"Secondary Use" Workshop

Sunday, February 3, 2008
3:30 - 6:30pm

at Van Alen Institute
30 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10010
212-924-7000

In collaboration with New York Prize Fellows Dirk Hebel and Joerg Stollmann, Van Alen Institute invited Guiseppe Lignano, Alessandra Ponte, Mark Wasiuta and Michael Bell to an afternoon workshop to discuss "secondary use" practices in architecture. Each participant in the roundtable discussion was filmed and much of the footage was incorporated into Dirk and Jörg's UNITED_BOTTLE exhibition later in the spring. Questions under consideration included:

Why incorporate existing industrial and consumer products into architecture—fascination, availability, economy?

Does secondary use have limits in scale, or can this strategy be applied not only to interior design and architecture but also to urban phenomena?

Recent publicity suggests that the concept of secondary use is undergoing a 'revival'—how far back can one trace the history of this concept? How many 'revivals' have happened, and what precedents stand out?

Is an increased awareness or visibility of waste the primary basis for development of secondary use strategies? Are there other ways that an area's particular culture, politics or economics impact or prompt such strategies?

Discussions on the sustainable management and recycling of waste have drawn increasing attention to consumption habits. Do you think "waste awareness" has had a similar effect on architectural production?

What are the social and economic circumstances required for the large-scale implementation or application of secondary use architecture in the U.S.? How are these different from third world conditions?

Are some architectural typologies more suited to this approach than others? Are secondary use techniques or materials more applicable in the high-end housing market (trend towards sustainable lifestyle) or in the affordable housing market (trend towards efficiency/economy)?