The GO[A]T WASTE? project  addresses material waste or the so-called “dark side” of the building industry on a very small and local scale, yet in an easy to understand way. With the process we intended to learn about circular building possibilities in Latvia, to educate the participants of the process on simple and easily usable knowledge that supports circularity and to inspire more people to accelerate the shift towards circularity. To solve the climate crisis, we are in the need of developing not only sustainable but regenerative solutions. The project was done by using only reclaimed and reused materials, the only bought material were screws.

Our client was interested in developing small stands and hosting a workshop for children in Ādaži. But we took an advantage  as architects and raised a challenge by suggesting the client a different approach - what if instead of creating a two day temporary structure that would be trashed after the event, one could avoid material waste and transform the structure for further use in the nearby mini zoo which is run by the client. While we as architects were more interested in the circularity of the process and the environmental impact of it which we will elaborate on in a moment, such an approach has also the potential to increase visitor flow for the mini zoo not only on the event day but as well in the longer term by giving a new attraction.

Back to the topic of environment. The building industry has an enormous impact on climate change and environmental pollution, to be more exact, buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions [source]. Currently the building field has been dealing mainly with increasing energy efficiency of buildings. By looking at building LCA one can see that the next high emission saving potential lies in circularity principles since they can be implemented in nearly every stage of the building's life cycle. Building life cycle analysis is used to calculate the CO2 emissions from multiple building lifecycle stages. For example, in the raw materials stage, by reusing building materials the need to extract and process new material would be reduced. Furthermore in the manufacturing the need to process the products would disappear or be greatly reduced. In the construction stage big changes would not happen since the building products still need to be transported and installed. Nevertheless, the next improvement could be seen in the use stage where through repair, refurbishment or replacement reused materials could be implemented. At the end of buildings life the emissions would not be released through combustion or burning of the material but instead the materials could be used again in some of the stages.

Within the next 30 years, it is estimated that the amount of new construction will equal the amount, which is already built today. The rapidly growing construction sector is currently among the world’s largest producers of waste: every year, 1.3 billion tons of construction and demolition waste is generated worldwide [source].

Moreover, in 2020 only 8.6% of waste will become circular, according to the Circularity Gap world report.

Also in Latvia, according to the ministry of environment building industry is one of the biggest waste producers [source]. In the graph one can see Latvian waste material circularity which in 2016 did not reach 5%, showing Latvia well below the EU average of around 10% [source].

To get an overview of the project, one should look at the material flow diagram [top of page].

At the start of the project we developed a rough idea of the project's outcome. We sketched the idea of creating a continuous roof which goats could use as a climbing surface and general dimensions needed to host the workshop. Since Latvia does not have reusable material collection sites as in other European countries, it is hard to predict what material can be found. We chose to keep it feasible for the research purposes, safe for the children and animals and defined that the material we collect should be wood. We also decided to choose wood from different stages of building processes such as new construction, renovation, house extension and demolition. To find the material the Ādaži regional facebook group and BIS  interactive map which shows all current building sites in Latvia were used. 

The collected material consisted of larger beams and boards which still required some cleaning and nail removal from a demolition site, long and rough cut planks from felled trees which were of no use for the owner and three times cut-offs from renovating a terrace, timber framing and facade works.

The construction phase involved also adapting the design to the found material and making all the needed changes.

Since the typical wooden leftovers of building processes consist of small pieces rather than full length beams we had to build differently than we were used to. In some parts of the structure materials had to be saved as much as possible, for example, the structural capability of the beams was achieved by puzzling together multiple smaller planks. At the same time for simple objects like a bench the material could be used in a more generous way, using all the leftover parts. Despite the very different materials we got, a strong focus was laying on creating a coherent appearance of the pavilions through their shape and construction technique, no matter if they stand apart as three separate structures during the workshop or later as a single united pavilion in the mini zoo. 

According to the European Commission, the amount of waste generated from building and demolition in the EU is around 1 tonne per inhabitant, moreover, not often from the waste the valuable materials are mapped and only a very small part of demolition waste is reused in a similar function or for other purposes without extensive degradation [source]. As a result resources embodied in processes of manufacturing and maintenance are wasted along with potential cultural, economic, and aesthetic values. 

Through the construction of the GO[A]T WASTE? Project we tried to address also the waste generation from our side. As one can see in the material flow diagram, the leftovers and cut offs were reused further for an urban gardening project and the rest was handed over to a teen who also helped us in the construction of the pavilions and he self built a wooden material storage. The very smallest and seemingly unusable pieces were used later in the workshop for the very youngest children to paint on and decorate the future goat pavilion.

On the last weekend of August the pavilions were used as stands for a preschool workshop with children. During the event children could participate in painting, clay working and urban gardening workshops. The latter was held as a pre-event for a larger event planned for next spring. The clay working was held as an initiative to involve the local community and not only children with their crafting skills. But the painting workshop focused fully on the GO[A]T WASTE? project.

For painting the children could choose between three different pavilion elements - wooden garlands, small cladding and facade planks. The garlands were created from the already previously mentioned smallest and unusable wooden cut-offs. While the facade planks were constructed in a design for disassembly manner, introducing not only material reuse for the children but also planning in advance for reuse. Here the facade was not fixed with screws and also not with glue or nails, as a result, the material damage from installation could be reduced. The planks were fixed with a simplified wooden rail which keeps them in place.

This participatory design helped to engage children and their families in the topic of reuse and gave them a playful and age appropriate way to participate in creating public space. Additionally, small info signs were added to inform the visitors of the material origins and construction strategy. While the children were mostly carried away by painting, one could spend the time to discuss and explain circular economy and sustainable building practices with the parents and pass further some simple knowledge.

Here to add, after the event, one of the building site owners where we collected the material from had fully listened to our suggestions regarding material reuse and how to easen it for the designers. He had sorted all leftovers or cut off building materials by type and size, photographing them separately and offering to give the smallest dimensioned elements for free and reselling cheaper the larger leftovers. Very simple and small steps but make a big difference for those who wish to use further the material.

Event photos by Līva Mazure.

After the workshop, the structures were carried in the mini zoo and joined in a single pavilion that functions as a goat playground. The previously used tables of the workshop were reassembled as platform and slide for the animals, the wooden garland and bench as items for goats to rub and scratch on, and lastly, the large organic shaped roof acts as a climbing surface. The animal pavilion still bears the small informative boards informing the mini zoo visitors on the project's reuse topic.

Photos by Ādams Muzikants

Through the process we could identify certain topics that would improve future material reuse in building projects. For example, design for disassembly principles should be kept in mind whenever new materials are used, so that later they can be handed over for reuse. During material collection from the demolition site, much of the material had to be discarded because of too high damage in the demolition process. This was due to the use of glue and excessive amounts of nails which limit the disassembly process.

Moreover, it is hard to predict what material will be available on the building site which means that the planning process does not stop as typically but keeps up the entire building time to adapt the materials and the building structure itself. While this functions well with small scale projects such as pavilions, to integrate reuse in large buildings, certain potential material libraries could be created that identify the types, dimensions and amounts of material available to avoid the increase of building costs due to longer planning time. Another way would be simply providing a kind of marketplace for the reused materials. The latter was a commonly asked question from the locals of Adaži if such a facility could be introduced in the local community.

Furthermore, the event and process focused on the wooden material waste to keep the topic as simple as possible for the younger workshop participants. Nevertheless, the building industry presents waste from various materials where reuse possibilities differ strongly. This presents the need for further investigations and tests to develop a successful circular economy environment in the building field.