Superuse: Constructing New Architecture by Shortcutting Material Flows

Cable reels, window frames, washing machines, diapers, crates, carpet tiles, double glazing panels or old buses—you could recycle, discard or even burn all of these things. The other option is to put them to good use: ‘superuse.’ This is happening everywhere, albeit on a modest scale. Architects apply these materials in their designs. Superuse is a practical and inspiring book about constructing new buildings with surplus materials. It was initiated by Recyclicity, a Rotterdam foundation dedicated to such possibilities. Copiously illustrated with examples from the Netherlands and elsewhere, Superuse presents ideas for tools and methods for architects and superuse scouts such as the ‘harvest map’ of everything reusable within a given distance of a building site. Superuse renders the superfluous superfluous.