This Week At CJ: CMU Project Wrap-Up
Greetings Reuse Fans,
Last week, CJ and our partners wrapped up the deconstruction of the solar house on CMU’s campus. The highlight of the project was the use of a crane to remove the large SIPs (structurally insulated panels) and the upper floor of the house. Setting the upper floor on the ground made it safer and easier to deconstruct. We have not inventoried all the materials from the house yet to determine the diversion amount, but very little went to the dumpster.
The materials that came from the house will incorporated into the design of a new house currently being designed by the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) and some will make it to the sales floor. Some of the SIP’s (a very difficult material to reuse) have been purchased to construct a house boat (we will keep an eye on that one!)
This deconstruction project was a training exercise to expose architecture students from the UDBS to the process of deconstruction and how materials can be incorporated into future design. The project also was a training exercise for CJ and workforce programs connected to Landforce and Auberle as CJ works to build a more experienced deconstruction program that can address the widest variety of projects from salvaging buildings to full deconstruction.
We did have some questions regarding the full reuse of the structure, as many of the systems in the house were no longer functioning. Reassembly of the building would have proven too challenging on a number of fronts. Ideally, the full reuse of the structure would have been preferred, but we instead had to choose reuse of the building components. We will keep you posted on where these building pieces land.
