PHOTO: Mr Aitken says the main stairs are made with wood from a settler’s hut built in the 1880s. (ABC News: Anna Hartley)
The landscape architect, now 70, salvaged centuries-old stones and wooden beams from historical buildings, including the city’s courthouses, jails and flour mills which have since been lost.
Dismantling a historic barn is an exacting process, requiring weeks of logistical planning. Because the team hopes to repurpose every piece of wood, most work is done by hand, with the occasional support of heavy machinery. “The barn has its own plan,” says manager Anthony Saraceno. “There are always surprises.” Photo by Joe Polillio
Each salvage job is unique. In the case of Pitney Farm, a portion of the grounds is to be converted into a public park. Some of the salvaged wood was set aside to build benches for the park. Real Antique Wood will repurpose the rest. “I’ve probably made 25 mantels from the beams of that barn already,” says Anthony Saraceno, who manages the mill and Real Antique Wood.
Source: How an Irvington Company Salvaged a Century-Old Barn | NJ Monthly
‘To me, this indicates the need to further question the current practices of the construction sector. How is it that something so simple and obvious as keeping reusable resources intact and in circulation can have become so complicated to put into practice?’
Rotterdam-based architectural firm 2012Architecten took this playful association further in doing this neat renovation of a derelict playground, using recycled wind turbine parts.
Source: Recycled Wind Turbine Blades Make This Dutch Playground Fun | TreeHugger
A team of workers demounts ceramic tiles in the Institut de Génie Civil in Liège © OPHOTO
“We see this as a pilot project, research,” Devlieger says. “[We are] testing methods for the professionalisation of reuse. Architects sometimes don’t understand the power they have. They are diverting huge streams of money towards new materials when they specify and there are social, environmental and economic consequences of those decisions.”
Source: Why tomorrow’s architecture will use yesterday’s materials | Financial Times
Dale Galvin grinds nails from roofing along Old Englewood Road. Some of the roofing will be used to create artwork by artists Lisa McQueen and Gary Carlberg. Sun Photos by Sandy Macys
“People are stopping by asking for a piece of it because it’s a part of their childhood,” Parks said. “It was a part of my life. This is my grandmother’s homestead. My mother was born in 1924 and was raised here.”
The bar has been decked out in red and blue and tartan and you can sit on sheepskin in front of the vintage fireplace.
Source: TWA Hotel Pool Turns into a Rooftop Ski Chalet for the Winter – Untapped New York
Most of the project has been built using reclaimed materials from various projects over the years. The windows are all steel sash from, at last count, five different remodel projects. The pool is perhaps the most notable example; it used to be a water tank for livestock. At 25-feet diameter and 14-feet deep it provides a wonderful black hole of water, particularly in a full moon.
Source: | Lundberg Design
“The wood is generally all reclaimed pieces from when we do renovations or additions,” says the artist. “I work for a high-end company [John G. Early Contractor and Builder], so we have a lot of uncommon things — antique flooring, antique beams. It would normally be trash, but it’s completely usable. The older and more weathered it is, for me, the more appealing. I prefer that to something that’s too clean and polished.”
Designed by Nordhavn-based Lendager Group, the Holiday Cabin consists of five connected structures, all of which are constructed from upcycled waste materials found from demolition sites and local factories.
Source: Upcycled materials make up this beautiful cabin retreat in Denmark
“I’m first and foremost a preservationist,” Sauer said. “I don’t like to see historic buildings come down.” But, when buildings are demolished or remodeled, saving as much as possible is important, Sauer said, noting, “I don’t like seeing this stuff end up in a landfill.”
The new Runway Rink at the TWA Hotel allows guests to skate on the tarmac around the hotel’s 1958 Lockheed Constellation Connie airplane, a vintage airliner which has been converted into a cocktail lounge.
Source: Ice Skate Next to a Vintage Airliner on the Tarmac at NYC’s TWA Hotel – Untapped New York
The warm and vast pool at the spa at Tschuggen Grand Hotel (Image: Manchester Evening News)
Stretching over 800m, its relaxation pool is bordered by views of the snow covered mountains, the two saunas, one set at an eco friendly 60 degrees, are made from reclaimed wood and have windows that act as a portal to the icy, white world outside.
Source: Warming the soul and learning to ski in Switzerland – Manchester Evening News
MONICA HERNDON / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
For example, the staircase combines six different woods from 10 different buildings in what Clark calls “an ode to Frank Furness,” the legendary architect who designed the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. “I kind of puzzled it together,” he says.
Source: A South Philly rowhouse reborn through Craigslist, flea markets, estate sales, salvage yards
Rotor, Plateforme Réemploi, 2017. Source: Rotor.
Reusing architectural elements is a practice that is as long as the history of mankind. At one point, midcentury, this practice started to disappear. Industrial progress, capitalism, evolving demographics, and culture led to a different paradigm of practice. We’ve never seen our approach as one of invention. Our practice is more today about rediscovering existing practices. We see ourselves trying to connect the past to potential futures.
The Tilia version is made of dark linden wood, and the Salvage version is made of an airy and lightly recycled spruce wood. In both cases, the headset uses a dual 3.5mm jack layout – one per side.
Source: Erzetich Thalia, a fully hand-crafted headset made from recycled wood – Inceptive Mind
Reclaimed timber—the entryway alone used more than 2,000 pieces of reclaimed timber. Art installations made from 85 percent repurposed construction waste, recycled and diverted from landfills.
Minimising waste is high on the agenda here, and goes beyond the menu; recycled steel and plastic bar chairs are by Snøhetta, while the overall design is the work of Box 9 Design, and features poured concrete floors, custom fitted ply wood booths with sage green upholstery, an open kitchen and long tables made from reclaimed wood for group dining.
Source: Ozone — London, UK
This is a full tour of a cozy cob micro cabin built by Marie France Roy, a professional snowboarder from Canada. She wanted to build a home with natural and reclaimed materials
We got a bunch of pallets from a trucking company. They were in good shape for the most part, but they were dirty.
Source: Pallet Coffin for Halloween : 7 Steps (with Pictures)
30 Best Upcycle Car Part Ideas
Prasad would like to see architects ‘go for it’ even without the requirements of the London Plan. He said: ‘Circular economy applies to buildings of all scale and all types, and I would love to see it being applied to smaller buildings than the threshold indicates at the moment.’ He said this was not ‘a glum duty’ or ‘dreadful imposition’. ‘It’s a fantastic opportunity to innovate and think in different ways. And the lovely thing is, it can be done on so many fronts. As the name implies, the circular econo
The house was their living quarters, initial work space, and ongoing project—it had been added onto over the years, and the previous owner, a high school shop teacher, “trash picked historic doors and windows considered garbage,” says Margaux. “He used his finds to restore the rooms closer to their former, albeit frankensteined, self.”
Source: A Vintage-Style Kitchen Remodel by Peg and Awl Marries Old and New
Because of the Upfront Carbon emissions from building, groups like the World Green Building Council have suggested that we have to “question the need to use materials at all, considering alternative strategies for delivering the desired function, such as increasing utilisation of existing assets through renovation or reuse.” They also noted that we have to “prioritize materials which are low or zero carbon, responsibly sourced, and which have low lifecycle impact in other areas.”
The Great Hive Mind is a striking installation made from reclaimed scaffolding poles. It contains an observation hive which is home to a colony of around 25,000 bees expected to rise to more than 50,000 by next summer.
Source: Eden gives bees a chance with new observation hive –
The rich heritage of denim spans centuries. Convinced that we were able to do something new, we drew inspiration from the techniques and processes involved in modern composite engineering and by infusing layers of denim fabric with a carefully selected resin, we have created Solid Denim.
Charlie Kern, co-owner of Chrome Yellow, converts old school buses into homes on wheels on Sept. 3 in Arvada. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
“Honestly, I think part of it is that good-looking people on social media are doing it,” Kern said. “Plus, housing costs are high, especially in Denver and other major cities.”
Source: Forget van life. Coloradans are living in school buses (a.k.a. skoolies)
A breakfast nook has a parquet wooden table from the first boat Hughes built and starship sleek bench seats in which to peer out of the planet-shaped glass. Hughes calls this his “Captain Nemo window,” a nod to one of his favorite childhood books, Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.”
Source: Lunar lander tiny house builder is having a blast on the Columbia River – oregonlive.com
Elizabeth Warren speaking under the arch in Washington Square Park, in New York, on Monday night, to a crowd that her campaign says numbered more than twenty thousand people.Photograph by Drew Angerer / Getty
A lectern placed on top was made from reclaimed wood from the Maine home of Frances Perkins, the early-twentieth-century labor activist. According to Warren’s campaign, the lectern was built by craftspeople at a woman-owned woodworking company based in Brooklyn, who designed the base to resemble the soapboxes that Perkins and other labor organizers would have used. It was a stage set created to reflect the central theme of Warren’s campaign: the importance of the rights of working people, and the ways that
Source: Elizabeth Warren’s Crusade Against Corruption | The New Yorker
The house’s owner was told by a man who worked in a local salvage yard that the wood for the kitchen’s window seat was used in the building of the Titanic.
Source: Belfast house for sale hides a secret from the Titanic
Dennis Fano with a Serus T in Novo’s Nashville workshop
Dennis Fano’s Novo brand builds remarkable electric guitars from tempered and reclaimed timber, and we have never encountered structurally similar guitars with more natural resonance. I’ve also played some recent ultra-high-end Les Paul replicas made from very old wood that already sound like they’re decades old.
Source: Do vintage electric guitars really sound better with age? – Guitar.com | All Things Guitar
images courtesy of thomas dambo
using old shelves, pallets, and branches from fallen trees, dambo has built the giant wooden trolls. the installation marks the 15th anniversary of the electronic festival as a gift to the local community. over 200 volunteers helped to collect the materials needed before dambo and a crew of 15 people spent 25 weeks building the sculptures.
Source: thomas dambo builds 7 giant trolls made from reclaimed wood in belgian forest
The castle’s exterior mixes architectural styles, including 13th-century French Gothic. / Photo by Michele Snow
He scoured Europe for architectural salvage, buying up archways, façades, windows, and wall panels from the rubble of World War I. These centuries-old artifacts were incorporated alongside new construction materials (including wood intentionally weathered with seawater for an old-timey look). The result so impressed John D. Rockefeller, an avid art collector, that the tycoon used it as a model for the Cloisters in New York—the only museum in the United States to exclusively showcase art from the Middle Ages
Source: Eccentric Inventor John Hays Hammond Jr. Built A Castle in Gloucester
For the first six months of 2018, Holiber worked on the flock’s wooden frames, using reclaimed lumber from Big Reuse, a surplus salvage vendor in Brooklyn, and scraps he collected from the streets.
Octagon houses were a thing in the 19th century.
They also completely remodeled the kitchen, adding marmoleum flooring, salvaged century-old walnut and birch cabinets, and a unique countertop. “We found a section of bowling alley lane. I edged it in walnut,” Sours said.
Source: Rare octagon house is one of only a handful left in Minnesota | Star Tribune
The bespoke cabinets are made from reclaimed floorboards. They and the table are lightened with quick-drying chalk paint, which the owner says is a decorator’s dream due to its malleability.
Source: Modern Rustic #18 | Livingetc
Saint Pierre is sourcing her granite material directly from the building site for her prototypes (seen here), which she hopes will be incorporated into the new design. Courtesy Anna Saint Pierre
Acknowledging how large a carbon power the building industry is, Saint Pierre identifies the need for crafting new hybrid building blocks. This imperative has led her to formulate an atomistic understanding of architectonics. In her prototypes, stone slabs are smashed into rubble, then crushed into powders, compacted into terrazzo, or sandwiched into gabion walls.
Source: The Paris Researcher Pioneering a New Way to Recycle Building Materials
Material passports specify the position, availability and value of the materials in your buildings. They support the circular economy by making it easier to identify and reuse products, tapping into inherent value rather than squandering it and starting from scratch. Instead of ‘crushing buildings into pretty useless rubble,’ as circular economy expert Duncan Baker-Brown of BBM Sustainable Design explains, material passports make beneficial deconstruction, or even keeping a building, more likely.
Source: How much is your building worth in the circular economy, Mr Foster? | Opinion | Architects Journal
Repurposing and revitalizing discarded materials is a driving force behind ReRoot’s business philosophy. Every product under ReRoot is made with at least some – if not all – repurposed materials. Some of these materials were once tools and equipment to begin with.
Source: About RR — ReRoot
Connolly, who works as a contractor, did all the home designs himself, and after a renovation lasting a year and a half in which he got almost all of the building materials necessary from reclaimed and salvaged sources, the West End bungalow now functions as a guesthouse, home office and extra living space, plus it gives Ross’ and Connolly’s four dogs (and often a foster dog or two) a double backyard in which to run and play.
Source: Atlanta homes: West End industrial bungalow made of salvaged materials
The main building on the Mountain Thunder Monument site
Like everything in the complex, the main building — whose lofted archway is the most visible feature from the adjacent highway — is adorned with fragments of architectural salvage and repurposed refuse, and guarded by several statuary works. Some of these are modeled entirely from scratch, while others incorporate found materials that create a commentary on the ways in which American Indians have been displaced within colonial culture.
Source: An Uncanny Mountain Monument Is the Focus of an Outsider Artist for Half a Century
Timber salvaged after upgrades at Geraldton Fishing Boat Harbour was turned into a striking board room table by a Geraldton furniture designer.Picture: Geraldton Port Authority
Timbers and piles discarded during upgrades to part of Geraldton Fishing Boat Harbour last year have been given a new lease on life and turned into a piece of furniture which will serve as a reminder of Geraldton’s maritime history.
GLEAN, Portland, Oregon
GLEAN exhibit blurs boundaries of “trash,” showcases artists at Lovejoy Square, Aug. 1 – 25
Inspiration often arrives in unexpected packages. See how five local artists – Vanessa Calvert, Jeremy Okai Davis, Asa Mease, Miel-Margarita Paredes and Lauren Prado – transformed a steady stream of the Portland area’s trash into art. Their works will be on display and sale at Lovejoy Square, 1313 NW Kearney St., Portland. Opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1. Gallery hours: noon to 5 p.m. Friday – Sunday. Ends Aug. 25. Wheelchair accessible. Gleanportland.com
Source: GLEAN Portland
Inspired by the unique nests made by the baya weaver bird, Nest is made from reclaimed NYC water tower wood fashioned into an organic form; the woven landscape has a climbable exterior, circular hammock area and permeable interior space, all designed to foster free play and discovery.
Source: Brooklyn Children’s Museum installs a rooftop playscape made from reclaimed water tower wood | 6sqft
Join us on Labor Day for the Annual Dropbox Derby.
Featuring Revive’s Flea Market Extravaganza! Monday September 2, 2019 10am – 4pm Eastbank Esplanade Parking Lots Between SE Salmon and Madison.
If you are a DIY fanatic, a design junky, or a fan of Portland’s quirky, innovative, and unique talent, then grab your friends and family and head down to the east waterfront on Labor Day for the Annual Dropbox Derby, Portland’s design-build challenge!
A bathroom tile pattern in a Los Angeles home built largely with reclaimed materials was designed to look like a colony of bacteria, based on images obtained from an electron microscope.CreditCreditCris Nolasco Studios
Mr. Pallrand’s master bedroom is paneled in redwood that Pacific Redwood culled from a decommissioned bridge built in 1925 in Humboldt County, its knotholes and bolt-holes still visible. The Philippine mahogany table, now carved with a mycelium-inspired runner down the center, was hewed from 1920s-era church pews that a congregation in Santa Monica, Calif., was dumping.
Source: In a ‘Recycled’ House, Details That Will Grow on You – The New York Times
Professor Veena Sahajwalla is passionate about stopping valuable composite materials from ending up in landfill and boosting efforts to establish a circular economy where nothing goes to waste.
Source: Going full circle: How engineers can help give new life to old materials – Create
The timber wall and ceiling wrap is an example of the couple’s reuse policy.
“She’s very conscious of waste in general, avoiding things going to landfill but also keeping things in the house as part of its story,” Higham says. They re-used a lot of rimu in particular from the original flooring, door frames, skirting boards and framing.
![items.[0].image.alt](http://www.reclamationadministration.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/urlhttps3A2F2Fewscripps.brightspotcdn.com2Fe22F3d2F352704ae428aace2351f2a87dc772Fsalvaged-wood2.jpeg)
The salvaged wood is being made into one-of-a -kind products like this table. Each piece is engraved with the Hazel Park Raceway logo. Photo by: Hand-out/Ashley Capital
“We jumped at the opportunity,” said Sam Constantine, co-founder and co-owner of The End Grain Woodworking Company , which makes products using old wood from buildings throughout Detroit. “Each piece has its own story, and we make sure it continues to be told instead of getting lost in a landfill.”
Source: Wood from closed Hazel Park Raceway salvaged, donated to reclaimed wood businesses in Detroit
