skip to main |
skip to sidebar
To start, I've been working putting my borderline obsessive organizational skills to use at a firm this summer. I have been in charge of reorganizing the company materials library, setting up representative meetings and lunch and learns. This has added up to a whole lot of AIA and IDP credits, as well as a vast knowledge of a lot of seemingly random facts. What has really gotten my interest isn't the new push for "green" materials and manufacturing practices- but the start of recycling processes for new and used building materials. For instance:
- Gypsum Wallboard
- Wallcoverings
- Carpeting
The wallboard was of particular interest, since it is actually cheaper to recycle than to trash it, safer for the environment, and reselling the recycled raw material as slurry for concrete and as additive for new wallboard is very profitable. So why has it taken us so long to catch on? The man I spoke to was from Gypsum Recycling America.
The same can be done with carpeting, even if it can not be recycled to create new, (since it is composed of what is essentially oil), they can burn the old to create the energy to supply the manufacturing process. I just thought this was an amazing idea, and was surprised this wasn't a more common practice. NOTE TO SELF: I should get the links and spec sheets when I go into the office next.
4 comments:
do you see the "problem" just as one about recycling materials... or "recycling" in general?
if you think about recycling in general, how can you think of architecture in the same way you think about the reuse of materials? (is it stylistic recycling? reuse of old structures? recycling of original/historical ideas? etc.)
the other question... for you, what question does the recycling of materials ask or answer?
I'd be interested in looking at how to reuse materials, as well as (possibly) an entire building. Is there a better way to design structures that would enable or lend itself to multiple changes over time? Is prefab the answer for new construction? Or will that completely strip the creative juices out of architecture and design? Or is renovation something we should be looking into more? It's amazing how many empty mill buildings are left to disrepair. What's the best course of action for something like that? Do we disassemble and reuse the pieces in place of new construction or leave what we know has withstood the test of time- and therefore may continue to - and repair/update the rest?
My other question stemming from this is, why hasn't this been done more? Material prices are climbing seemingly daily and raw materials are just as bad. Plus there's the problem of land fills. I live in Massachusetts and we have none. We ship all of our junk out of state on rail lines. The landfills we have pose the problem because of old contamination from trashed gypsum wallboard and building materials that are leaking noxious gas. If we save/make more money recycling, and save ourselves the threat of contaminated groundwater why are we so behind Europe in these efforts? It makes every bit of sense to put in the money and get a recycling program going. Then there's the issue of historical mills, why do we have so many that go unused while new construction goes up all around? Wouldn't it make so much more sense to restore these buildings and update them for modern use? It saves so much waste! None of this really needs to be answered, but they are things I think about.
have you seen abalos and herreros' book, recycling madrid?
their title-based essay gives a really interesting account of how they have developed a notion of recycling (and, how they have problematized it along the way... in a good way: as something of an amalgam of the artificial-natural duality.)
the other interesting thing is to think about the term itself (and its lineage + meaning): re-cycling.
i suggest these, again, to try to "open" up the project idea into something that might be more than just materially based. does that make sense?
Hmmm, Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to get the book and read it this week. I am a very practical and goal oriented person. It' extremely hard for me to think outside the box and to see things as anything but a problem and solution situation. (Hence the constant list-making). Maybe the book will help to get me more in the mode of this class.
Post a Comment