Waste House, Brighton, UK ( Part-2 )

Used carpet tiles clad walls that are insulated with junk, including floppy discs and toothbrushes, in this building designed by East Sussex studio BBM as a research facility and design workshop for the University of Brighton's Faculty of Arts.
Situated on the University of Brighton's campus in the English seaside town, the Waste House was designed by BBM director Duncan Baker-Brown together with undergraduate students.

 

 Foundations made from ground-granulated blast-furnace slag support a framework comprising salvaged plywood beams, columns and timber joists rescued from a nearby demolished house.
Waste blockwork walls surround panels filled with materials including 20,000 toothbrushes, 4,000 DVD cases, 2,000 floppy discs and two tonnes of denim offcuts. 

 Two-thousand used carpet tiles have been applied as weatherproof cladding to the exterior, while waste vinyl exhibition banners form a permanent vapour control membrane that wraps around the house.
The facility will be used by students from the university's Sustainable Design MA course and will be available as a community resource for hosting sustainably themed design workshops and events.

 Waste House statistics:
» 2507 person days to build - 97.5 % of days from students, apprentices & volunteers
» 253 different students inducted and working on site
»  Over 700 school children visited the construction site
» Jason Reeves (City College student then Mears Apprentice) - 5+ weeks while at the City College working on columns and beams plus 30 weeks on site – most as Mears Apprentice
» 3 months in production in City College workshops, plus 12 months on site
» 19,800 toothbrushes used as wall insulation - Gatwick Airport supplied 20K, school children and Freegle supplied 1K
» 2 tonnes of waste (from rag trade) denim jean legs & arms - used as wall insulation
»  200 rolls of brand new wallpaper - thrown away to make way for Christmas decorations

 

 » 4,000 VHS video cassettes - used as wall insulation
» 4,000 Plastic DVD cases - used as wall insulation
» 600 sheets of second-hand and/or damaged ply - used for structure and infill 'cassettes'
» 70m2 of plywood re-used from UOB ‘Waste Totem’ project
» 50m2 of 30mm thick mdc - used as first floor finish - wood Recycling project.
» 1 'waste' kitchen - FREEGLE UK
» Kitchen worktop made from second-hand coffee grinds & plastic coffee cups
» 500 cycle inner tubes - used to seal windows and sound proof first floor

Waste House Construction, Brighton, UK (Part-1)

Case study of Waste House in Brighton | Grand Parade Campus

Waste House is being constructed in the Grand Parade Campus of University of Brighton. Brighton is town in the southeast of England, UK. Duncan Baker Brown and Cat Fletcher are leads in the project. It is a challenging project. This house is going to be used as a studio for postgraduate design students. It will be open to public for viewing. The aim of the project is to demonstrate how waste can be efficiently used for the construction purposes without having to compromise on the quality.

Materials selected for the Waste House Project

Roof – solar roof (Solar PV tiles have been used on the roof.)

Sky harvester – Natural light source

Rainwater harvesting

Timber from local sustainer sources

Second hand timber

Since it is second hand timber and that its strength cannot be determined, the structural engineer assumes that the timber is of the weakest type and compensates in the design accordingly.

Walls

Lightweight prefabricated panels = lots of insulation

Reuse waste materials such as Hemp, glass, earth, tins, straw, carpet tiles

Heavy weight prefabricated panels = lots of heat storage

Chalk wall – 10 tonnes of chalk used + 10% clay

(Although only 100% chalk would mean better wall strength)