The building industry is the world's largest consumer of raw materials. In an effort to reduce the rate of consumption there is an urgent need to adopt more efficient recycling and reuse practices in the building industry. Emerging to support this need is the circular economy framework (circularity) -a concept that aims to separate 'economic growth from environmental destruction'. Using the framework of circularity this research critically evaluates the 'reuse' performance of a key area of modern construction; the external envelope layers of timber framed buildings.The research collates circular assessment criteria relevant to the evaluation of building envelope layers from literature. In conjunction with real-world deconstruction tests and the aforementioned circularity assessment criteria the study identifies two key trends limiting circularity in the building envelope; the widespread presence of fixings that irreversibly damage components, and the widespread use of chemically modified materials (i.e treated and/or engineered timber). Given the prevalence of such building methods in New Zealand, Australia and North America there is a clear need for research that proposes fixing and material technologies for building envelopes that meet circular economy design criteria.
Digital fabrication makes it possible to create precise and replicable components from engineered timber products. Coupled with strategic design, these tools can be leveraged to produce intelligent and informed jointing conditions that facilitate material arrangements of unprecedented efficiency and strength. This project builds on an existing body of knowledge in the field of digital wood design and fabrication to examine the design, fabrication and structural capabilities of massively modulated plywood space frames. The practice based research finds that while the geometry of a timber space frame is of excellent strength the detailing of joints and overall structural rigidity is a key concern.
<p>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.</p>
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