CIRCULARITY AND MATERIALS

How to understand and encourage the practice of reuse? This question was the main topic of the course Circularity and Materials. For this edition, the course took place at the La Fonte cultural center. The Halles de la Fonderie association and collective La Fonte proposed a temporary and enriching architectural repurposing of this building complex. The project did not propose a renovation of the Halles, recognizing that the neighborhood would change in a few years, but rather a deconstruction—not a demolition—to support urban development processes. The project consisted of two components: a cultural pole and a pole focused on the reuse of materials.

The course aimed to provide an understanding of all reuse processes within a real-world project.

In order to look at the different facets of it, three topics were explored during this 6-day course:

THE FUTURE RESSOURCERIE

A student team planned the implementation of a temporary resource center on site, by inventorying materials, proposing categorizations, and beginning the spatial planning of this space.

THE PARTICIPATORY WORKSITE PROJECT

During the course, students took part in the ongoing participatory worksite project together with the La Fonte Collectif and Galta Collectif. This way, they learned about reuse processes such as collecting material from the deconstruction site, transport operations, storage issues, adaptations, and reuse applications on the project site. Learning by doing allowed them to understand the reality of the process and the value of artisanal work.

THE REUSE PROCESS

In addition to the participatory worksite project and the development of the future ressourcerie, students also worked on the documentation of the project by conducting interviews, consulting archives, and observing. A documentation work was carried out in order to communicate and give value to the reuse process that had been implemented in this renovation project.

This shared experience took the form of an open event, with the aim of sharing the work and valorizing and documenting the reuse process to encourage and facilitate this practice.