Reversible building design. Material Circularity and life cycle extension in the construction industry

In the last decades, the effects of the climate crisis have become increasingly evident, as demonstrated by the growth in the number and intensity of extreme weather events recorded worldwide. The construction sector is one of the economic and production sectors that contributes most to worse this phenomenon, due to its environmental impact in terms of resource consumption, CO2 emissions, and waste generated by building construction and demolition processes. Globally, the construction sector produces approximately 40% of global CO2 emissions, and in only in Europe, construction and demolition waste accounts for about a third of total waste. It is therefore the responsibility of designers to explore new alternative approaches to the traditional way of designing, constructing, and managing buildings, in order to counteract trends and reduce the environmental impact of the construction sector. This study attempts to critically examine a new possible approach to building design and life cycle management through the principles of reversible design. Framed within the strategies of Design for Environment (DfE), reversible design aims to create artifacts designed to be easily assembled and disassembled, allowing for modifications of the construction over time, if the original requirements change, or allowing dismantling and material recovery at the end of the life cycle. Enabling adaptability over time, facilitating conditions for material reuse, and extending the building and its components’ life cycle are implementable strategies to achieve the decarbonization goals of the construction sector by 2050, as outlined in the most recent international climate agreements. For the methodological control of reversible design principles, the research intends to present their possible application to a case study: the design of a functional module for post-natural disaster housing emergency.