By Maryna Holovnova
June 04, 2026
https://newatlas.com/materials/reusable ... t-rebuilt/
Demolition of old structures at the end of their service life results in large amounts of waste and carbon emissions, not to mention the labor involved and the cost of producing new materials. According to official statistics, construction and demolition waste accounts for more than one third of all waste generated in Europe.
A team from Austria's Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) questioned if there might be a better, more sustainable approach to dealing with old brick buildings. What if instead of being demolished, they could be carefully deconstructed, so that the bricks could be reused in future construction projects?
This concept is similar to taking apart a Lego structure and rebuilding it elsewhere with the same parts. Obviously, using conventional mortar is not going to work in such a case. Instead of binding bricks together permanently, the researchers developed prefabricated brick wall elements connected through so-called reversible joints.
As of now, there is unfortunately not much information disclosed about the design or any technical details of the reversible joints. We've reached out to the researchers, but are still waiting to hear back.