Technologies

Technologies Response Technologies Artefacts

Climate Change

Energy Efficiency

Locally Sourcing Materials Circular Economy Principles

Materials | A Circular Economy Facade System

By selectively utilising materials that possess high energy efficiency, as measured by their U values, the structure can effectively store greater amounts of heat during daylight hours, subsequently releasing it during cooler evening periods.

By procuring materials from local sources, the embodied carbon footprint associated with transportation and distribution of the material can be significantly minimised. This approach can foster sustainable practices, while also promoting local economies and communities.

Mass Timber Construction | Embodied Carbon

By applying circular economy principles, the goal is to prioritise the end-of-life of the structure by utilising easily recyclable and reusable materials, designing for deconstruction as well as responsibly sourcing materials through reclamation of by-products of other industries.

By creating a modular rainscreen facade system, the exterior material can be easily replaced after the end of its service life, and by prioritising circular economy principles, the facade can be made out of recycled products, such as recycled plastic shingles and recycled plastic containers, allowing the local community to be involved in the design of the facade. As this is currently only a concept, further issues need to be resolved such as a creating a universal attachment system, and ensuring that the attached claddings are safe.

Timber Rainscreen Recycled Plastic

Shingles Plastic Containers

Mass timber envelopes creates opportunities for envelope systems with high energy efficiency, low embodied carbon and high thermal mass properties allowing for natural heat distribution, reducing energy consumption. This current envelope has a U value of 0.126W/m²k, which falls within Passivhaus standards.

Building & Life Safety

Fall Prevention

Fire Resistance

As the cladding spans the height of the building (9 metres) it is vital to ensure worker safety when working at heights during the installation of the cladding, through working platforms such as scaffolds that have railings and handguards preventing possible injuries from falling.

In Pyrolysis, when wood is burnt it creates a protective layer, which can help to make timber more resistant to fires. During pyrolysis, the surface of the wood is partially burned, which creates a layer of char that can help to insulate the wood and protect it from further burning.

Weather Loads Solar Resistance

A main safety concern for a facade is the ability to resist weather loads and not to become detached to the building due to forces such as strong winds. This can be achieved by ensuring there are proper fitting attachment mechanisms in place that securely hold the facade in place.

Withstanding solar exposure is important to prevent melting and the associated health hazards, such as the release of toxic chemicals and fumes, causing respiratory problems and skin injuries and molten droplets or splatters that can cause burns or injuries to the skin or eyes.

Constructibility - Plastic Shingles & Containers

The current cladding system of my design is a cedar timber cladding, which has a service life of 40-60 years. After its service life, it can be easily recycled an then reused into other products.

The recycled plastic shingles allow the community to donate their used plastic, which is then reformed into shingles, which can be attached to the facade. These have an expected service life of 50 years

Tools

Assembly

Recycling plastic containers into a facade system gives them a new life, preventing them from ending up in a landfill, as it takes PET plastics 200-500 years to decompose. It also offers community involvement in the facade building process.

Disassembly

By having the ability to assemble the facade through hand operated tools opposed to machinery, it lowers the embodied carbon of the facade construction. Moreover it is much safer, allowing the community to be involved in the facade assembly.

Community Construction

The use of screws avoids adhesives and allows the facade to be sustainably dismantled and reused for other purposes after its service life. The exposure of the screws may be aesthetically undesirable, but it is functional and sustainable.

A

Modular Facade System

The project's objective is to develop a modular cladding system based on circular economy principles. The system creates a unitised framework that can accommodate recycled materials donated by the community, thus providing a new lease of life to these items that would otherwise end up in landfills. The construction method is simple and intends to allow members of the community to participate in building parts of the cladding. This approach fosters a sense of personal connection between the building and the community of Burnley.

As my buildings programme is family mediation, having a facade that is constructed using hand tools provides the opportunity for family involvement in the replacement of the facade after the end of its service life. It also relates to the RIBA sustainable outcomes of creating opportunities for social interaction.

Processes - Quality Control & Maintenance of Donated Items

Shingles - Factory QC Why PET Containers? Visual Inspection Damage Repairs

As the replacement cladding involves community interaction, the first stage of assembly begins by collecting donated plastics, in a circular economy strategy to integrate non - biodegradable materials into a facade system to avoid landfill waste.

The manufacturing of the plastic shingles by melting the plastics, and moulding them into plastic shingles. This stage involves the greatest amount of embodied carbon, but conserves natural resources as it utilises existing plastics into a new form.

Using a unitised framework system, the cladding can be fitted onto the building. The framework is currently “conceptual” and needs to be able to fit the three types of cladding, timber, plastic shingles and PET containers.

Once the cladding reaches the end of its service life,the horizontal elements of the framework can be easily unscrewed, allowing for the fast and sustainable replacement of the cladding, minimising material waste.

As the shingle cladding melts the donated plastics to reform them into the shingle shape, there is less quality control issues as the material is being reformed. Alongside being prefabricated in factory conditions, this minimises any quality control issues.

The motive behind attempting to reuse containers as a cladding arises from the issues of the current recycling system of plastics, where only 2% of all donated plastic are effectively recycled. This necessitates a need for sustainable reuse.

After plastic containers are donated (in specific sizes such as 1L or 2L to ensure they will fit together in the cladding,) they need to be checked for any damage, as any structural flaws to the containers could lessen its structural integrity.

Cracks in the containers can be repaired by using a two part expoxy resin that fills the crack in the container. This ensures the container is not wasted and further contributes to circular economy principles as the items are not discarded in a landfill.

As the cladding is community donated, the first stage begins with the donation of the containers. These will need to be standardised sizes (1 litre, 2 etc.) to ensure that they would be able to be fitted onto the modular cladding system.

At the end of its service life as cladding, the containers can be recycled into new products such as playground equipment and flower pots, or it can be donated to plastic recycling plants to ensure these containers contribute to a circular economy.