Design for Disassembly: An Analysis of the Practice (or Lack Thereof) in the United States

Construction consumes more resources and generates more solid waste than most industries. Recycling building components and their materials is not enough to eliminate solid waste and promote resource efficiency. The circular economy (CE) prioritizes reuse over recycling and proposes systemic changes in the way we build. Designing out waste is the core principle of the CE. Design for disassembly or design for deconstruction (DfD) is the practice of planning the future deconstruction of a building and the reuse of its materials and components. However, there are very few buildings in the world that have been designed to be disassembled. The study presented in this paper aims at identifying the barriers and opportunities for DfD and building components’ reuse in the current design practice in the United States. The authors recorded, transcribed, and coded open-ended interviews with 13 architects from large design firms in the United States to answer the question of why architects do not currently design for disassembly. Data were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. The authors identified several barriers, among them: building owners’ values, the challenges of a DfD-centered life cycle cost analysis, the lack of understanding about the environmental benefits of reuse (e.g., over recycling), and the architects’ conflicting views about resiliency and disassembly. Prefabrication and product-service systems have emerged as opportunities for DfD and CE in the built environment.