Digital Deconstruction and Data-Driven Design from Post-Demolition Sites to Increase the Reliability of Reclaimed Materials

The research develops tools and strategies for urban mining and digital deconstruction to diminish the building sector’s dependency on new natural resources. It facilitates the data capture, analysis, and characterization of secondary raw materials and defines a database system for recovered post-demolition components, promoting high-quality upcycled materials for new construction projects. A “form follows availability” digital design strategy is explored from a sparse quantity of reclaimed material. It develops a relational database from a semi-automated post-demolition item assessment, and the consequent extracted material (wood battens) is cataloged and stored before being matched and used for a new demonstrator using robotic fabrication. Each recovered element is imaged, scanned, and weighed to create a unique material health indicator. This information is presented in a user interface to help the designer filter for relevant materials. The final step of the system matches designed components with relevant stored materials by their generative design requirements. The system’s flexibility is demonstrated using a construction system realizing curved surfaces from linear elements. By extracting multi-dimensional data on each wood batten and presenting their relevant indicators in a user-friendly interface, it is possible to create a dialogue between the designer and irregular shapes, augmenting the widespread use of reclaimed materials in structurally predictable assemblies. 85% of design components were well matched with the presented methods’ database materials. The predictability of the system after fabrication is verified by a 10 mm maximum deviation between the as-designed and the as-built structure.