Reversible Design: Strategies to Allow Building Deconstruction and a Second Life for Salvaged Materials

This research investigates an eco-friendly design procedure, that we will name reversible design, that facilitates the recovery of building materials and components in order for them to be reused or recycled at the end of a buildings planned service life. The study focuses on how the design process must be organized and which decisions are especially important to obtain an eco-friendly end-of-life of buildings. The current Italian housing production is analyzed in detail, due to its current high ecological footprint, combined with an intense change in living styles, as well as in the configuration of space.