The construction industry is a prominent contributor to carbon emissions worldwide. Reducing carbon emissions demands an urgent recalibration of resource consumption patterns. Design, manufacturing, and data technologies play a meaningful role in this transition. How does technology enable the detection and tracking of reuse-bound components in buildings? Can informed design interventions extend the service lifespan of existing buildings? How do technology and design guide the successful removal and redeployment of materials from buildings? How can technology aid anticipatory measures like design for deconstruction? TAD welcomes manuscripts that define and analyze the connections, overlaps, and reciprocal impacts between design, technology, and re-utilization in the past, present, and future of construction.
Today, technology informs re-utilization not only at the end-of-use of buildings but throughout their entire life cycle and at multiple scales. Recovery-oriented design approaches that involve responsible extraction and processing practices, as well as resource-efficient production and deployment—all contribute to reduced consumption and greater circularity. Similarly, reuse and other forms of recovery are not limited to single buildings; they can also occur at the district, urban and regional levels. Each level necessitates technological solutions that allow data gathering, analysis, and management of material flows and stocks, and their sorting, remanufacture, and reintegration. Alongside its physical and technical dimensions, reuse has societal implications that tie to the act of defining, reinforcing, and evolving a community’s identity by documenting, repairing, dismantling, or repurposing its building stock. Such aspects suggest that implementing circularity in the built environment entails research into a diverse set of considerations.