September 1999
Recent changes in the Dutch law to force manufacturers to take back cars and refrigerators for recycling have put product design for disassembly in the limelight. The requirements are not yet compulsory in building, but people in that sector are also beginning to realize that we can be much more efficient in our use of building materials if buildings are easy to disassemble.
A building type that lends itself well to disassembly is the exhibition hall. Renzo Piano designed a temporary expo building for IBM (1985) consisting of prefabricated polycarbonate roof modules supported by a structure of combined wood and aluminium. It was light in weight and easily dismantled. The Ecodrome at the Floriade exhibition in Zoetermeer, Holland (1995), designed by the City of Haarlem Municipal Works Department, was designed for disassembly for ecological reasons. Once the exhibition was over, the Ecodrome was dismantled and transported to Zwolle, where it now fulfils a new temporary function.
XX-box, an exhibition and decor system designed in 1997 by Hitochi Abe, consists of scaffolding tubes, drop sheats and formwork materials. It is low tech and inexpensive. The system is built entirely from a combination of construction site materials available on the market. One phonecall is enough to obtain what's needed.
Besides buildings for shorter-term events, office buildings are often also destined for temporary use. Dutch designers therefore designed an office building with a planned life cycle of 20 years, under the name Project XX. Naturally, the building is designed for easy disassembly.
designed by XX-architecten,
Delft, NL, 1998
These examples of architecture for disassembly often have a high-tech character. The joints have to meet special requirements and the designs are therefore often strongly articulated. This does not mean that easy-disassembly systems can only be made with modern materials. Brickwork masonry constructed with a much softer lime mortar instead of modern mortars (which are often stronger than the bricks) would be much easier to disassemble. The ancient Romans had the same idea. They used the same building blocks over and over again for centuries in constructing their continually developing towns.
Jacques Vink, Smart Architecture Foundation
The widely used way of scaffolding in Asia is bamboo in combination with plastic tie-rods.
Prefab living and work-units, designed by Keim & Sill, Rathenow, BRD, 1998.
Lustron house in parts.