Strategy is Sustainable
I am really drawn to Michel de Certeau's theory of strategies vs tactics. I believe if you hold the theories of Everyday Urbanism up against today's Urban America epoch of sustainability, we are more likely to align with Strategy. Strategy implies that a place or structure remains unchanged over time; that it is so well designed and spatially strong that the form never needs to change which is essentially adaptive reuse.
Especially in suburban america today, buildings are constructed from the least expensive materials, some of them are so chemically jacked that I am pretty sure we will be removing them and burning them 15 years from now (much the same as asbestos today). Not to mention (I am looking at you, the american strip mall) the designs are poor and ugly and we will definitely be demolishing all of them.
If we spent the money on better materials and design up front, then demolition would not be necessary. We would have beautiful unchanging structures that we wanted to occupy forever, no matter the use. We need to build from an professional expert standpoint so that our designs never go away and are loved throughout time. Add in some safe and sustainable materials and you have got yourself a LEED building.
In contrast, tactic-based building changes over time. Change immediately makes me think of demolition which makes me think of trash which makes me think of landfills, filled with building materials. The idea of tactical design is a beautiful thing but probably not something that is really healthy for America today.
Here are some adaptive reuse projects by my favorite Columbia firm, Garvin Design Group.
Especially in suburban america today, buildings are constructed from the least expensive materials, some of them are so chemically jacked that I am pretty sure we will be removing them and burning them 15 years from now (much the same as asbestos today). Not to mention (I am looking at you, the american strip mall) the designs are poor and ugly and we will definitely be demolishing all of them.
If we spent the money on better materials and design up front, then demolition would not be necessary. We would have beautiful unchanging structures that we wanted to occupy forever, no matter the use. We need to build from an professional expert standpoint so that our designs never go away and are loved throughout time. Add in some safe and sustainable materials and you have got yourself a LEED building.
In contrast, tactic-based building changes over time. Change immediately makes me think of demolition which makes me think of trash which makes me think of landfills, filled with building materials. The idea of tactical design is a beautiful thing but probably not something that is really healthy for America today.
Here are some adaptive reuse projects by my favorite Columbia firm, Garvin Design Group.
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