| Content: | 16,000 of Germany's 130,000 bridges are classified as dilapidated. Many of them cannot be repaired. Either it is already too late, or they are not designed to withstand today's loads. Often, both are true. Thus, some bridges will be demolished. The current approach to this could be described as a strategy of comminution. Bridges are blown up and cut up, then the remains are separated into their components and reused as raw materials.
In Unbuilding Bridges I, last winter semester we tested how this strategy of comminution can be replaced by a strategy of reuse. We analysed six obsolete reinforced concrete bridges on the A6 highway, developed strategies for their deconstruction, and transformed the resulting components into architectural designs. The bridges were understood as assemblies of building components with the potential for architectural reuse. Dealing with them requires thinking about demolition, design, and construction together, i.e., rethinking the practice of building altogether. We want to continue this research project next semester as the studio/seminar Unbuilding Bridges II.
The studio and seminar will be organized in three parts. The first part—the seminar—will be devoted to preparing an exhibition. Through discussions with various experts, we will develop specialist knowledge, examine its relevance to architecture, and present our findings in an exhibition. The second part will deal with the detailed planning of building systems made from reused reinforced concrete components and their connections, and will take place in close cooperation with the ILEK. The first and second part will run in parallel. The third part will be devoted to design, with the development of a prototype that transforms the findings of the first two parts into an architectural design. |
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