Historically and currently, buildings have been demolished with little to no consideration of life cycles and the waste they produce. Consequently, housing shortage problems are rising and creating unavoidable issues like the demand in resources and built environments. Many architects and engineers have used prefabrication and modular systems in architectural projects as solutions and to demonstrate best practices. However, there is still an absence of structures failing to consider the life cycle, and design for deconstruction and reuse. This thesis proposes a new building prototype of recyclable architectural components.
The building prototype combines prefabrication, modular construction, and adaptive housing designs, to address the increasing demands for multi-use, and re-usable structures, and ultimately achieve a circular economy within architecture. Results show that when this recyclable architectural concept is introduced in the Pre-Design and planning phases of the project, it becomes achievable. The prototype proves to illustrate adaptation over time and increased life span, by reusing and down cycling material through biological cycles. Ultimately, a circular economy within architecture is accomplished by avoiding demolition and construction waste, and contributing less to CO2 emissions.