A design support tool based on building information modeling for design for deconstruction: A graph-based deconstructability assessment approach

Design for deconstruction (DfD) increases reusable components extracted from old structures by considering the ease of deconstruction from a construction project's early stage. However, due to a lack of tools and methods for evaluating DfD performance, quantifying the benefits of DfD for practical application is difficult. This study proposes a tool based on building information modeling for DfD to provide automated DfD performance evaluation results that include the mathematical evaluation score, CO₂ emission, and cost. To validate the tool, we conducted a case study, assuming a steel structure design. Accordingly, it enables the development of deconstruction options and designs that reduce CO₂ emissions and costs by up to 40.1% and 1.3%, respectively, when compared to initial alternatives. Reuse can reduce CO₂ emissions and costs that increase per the deconstruction options. The study highlights the importance of analyzing the environmental load and cost of various deconstruction options that have been excluded from previous studies.