Enabling Component Reuse from Existing Buildings through Machine Learning, Using Google Street View to Enhance Building Databases

Intense urbanization has led us to rethink construction and demolition practices on a global scale. There is an opportunity to respond to the climate crisis by moving towards a circular built environment. Such a paradigm shift can be achieved by critically examining the possibility of reusing components from existing buildings. This study investigates approaches and tools needed to analyze the existing building stock and methods to enable component reuse. Ocular observations were conducted in Google Street View to analyze two building-specific characteristics: (1) facade material and (2) reusable components (window, doors, and shutters) found on building facades in two cities: Barcelona and Zurich. Not all products are equally suitable for reuse and require an evaluation metric to understand which components can be reused effectively. Consequently, tailored reuse strategies that are defined by a priority order of waste prevention are put forth. Machine learning shows promising potential to visually collect building-specific characteristics that are relevant for component reuse. The data collected is used to create classification maps that can help define protocols and for urban planning. This research can upscale limited information in countries where available data about the existing building stock is insufficient.