Who, When and How to Encourage Deconstruction in London?
What
A charrette to provoke ideas for new intervention that encourage the deconstruction, storage, processing and direct reuse of timber from timber-framed housing. The process was explored holistically through discussion on a simple case study: A rapacious property developer in a densely-populated area of London is planning on demolishing a historic timber-framed building to rapidly redevelop the site with a high yield 8-storey steel & glass luxury condo block.
Mixed groups of participants considered the roles of different stakeholders in the process (client, architect, planning authority, engineers, labourers, future tenants) to propose different incentives to encourage the developer to deconstruct, store, re-purpose and reuse the timber products salvaged from the site. The open forum called on participants to innovate and share ideas about deconstruction from a number of perspectives, both in terms of policy and practice. By considering an unfamiliar case study from a number of different perspectives the charrette demonstrated how precedent, environment and context can have an enormous effect on decision-making from deconstruction, through post-deconstruction and into reconstruction.
When
Decon’16 / Raleigh NC / 1st March 2016
Who
Dan + Dave Bennink
Links