Our research has provided valuable insights into working with non-standard lumber parts and utilizing waste products from prefab factories and deconstructions. By offering practical tools and knowledge, we have created an approach that promotes the reuse of building materials, while also reducing waste and maximizing efficiency.

Our design iterations showcased a spectrum of approaches and a shift towards building components as carbon sinks. Initially, our focus was on elaborate connection details for dry-joined interlocking of the blocks. However, this method created too much waste due to the many necessary cuts. As a result, we shifted our focus to minimize and avoid all cuts in later prototypes.

While building a column might seem like a small contribution to an architectural structure, our work has shown that by reducing cutting, we can almost double the CO2 storage in a single column. Our proposed designs challenge the dominant notion in computational design of material efficiency and instead emphasize the storage of CO2 within building elements.

The saved CO2 emissions from our approach are equivalent to emissions from heating a home for a year with natural gas, burning approximately 220 gallons of gasoline, or manufacturing approximately 700 pounds of cement. By prioritizing CO2 storage and minimizing waste, we can make a significant impact on reducing our carbon footprint and building a more sustainable future.