Architect and mathematician Peter van Assche will talk about new design repertoires for a circular economy. The talk will not just be about design, but also about the journeys of Gulliver, Models of Doom, the Anthropocene, Alice in Wonderland, László Moholy-Nagy, hobbit houses and the making of toasters.
In a circular economy, there is no waste and raw materials are used over and over again. More than half of the waste that our civilization produces is waste from construction and infrastructure, that is waste resulting from designs by architects. The transition to a circular economy means a fundamental transformation across the full breadth of the field of construction and has a series of serious implications for the design discipline. New system of logics will not only provide sustainable design but will offer solutions for societal challenges that traditional design does not offer.
The lack of proper regenerative strategies as part of a design means that the likelihood of demolition is an inherent feature of a product or a building. With a different design strategy, intelligent reuse may be more self-evident. But how do you do that? Which tools do designers have to ensure that their creations are not a problem, but a blessing in thirty years’ time?
In this talk we will browse through modes of regenerative thinking and explore various regenerative design strategies. The strategies are exemplified by inspiring historical and recent projects and by making comparisons with similar approaches in art and mathematics.
After the talk you will be energized and you will understand that your regenerative designs are part of a future that is healthy and abundant.
● design strategies
● regenerative design paradigms
● how to start from scratch