Paper

Ecological Tectonics: Rethinking Construction through Material Reuse, Recycle, and Reclaim

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, the global demand for mineral-based building materials has experienced a threefold increase, with three materials – concrete, steel, and aluminum – alone contributing a significant portion of global carbon dioxide emissions at 23% (IEA 2018). The pressing environmental predicament has instigated architects and builders to reevaluate the relationship between material, the environment, construction processes, and labor. Though there has been a growing professional responsibility to prioritize ecologically conscious architectural practices, often conveyed through prescribed formulas such as building energy simulations and the LEED rating system, comprehending the environmental impact and assuming a responsible approach is becoming increasingly challenging. The paper presents a pedagogical experiment, developed in the form of an architecture seminar, that seeks to redefine and examine the concept of sustainability through the lens of material circularity. The seminar explores three distinctive approaches to building materials and construction, each aimed at rethinking conventional methodologies. The first approach, assembly for reuse, challenges the conventional idea of permeance by considering construction and deconstruction as equal partners. The second approach, upcycle material construction, repurposes discarded and obsolete products as building components. The third approach, reclaimed material construction, focuses on salvaging building materials through the careful process of dismantling and demolition, transforming them into new building elements. The seminar employs a bottom-up learning and construction strategy, incorporating "found materials" such as waste (fabric, paper, plastic, and construction debris) and standardized building products (lumber and concrete cinder block) to construct full-scale wall mock-ups. Through these operations and building techniques, the seminar seeks to challenge the traditional use of fossil-based and petroleum-based materials and discover new material possibilities and tectonics. While creating a truly circular value system in construction is a complex and challenging task, the pedagogical objective is to engage students in raising awareness about material ecology and the construction process, thereby laying the foundation for future practices and contributing to finding solutions to environmental problems.

Keywords: Sustainability, Circular Construction, Material Reuse, Material Ethics, Pedagogy

How to Cite:

Kwan, J., (2023) “Ecological Tectonics: Rethinking Construction through Material Reuse, Recycle, and Reclaim”, Building Technology Educators’ Society 2023(1), 116–123. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/btes.1942