Maria Yanez Sainz

We are currently designing permanent, solid buildings as if they will never be taken down. In a world undergoing a massive climate crisis, we cannot continue building the way we have been in the past. This proposal intends to tackle the business as usual paradigm of the construction industry which is governed by a linear economy of construction - operation - demolition. Whether we want it or not, construction waste management has become an urgent issue that as architects we must tackle from the beginning of the design process.

To be sustainable is to STOP designing buildings for landfill.

Design for Disassembly — or DfD — is an environmentally responsible alternative to demolition. It relies on the idea that buildings have to be flexible in their lifecycle but also resilient to a future where they will no longer be needed. This proposal aims for a DfD housing model that aligns with Nightingale’s philosophy by understanding the planet as the ‘third client’. By planning the design for future deconstruction, this new model intends to be a seed project for the industry, praising for a circular economy of material recovery and resilience, beyond the scale of the first building.

Nightingale but... Nightingale Disassembled