Aliyah Baerg

(De)Constructing the Material Cycle

In a capitalist and consumerist system founded on the ideals of endless economic growth and unlimited resource availability, is it possible to shift perceptions of value and waste, rooting them amidst the animate lives of inanimate materials? The North American construction industry consumes 40 percent of total raw material resources each year, funneling these globally sourced materials into buildings which become material graveyards.  Most contemporary buildings are built to last less than 50 years, with a Canadian average age of just 18 years.  Buildings are demolished at their premature end, with 60 percent of discarded materials incinerated or sent to landfills and the remaining 40 percent fated for low value downcycling.  In a time of climate crisis and future uncertainty, our culture is largely indifferent toward the life of materials beyond their use in an assembly and subsequent disposal into the waste stream. Out of sight, out of mind. 

This thesis reconsiders the concept of a circular economy, placing materials at the centre, without severing them from their ecological complexity and social ties, and envisions a future where local material harvesting, systematic banking, and reuse is considered at the start of project conception and implemented through deliberate construction and deconstruction methods.  Is it possible to envision a  system which fosters conscientious design thinking and deconstruction practices that maintains respect for materials and their animate histories in relation to an extended present timeline? 

To explore the complex realities of these systems, we can consider the role of drawing as a tool to shift perceptions and patterns of use and waste. What does it mean to create (de)construction drawings (overlapping the intentions of a construction drawing with the deconstruction drawing) serving as tools for design, while functioning as libraries, stockpiling material information and stories, maintenance guides, and instructions for deconstruction and cyclical reuse? How will standard practices shift if the timespan of the architects’ drawing moves beyond the immediate future (losing importance once building occupancy is granted) and serves as passports of information that remain critical to the life of the building, and its materials, and beyond?