Retrofit and Reuse
Most of my architectural and design education has revolved around new construction. A majority of architects may like to design and build a project from the ground up, that is, to make sure their concept/vision is unlike anything we've seen before. On the other hand, retrofitting construction that is not currently in use is a very good way at creating interesting built projects instead of leaving the land unused and vacant. The amount of uninhabited buildings I've seen throughout my life - mostly in the southeast - is enormous; when driving through a small southern town, one is bound to see decrepit storefronts and buildings that are wasting space and serve no purpose at all. The idea of reusing existing materials and vacant buildings is something that should be implemented before ideas of new construction are ever brought up.
Totally agree Carley. Adaptive reuse is definitely the first place we should all go when considering the curation of a new space for a project. I got a good laugh from when Zach Si brought up how the best thing the world can do about our environmental impact is to stop building. A valid thought experiment but also obviously wrong. There aren't enough homes for people to live in and though the U.S. population might be relatively stagnant the world population is still growing. There's no question that we need more buildings for more people but like you said, there's plenty of old infrastructure that we should consider first a foremost.
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