DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLY : VIABILITY OF ITS APPLICATION IN TRANSITIONAL OFFICE DESIGN IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The focus of this undertaking is to investigate the applicability of Design for Disassembly (DFD) in the Singapore context, studying particularly the typology of Transitional Offices. Short leasehold land parcels were released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for building transitional offices as a response to the office space crunch in 2007. These buildings were designed to be permanent despite having a designated lifetime of about 15 years. At the end of their lifespan, the buildings are expected to be demolished and the waste generated from the demolition will contribute to the estimated 2 million tons of construction and demolition waste in Singapore per year.1 If the short lifespan of the building was considered and responded to during the design stage, waste from the eventual demolition of the transitional offices could be reduced. This dissertation attempts to introduce DFD as part of the solution to reducing the demolition waste of the transitional offices by understanding the viability of its application in this context. References will be made to existing DFD systems and examples available, as well as the research on DFD conducted both locally and overseas, understanding what benefits DFD offers for these transitional offices in terms of cost, material reuse and waste minimization. Existing DFD solutions will be examined and discussed for their compatibility to the needs of transitional offices and therefore leading to the outcome of how viable is the application of DFD in Singapore’s transitional offices.