Architecture readings and a 300-word comment

Deconstructing Research

A Reverse-Engineering Methodology and Practice

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Brussels architecture and art collective Rotor’s approach involves research through physical immersion in each project site. By engaging with people’s lived realities and reinvesting knowledge in the places where it was acquired, they have gained particular prominence in the fl ourishing reuse sector. Rotor’s resident researcher Alison Creba and co-founder Lionel Devlieger here describe how they work, and present some of their projects, in Belgium and Sicily.

Rotor DC, Antwerp City Hall interior deconstruction, Antwerp, Belgium, 2017

Without heritage designation, these architectural features would have otherwise gone to landfi ll. Instead, Rotor demounted and salvaged them.

Alison Creba and Lionel Devlieger

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Formed in 2005 by a handful of young professionals interested in the material environment and the building industry, Belgium-based architecture and art collective Rotor has grown into a fi nely coordinated group of around 20 people with complementary backgrounds in architecture, engineering, scenography and production. Motivated to transform not only spaces and materials, but also the values associated with them, the collective’s practice has developed through a dynamic interdisciplinary research framework and methodology involving hands-on experience, formal historical and technical investigations and experimental fi eldwork that has resulted in projects ranging from the deconstruction and salvage of a city hall interior in Antwerp, Belgium as part of a larger restoration initiative, to interventions in abandoned concrete structures on a hillside near Palermo in Italy, and a series of accessible policy- level publications.

While early projects identifi ed value in unoccupied industrial land and overlooked building materials, they also helped to develop Rotor’s reputation as a critical voice within sustainable architecture discourse. Focusing on materials reuse as the most effi cient way to address the massive volumes of waste generated through construction, renovation and demolition (CRD) processes, its scope has since expanded to include public and private consultancy work for tenders in building deconstruction and architectural salvage. In 2014, it launched Rotor DC, a for-profi t sister company organised as a cooperative, which facilitates the deconstruction and sale of materials directly from the work site, via an online store or in its spacious showroom in Brussels.

Complementing the resourceful premise of its early projects, the practice’s expertise in materials reuse developed through research commissions conducted on behalf of various regional public administrations. Indeed, following the 2008 publication of the EU Waste Framework Directive which established ambitious targets for the reduction of CRD waste by 2020,1

Rotor’s research services were sought to conduct an analysis of building and demolition waste in Brussels and an overview of the Belgian reuse sector, work that supplemented the limited capacities of the city’s relatively small public administration and provided the practice with insight into untapped business opportunities. As consultants, entrepreneurs and researchers, Rotor’s cyclical method of working – investigating, testing and applying knowledge of the fi eld – has led to it becoming a successful practice in the burgeoning reuse sector.

An understanding of the symbolic power of objects to communicate nuanced ideas has also allowed the collective’s practice to evolve through involvement in the design and execution of exhibitions for the Venice Architecture Biennale (2010), Prada (2011) and OMA (2012), among others. In projects such as these, abstract expression is also an opportunity for research. Exploring topics such as borderlessness, invasive species and the legacy of human intervention in the landscape, Rotor’s artistic endeavours have also enabled a broader analysis of the conditions that affect materials reuse.

While diverse in nature, all Rotor’s projects are informed by a consistent methodology rooted in a respect for the lived conditions of the topics the collective explores. In considering the experiences of workers on site as well as the relationships between contractors and materials suppliers, Rotor’s research

extends beyond books and into the real world. Conceptually very simple, this approach involves physical immersion in a site through observation of and interaction with its users. Three projects in particular especially demonstrate the varied results of this immersive process of documentation, collection and representation – of deconstructing research.

Removing and Preserving Building Elements In the summer of 2017, a team from Rotor DC spent three weeks partially deconstructing interior portions of the Stadhuis – Antwerp’s historic City Hall – in anticipation of a large renovation project. A rare example of the Flemish Renaissance style of the 1560s, the building is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Understanding not only the symbolic cultural value of the whole structure, but also the economic and environmental benefi ts of recovering these interior elements, the City of Antwerp awarded Rotor the deconstruction contract. The team was tasked with the removal of features that had been installed following successive fi res in the 19th and 20th centuries that did not meet contemporary fi re standards or confl icted with the restoration initiatives at hand.

After conducting a detailed inventory and evaluation of materials with high reuse values, the team carefully documented and disassembled a range of components: from parquet and limestone fl ooring to wall sconces and decorative mirrors. For Rotor, however, the process of deconstruction is always also a research project. At the Stadhuis, demounting seemingly cohesive elements unveiled complex assemblies and structural nuances. The process also revealed new bureaucratic dimensions: whereas tenders for deconstruction were frequent up until the 19th century, this project was the fi rst of its kind for the city of Antwerp in almost a hundred years. It also engendered an elaborate joint communication campaign to publicise the process and products. Indeed, the items salvaged proved their worth; their high cultural value meant they were quickly sold within the fi rst month. In turn, the funds generated through the sale of the materials were fed back into the cooperative, reimbursing the costs of labour, transportation, restoration and temporary storage. Ultimately confi rming the viability of Rotor DC’s business model, the project also reinforced the social values associated with its deconstruction initiatives and highlighted a strong interest among the local community for retaining and integrating salvaged materials.

The project also reinforced the social values associated with its deconstruction initiatives and highlighted a strong interest among the local community for retaining and integrating salvaged materials

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Rotor DC, Antwerp City Hall interior deconstruction, Antwerp, Belgium, 2017

above: When listed for sale on Rotor DC’s online inventory (rotordc.com), assemblages are shown in their integrity, as they appeared before dismantling.

left: Rotor’s deconstruction practice is a form of research – where the physical act of taking-apart supplements the knowledge of the individual components harvested from the site.

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Rotor, Cover of Déconstruction et réemploi, 2017

Written by Rotor, the book is an inspirational document that provides both historical and contemporary investigations of demolition, deconstruction and materials reuse in Belgium.

Architectural salvage yard, Kampenhout, Belgium, 2016

Cleaned salvaged bricks, ready for reuse. The image is from one of hundreds of site visits Rotor made to architectural salvage yards across Belgium, research that resulted in the development of the practice’s Opalis.be online inventory that not only connects salvaged material suppliers with eager consumers, but also reinforces the existence of the broader reuse sector.

Portrait of a demolisher at work, c 1900

The Archives of the City of Brussels hold this historical portrait of a wrecker on a demolition site, revealing that deconstruction practices were common before the turn of the century.

Mapping the Distance From Here to Utopia Rotor’s 2017 book Déconstruction et réemploi: Comment faire circuler les éléments de construction (Deconstruction and Reuse: How to Get Building Materials to Circulate)2 recapitulates research developed in collaboration with the Belgian Building Research Institute with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Brussels-Capital Region. Expanding on earlier research commissions for the latter, it positions architectural materials reuse within a historical context as well as within a contemporary discourse on the circular economy. As such, it was not part of the contractual deliverables for the project, which included a legal report on certifi cation markings for reused components and an ‘inspirational document’ intended for public building experts and policy makers, but instead an extension of the latter report that was eventually upgraded to a book with a far wider target audience.

Now in its second print, the publication is an investigation of the existing conditions, historical precedents and practical frameworks for the identifi cation and reintegration of reused construction materials. It gives a hopeful but frank account, detailing also the many hurdles that stand in the way of scaling up reuse practices. The wide-ranging nature of these challenges (economic, technical, logistical, legal, aesthetic) also gives a taste of Rotor’s eclectic research interests. Because the public funding for the project stipulated that the output be publicly accessible, Rotor hosted a public tender process to select a publisher for the book. In addition to organising the printing and distribution, Rotor also arranged for copies of the book to be made freely available in university and public libraries throughout Belgium.

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Addressing the Physicality of the ‘Hill of Shame’ Rotor’s immersive research approach is also visible in its artistic endeavours, such as its project for Manifesta 12 – a nomadic European art biennale which in 2018 took place on multiple sites in and around Palermo in Italy. For the fi ve- month exhibition, Rotor was invited by curators to intervene on Pizzo Sella, a promontory famous for its a surreal landscape of 170 abandoned concrete structures that represent a point of contestation for the city at large. The result of a series of dubious building permits awarded in the late 1980s, these incomplete forms permanently altered the hillside, which had previously been designated a nature conservation area. The more than 30 years since have been marked both by propositions to demolish the remaining structures, as well as negotiations allowing a small group of property owners to reside on the hill.

Understanding the many complex associations with the site, Rotor’s project entitled From Up Here, It’s a Whole Other Story aimed not to resolve, but to reveal the nuances of this local issue by inviting the public to visit the hill, its structures and the surrounding landscape. Engaging not just with the politically charged structures, but also with the plant and animal life, its histories and views, Rotor’s broad examination of the hillside revealed a historical path containing traces of past dwellings, brick ovens and local wildlife. As a manifestation of these physical and bureaucratic investigations, the team used materials harvested from nearby ruins to make both the structures and pathway safe and hospitable for visitors in order to invite a new way of not only looking at the existing setting, but also considering broader questions on the future and conservation of the landscape. Beyond this, the project was largely shaped by volunteers who responded to Rotor’s open call for a series of workshops in the lead up to the opening event. In this way, the project was conceived not only as a means for researching and expressing ideas on a landscape- scale, but also as a generative pedagogical experience.

Circling Back While varied, the work described here demonstrates Rotor’s approach to engaging with the lived realities of a project through direct involvement with its subject. Building on observations, materials and experiences gathered on site, the collective’s work takes its cues from both historical references and empirical data to inform future pursuits. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Rotor’s projects are unifi ed in their practice of reinvesting knowledge in the communities from which it was extracted. Here, proprietors of salvage yards, building owners, contractors, architects, public offi cials, academics and local residents are simultaneously reintroduced and empowered to forge new relationships within their unique contexts. In this sense, the architecture of reuse poetically permeates Rotor’s research practice and enforces a more sensitive attention to its broader environmental context. 1

Text © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images: pp 96–9, 100(t&b) © Rotor; p 100(c) © Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles, AVB C-14571, photo: J.Geuens/Berlarij; p 101 © Photos Alison Creba, 2018

Note 1. European Commission, ‘Directive 2008/98/EC on Waste (Waste Framework Directive)’; http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/. 2. Michaël Ghyoot, Lionel Devlieger, Lionel Billet and André Warnier, Déconstruction et réemploi: Comment faire circuler les éléments de construction, Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes (Lausanne), 2017.

Rotor, From Up Here, It’s a Whole Other Story, Pizzo Sella, Palermo, Italy, 2018

As a part of its project for the Manifesta 12 nomadic European art biennale, Rotor intervened in the striking landscape of Pizzo Sella, known as the ‘hill of shame’, where the incomplete concrete structures have come to represent corruption, rapid development and environmental destruction.

Rotor led hikes along a rugged path historically used by herders and local wildlife. A form of research in and of itself, these expeditions constitute both method and practice. A meditative process, the journeys also allowed participants to gain new perspectives of this controversial landscape.

As both the subject and the frame, part of Rotor’s contribution to Manifesta 12 involved architectural interventions into a single structure aimed at offering visitors a nuanced view of the surrounding landscape.

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