Abstract:
This unprecedented level of abandonment, brought about by years of neglect, is an issue that needs a solution. The cities plan to demolish these vacant architectural objects (i.e., to bury all the materials of the vacant structure, usually in the basement if available, or trucked off to a landfill) is a mistreatment of the materials within our built environment. In our current day and age we should be considering alternative uses of these materials.
The birth, life, and ultimate death of materials is something that should largely be reconsidered. Any damage to the earth or the built environment, caused by lack of forethought on how these materials affect us, should be examined. I believe that an architectural solution is the most appropriate approach to this issue, because of its potential for addressing the coexistence of old structures with the new, and for its capacity for solving issues on the reuse of materials. For insight as to how to address the potential for the reuse of materials we should look at the works of; Andy Goldsworthy and his organic works within nature, Tadashi Kawamata’s reconstitution of meaning towards the rubble that exists in the urban environment, Bernard Rudofsky’s book Architecture Without Architects focusing on “nonpedigreed architecture”, and Ettore Sottsass’ Metaphors in which he builds isolated constructions that commented on the then current architectural condition.
