DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLY for Facade Components in the circular Economy

While the extracted resources on our planet become more and more scarcer, the construction industry keeps being the number one user of them and the number one waste generator. At the same time, a new type of Circular Economy has been presented where nothing can be considered as waste. This thesis is approaching this topic by examining ways of prolonging the lifetime of facade components and minimizing waste generation in the Circular Economy. The design strategy is taking into consideration the factor
of time, as the goal is to enable reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling of the facade components. In order to do so one must be able to take the components apart to their elements, making Design for Disassembly the only viable design strategy. The thesis is exploring the potentials of Design for Disassembly for facade components while focusing on the case study of the Integrated Facades as Product-Service System (IFPSS) mock-up facade and the analysis of three (3) of its components: an aluminium window frame,
a decentralized ventilation unit and an external sunshade unit.