Material Efficiency in the Built Environment

A deep understanding of material resources across length- and disciplinary-scales is crucial in tackling key societal challenges in the built environment. From recognising the implications of material selection at the nano-scale through to functionality at a building system level, cycles of use, perceived value, and decay. This talk describes the application of a comprehensive analysis approach developed to inform design strategies across these length- and disciplinary-scales.
Firstly, it introduces techniques for analysing value- and eco-systems through visualisations of resource- and information-flows between stakeholders. The use of these techniques helps to highlight the underlying bottlenecks in preserving material resources, for example, lack of producer responsibility schemes, complementary policies, and nuances in social acceptance. Next to this, the development of a new method and metric, termed the reclamation potential, is described. The reclamation potential assessment provides an evidence-based quantitative design tool that evaluates the influence of key design and specification decisions (such as component interdependencies) on resource use across multiple building lifecycles. The applicability of this assessment to real-world projects is explained: through its application, the user can identify “hotspot” materials and interfaces that impair multi-lifecycle resource efficiency. Lastly, practical explorations into new assembly and disassembly techniques for building elements are described, with a focus on architectural glass; a key construction material for which there are no widely available substitutes.
This approach of investigating resource stocks across length scales serves as a blueprint for informing responsive design (and recovery) strategies that align with national and global decarbonisation scenarios.