GSA . Co-Lab 1 Portfolio Essay . 22

Through research and exploration of various innovative architectural, art and product design projects, I realize the potential of fabrics in this age of computer aided design. In this portfolio essay, I hope to expand and explore what others have done with recycled fabrics in architecture. I plan to incorporate the circular design and design for deconstruction principles into the design of the pavilion. Additionally, I hope to educate others on how this pavilion and other projects can add value in its construction, to not only save them from the landfill but also provide new possibilities after they leave this pavilion.

Importance of recycling

In recent years, there has been pressure to transition to a circular economy (Macarthur, E. 2020). Currently the world is only 8.6% circular (ORG, C.E. 2022). By 2030, humans will need two planets to sustain our appetite for materials and space. (Thornhill, T. 2012). The extraction and processing of raw materials to build buildings will continue to exacerbate the carbon emissions of the built sector, which is responsible for 42% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK (UKGBC 2021).

Direct and Indirect forms of Recycling

There are two types of recycling, direct and indirect. (Gustav Sandin, Greg M. Peters, 2018) Direct recycling uses the materials as there are, an example is the Naju Art Museum by Hyunje Joo. (Chaya, Lynn, ed.2017). Indirect recycling requires a process to upcycle the material into a usable product. An example is the Bulgari Shanghai Storefront facade by MRVDV. (Englefield, J. 2021). As much as possible, we should use materials in their raw form or as they have been assembled.

Carbon calculator referenced: https://erarental.org/publications/carbon-footpr int-of-construction-equipment/

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/12/16/mvrdv-bulgari-storefront-facade-jade-recycled-champagne-bottles/ https://www.archdaily.com/881513/1500-semi-transparent-baskets-to-build-a-lightweight-facade

Importance of recycling

Design for deconstruction (DFD) movement is an advocate for the minimising of building complexity, materials, design components and fasterners. It aslo advocates that building layers be seperates during construction, and toxic adhesives be avoided. (Org, Lifecycle building, 2022).

Open building movement advocates a physical seperationg of building components, elements or layers that differ in the frequency of replacement. (Co, O.B., 2021).

https://www.archdaily.com/943366/a-gui de-to-design-for-disassembly https://www.openbuilding.co/manifesto

Direct and Indirect forms of Recycling

Every year, 1.92 million tonnes of fabric waste enter the landfill. This is slated to increase by 200% by 2030. (Igini, M., 2022). Fabric is difficult to recycle because of the way fabrics are sewn, layered and accessoriesed. (A. Belle, 2007). Because the fabric is interwoven with fibres of different materials, this makes them nearly impossible to dismantle during the recycling process. Sorting textiles is labour-intensive, additionally most fabrics will need to be bleeched. (Environment Agency, 2019). Finally, behavioural research (WRAP, 2017) highlights that purchasing new clothes remains a top priority for Europeans.

Importance of recycling

Tensile Pavilion designed by the architecture firm Morphosis. The pavilion was designed for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (Block, I, 2021).

Cloud Pavilion designed by the architectural firm Mecanoo. Located in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. (Pintos, P, 2019).

“The Man with the Broken Nose” was modelled in clay by Auguste Rodin, is based on the face of Bibi, a handyman. The choice of subject was unsual in the 1800s where art revolved around money.

Image is taken from the Glasgow Museums Collection Nagivator website. http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=33013;t ype=101

Site

The site was chosen due to its proximity to H&M, a prominent fast-fashion outlet. Heavy foot traffic and lack of rest points. Opportunity to use fabric to dampen the sounds of traffic and foot traffic (Allard, J., 2021)

The challenges of recycling fabric are evident (2.1) (Munn, S. and Soebarto, V. 2004). As architects we have to design for demolition and consider the cradle-to-cradle life of materials to increase the circularity of our economy. (Macarthur, E. 2020)

This pavilion hopes to raise awareness to the volumes of fabric waste generated. And demonstrate the architectural qualities of fabric as a design material.

The design starts with erecting a wooden post structure, strengthened by interlocking tensile cords. The exterior and interior walls of the pavilion are then hung from the roof structure. Steps and seats are constructed using a load-bearing method of sandwiching stacks of clothes between 2 plywood pieces and compressing them down with tensile cords. From this pavilion, commuters can find respite from their journey and take in views of the intersection. The pavilion also houses the chosen artefact “the Man with the Broken Nose” which helped to inspire the creation of this pavilion.

Reflective Text

Co-lab 1 begun with the viewing of the film the Anthropocene: the Human Epoch, a film about the destruction of the planet by human activities and carelessness. While the film serves as a painful reminder of the consequences of our actions, I do not agree with this doom and gloom style of activism. Instead i believe that now is the time for doing and innovating. From the Anthropocene: The Human Epoch i have gleemed the gravity of the challenges this generation must face. However, I cannot allow myself to be caught up in the despair that I confuse activism with contribution.

The project then proceeded with the workshop and selection of materials. I selected Re-cycle materials due to the availability of it in an urban setting, knowledge of the temporality of our design intent and because I am fascinated with policy and interventions regarding reuse and deconstruction.

Next, we paid a visit to the Glasgow Burrell. And although I was not a fan of art and museum visits, I found the Burrell extremely pleasant to explore. From the Burrell I selected “the Man with the Broken Nose” as my chosen artefact. I was thoroughly inspired by the humility of its sculptor Auguste Rodin who insisted on sculpting a handy man, instead of rich and famous people. Which was a practice even more evident in the 1800s than it is today. Auguste Rodin celebrated the defects and imperfections in people and his work. In a similar vein, Recycled materials will not be perfect, but thru design we can pay homage to the utility of unsightly materials and dignify the everyday people that use the spaces we create.

Onto the research phase, after some preliminary research I chose to recycle fabric. I concurred that fabric is an underrepresented material in the built environment with potential to create dynamic spaces. At the same time, fabric is a leading contributor to landfill waste. There are numerous difficulties with recycling fabric, so in this pavilion I opted for direct re-use of these fabrics. Through construction of this pavilion, we can give these fabrics a new life and a life after deconstruction. As part of my primary research, i wanted to test and understand fabric as a building material. I gathered some old clothes and cut them up, creating a canvas and lengths of tensile cords. I felt this process to be enjoyable and wished I could have explored deeper or had tools for more rigorous testing. Subsequently I proceeded with designing the pavilion. The first step was to select a site and since I was raising awareness about recycling fabric, I concluded that choosing a site near H&M where I could get discarded fabric to be preferred. I also realized that fabric allowed for the dampening of sound, and since Auguste Rodin celebrated the everyday man, I selected a site in the intersection between Buchanan Street and West George Street, Outside the St George Tron Church. This site allows for the creation of a sanctuary for busy commuters and frame their views of the surrounding streets and landmarks. Using the framed views and materiality of the fabric sheets I was able to iterate my way to the design.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the process of Co-Lab 1, I am proud of my design and even more so that I produced it in such a short time frame. I especially enjoyed the process of testing the materials and pushing the limits with what can be done with them. I entered the experimentation with questions and preconceptions but through the process of experimentation I found myself to be enlightened and challenged at the same time. I concur that experimentation is integral to the design process and my only qualm would be the inability to explore more. This would have influenced the outcome exponentially. On the flip side, what did not work for me was the group work. I disagree with the need for group work within Co-Lab since the design and report are induvial submissions. I would have preferred the 2 weeks spent during the team research phase to be spent on progressing the design even further.

Allard, J., (2021). New empirical equations for sound propagation in rigid frame fibrous materials. s.l.:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Beall, A. (2020) Why clothes are so hard to recycle, BBC Future. BBC. Available at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle#:~:text=Much%20of%20the%20problem%20comes,made%20filaments%2C%2 0plastics%20and%20metals. (Accessed: December 5, 2022).

Block, I. (2021) Morphosis weaves textile research facility facade from reinforced fibre, Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2018/08/30/morphosis-textile-research-facility-facade-from-reinforced-fibre-seoul-south-korea-architecture/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022).

Chaya, Lynn (ed.) (2017) Hyunje Joo engulfs 1,500 semi-transparent baskets on building façade in Korea, designboom. Available at: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/hyunje-joo-baukunst-urban-canvas-basket-facade-korea-10-12-2017/ (Accessed: December 5, 2022).

Co, O.B. (2021) Manifesto, Open Building. Available at: https://www.openbuilding.co/manifesto (Accessed: December 7, 2022).

The Constructor (2021) Construction wastes: Types, causes, and recycling strategies, The Constructor. Available at: https://theconstructor.org/concrete/construction-waste-recycling/1088/ (Accessed: December 8, 2022).

ElDars, M.Z., Algendy, A.S. and Ahmed, S.A. (2018) Journal of Al-Azhar University Engineering Sector (AUEJ), Journal of Al-Azhar University Engineering Sector. Available at: https://jaes.journals.ekb.eg/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022).

Englefield, J. (2021) MVRDV creates jade-coloured Bulgari storefront from recycled Champagne bottles, Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2021/12/16/mvrdv-bulgari-storefront-facade-jade-recycled-champagne-bottles/ (Accessed: December 5, 2022). Environment Agency, E. (2019) ETC/WMGE report 3/2019: Are we losing resources when managing Europe's waste?, Eionet Portal. Available at: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-wmge/products/etc-wmge-reports/are-we-losing-resources-when-managing-europes-waste-1 (Accessed: December 7, 2022).

Gustav Sandin, Greg M. Peters, (2018) Environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling – A Review, Journal of Cleaner Production. Elsevier. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618305985 (Accessed: December 5, 2022) Volume 184, Pages 353-365, ISSN 0959-6526, Huntington, C.G. (2004) The tensioned fabric roof. Reston, United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. Igini, M. (2022) 10 stunning fast fashion waste statistics, Earth.Org. Available at: https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022). Macarthur, E. (2020) Matchmaking companies to turn waste into profit: Cape Town, How to Build a Circular Economy. Available at: https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-examples/matchmaking-companies-to-turn-waste-into-profit-cape-town (Accessed: December 6, 2022). Munn, S. and Soebarto, V. (2004) The issues of using recycled materials in architecture, ANZAScA. Available at: https://anzasca.net/paper/the-issues-of-using-recycled-materials-in-architecture/ (Accessed: December 8, 2022).

M. Pilar Segura Alcaraz, Marilés Bonet-Aracil, Ernesto Julià Sanchís, Jorge G. Segura Alcaraz & Ignacio Montava Seguí (2022) Textiles in architectural acoustic conditioning: a review, The Journal of The Textile Institute, 113:1, 166-172 ORG, C.E. (2022) CGR 2022. Available at: https://www.circularity-gap.world/2022#Download-the-report (Accessed: December 5, 2022).

Org, L. (2022) Lifecycle building. Available at: https://www.lifecyclebuilding.org/docs/DFD.pdf (Accessed: December 6, 2022).

Pintos, P. (2019) Pillars of Dreams Pavilion / Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY, ArchDaily. ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/918398/pillars-of-dreams-pavilion-marc-fornes-theverymany (Accessed: December 7, 2022).

Thornhill, T. (2012) WWF: Two earths needed by 2030, HuffPost UK. HuffPost UK. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/16/wwf-warns-that-we-will-need-two-earths-by-2030_n_1520449.html (Accessed: December 8, 2022).

UKGBC (2021) Climate change - UKGBC - UK green building council, UKGBC. Available at: https://www.ukgbc.org/climate-change-2/ (Accessed: December 8, 2022).

WRAP, 2017 Mapping clothing impacts in Europe: the environmental cost, prepared by Sarah Gray