Element- und Componentrecycling / Element and Component Recycling

Jan Jongert, Superuse Studios, Rotterdam

„(designing with) open exchange of resources“

Statement

Most of our cities have grown into conglomerates of monofunctional districts that hardly relate to eachother. Business districts, industrial zones, agriculture, housing and commerce are spatially restricted and hardly benefit from eachothers presence. The rising in- and outgoing flows of goods, energy, water, food and even capital are unrelated and contribute to limitless transport, local clogging of traffic, loss of energy and growth of pollution. Superuse Studios creates interaction between current flows by intelligently linking them, helping to regenerate districts into dynamic ecosystems. From an open source perspective we provide the tools to share knowledge and resources to support this interaction

Biographie

Jan Jongert, co-founder and Head of Research at Superuse Studios. Jan Jongert also leads a research group at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, applying and extending the research of flows to interior architecture.

Büroprofil

„Superuse Studios is a Rotterdam based architecture office that utilises the contextual potential for design. A design is not considered as the beginning of a linear process but as a phase in a continuous cycle of creation and recreation, use and reuse.

The latent properties of used materials and products offer an added value to new products and buildings. Our office views re-use as an integrated design strategy called ‘superuse’. The reuse concept applies to building materials as well as to energy supplies, human resources, water, traffic and food cycles. We develop strategies for cities to connect different loops, while integrating these processes into the existing urban environment.

Superuse Studios distinguishes 16 different flows that enter and exit our buildings and urban environments.

To get a grip on the complexity of all these aspects, most projects start with investigating the different relevant layers. Important layers are: existing location, context, energy sources, water, food systems, existing built structures, green structures, climate, materials, functionality, ergonomics, available budget, capacity of the project team. After mapping those layers we search for possible interconnections. This ultimately leads to a design that  integrates all these aspects.

office structure

Even the way the office is organised is conceived as a cyclic development process; research, design, architecture and materials. In research potential waste-streams and regional cycles are investigated. Materials gathers and tests the material before use. The qualified materials are used experimentally within projects in design. In this way knowledge is developed that will be used in architectural projects in architecture. Practical results are then evaluated by research.

blue future

Our office is connected with the Blue Economy that is developing around the world. The colour of our logo expresses this connection and our aim to strengthen the movement with our work.“

superuse-studios.com