Design-for-adaptability and design-for-disassembly are the pillars of circular construction.
Adaptability is the ability to easily modify a building or part of it throughout its life cycle, depending on changing needs and future circumstances, without requiring major construction work. It is necessary to accommodate changes in the type of use, demographics, and user needs or because of the need to adapt to external factors such as climate change. Over time, users' needs may also change regarding their physical capacity limitations associated with advancing age. In the case of residential buildings, adaptability features can allow users to adjust their dwellings to meet their needs as they change with age.
The ISO 20887 standard provides an overview of design for disassembly and adaptability principles and strategies for integrating these into the design.
General design principles for adaptability are:
versatility (space having multiple uses throughout the day, week, or month without requiring changes to the building's design);
convertibility (floor space designed so that it can be easily repurposed, e.g., an office building can be designed and built so that it is possible to convert it into a residential building in the future);
expandability (the ability to add additional floors or floor space without significant changes to the building structure).
NCC's Kulma21, a Finnish full-scale renovation project, is an example of design for adaptability with 200-6000 m² of flexible space solutions.
The design of the building should also take into account elements and components that can be easily disassembled and reused in the future. According to the ISO 20887 standard, the general principles of design-for-disassembly are:
ease of access to components and services (easily (with minimal damage) approachable material/elements/connectors, especially those with shorter anticipated lifetime, and exposed connections with room left on all sides to enable disassembly);
independence (ability to remove/upgrade elements/connectors/modules/systems without negatively affecting the connected and adjacent systems through designing a building in layers standing independently, for instance, following the Brand's Theory of Layers);
Many examples of circular solutions and projects categorised following the Brand's Theory of Layers can be found in the report from a Danish project Circle House.
avoidance of unnecessary treatments and finishes, which might hinder future reuse or recycling;
supporting reuse (circular economy) business models by adapting circular solutions wherever possible;
simplicity (elements/connectors/modules/systems designed to be straightforward with the reduced number of subcomponents/materials to the minimum required to execute the intended function);
standardisation (using elements/connectors/modules/systems with standardised dimensions, components, connection types, and modularised);
safety of disassembly.
The Pikku-Finlandia is a well-documented large-scale design-for-disassembly project in Helsinki. Detailed information about its design can be found here.
More and more products designed for disassembly are available on the market. An example is the Tarkett flooring "click (floating) system" or Altro flooring adhesive-free system instead of glue-down floors, Velfac's windows designed for disassembly, or Komproment's façade made of shingles on aluminium battens.
Sources and further reading
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