Design for Deconstruction by Alberto Mozó
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.15.08
Zoning determines the value of land, and if your site is zoned for a twelve storey building you can be pretty sure that anything that is a lot smaller is not going to be around for long. You could build it cheap and fast (like they do in North America) or you could design for deconstruction, as Alberto Mozó did for BIP computers in Santiago, Chile. The entire structure is made from laminated timber and can be dismantled and reconstructed elsewhere.
Dezeen got these pictures from photographer Cristobal Palma, and the description from architect Alberto Mozó:
"The laminated wood offers the unavoidable operation of disarming and opens the possibility of re-construction again at another site or location. The design of this tries to potentiate this new condition and put in value sustainable architecture and town planning - something which I personally call “transitivity”."
"it is important to mention that the utilized wood is an incentive for reforestation, since it belongs to the type of wood of a renewable forest, and it is the construction material which produces less carbon emissions for the consideration of our climate changes."
Every building should be designed for deconstruction; cities change, climates change, resources and materials get expensive. What a terrific model for green building. More pictures at ::Dezeen and for Monday's Stair of the Week.
The structure is beautiful, and the concept is to consider. However, it is unfair to cite North America as being the place where houses are built cheaply.
Many commercial buildings in North America are made of steel "and can be dismantled and reconstructed elsewhere" or recycled.
All this talk about buildings being deconstructable and transivitous, but when really would this building ever be moved. When, if ever, besides trailer parks, do cities actually get physically rearranged?