Shifting from demolition to disassembly: A hybrid timber-steel multistory residential building for circular design

Abstract

The construction sector plays a significant role in the high energy consumption, waste generation and carbon emissions. To reduce these emissions, we must begin by changing the way we design, plan, and build our environment. This research study revolves around the idea of applying circular design principles to the built environment, whereby buildings are conceived as recyclable and reusable banks of materials. We focused on applications within the Turkish context, because building sector is responsible for more than 35% of the country's total final energy consumption. The selected building is an 9-story RC building located in Izmir, redesigned with CLT floors and GLT columns and beams offering the possibility of a design strongly resembling the original architecture. The lateral-force resisting system is based on specially concentrically braced frames, and the architectural implications of choosing this system are discussed. Fire design was considered to provide practical guidelines for the design of timber buildings in Turkey. Evaluation parameters include easiness of construction, price, potential for disassembly, mass, and carbon footprint. Each apartment was designed different size for different users' demand and adaptable for different future scenarios, in line with the idea of flexible spaces. From the lessons learned from the design process, the relevance of considering the carbon footprint in combination with the design decisions seems to be the key to introduce circular projects in places like Turkey. This is because not all decisions are based on achieving the lower embodied carbon factor, but on those that increase the potential for disassembly, throughout the life-span of the building. © 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.