Project (Un)Build

As we recognize that our extractive practices are driving humanity toward an environmental crisis, there has been renewed interest in reusing materials. From the European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan to emerging deconstruction ordinances in U.S. cities like Portland, Seattle, and Denver, and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics’ commitment to “radical reuse,” sustainability has become both the ethical compass and ideological underpinning guiding the practice of architecture for our generation.

Project Un(Build) proposes a reinvention of timber construction to enable Design-for-Disassembly and wood reuse. In 2018, the U.S. construction and demolition (C&D) sector generated 41 million tons of wood waste, with only 9% recycled. Inspired by bamboo lashing techniques, Project Un(Build) uses strapping as a non-penetrative assembly method, facilitating easy disassembly while maintaining material integrity. The system envisions a wide range of applications across varying scales—wood-framed houses, office partitions, temporary shelters, outdoor pavilions, exhibition walls, and even furniture. It can also be adapted to join various types of dimensional lumber and engineered wood products.

Project Un(Build) presents not only a transformation in material approaches but also an invitation to view design as a form of innovation—and designers as innovators actively engaged in finding solutions to the climate crisis.