THE GREAT UNBUILD

A Vancouver couple salvaged materials from an '80s home to build a carbon-neutral barn by the sea

- By Lindsey King

MAYNE ISLAND IS a small outpost located between Vancouver Island and the B. C. mainland. At just 21 square kilometres, it has sandstone beaches, rolling orchards, old-growth trails and orcas that regularly swim through nearby Active Pass. Locals are obsessively eco-minded; here, rain-catchers and solar panels are as common as fences and flower pots.

In 2019, Vancouver couple Clinton Cuddington and Monica Berdin bought an '80s family home and barn on the island overlooking the Navy Channel. Initially, the plan was a simple renovation—until the house revealed its aging infrastructure. A full rebuild would've dumped 4,000 metric tonnes of waste into already overburdened landfills.

In keeping with the island's eco-friendly mandate, Cuddington, who's an architect, hatched a plan to salvage and reuse the house's materials—a process known as “unbuilding,” popular with architects looking to mitigate the waste created by demolition. It involves dismantling and cleaning each piece, storing it all on site and then reconstructing the materials into a new home, vastly reducing the need for costly new lumber and trips to the landfill.