BEFORE, DURING, AFTER, AGAIN Contemporary and historic practices of material reuse offer a lens through which to reveal our monetary, imaginative, contractual, cultural, visceral and intimate relationships to the building stock. A souk in Casablanca, a concrete waste management plant in Hong Kong, a state-of-the-art government-owned yard in Malmö or informal housing in an abandoned building in Rome – reuse takes many forms across the globe. Through observation of these sites, a comparative framework of specificities and common characteristics emerged, helping us to identify the forces that facilitate or hinder the flow of material. It became clear that some nations that invest in future promises can lack implementation ‘in the field’, whereas other contexts without such a formal framework have already developed a booming informal reuse economy. With an audience of curious and savvy classmates in their pockets, DIP18 students opened the doors to these worlds of reuse – sometimes literally – to live-stream their findings. These exchanges broadened the horizon of the unit beyond established fields and beyond Europe. Creating an agreeable lunch-break corner for construction workers is as central to our work as scaling up processes in response to the growing demand for salvaged bricks. DIP18 joyfully engaged with research topics including inventory, machinery, logistics and labour markets while grounding our projects in impactful and realistic outcomes, liaising with professionals and strengthening relationships with allies. These peripheral efforts aim to expand both the definition of design and material culture and the role of
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the architect, and also to reconsider how best to represent them within the AA and to communicate them to decision-makers in the professional field. STAFF
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Aude-Line Duliere, James Westcott
Tristan Boniver, Arne Vande Capelle (Rotor), Simon Barker, Lea Bottani-
STUDENTS
Dechaud, Giles Bruce, Javier Castañón,
Igor Bartlomiej Gola, Frida Østby
Peter Christensen, Amica Dall, Lionel
Hansen, Amaya Hernandez, Jianghai
Devlieger, Maarten Gielen, Juliet
Hu, Sorana Stefana Mazilu, Iris Qing
Haysom, Marieke van den Heuvel, Adam
Nan Meng, Alexandru Octavian Mitea,
Hills, Peter Jurschitzka, Lasse Kilvær,
Shubaib Mohamed, Ele How Yan Mun,
Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Louise
Alice Nobel, Nikitas Papadopoulos,
Lemoine, Samuel Little, Sara Morel,
Jihane-May Slaoui, Phillip Zhao
Mark Morris, Rik Nijs, Stephan
Jie Tsang
Petermann, Katia Truijen, Valerie Vermandel, Alejandro Zaera-Polo
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REUSE
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Diploma 18