Materials with a Passport
Uncertainty and risk are big barriers to reusing our construction materials. How do we track the history of our building components to show how they were built, where they’ve been, and how they were used? This research explored the application of quick response (QR) codes to the building components to bridge information stored digitally on the properties of the beam. This connection of information to the individual elements can be referred to as a Material Passport.
Using a physical tracking technology to connect the digital data storage to the physical asset is valuable to store and transfer information about our buildings. These “material passports” ensure a permanent association between the physical and digital representation of the components. Data is stored on the history and properties of the material so that building owners, operators, and future material users have full transparency of the material. This continuity of information increases the value of the materials for future recovery, reuse, and recycling. When scaled up to full buildings, or multiple buildings, we can use the information to understand material flow patterns and predict the availability of materials for reuse.
