ABSTRACT
The construction industry is one of the largest contributors to material consumption, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste production. To mitigate this environmental impact, structural designers can adopt a more comprehensive life cycle approach that prioritizes reusing structural components from old buildings. This paper explores a potential reuse application: seismic-resistant steel exoskeletons designed using components or structural members derived from the simulated dismantling of transmission tower from the Italian electricity network. A reinforced concrete building in central Italy was selected as a case study. Various design solutions for the steel exoskeleton—rigidly attached to the existing structure and arranged in a diagrid-like pattern—were developed and optimized according to different objective functions, while ensuring the preservation of the structure’s elastic behavior. The solutions were evaluated and compared in terms of seismic performance and sustainability, both with each other and with a diagrid solution made entirely of new steel members.
