Developing the Brighton waste house: from zero waste to on site re-use of waste

This paper considers two linked architectural projects designed and delivered by the author. The first considered the challenges associated with designing and building a energy efficient prefabricated dwelling in just six days, using predominately locally sourced, organic, ‘compostable’ materials whilst creating no waste on site. 5 million viewers a night on UK TV saw this program. However, frustrated by the lack of credible communication of the challenges associated with this project that the medium of TV provided, the author was keen to re-build this project on campus at the University of Brighton where he taught, so that he could involve students in all aspects of the process, thus sharing the learning experience and proving that ‘live’ construction projects could be a useful pedagogic tool. This paper considers why the design emphasis of the second project went from ‘locking carbon’ and zero waste on site, to constructing with waste and proving “that there is no such thing as waste just stuff in the wrong place”. http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/business-and-community/wastehous