Judging Home |
The Loblolly House: Disassembly / Reassembly (#40) |
|
 |
|
|
|
Images
| |
| Type of building: | Residential |
Entry Description | |
| The Loblolly House represents a novel approach to pre-fabricated and modular housing concepts. The house introduces off-site fabricated elements which are detailed for on-site assembly, future disassembly and redeployment. This entry conducts a virtual house disassembly/reassembly, an embodied energy and carbon footprint analysis and accounts a design-for-reassembly scenario to evidence the potential of a near 100% waste diversion design intent. | |
| A discussion of design for adaptability and disassembly techniques incorporated: The Loblolly House is comprised of essential elements - a scaffold, blocks, cartridges and service spines - designed for rapid assembly, disassembly, and redeployment. The scaffold, comprised of Bosch Rexroth aluminum framing, is bolted together as opposed to welded, creating a structural system for the house which can be disassembled without affecting the capacity of beam and column components to be reconnected. The bolted scaffold serves as a frame into which off-site prefabricated kitchen, bathroom and mechanical blocks, and floor and wall cartridges are inserted without the use of permanent fasteners or wet connections. Upon disassembly cartridges and blocks are removed as whole units and column/beam scaffold sections are unbolted. Three service spines, integrated exclusively in floor cartridges, supply energy, water and data with built-in connectors that can be readily accessed and unplugged. The lack of adhesives and wet connections greatly improve the ease of redeployment while reducing the time required for extraction. The use of a mechanically fastened scaffold structure with inserted cartridges and blocks requires minimal onsite equipment for disassembly, with the only large equipment required, other than transportation vehicles, being a crane to lift out the cartridges and blocks. This represents a dramatic reduction in required equipment relative to demolition, with little need for skilled workers, beyond the crane operator. This reflects the belief that disassembly, if it is too complicated, is no longer a realistic possibility. When disassembled and redeployed, the methodology also retains the energy and labor inputs used to initially manufacture the scaffold and construct the blocks, cartridges and spines off-site. This is particularly important given the off-site construction energy inputs, compared to those during the on-site processes; require significantly more specialized labor and a greater expenditure of energy. | |
| Environmental implications of entry: The Loblolly House preserves embodied energy with the easy disassembly and reassembly of its essential elements. The disassembly and redeployment potential is evident in the detailing and quality craftsmanship of the energy intensive scaffold, blocks, cartridges, and service spines. This ensures a design-for-disassembly strategy where the components with the highest embodied energy can be disassembled and redeployed with a minimal loss of energy. The design also allows for alternative end-of-life material streams, including design-for-reuse, and as a last resort design-for-recycling. If recycled, there are ready and efficient markets for all materials used. The site’s ecology is also addressed with the pile foundation. Upon house disassembly and removal of piles, there will be little evidence the house ever existed as ecological processes reclaim the abandoned site. | |
| Economic or policy implications of entry: The Loblolly House design has microeconomic implications with the ease of assembly and reassembly freeing the home owner to move from one location to another without the fear of loosing the sizable investment made in their home. As the house can be redeployed, additional material cost are minimal; the only additional inputs are disassembly, transport, and reassembly cost. The ease of mobility with minimal economic loss encourages the efficient pursuit of job markets as the home no longer provides incentives for individuals to remain in areas with poor economic prospects. On the regional macro economic scale, the increased mobility of homeowners reduces the stagnation which occurs when job markets contract but unemployed persons are reluctant to emigrate due to the fiscal obligation of home ownership. The method of disassembly also serves as evidence that compliance of a near 100% waste diversion policy upon building demolition is both possible and uncomplicated. | |
| Explain how the entry advances lifecycle building education: The Loblolly House provides the occupant with a variety of educational opportunities highlighting the form and function of building lifecycle processes. The method of construction relies upon exposed and accessible scaffold and fastener components which facilitate disassembly. Exposed fasteners allow persons initially unfamiliar with the house to rapidly understand how it is assembled and should be disassembled. The house is documented in a book, which focuses on the house’s assembly process with extensive verbal and visual details. The book seeks a discourse on the house’s construction logic beyond its few visitors, and evidences the potential large scale adoption of its methodology. Furthermore, the wide range of information incorporated into the book is intended to create appeal for both the architectural cognoscenti and the uninitiated, with enough information available for practitioners and educators to understand the details of the design. Finally, the house itself is also accompanied by a comprehensive owner’s manual which explains the various building systems and operations, engaging the occupant fully its design well beyond the limited scope asked of traditional construction. | |
| Additional information: | |
Entry Metrics | |
| Tons of concrete reduced/conserved in your entry: 0 tons | |
| Explanation: | |
| Tons of wood reduced/conserved in your entry: 22 | |
| Explanation: The Loblolly House was designed for disassembly thus allowing for the option to disassemble and reassemble on an alternate site in the future. The wood materials in the house are part of disassembled and reassembled elements. | |
| Tons of steel reduced/conserved in your entry: 2 | |
| Explanation: The Loblolly House was designed for disassembly thus allowing for the option to disassemble and reassemble on an alternate site in the future. The steel materials in the house are part of disassembled and reassembled elements. | |
| Tons of aluminum reduced/conserved in your entry: 4 | |
| Explanation: The Loblolly House was designed for disassembly thus allowing for the option to disassemble and reassemble on an alternate site in the future. The house's aluminum scaffold can be disassembled and reassembled. | |
| Tons of carpet reduced/conserved in your entry: 0 | |
| Explanation: | |
| Other material: GLASS | |
| Tons of other material reduced/conserved in your entry: 12.5 | |
| Explanation: The Loblolly House was designed for disassembly thus allowing for the option to disassemble and reassemble on an alternate site in the future. The glass materials in the house are part of disassembled and reassembled elements. | |
| Other material: INSULATION | |
| Tons of other material reduced/conserved in your entry: 3 | |
| Explanation: The Loblolly House was designed for disassembly thus allowing for the option to disassemble and reassemble on an alternate site in the future. The insulation materials in the house are part of disassembled and reassembled elements. | |
| Other material: ACRYLIC | |
| Tons of other material reduced/conserved in your entry: .7 | |
| Explanation: The Loblolly House was designed for disassembly thus allowing for the option to disassemble and reassemble on an alternate site in the future. The acrylic panels on the hangar door of the house can be removed and redeployed. | |
| Tons of Green House Gasses Reduced: 93 | |
| Discussion of Green House Gas reduction implications of your entry: By designing The Loblolly House for disassembly, the house can easily be disassembled into its component parts and reassembled at an alternate site. The greenhouse gas reduction savings from disassembling and reassembling The Loblolly House in lieu of constructing a new Loblolly House is 93.4 metric tons. Unlike many deconstruction projects where much of the construction materials are downcycled, design for disassembly and reassembly allows the construction materials to maintain their essential physical properties and strengths. Recycling energy efficiencies are also extremely variable while reassembly and reuse provide clear and quantifiable green house reductions. By redeploying the majority of the house’s elements, a reassembled Loblolly House would require minimal deployment of new materials therefore minimal additional embodied CO2 from new materials. | |
| Measurement tool used to calculate GHG reduction: EPA'S Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator | |
| Website of GHG measurement tool used: http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html | |
| Other energy conservation features of your entry: | |