Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

99% of architecture that is constructed today is temporary, most of it being located in America. Architectural spaces created today can’t even promise to stay because of the likelihood that it’ll be torn down in 20 years. The way that laws, codes, and regulations are controlling what is being built, it seems that it’ll be almost impossible to change this logic. But what if the U.S. referenced the historic European cities and placed a heavy priority of reducing the need to tear down every building and reuse the existing structures to create a new architecture. Mall complexes and grocery stores seem to have the largest turnover rate in the country, with these buildings losing their business and sitting on empty lots for years on end before they finally get demolished to create room for something else. These structures are designed to be quite open so why not take advantage of this and reuse their junk space to create recycled space? The buildings have the potential to be used to create a new kind of mixed use housing community, a church, or even a conference venue. The Village Church in Texas has started this notion of reusing old structures to create new space that they can call their own. Maybe others should start doing the same.