WiserEarth Suggestions

Design for Disassembly in the Built Environment: A Guide to Closed Loop in Design and Building

This Guide dives into thinking and practical approaches to Design for Disassembly.

DfD is a new concept for the design and building community and is an important contributor to Design for Environment (DfE). DfE is a comprehensive consideration of design related to environmental and human health impacts over the life-cycle of a product.

There are many other sub-sets of DfE such as design for assembly, reuse and recycling but in fact DfD is integral to any design for... that intends to maximize materials conservation from building end-of-life management, and create adaptable buildings to avoid building removals altogether. Given that many buildings are removed from sites due to redevelopmentand their inability to remain useful within an alternative land use, DfD can also be an intelligent strategy to prevent obselescense and mitigate economic factors (such as labor costs) that encourage destructive demolition and disposal of buildings.