Building Category Examples
View 2007 Lifecycle Building Challenge Building Category Winners
View All 2007 Lifecycle Building Challenge Entries
These are additional examples of submission ideas for the Building category.
The ultimate goal of lifecycle building is to design entire buildings for
material recovery and reuse. Through a combination of different
lifecycle building strategies, architects and planners have built
sites that can be deconstructed in their entirety, recovering
the materials as resources for future buildings. Among the existing
projects are two outstanding examples: the Chartwell
School in
Seaside, California and a house in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Chartwell School
From removable windows to paneling installed to maximize potential
wood recovery, the Chartwell School exemplifies exceptional
application of lifecycle design. Among many examples, the school’s
utility raceways provide easy access to electrical systems, which
will allow for modernization without destroying the walls or
ceiling. By
using structurally insulated panels (SIPs) and newly designed
SIP connector systems, the construction requires fewer nails,
making deconstruction easier and causing less degradation to
the building materials. To see
more examples from the Chartwell School, download
the Design for Disassembly Handbook.
Atlanta House
Working on a traditional site-built home, the designs for the Atlanta house anticipate the building’s adaptation and eventual disassembly
using many principles of lifecycle design. The structure
allows the occupants flexibility to move walls because the
floors run continuously throughout the house. Also, the joints
and screws were kept visible to outline the strategy for
eventual deconstruction. For
more information about the Atlanta house, download
the document Design for Disassembly in the Built
Environment.
