Evaluating a Workshop Model to Teach Innovative Housing Methods to University Construction Students: The Case of Construction for Disassembly (CfD) as an Affordable Concept

The growing problem of a housing cost burden, where households pay more than 30% of their incomes for housing, contributes to the affordable housing crisis in the United States. Innovations like prefabrication are improving construction affordability by enhancing efficiency, quality control, and supply chain logistics while reducing waste, labor, and material costs. However, demolition costs remain, recycling is difficult, and direct reuse of building components is rare. More effective reuse methods can lead to more affordable housing. Our study introduces construction for disassembly (CfD) to improve housing affordability by promoting direct reuse. We examine the effectiveness of CfD through an educational workshop to college-level construction students. The workshop aims to teach students about CfD benefits via prototype materials. Our research assesses the information students retained and results show the prototype helped students understand CfD, and they identified considerations for application, like project type, economic feasibility, and technological aspects.