This unit reconsidered architecture’s relationship with existing structures, embodied materials and waste. Working directly with Scottish buildings at risk of demolition, the studio aimed to catalyse a transition from the wrecking ball of “blank slate-thinking” - in Scotland, approximately 50% of total waste comes from construction and demolition—to the care and attention of building deconstruction, disassembly, and reuse. We worked across and peeling back the “shearing layers” (Brand 1994) that make up buildings at risk of demolition, developing methods for surveying, researching, salvaging, classifying and evaluating their structure, components and materials. 

We prototyped new architectures that spring directly from the opportunities identified on sites, from local and regional material flows, from the latent potentials discovered and activated in existing buildings and components, and from the engagement with local stakeholders and communities.