Hyperlocal: Environmental and Aesthetic Implications of Material Reuse

In order for architecture to be truly sustainable it must move towards a circular model wherein building materials are continually deconstructed and reused such that as little new materials has to be put into the system as possible. Reusing building materials impacts both the design process and the environmental impact of buildings. Organizations such as BAMB (buildings as material banks) aim to advance circularity in the building industry by researching material passports and reversible building design so that building materials can be more easily documented, deconstructed and reused (Buildings As Material Banks Project, 2020). BIM technologies and material passport platforms (such as Madaster) will allow architects, contractors, and construction workers to more easily document building contents for deconstruction and reuse at buildings’ end-of-life. Although this research and advances in technology aim to make material reuse easier, it still doesn’t address the issue of how material availability impacts the architectural design process when implementing reused materials. In order to assess the design implications of reused materials in the building industry this paper documents available reused materials in Pittsburgh, how they might be reused in a residence, the way that reused materials impact the design process, and the environmental impact of implementing reused materials using photogrammetry as a proposed method for documenting and designing with reused materials. Possible future applications of photogrammetry in the building material reuse sector are discussed, as well as current barriers to reuse.