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Lifecycle Building Challenge
Designing This Building,
and the Next
The Lifecycle Building Challenge invites professionals and students to submit their ideas for buildings and products that are created for adaptation, disassembly, or dismantling for recovery. This national Web-based competition is sponsored by EPA, the American Institute of Architects 
, West Coast Green , the Collaborative for High Performance Schools , and StopWaste.Org .
Lifecycle Building
Also known as design for disassembly and design for deconstruction, lifecycle thinking encourages creating buildings that provide resources for future buildings. Building material recovery and reuse reduces energy and resource consumption.
Why Lifecycle Building?
- More of the 100 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris are sent to landfills in the United States each year.
- Construction and demolition debris comprises about 40 percent of the solid waste stream.
- Reusing building components reduces the energy and greenhouse gases emissions associated with producing and transporting building materials.
- Between the years 2000 and 2030, an estimated 27 percent of existing buildings will be replaced, and 50 percent of the total building stock will be constructed.
Imagine these possibilities:
- A recreational building that breaks into 3 parts for transportation by truck to a new site;
- The green mobile home with detachable rooms allowing for additions or remodeling;
- A plug-in home with a specialized connector joint, allowing components to be unplugged quickly and without damage;
- Zip tape that allows drywall to be easily removed and reused.
Building science fiction?! Not at all - these are just a few examples of ideas from previous Lifecycle Building Challenges!
Previous Lifecycle Building Challenges
2009 Lifecycle Building Challenge 3
- Lifecycle Building Challenge 3 Web site
- Lifecycle Building Challenge 3 flyer (PDF, 309 KB, About PDF)
- U.S. EPA, partners kick off green building design challenge to reward designs that save resources, costs (Press Release) - December 15, 2008
2008 Lifecycle Building Challenge
The 2008 awards were presented by the U.S. EPA, the American Institute of Architects, and the Building Materials Reuse Association at a ceremony during the WasteWise/National Partnership for Environmental Priorities Conference in Washington, D.C. on October 29, 2008.
View the video, "Winners of the 2008 Lifecycle Building Challenge: Showcase of the winning entries."
High Resolution
(162 MB, 12:49 minutes) Right-click the link to download the WMV file.
Low Resolution (42.9 MB, 7:50 minutes) Right-click the link to download the WMV file.
Video Transcript (PDF) (3 pp, 19K, About PDF)
EPA Announces Winners of the Second Annual Lifecycle Building Challenge (Press release) – October 29, 2008
2007 Lifecycle Building Challenge
The 2007 awards were presented by the U.S. EPA, the American Institute of Architects, and the Building Materials Reuse Association at a video ceremony during the West Coast Green Conference + Expo on September 20, 2007.
U.S. EPA announces winners of first in the nation green building design competition (Press release) – September 20, 2007