Don’t Build, Rebuild: The Case for Imaginative Reuse in Architecture

“We should not construct new buildings from scratch,” argues architecture critic Betsky (Monster Leviathan) in this eye-opening treatise in favor of “adaptive reuse,” an emerging school of thought which holds that remodeling existing buildings instead of tearing them down is the best way to lower the emissions of new construction. That’s because a building is a “carbon sink” that, much like a tree being cut down, releases carbon into the atmosphere when it is demolished; in fact, Betsky writes, tearing down an old building to build a “net zero” one still releases more carbon than simply having retrofitted the old building to be more energy efficient. As a longtime advocate for architecture as an art form, Betsky takes on the task of showing how this new approach (which is already becoming de rigueur in Europe) isn’t a death knell for the profession but an opportunity: “The Zen-like act of doing nothing leads to particular strategies. The first of these is to see imaginative reuse as, above all else, a form of revelation—a kind of archaeology.... Our work consists primarily of revealing what is already there.” Insights abound as Betsky delves into examples—which include not only remodeling but also disassembling old structures and reusing their constitutive parts in new projects, and touch on everything from traditional Japanese woodworking to tents designed for Coachella. Readers will be captivated by Betsky’s hopefulness. (Nov.)