is the deciding factor)? I think<br>
so. Besides, what are you comparing it to? The dirt cheap 2x4 from<br>
lowes that has more hidden costs to it than a house of horrors?<br>
For me I see my salvaged wood costs as like paying with cash and the<br>
Lowes wood as like paying with a credit card that somebody else has
to<br>
repay.<br><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Greenbuilding mailing list<br>
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org<br><br>
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>
<a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org" eudora="autourl">
http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org</a>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<br>
</body>
</html>