Assessment of the energy savings and CO2 emissions reduction of glass structures through alternative demolition scenarios

Abstract

Glass is a material that has been significantly increasing its role in architecture in recent decades. Although glass is a material that can survive long, as can be seen from the archaeological pieces in many museums, in practice the glass structures that built nowadays have a finite life time. A notorious case is the original New York Apple Cube, which was removed and replaced within several years of original completion.Whatever the eventual lifetime of the structure, there will be a point where the structure needs to be demolished. This introduces critical questions about the relation between ecological impact and the demolition methods and procedure. This paper looks at the eco-impact of different end of life scenarios of glass structures, using the Haarlem glass cube as a well-documented example to determine the differences between various ends of life scenarios.