Facing the consequences of environmental exploitation and destruction makes a paradigm shift in resource consumption imperative. New ways of building must shift towards a “re-materialized”, climate-friendly and circular construction. The existing environment needs to be reconsidered as a source of ideas, knowledge and resources: to reuse, repair and sustain. It must be rediscovered as its architectural potential. Built from a catalog of reused building components, the first Basel Pavilion opened on the Dreispitz as a program of the first Architekturwoche Basel on 10 May 2022: “Loggia Baseliana” by isla contributes to the urban transformation as a temporary open venue whose architecture demonstrates a future-, environmentally and socially sustainable construction. All the main components of the “Loggia Baseliana” are sourced from regional deconstructions, which were compiled in a component catalog for the competition by the specialist planning office Zirkular via www.baselpavillon.store

The aim of this course is to learn and develop circular building strategies and practice. From the Basel Pavillon as a building laboratory, specific site and practice, we will identify strategies and agents of reuse from deconstruction for a better reconstruction and building to sustain. Regional and local ecosystems, urban transformation, material hunting and urban mining, deconstruction, infrastructures and logistics, labor, building codes, maintenance and care, and design processes will be part of the knowledge and skills to enable for a circular architectural practice. The goal is to develop diverse reuse strategies for the Basel Pavillon from 2023 as part of the Plan Guide of the Dreispitz development. Alongside this, the course will emphasize on the agency of architecture as a strategy and multidisciplinary practice.

Tutors:

Vera Sacchetti (HEAD MAIA) and Chrissie Muhr (Architekturwoche Basel)

Javier F. Contreras, Valentina de Luigi (HEAD MAIA)

Lecturers:

Martin Weis, Nico Scholer (Christoph Merian Stiftung)

Jan Nemeth (Studio Gleisbogen, denkstatt sarl)

Kerstin Müller, Blanca Garcia Gardelegui (Zirkular)

Juan Palencia (isla)