The Design for Reuse Primer will be released this September 2010. Join the distribution list.

Relevance

Consider the following facts:

• Building construction accounts for nearly 30 percent of all raw material use.
• Construction and demolition waste accounts for over 100 million tons disposed in U.S. landfills annually, representing almost 40% of the total amount of municipal solid waste produced.
• Nearly 27% of existing buildings in the U.S. will be replaced between 2000 and 2030.
• Approximately 80-90% of the waste generated from building demolition could be recyclable or reusable, but is not.
• Excluding food and fuel, nearly 60% of all resource flow in the U.S. goes into the built environment.

Sources: Environmental Building News, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, LifecycleBuildingChallenge, U.S. Geological Survey, and Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Prototype

These statistics demonstrate the potent and extensive impact that the building and construction industry has on material consumption and waste, which in turn has ramifications on the larger global climate crisis. Increasingly, the connection between the built environment and climate change has come to the forefront. The rapid growth of certification programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System and recent initiatives such as the Clinton Foundation’s program to increase the energy efficiency of buildings in the world’s largest cities represent part of that growing acknowledgement. However, they also are indicative of the tendency within the sustainable building agenda to focus far more on issues around post-occupancy energy use and recycling of materials for use in new products than resource reuse.

Addressing rates of material consumption and waste as well as the related energy consumption and embodied energy of materials could have a profound effect on addressing the environmental impact of the built environment. Increasing material reuse can also have significant implications for the broader sustainability agenda. By also potentially addressing the economic and social aspects of sustainability (e.g. green collar jobs and physical retention of the cultural narrative of a community), material reuse can be a tool to help achieve the “triple bottom line.” Yet, despite this considerable potential, material reuse has been significantly underutilized.

Advocacy

There exists a significant gap between the potential for reuse and the rate of actual use.  It is clear that a number of barriers exist, both real and perceived.  Public Architecture’s prototypical design projects including the ScrapHouse and Technology Access Foundation (TAF) Community Learning Space attempt to overcome these challenges and demonstrate the potential of material reuse.  In order to link the innovative models of the two projects to broadly accessible tools that allow for a greater and more strategic approach to resource reuse within the building industry, the Design for Reuse Primer was conceived.  The two year research project seeks to identify, analyze, and alleviate barriers to material reuse.  Design for Reuse Primer is one of 13 projects in the inaugural class of the USGBC Research Fund grants.

The project began with a baseline survey of architectural firms, reuse businesses, contractors, and municipalities to assess levels of material reuse and obstacles that exist.  The signature end-product of the project, which is slated for completion in summer of 2010, will be a robust web-based primer that will feature process based case studies and resources demonstrating how design for reuse and reclaimed materials can be integrated into the building process.  The project will also make recommendations for improvements of green building rating systems and municipal green building policies, as well as highlight the ability of material reuse to be a tool to achieve broader sustainability goals. To learn even more about the primer, listen to a USGBC Podcast with Public Architecture's Liz Ogbu. 

Public Architecture has also become involved in an offshoot of this material reuse research. In partnership with Webcor Builders, one of the top ten sustainable contractors in the country, we have been facilitating the convening of stakeholders to launch a pilot Commercial Reuse Materials Exchange in the Bay Area. The dialogue has brought a diverse but critical group to the table (municipal officials, contractors, designers, reuse businesses, workforce development nonprofits, and deconstruction and reuse consultants); though often interested in the idea for years, this is the first time that many of them have been at the same table. This creates a platform for a highly productive and creative dialogue. It is our hope that the exchange will launch by Fall 2010.

T o follow the progress of the research project and the materials exchange, please sign up for our newsletter.  A more detailed description of the team, schedule, and objectives can be found in our USBGC Research Grant Proposal. 

We are always interested in learning about new material reuse projects.  Please contact reuse@publicarchitecture.org with project information.

Project Team

Typical of Public Architecture’s collaborative approach, the project involves a diverse and highly experienced project team that includes representatives from local, state, and environmental agencies as well as from the architecture, construction, and academic communities.  Additional partners and funding are currently being sought to continue to support this work.

Principal Investigator: Public Architecture
Co-Principal Investigator: Brad Guy, Material Reuse, Ph.D. Candidate Carnegie Mellon University
Research Advisors: Wes Sullens, StopWaste.Org; Meri Sol, StopWaste.Org;  Timonie Hood, US EPA Region 9; Mark Palmer, San Francisco Department of Environment; Gregory Dick, California Integrated Waste Management Board
Financial Partners: U.S. Green Building Council; Bovis Lend Lease
Additional Technical Partners: Webcor