An Investigation in Reducing Material & Energy Consumption
Team: Dillon Pranger (PI), Matthew Gombeda
Decon/Recon Lab + CAEE Lab Team Members: Ewan Evans, Devin Lohman, Simona Pastor, Nathan Silverman
Collaborators: Steve Filyo (BlueEarth Deconstruction), Scott Conwell (International Masonry Institute)
Building deconstruction is poised to revolutionize the construction industry. A growing number of deconstruction policies are being put in place to support this effort, however, when it comes to implementation, knowledge gaps surrounding cost, labor force training, application, assembly methods, and performance often deter industry professionals from considering reclaimed materials as a viable building source. With over 70% of the built environment relying on masonry construction, this research is focused on developing novel approaches to the reclamation of demolished masonry elements, specifically concrete masonry units (CMU), brick, and stone materials.
Masonry Material Recovery (MMR) involves a multi-disciplinary investigation aimed at reducing material and energy consumption in the built environment through developing new design workflows that consider each phase of a material’s typical journey from recovery, to remanufacturing, design, and ‘new’ construction. While irregularities in shape, geometry, or unknown structural capacity often lead to the downcycling of demolished masonry materials into aggregates through energy intensive recycling processes, we believe these materials are still a viable building resource in need only of appropriate design strategies to harness them.
MMR leverages an interdisciplinary team of building deconstruction, architecture, engineering, and construction experts coupled with emerging construction technologies including 3D part scanning, digital twin modeling, computationally driven material analysis, and augmented reality to develop new design strategies focused on material recovery, design, and reuse. Through an integrated approach to this project, full-scale loadbearing wall assemblies are prototyped, tested, and assessed to better understand issues of structural capacity/durability, constructability, and experiential conditions associated with reclaimed masonry materials.
This process seeks to address current gaps and challenges in the deconstruction-to-reuse value chain. Through doing so additional outcomes of the project include spurring market demand for recovered masonry materials, enabling better recovery methods and application of salvaged materials, and assisting industry partners with applying these materials to new construction.
Funded by the 2024 AIA Upjohn Research Initiative
