Track 2, Presentation 4
Understanding A Century Old Exercise in Building Component Reuse: Material Information Tracking for the Courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Juliana Berglund-Brown
Reusing architectural and structural building components is one strategy for reducing overall carbon impact of the built environment, which currently accounts for 39% of global energy and process-related carbon dioxide emissions[1]. While reuse has yet to be embraced at a large scale, it plays a significant role in transitioning to a Circular Economy, which aims to decouple new resource extraction from economic activity[2]. Reuse of building elements, however, is certainly not a new idea. Examples of reuse throughout history date back to B.C.E. in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome[3]. The courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM) is a century old illustration of how reuse has been incorporated into building design. Columns, windows, arches, and doorways from Rome, Florence, and Venice line each level of the interior courtyard, and were transported from Italy to Boston at the time of the construction[4]. Understanding successful, historic examples of reuse can inform strategies needed for widespread adoption. While there is a lot to be learned from the unique construction of the ISGM, little data and information exist about the reused building elements. The only existing knowledge about these elements come from the diary of the architect, Williard Sears, documenting the correspondence between Gardner and her dealers in Italy, and a few secondary sources from the time describing Gardner’s life more broadly[5]. The absence of information about the project is representative of a lack of material information and data tracking in the industry today, which proves to be an inhibiting factor for large scale component reuse. One method for tracking information about properties, use information, material properties, structural properties, and ownership of building products is the creation of a material passport. A material passport is a digital set of data describing characteristics of materials and components and is an instrumental tool in transitioning to a Circular Economy[6]. The reused elements in the ISGM lack information pertaining to material origin, structural capacity, and previous use information. This project seeks to first highlight and document the unique construction of the museum and create material passports for the reused elements in the ISGM detailing important material properties, past uses, and characteristics.
_________________________________
World Green Building Council. “Global Status Report 2017.” Accessed December 17, 2021. https://www.worldgbc.org/news-media/global-status-report-2017.
2 How to Build a Circular Economy | Ellen MacArthur Foundation.” Accessed December 17, 2021. https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/. Macarthur Foundation
3Addis, B. (2012). Building with reclaimed components and materials: a design handbook for reuse and
4 “Building Isabella’s Museum | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.” Accessed January 31, 2022. https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/building-isabellas-museum.
5 “From Venice to the Fenway: Architectural Elements in the Courtyard.” Accessed January 31, 2022. https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/venice-fenway-architectural-elements-courtyard.
6Luscuere, L. and Douglas, M. “Circularity Information Management for Buildings: The Example of Materials Passports.” 2019.
Juliana Berglund-Brown is a master’s student in the Building Technology Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she conducts research advised by Professor John Ochsendorf. She previously completed a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at Stanford University with a focus on structures and construction and is motivated by the need for building industry transformation. Her current research revolves on the adoption of Circular Economy principles in the building sector, addressing the urgent need for improving productivity, reducing new materials and resource extraction, and decreasing carbon emissions in the built world. More specifically, she is focused on industry implementation of reusing steel load-bearing components in buildings.
