The urgency to create circular buildings is high. To limit the use of new material in the future, we need to design detachable buildings in particular. Alba concepts developed a method to measure a building's detachability: Building Circularity Index (BCI). cepezed strives for a high index. In fact, we already achieved it with a 30-year-old design.
remountable
By ' demountability', Alba Concepts means the extent to which a building is remountable, in other words, the extent to which elements can be demounted and reused. This can be calculated for a design, but also for an existing building. cepezed's two-under-one roof house scored very high on demountability with 72 percent. The now 30-year-old houses show that cepezed's kit-of-parts method is both relevant and sustainable.
The BCI includes the degree of reuse, demountable construction, circular management and maintenance and the possible application of circular business models. The measurement method can be integrated into existing sustainability instruments, such as BREEAM-NL and Environmental Performance of Buildings (MPG).
twee (z)onder één kap (two under one roof)
cepezed's two houses were designed in such a way that they can be completely disassembled, only the foundation would remain behind. The residences have a clear floor plan with a diagonal service block in the middle, extending to the second floor. The free-standing service block contains all wet functions and allows long sightlines and plenty of daylight in the surrounding space. The outer shell is made of stainless steel plates mounted on insulating sandwich panels, interspersed with large areas of glass.
opportunities
The steel structure, stainless steel- and corrugated sheets and sandwich, MDF, HPL panels were assessed as easily detachable. But the assessment also shows where opportunities remain, such as foundation beams that are detachable from one another. Or the use of demountable wall systems for housing separation. With this knowledge, we can continue to innovate our kit-of-parts method.
The twee (z)onder één kap has won several awards, as can be seen on the project page. And speaking of detachability, one of the houses is currently detaching from its owner, this house is for sale and can be viewed here.
early example of detachability – now for sale
