Augmented Reuse

Construction materials are one of the main contributors to the global waste production. Compared to other industries, the reusability of building materials and components is hard to implement due to each project’s individual properties and the difficulty of sharing information across the various stakeholders. In order to foster the reuse of building components, the gap between the existing building stock and the design phase of new buildings has to be minimised by bringing suppliers’ data about the existing stock closer to the designers. This research illuminates how to provide relevant information from material passports and integrate them into the design environment. We compared nine passports and extracted relevant variables for the early design phase. Additionally, an augmented reality measurement app enables quick capturing and data exchange of materials and components from existing buildings. Finally, a compression-only design scheme is proposed to simplify the load capacities of the reused concrete components from an existing building. By providing information about existing materials and components in the strategically important role of the designer, reuse could be enhanced for a more sustainable built environment based on circular construction.