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Building for Change - The Architecture of Creative Reuse by Ruth Lang and gestalten
Ruth Lang wrote Building for Change, a book about the architecture of creative reuse.
The EOI Melilla Language School designed by Ángel Verdasco Arquitectos is a good example of reinterpreting the social value of the marketplace for the community. The project is featured in Building for Change a book by Ruth Lang.
When designers We Architech Anonymous (WAA) began transforming The Playscape from warehouses into a children’s community center, they immediately encoun- tered problems. In the site’s courtyard were several illegal residences, which had resulted in local authorities placing legislative restrictions on its development. These rulings protected the existing trees and prohibited changes to the massing, layout, materials, and fenestration of the buildings.
Removing the internal partitions of the existing 7 m-tall (23ft) barn reduced the existing structure to a skin, into which new openings have been made to better serve the activities taking place inside. These glazed insertions give a sense of lightness to the old building, which appears to glow from within at night. Discover more of Qinglongwu Capsule Hotel and Library, featured in Building for Change by Ruth Lang.
TWA Hotel and Connie Cocktail Lounge is a project by Stonehill Taylor. The construction of two new wings of hotel suites has finally facilitated the restoration and reuse of this iconic structure, without detracting from Saarinen’s original design. The painstaking renovation project required the sourcing of matching materials to repair the original finishes, including the distinctive penny tiling to the undulating surfaces.
In converting an abandoned 1960s sugar mill in Guangxi to a luxury hotel, Vector Architects restored and repurposed the site with additions consistent with the con- struction of the original buildings. Its approach to reuse is therefore hybrid, combining rehabilitation and new build, radically adapting the previous structures. This project is featured in Building for Change by Ruth Lang and gestalten.
Constructed from standardized components, the Kibera Hamlets School is designed by architects SelgasCano and Helloeverything. The building used materials found in its new context to complement the scaffolding structure of the main roof. This required the designers to research what skills and materials would be available in the building’s new location, as much as it required the new users to learn how to construct the kit of parts. Find out more about this project in Building for Change by Ruth Lang.
Bold additions to a baroque rectory in Vřesovice, south-west Czechia, have enabled the school occupying the site to expand beyond its intended use. In redeveloping the church, which is listed as a national monument, Public Atelier and Fuuze contended with multiple structural is- sues. These included problems caused by the building’s aggregational development and the decaying original roof. Find out more about this project ion Building for Change by Ruth Lang and gestalten.
In Alila Yangshuo Hotel, there is an intentional continuity between the materials and forms used in the former sugar mill and those of the newly constructed buildings that have enabled the site to be transformed into a hotel complex, mediated by a countryside strategy which provides new pools to reflect both aspects. Discover more about this building in Building for Change by Ruth Lang.
The 2003 closure of Melilla’s central market building created a rupture in the neighborhood’s cohesion. Located in Spain’s north-African enclave bordering Morocco, the 90-year-old commercial center was once also, as Ángel Verdasco Arquitectos (AVA) termed it, a “social catalyst,” connecting the city’s Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities. A 2008 competition sought to reassert the market’s social value. AVA’s winning proposal transformed the site into an academy of music.
Because of its relatively short occupation of the site, the structure of Rigot Collective Dwelling Centre has been designed to touch the ground lightly, ensuring that after the building has been removed the site can regenerate. Using a “dry” construction on timber piles reduces the impact on the surroundings both during and after construction, safeguarding the ecology of Rigot Park. Discover more about this architectural project in Building for Change by Ruth Lang.
Building for Change by Ruth Lang explores how the strategies of reuse have been employed by world-leading architects across a range of contexts and for different projects. Rather than merely celebrating reuse as an aesthetic practice, this book provides insight into the application of a range of tactics, investigating the processes architects have undertaken to deliver innovative projects

Building for Change

The Architecture of Creative Reuse

Architects are adapting existing buildings to create new spaces for a more conscious future.

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Description

How can we build a sustainable future in a time of climate change and dwindling resources? As our spatial needs begin to evolve more rapidly, architects are exploring ingenious ways in which to reuse and recycle existing buildings; resulting in a stunning transformation of our existing urban fabric.

Building for Change collects the strategies of reuse together, demonstrating their power for change through groundbreaking projects from some of the world’s leading architects. From waste repurposed as construction materials, to buildings reworked with canny spatial interventions, and modular structures designed to be dismantled, discover how the architecture of creative reuse is helping us build a better tomorrow.
Building for Change - The Architecture of Creative Reuse by Ruth Lang and gestalten
Building for Change Sale price$75.00

What People Say

"Demolition is an act of violence: the architects reworking buildings instead of tearing them down"

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