Yale School of Architecture ” Home Sweet Home” Project / Cat Rock Rd. Deconstruction

North Gallery Exhibition – Home Sweet Home

Tian Xu & Anjiang Xu ; principals

HOME, SWEET HOME
The Collective Nature in Material Reclamation, Redistribution, and Reuse of a
Deconstructed House
Landfill—Not Where a Home Ends Up
Roundtable & Closing
North Gallery, Yale School of Architecture
March 26th, 2025
1-2 PM

1. Introduction (12 minutes)
   Introduction (in alphabetical order):
2. Phil Bernstein, Deputy Dean, Professor Adjunct at the Yale School of Architecture
3. Nikole Bouchard, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of
   Wisconsin–Milwaukee
4. Shamita Chaudhary, Founder of Malba Project, Climate Analyst in Circular Built
   Environment
5. Joe DeRisi, Founder of UrbanMiners, Deconstruction Contractor
6. Robert Narracci, Associate Principal of Pelli Clarke & Partners, Reuse Enthusiast

This Yale architectural student project is based on a deconstruction that Urbanminers engaged in in 2019.

HOME, SWEET HOME
The Collective Nature in Material Reclamation, Redistribution, and Reuse of a
Deconstructed House
Landfill—Not Where a Home Ends Up
Roundtable & Closing
North Gallery, Yale School of Architecture
March 26th, 2025
1-2 Pm

Excerpt from Original Deconstruction Proposal:

1. Full deconstruction of house, except foundation
2. 1. Price includes deconstructing house in order to recovery as much materials as possible. Foundation will be left in place. All materials that are not reusable will be disposed of.
   1. Goal is to recover 80% of overall materials and 100% of materials that are on the donation list.

This deconstruction included cooperation with the property owner ,the owner’s contractors including Prutting and Company, New England Reuse ( Deconstruction and Salvage Company), Ecobuilding Bargains, Urbanminers customers and a temporary labor service. The entire house was deconstructed and materials saved. The list of materials saved can be seen here: https://airtable.com/shr01Q52YhOlQrfI8 . Materials were remilled for use in the new building that was built on the same site. other materials went to a house in Virginia, a local workshop renovation and donated to local building materials reuse centers. Much of the material was sold directly from the site ( including flooring, framing, sub floors and sheathing , as well as windows). or went directly to a woodshop for fabrication.