I was reading about the scale of the abandoned housing problem – that there are 40-60,000 abandoned, vacant, or blighted houses in Philadelphia. The idea was to create an organization that could take on the abandoned housing blight block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Source: Q&A with Greg Trainor of the Philadelphia Community Corps – Shareable
From his humble beginnings in Belgium to his current home in Gravenwezel Castle, explore the sophisticated elegance behind one of today’s most prestigious tastemakers.
The city’s economic development agency, St. Louis Development Corp., is testing an alternative process this year that deconstructs buildings piece by piece. The more expensive process is used to salvage materials as well as reduce health risks from dust and debris. City officials said it isn’t financially feasible to use “deconstruction” to remove all of St. Louis’ 12,000 vacant properties, but they hope to expand the 30-building pilot project in the future.
Source: Officials: St. Louis demolitions could reverse lead progress – Herald-Whig –
Duplexes at 2075 N. Cambridge Ave. were set for deconstruction last summer. (Photo: Stephanie Morse/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Of nearly 500 city-owned houses slated for demolition, only five were deconstructed in 2018, according to the Department of Neighborhood Services. The department struggled to get reasonable bids from contractors, said Tom Mishefske, neighborhood services commissioner.
Source: Backlog leads Milwaukee to suspend deconstruction rule for old houses
Sharalee Armitage Howard
One family in Idaho took their Library design to the next level with a “Little Tree Library,” carved out of a 100-year-old cottonwood tree stump on their property.
Erin and Keenyn Smith
A general contractor by day, Keenyn salvages used materials, and, by night, the Indy-based couple gets to work in their garage.
Source: The Maker: Smith & Co Creations – Indianapolis Monthly
SCREEN SHOT/NATIVE LAND
Native Land started in early 2015 and shows traditional Indigenous territory boundaries across the world.
“I really believe in the tool, and I use it when I do conferences, or when I talk to people, as a way to open people’s minds about territory,” Minifie said, “it helps plant a seed that there’s people here before you, these are the lands that they’re on, and they’re still here.”
Source: ‘Native Land’ Map Helps You Recognize Which Indigenous Territory You Live On | HuffPost Canada
Microsoft
Some drywall is gone from Building 2 on the Microsoft campus.
“From concrete and steel framing to carpets, ceiling tiles, electronic and networking gear, interior debris and loose assets like furniture, chairs and whiteboards, to even the artificial turf outside — most of the materials in the old spaces will find a new life,” the company said in a statement.
Source: Microsoft begins demolishing buildings in Redmond campus remodel
In order to eliminate as much waste as possible, the artist considers future sculptures during the building of each otter, pangolin, or mollusk. He slices shapes that might make sense for the tail of a fish, while considering the beak of a bird, or the leg of an iguana.
Source: Charming Wooden Animal Sculptures Designed with Articulated Torsos and Tails by Jeff Soan | Colossal
“The Heart Pine will be going down into the southeast and will be used for timbers in building projects and for floorings,” says Fox. “It’s an extinct species. The forest has been depleted, and there are no standing Heart Pine trees anymore.”
Source: Remains of an old Rock Island rubber plant are given a second chance | WQAD.com
Milwaukee could pause its enforcement of a mandate requiring contractors to deconstruct, rather than demolish, historic homes after a assessment of the policy found that it struggled to get off the ground in 2018.
Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents live in flood zones that can become inundated with storm water. But the state is trying to move some of them out of harm’s way in one of the biggest home buyout programs in the nation.
Adam Corneil’s Vancouver company UnBuild, offers an environmental alternative to building demolitions and cost savings for homeowners.
The Australian company has been working on AR applications that help designers, builders, and engineers project their virtual designs into the real world through AR glasses like HoloLens.
Source: AR app Fologram turns 3D models into life-size building instructions – Curbed
Photo by Sasha Bogojev for Arrested Motion
Working with recycled wood doors and paneling pulled from old houses, Belgian artist Stefaan De Croock aka Strook constructs both large and small-scale geometric portraits.
Source: Geometric Portraits Constructed with Reclaimed Wood by ‘Strook’ | Colossal
The SS United States, seen here on Jan 21, 2014 remains docked in Philadelphia for now. Photo Credit: Chris Ware
Uniondale-based RXR will work on an adaptive reuse plan and suitable site for the 990-foot ship that set trans-Atlantic speed records after its launch in 1952, but which has been deteriorating at a pier in Philadelphia since 1996.
Source: RXR Realty to work on reuse plan for mothballed ocean liner | Newsday
If you have a piece of furniture you are about to throw away, or saw abandonned in the street, tell me and I will do my best to give it a second life!
Source: Karel Woodcraft – Repairs
“We’ve received calls from desperate construction managers who want to comply with waste regulations and certification requirements, but honestly have no idea where to start,” Natarajan said. “High turnover in the industry exacerbates this issue as institutional knowledge is lost with each regrettable turnover.”
Source: American Recycler News, Inc. – Closing the loop on C&D materials
free wifi connection, free usb charging sockets, seating arrangement, newspaper rack, coffee table, reading lights at night and an emergency public phone are among the features.
Source: 100architects transforms phonebooths into new urban landmarks in shanghai
The Pacific Maritime Heritage Center sits on a hill above Newport’s bayfront.
It wasn’t just the historical society that scored, so did the county. In what became the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, it gained a museum, retained a piece of history, and saved a structure that otherwise might have faced demo crews.
Source: Ill wind blows good wood for Newport museum | Oregon ArtsWatch
“It affects everyone,” said Morris Hylton, the president of Modern Gainesville, a local nonprofit aimed at preserving mid-century architecture. “It’s an architectural landmark deserving of preservation.”
Source: St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Torn Down Ahead Of Meeting That Might Have Preserved It – WUFT News
The City of St. Louis is ramping up demolition of vacant buildings on properties owned by the metro’s land bank, but some of them will undergo deconstruction instead. (Photo by Oscar Perry Abello)
As he gears up for the pilot project with the city, Schwarz says that Refab will tighten its hiring focus. “We’ll hire people from the neighborhoods where we do the deconstruction,” he says. “We’re going to take tax dollars and put them into the pockets of the residents who are affected by this activity in their neighborhood.”
Source: Can Deconstructing Some of St. Louis’ Past Help Build a Sustainable Future? – Next City
Richelieu Dennis, founder and chairperson of Essence Ventures, attends the 2018 Essence Black Women In Hollywood Oscars Luncheon on March 1, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California; the rear view of the Villa Lewaro, the mansion of the country’s first self-made female millionaire, Madam Walker, is seen Oct. 19, 1998, in Irvington, N.Y.
Photo: Leon Bennett (Getty Images for Essence), Ed Bailey (AP Photo)
Villa Lewaro was a frequent meeting place for the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance—but nearly 100 years later, Dennis hopes to honor the beauty mogul’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit by transforming Walker’s historic estate into a training center and retreat “designed to support black women entrepreneurs in their efforts to turn their ideas into flourishing enterprises,” according to the Independent.
Source: Will Madam C.J. Walker’s Home Cultivate New Black Women Moguls?
House on 310 Bladen Street (Photo: Historic Wilmington Foundation)
Historic Wilmington Foundation (HWF) says a turn-of-the-century bungalow will soon be moved and become a restaurant.
Source: Historic Wilmington home to be moved, become restaurant – WWAY TV
A lithograph of Portland High School at Southwest 14th Avenue and Morrison Street. Built in the 1880s, it was razed in 1929. (Oregonian archives)
Ballestrem’s just-released book, “Lost Portland” (The History Press, $21.99), highlights grand structures that have disappeared from Stumptown over the years. The book certainly will cause readers a pang or two of wistfulness, for Portland has lost its fair share of irreplaceable landmarks.
Working together, the family revitalized the farmhouse with a floor plan that includes reception spaces, meeting rooms, art and design exhibition galleries, experimental rooms, living spaces, and areas that can be set up for photography shoots.
Source: A Creative Family Transform an Old Spanish Farmhouse Into an Incredible Home – Dwell
Brian C. Rittmeyer
Amanda Anderson, of Greensburg, an employee with American Architectural Salvage, tosses a ceramic mold onto a pile outside a building on Fifth Avenue in Tarentum that had housed a ceramics business on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. The building is being emptied and gutted to be redeveloped as a community center called ‘The Depot.’
The molds have been piled outside against the side of the building. They are destined to become clean fill, Rankin said.
Source: Removal of ceramics molds part of demolition work underway at Tarentum building | TribLIVE
Richard Neutra’s iconic Hassrick House in East Falls, Pennsylvania Courtesy of Thomas Jefferson University
Opening in April, the Center for the Preservation of Modernism is a key facet of the school’s newly launched master of science program in historic preservation; the new degree program, which will debut next fall, will focus on preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings and sites.
Source: Jefferson University’s New Center Celebrates—and Studies—Modernism | Architectural Digest
CHRIS KENDIG
Enter “Infill Philadelphia: Sacred Places/Civic Spaces,” the exciting new partnership between Partners for Sacred Places and the Community Design Collaborative. Its purpose is to generate innovative design concepts and solutions for the re-activation of underutilized spaces in local historic sacred places.
Source: How saving Philly’s historic sacred spaces can make the city stronger | Opinion
This North Vancouver home, at 5,000 square feet, is one of the largest projects Unbuilders has taken on. After three weeks, they have completed the front-end salvage and the strip-out of the four units. The entire project, from start to finish, is estimated to take six weeks. Photo by Michelle Gamage.
And now, as some 3,000 homes are being torn down in Metro Vancouver each year, the material is being sent to landfill or, in the case of the lumber, being burned for heat or energy. “It’s really not waste — it is wasted. This is all reusable material,” Corneil said, gesturing around the home.
Source: Eco ‘Unbuilding’ Ensures Material from Demolished Homes Is Re-used | The Tyee
Only in Texas…The Hat House
The Phoenix Commotion is a local building initiative created to prove that constructing homes with recycled and salvaged materials has a viable place in the building industry.
Source: Home – Phoenix Commotion
Here is a summary of the Fiscal Year 2019 Investment and Innovation (I&I) grants. The 14 grants represent a total Metro investment of $2,453,247, which will leverage an additional $2,383,065 in matching funds provided by the applicants. Investment and Innovation grants are intended to build lasting, private sector capacity to reduce waste through reuse, recycling, composting or energy creation from discarded materials in the Metro region. They seek to both strengthen local efforts to reduce the amount and
Buildings as Material Banks (BAMB) brings together fifteen partners from seven European countries. Its goal is a systemic shift in sustainable building.
Source: BAMB: could this be the new future of sustainable building?
The former Ashaway School building, built in 1904, is set to be demolished, but a committee is working to see that valuable materials are salvaged first. Harold Hanka, The Westerly Sun
Swain said some of the potentially valuable components would be difficult to show in photographs. “Ornate cast iron radiators, slate chalkboards, I can look and find out the species of wood, but it should be hardwood trim,” he said.
New Zealand-based artist Louise McRae works with pieces of discarded wood that are hand-split into small fragments and then carefully reassembled into intricate wall sculptures.
Source: Explosive Scrap Timber Assemblages by Louise McRae | Colossal
We were rummaging through when we saw a bundle of wooden shingles left over from when we had the house painted a few years ago. Immediately, Alberto said “Christmas tree!” and just as quickly, I said “Of course!” (Don’t try to figure out how we do this, it just is…)
The lobster pot tree is decorated with lights, evergreen branches, bows and wooden buoys.
via Lobster pot Christmas tree a new tradition in Salvage – Newfoundland & Labrador – CBC News.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62615344/201510_NY_N31.0.jpg)
The HouseZero project at Harvard retrofitted a pre-war home on campus, creating a model of energy efficiency. Michael Grimm
“We’re shattering the belief that you need to build new buildings to be efficient,” Ali Malkawi, a professor of architectural technology who leads the CGBC program, told Curbed. “We want to show how this can be replicated almost anywhere, and solve one of the world’s biggest energy problems, inefficient existing buildings.”
Source: Harvard’s HouseZero project wants to revolutionize green building – Curbed
Sera Hersham-Loftus
It’s the place where the rich and famous come for interiors inspiration. She likes to keep tight-lipped about her high-profile clientele, but Kate Moss, Yoko Ono and Lizzie Jagger are fans.
Source: The wonderfully eclectic world of a designer known as… the Salvage Queen
The Collage House — Mumbai, India
Visionary architects have met the challenge of green construction with flair and ingenuity, creating unique works of art that shirk the status quo. The results of their creativity are often beautiful.
Source: BOSS Magazine | Seven Impressive Homes Built with Recycled Materials
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62613539/3._Beaux_Arts_Style.0.jpg)
Kathleen Nyberg/Courtesy of McMenamins
Opening in April as McMenamins Elks Temple, the historic building will become a 45-room hotel, a 700-capacity music venue, a game room, three restaurants, a brewery, and several small bars—including one hidden below the sidewalk. One cafe will have outdoor space along historic Tacoma plaza the Spanish Steps.
Source: Historic Tacoma Elks Lodge will reopen as a McMenamins complex in April – Curbed Seattle
CITY OF VANCOUVER
“The Empty Homes Tax (also known as the Vacancy Tax) was developed to help relieve pressure on Vancouver’s rental housing market, by returning empty or under-utilized properties to the long-term rental market,” the release reads. “Revenue generated by the tax is required to be used for affordable housing initiatives in Vancouver.”
Crackedpots Holiday Shop encourages shoppers to reconsider the disposable nature of the season with thoughtful alternative gifts made from reclaimed materials!
Crackedpots Holiday Shop features fine art and craft by 40 local artists that utilize and upcycle waste materials.
Artwork in a variety of media will be on display and for sale including: metal, textiles, jewelry, assemblage, wood and collage.
“Fifi’s Seat,” one of the winners form the Salvage Design Competition 2018 held by the Green Project.
The pieces will be auctioned to benefit the Green Project, a group founded in New Orleans in 1994 to “promote a culture of creative reuse by diverting usable materials from landfills and cultivating a respect for their value.”
© DIALOG
Souleles also notes that “the bones of the building are really, really good.” You don’t often hear this; there is always an excuse, such as the floor plate isn’t efficient or the ceilings are too low. However, as embodied carbon gets recognized as an issue, these excuses don’t stand up to scrutiny – because, as we keep saying, the greenest building is the one already standing.
Source: Good bones are a good place to start for net zero carbon MacKimmie Complex in Calgary | TreeHugger
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13434881/CATCH___Pergola_6.jpg)
The pergola at Catch Amelinda B Lee
Reclaimed red and white oak flooring from abandoned farms and warehouses in the Eastern United States lines the floor.
Source: Catch Eater Inside Aria Las Vegas Restaurant – Eater Vegas
A view of the Forensic Architecture exhibition, which ran in London until May 2018.
“In a field of such diversity and brilliance it is invidious to choose the ‘best’ but Forensic Architecture have invented a new paradigm in the search for the truth. Their application of architectural skills to the re-creation of past events is extraordinarily innovative, intellectually rigorous and will make a significant contribution to justice,” Robert Devereux, one of the judges, said in a statement.
Source: Forensic Architecture wins the 2018 Beazley Design of the year award – CNN Style
A vintage Piaggio Ape turned unique mobile drinks van, The Little Tipple can be hired for special occasions throughout South/West Wales and the Bristol/Gloucester area. It serves everything from Pinot Grigio to craft beer to perfectly chilled Prosecco on tap
The large wooden troll, “Isak Heartstone,” made by artist Thomas Dambo during Breckenridge International Festival of the Arts in August, sitting in the snow Wednesday. (Hugh Carey, Summit Daily News via AP)
“The city took him gently apart, and once the snow melts, I will be back to rebuild him in a new location,” he wrote.
Source: Artist of Breckenridge troll says town is allowing him to rebuild it
STEVEN EVANS PHOTOGRAPHY — Junction Craft Brewing is now housed in a renovated industrial building in the Stockyards district of Toronto’s west end. The company’s 1,358-square-metre facility at 150 Symes Road contains a brewery, taproom, retail space and office space. The brewery project recently won an adaptive reuse award.
“Their work retained the stunning art deco design and industrial character of the site, while repurposing it for a technically demanding manufacturing system,” said the organization.
Source: Symes Road Destructor transformed into a brewing ‘jewel’ – constructconnect.com
