Re-thinking “Throw Away”

On-site re-use of materials in landscape design emerges as a solution under a myriad of typical design-related challenges and conditions. Increasingly, the disposal and removal of construction debris is viewed as a critical financial and ethical issue. Deemed as “waste” implies no value or use as a site undergoes transformation with new design. The question arises: what is to be done with discarded materials left on site? And furthermore, what is behind our answer to this question?  

It is important to note, this is not an academic or theoretical exercise, but for designers working in the urban environment, this is a real-time challenge posed by site conditions and budget limitations. At the Bronx Yard Project, we are challenged with costly and logically prohibitive removal of construction debris. In response, we are invited to think creatively and cost-effectively by shifting our perspective: how to turn discarded and “damaged” materials into the site’s new framework? 

Following construction of the new building, a mash-up of debris accumulated on the site: discarded packaging and plastics sit mixed with broken CMU blocks and wall pieces shaped and marked by drilling and deconstruction. Our task is to cut down on the cost of bagging and removing weighty rubble by finding a way to repurpose materials for creative display. To do this we inspect what is collectively called debris to determine what is salvageable for collection and display in the site design.

 Material reuse can be integrated from the project on-set, or as with the Bronx Yard Project, it can come as an adaptation when there is simply no other option. Like any material interaction, opportunities arise to make artistic, environmental, or functional statements with debris is an alternative to sweeping it “away”.

written by Lori Ball Horton for Assemblage Landscape Architecture