The creation of new buildings involves the destruction of landscapes and consumption of energy but 9% of property in the UK lies empty, and this figure is 28% in Hackney, London.Books are revised, updated and republished periodically. Buildings tell stories and are refurbished, restored and adapted. The stories of buildings are part of the wider social and architectural story, like a chapter in a book.
The themes for this project are the intelligent re-use of unused buildings and the relationship between architectural theory and the built environment. These will develop alongside a proposal for an existing site.
Should bringing unused buildings back to life be expected in the same way that recycling a tin can is expected? How can we ensure that new buildings are capable of adaptation to different uses in the future? Heritage buildings have particular qualities that help to ensure their survival. Can these qualities be transferred to the design of new buildings?
The contract (above)makes use of the structure (the pages, spine and cover) of an old book. The pages are attached to the existing ‘structure’ with the minimum possible intervention, and so that they can be removed if the book was ever required to be returned to its original (2009) state in the future. The evidence of pages removed by previous readers (in this case many of the colour plates) is left as found. Their absence is part of the life-story of the book, in the same way that shrapnel marks on the exterior of Tate Britain remain.
This strategy echoes current attitudes to the treatment of listed, heritage buildings in the UK: any intervention to enable change of use or to meet current expectations or standards must be reversible.
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