on the path to material re-use Navigating the Complexity of Material Sustainability for Architectural Practice by Anna Beznogova A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Architecture Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2016 © Anna Beznogova 2016 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract The aim of this thesis was to understand how to define sustainability holistically, and how architecture can contribute to holistic sustain- ability by way of its material form. I conducted a literature review of definitions for sustainable development, looking for a holistic definition that addressed common attitudinal barriers to its practice. It became apparent that it’s useful to study sustainability under a systems science framework that takes environmental, social, and psy- chological sustainability as interdependent variables. In accordance with this, I reviewed different approaches to material sustainability in architecture, the lifecycles of several common building materials, and the links between material industries, to establish a system-based understanding of how material sustainability can be practiced. In the latter part of my thesis I focus on material re-use as an underrepre- sented approach to material sustainability, and study the opportuni- ties and barriers in practicing it, particularly in the context of South- ern Ontario. I propose that a monitoring tool that draws on public data sources could relieve one barrier to using reclaimed materials by making it easier to find available sources. I find that material re-use can be an architect-driven way to practice material sustainability, it conveys a message about the problems of materialism in our society, and it provides challenging but fulfilling craft-based work. iii Preface Craft has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have vague childhood memories of watching my grandmother knit socks from scrap wool on four needles, of learning to knit from my mom and promptly deciding to knit a bracelet in two colours—an advanced technique—by making it up as I went along. My mom told me I wasn’t really doing it the right way, but let me do it anyway. Reaching even further back in my memory I even remember her using craft as a bargaining chip—I could only have my embroidery if I would give up my soother. When I was seven I joined a crochet group at my school in Russia with other young girls and became engrossed with crocheting doilies despite having no use for them. When I was nine I crocheted an owl for a school project in Canada and I don’t think my teacher quite believed that I made the whole Figure i.i: The bracelet in question. thing myself. I, on the other hand, didn’t understand what the big deal was, it was just an owl I made up of oblong crocheted shapes in white and brown acrylic with googly eyes glued on. Over the years I’ve dabbled in many different crafts. My love of crochet slowly waned and knitting eventually became my main hobby. Throughout architecture school I kept my craft and academic work close, but separate. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit now, but I didn’t really see what they might have in common. My advisor once asked why I wasn’t doing a thesis that involved knitting, probably since I’m always carrying around some piece of knitting with me, and I said I just couldn’t see myself doing it, I wasn’t inspired by the pros- pect—I drew a blank at the idea. I worked on another topic that I’m passionate about—sustainability—and wouldn’t you know it, I came back to craft. I guess I had to come at it from a different direction to find a place for it. It is through craft that I began to increasingly think about different materials in terms of their provenance and performance. It is through knitting specifically that I learned hard lessons about the v subtle nuances of material, having made bad choices regarding fiber types only to come out with a garment that can’t be styled anything like the one pictured in a pattern. It is through craft podcasts that I understood that the same things that are important to me are im- portant to many independent fiber entrepreneurs, such as ecological sustainability, sense of community, local economy, meaningful work, and the issues of human and environmental exploitation on a global scale. It is partly through these experiences with craft that I started looking at architectural materials in the same way. It is through craft that I learned to be patient and perseverant in learning to work with new-to-me materials. Curiously, I rarely encountered the same mindset by working in architecture. Aside from the fact that there is little opportunity for an architect to be directly in contact with construction materials, the lifecycle of materials is rarely a question. Where does it come from? Far or near? How did it affect the people who had to make it? How did it affect the environment, what kind of disturbances did it create to ecosystems? How does it make people feel when they see it in the city or have to work and live next to it? Does it offer any delight or other psychological balm? Does it exacerbate global problems or help address them? What are the global impacts of locally using a material in your project? These are issues that I came to understand through food, fashion, and craft before I really understood that they exist in archi- tecture as well. We are in an age where a multitude of questions have to be asked and considered to understand the complexity of material choices, especially if we want them to be sustainable. The only way we can be protected from greenwashing is by becoming informed. In part, this thesis is just that—informing myself about the materials we regularly use in architectural design and understanding what makes them more, or less, sustainable than others; then informing myself about approaches to material sustainability from current literature on the subject; and finally coming back to craft as a sustainable time investment which encourages intimate knowledge of material, slows vi down the rate of flow of materials, and provides meaningful work and psychological fulfillment. The loop comes full circle when I dis- cover material reclamation as an approach to material sustainability that requires craft intelligence, and which has similar challenges. I hope that this thesis will be useful to other architects (or aspiring architects) who are sick of greenwashing and who want to address some of the ecological, social, and psychological concerns of material culture that I’ve identified. I hope it will inspire meaningful architectural choices that have a wider global impact. vii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I’d like to thank my co-supervisors, Maya Przy- bylski and Anne Bordeleau. Your constructive feedback and thought- ful questions have been invaluable. You regularly helped me to see the work from another perspective and to refocus on the important parts. Thank you for your time and your guidance. Thank you, John Straube, for your critique and insight. Your ques- tions have helped to push my work towards greater clarity and accuracy. Thank you to Robert Jan van Pelt, for your support and encourage- ment, and for helping me to draw out the stories from my experienc- es. Finally, thank you to the friends who have been there for the ups and downs, for commiserating and celebrating with me, and keeping me grounded. ix Table of Contents Author’s Declaration iii Abstract v Preface vii Acknowledgements xi List of Figures xv 1 Introduction 1 Part 1 : Sustainability 2 Theoretical position on sustainability 7 Part 2 : Material sustainability 3 Material Sustainability 33 4 Current Approaches to Material Sustainability 47 5 Material Studies 83 6 Material Industries 101 7 Material Sustainability Conclusions 125 Part 3 : Material re-use 8 Material Re-use 135 9 Re-use Case Studies 141 10 Getting involved in re-use 159 11 Monitoring a complex system 179 12 Re-use Conclusions 205 Bibliography 217 Appendix A 230 xi Still need to format with sources. List of Figures Figure i.i: The bracelet in question. ...........................v 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical position on sustainability Figure 2.1: (previous spread) Earth from space. 4 Figure Source 2.1: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723; adapted by author 3 Material Sustainability Figure 3.1: (previous spread) Aerial photo of Southern Ontario.....30 Figure Source 3.1: http://www.canmaps.com/topo/nts50/orthoim- age/040p09.htm; adapted by author. 4 Current Approaches to Material Sustainability Figure 4.1: SIP panels are a composite of extruded polystyrene rigid insulation and oriented strand board. They are difficult to recycle.....49 Figure Source 4.1: SIP panels. http://www.universalconstructionfoam.com/ products/construction-panels/structural-insulated.php and https://www2. buildinggreen.com/article/structural-insulated-panels-efficient-way-build (restricted access). Figure 4.2: Insulated concrete forms (ICF) are a composite of insula- tion and spacers that act as formwork for concrete. They can speed up construction time because the insulation does double duty. .........49 Figure Source 4.2: http://www.contourconstructionllc.com/pageICFPanels Figure 4.3: Fibre-reinforced plastic in the seating at the TMW techni- cal museum, by Querkraft Architects.