Practical Guides to Recycled Architecture

"Cable drums, old window frames, washing machines, nappies, plastic crates, carpet tiles, crashed planes; you can throw them away, burn them or... do something useful with them."

Anyone considering building in the near future, should be looking into recycled and surplus materials for obvious reasons. But naturally, there are concerns about structural safety and architectural regulations. Now there are some great practical resources out there, to help architects make use of these surplus materials in the construction of new buildings. Here are two that look promising.

The creators of Superuse.org, an online community of artists and designers committed to creative recycling, have plenty of practical suggestions now published in Superuse: Constructing new architecture by shortcutting material flows, edited by Ed van Hinte designed by Erik Wong and directed by Jan Jongert and Césare Peeren of 2012architects.
It can be ordered directly from the publisher at www.010publishers.nl

Another focused on the opportunity to minimize the generation of waste by the use of recycled components. Building with Reclaimed Components and Materials, a Design Handbook for Reuse and Recycling was written by Bill Addis and researched by a team of academic and industry engineers. It is currently available via Powell's.