Maarten Gielen
PAM Talk on 16th March 2016
Rotor is a group of people with a common interest in the material flows in industry and construction. Maarten Gielen is one of Rotor members. They love materials in different way. Discussing on practising reclamation of reusable materials, 25 tonne of mixed waste have been collected and sell for client to reuse in new or renovation projects. This practice contributes great positive environmental impact in the world today. The talk is emphasizing on ‘relocation’ as design strategy. They handle conceptual and realization of design and projects. They do research, exhibitions and publish books as well.
In Belgium, they practice reclamation of reusable building materials dismantled from demolished buildings. He claimed that the process of classifying, dismantling and selling reusable materials needs to allocate alot of time and brainpower. This practice is not effective for short period of construction, which means the client will only get low quality of disposed materials. Only large-scale public buildings will normally get highest reclamation potential of disposed materials.
From the idea of having reclamation of disposed materials, Rotor set out comprehensive guidelines to the attention of public authorities who inted to practice the reuse of building materials. Guidelines are adaptable in Belgium and Europe. Their research, Vade Mecum for Off-Site Reuse proposes a step-by-step method to organize the identification of material type, reclamation and transfer of reusable materials acording to the public procuremenet legislation, taking advantage of the vacancy period that usually precedes the renovation of a building.
Before the work starts, the materials can be assigned to different users in 3 ways:
1) a public sale
2) a donation
3)a public service contract
During work period, addressing duty to the general contractor.
Long term goal for the vade mecum is to set standard for demolition projects of certain scales carried out by public authorities in order to turn public works into exploitable sources of reusable materials. This is a very good way of practising sustainability, which could reduce great environmental impact today.
Research
Introduction
Appreciate material, such as glass, which is greatly produced in the industrial revolution. Glass vase is produced since 19th century. From 1945 to 1948, even the lines and the cap are further improved for safety factor.
Vade-Mecum : Standard legal documentation
Material Flow
Project Compilation
Form applying for reclamation of material
Overall reclamation of material process flow
Rotor group is the representative of Belgium’s French Community at the exhibition. The exhibition Usus explored ‘wear’ as a reaction to use in architecture. His intention is to let visitors understand how building react to how it should be used. This exhibition is simple only to explore the relationship between architecture and human occupation.
It is called Usus, because they investigate a specific phase in the life of construction materials: the time when they are being used and gradually re-shaped due to human live load exerted on the materials when they pass by, walk on them, touching, presing, stroking, scratching or holding them. With wear and tear, the material gains a new dimension that is both physical and situation.
Explaining how a normal person works in living room of an apartment. Imagining the small rectangle on the right is television and the straight long path cutting in the middle is the circulation and light path. The big rounded edge square on the left show the place where occupants will rest and watch tv.
Movement people make on the staircase is not a straight line. The scratch from shoes is the ‘wear’ he wants people to experience.
Case 1 : Exhibition
Belgian pavillion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale
on staircase
On wall texture around prostitution corner
On hanger
On edge and rubbish bin
For example in the second picture from the left, shows the sign of prostitution corner. The lower part, scratched is formed result of woman high heel. Middle part has the hand scratch with grease on it.
Case 2 : Student project at Geneva
Dismantle unwanted interior materials and use as installation materials in their projects. They identify them with numbering, and constructed with simple method like they get brand new material. They try to place the material they assembled on ceiling with polished, it created different message that reflects to the street.
At the end of the year, the materials left will need to be disposed. They will ask municipal of Geneva to get rid of all the materials. They packaged in group and then arranged on the road side. However, some strangers will collect them before the municipal came. By dawn, the municipal will collect them in a truck and send for disposal or further reuse. Even students could practice being creative with reusable materials in their projects and dispose the left over materials in proper way like how Maarten Gielen mentioned.
Case 3 : Cultural Centre Bomel, Namur
The former Bomel slaughterhouse is now part of a cultural area with an extensive history and an exceptional character in a comic strip museum, a public park and another older house for a future occupation. In the existing buildings, which will be renovated, the project offers the development of a cultural spot.
An art centre project by Rotor in Bomel, they act as matchmakers between the building and its occupants. From a 1940’s slaughterhouse, they transform the building to an arts centre, run by the Theatre of Namur. Reusing the equipment found on site as well as dismantling from site in Belgium. All the storage cabinets of the arts centre were carefully numbered, disassembled, trucked and re-assembled, even transformed on site. Rotor designed a white box interior to achieve high-energy efficiency which is requested by the government.
Another refurnished projects, the resto-bar of the Abattoirs, elements taken from the cafeteria of former Bank headquarters in Brussels which is once famous design of Christophe Gevers in 1970.
They also designed new gear, for instance 60 ultra-light tables of beech-rimmed sandwich panels resting on aluminium trestles meant to meet with the need for flexibility which can be used in workshop spaces and meeting rooms. Designed with intention to be moved and stored easily.
Design Approach
Issue of ‘How to manage ’tangible’ materials in a design process’?
Relying on few network traders that sell second-hand materials, for instance Franck. They recollect, repack and sell. They set standard to elimate or prescribe unwanted brick from chimney or those in contact with ground water.
Cast iron, solid wood, stone not suitable to be sold second-hand because for contemporary design those materials can rust and degrade easily.
Case 4 : Rotor Deconstruction
Demountable
≠
Reusable
: Cost of dismantling + handling risk < market value
They sell 2 categories of materials. Construction elements such as doors, windows, lowered ceilings, lighting devices, etc. Even exceptional materials from landmark buildings.
The ‘generics’ elements are sold directly away from the deconstruction site. Before dismantling, a list of available materials will be send to potential clients in a newsletter. The client can pre-select the materials they want. Once the elements are dismantled and packaged, clients will need to come and pick them up or else transportation can be arranged. This organized method provide quality construction elements at very competitive prices, typically 20 to 50% of new value.
For exceptional materials will be shipped to their warehouse and sold after inspection for quality and restoration. They store many of Belgium’s most important designers, such as Jules Wabbes, Christophe Gevers or Joseph Moutschen. Clients can book through online listings.
Dismantling floor furnish for instance timber parquet, every pieces need to send for sanding so that same thickness can be achieved before selling to dealers.
Maarten Gielen gave a very straight forward talk on how a materials should be used from being new, used in projects, and then dismantled and being reused for the next new projects. His idea of practising this dismantling of reusable materials is very helpful today. That practice contributes alot to the big issue of ‘Go Green’ today. However, the job of identifying, organizing, packaging, and then reselling is a long way process as compared to mass production of materials in high-technology world nowadays. Sometimes, it depends on designers or clients who look more interest in old and the quality of old materials from reusable materials. I think students are more encouraged to have this kind of practice in school rather than buying new materials for new assigned coursework. Sometimes, the uniqueness of old reusable materials is helpful to emphasize students conception and realization of design.
Question by the group:
You at Rotor have collected over 600 objects that carry claims of sustainability for your exhibition "Behind the Green Door." What have you learned about what counts as sustainable?
Maarten Gielen:
We’ve spent over a year looking at architecture that calls itself sustainable. For the exhibition we ended up selecting materials related to over 200 projects. What does the Novartis Campus in Basel designed by Gehry have in common with the Wiesbaden Army Airfield designed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers? Are there similarities between the co-housing project Tinggården of the Danish group Vandkunsten and a design for an incinerator with ski slope by BIG? Between the work of Werner Sobek and Anna Heringer? They don’t share a formal language, there is often not even a common vision. And yet they’re all being referred to as ‘sustainable’.
THE BIG SHUFFLES
BY MAARTEN GIELEN
THE BIG SHUFFLE was the the topic in PAM public lecture series on 16th March 2016 by Maarten Gielen. Maarten Gielen who a collective of people with a common interest in the material flows in industry and construction. In 2005, he established Rotor where he currently works as designer, manager and researcher.
THE BIG SHUFFLE where the topic of the talk about relationship of waste , resources , use and reuse of material flow in industry and construction . In the talk , he shared a few example of project that interprete the concept of "The Big Shuffle"
The Belgian Pavilion
The Belgian Pavilion is a platform to present the architecture and abstract of artist. The work exhibited by Maarten Gielen is emphasize on materiality to express how material react to the user . A piece of carpet extract from social housing block which reflect the person activities and flow react above the carpet. A old used material could give a different exploration by different usage and intention in architectural detail.
Cultural Center Bomel
A project assign to renovate a freshly renovated building. The constraits of the project is to renovated the interior with preservation of exterior of the building. In the project, usage of secondhand material mainly used in the project. For example, seating of cafeteria in former bank bring into a newly renovated cultural center. In my opinion , the combination of two old and new material created an neutral space with sustain both economical and environmental.
In my opinion , the idea of "REUSE" by Maarten Gielen is to respect the process of construction and building lifecycle by observation and analysis detail of used material and interprete into a new construction . In a practical way, this could be greatly reducing the material in architectural project to achieve sustainability both economical and environmental. The talk give me a new perception toward material resources not only from the factory or supplier but also something used and unwanted by others . A practice to transform old into new.
Why not get use of something from what we demolish?
LAI HONG JING
1001541101
Another week of PAM talk, as usual, had my little snack before the talk begin.
And, the speaker of the night is Maarten Gielen.
"The Big Shuffle."
Founded in 2005, Rotor is a collective of people with a common interest in the material flows in industry and construction.
On a practical level, Rotor handles the conception and realization of design and architectural projects.
On a theoretical level, Rotor develops critical positions on design, material resources, and waste through research, exhibitions, writings and conferences.
During the talk, Marten Gielen has showed us some of his amazing project and the concept is “relocation”. Base on my understanding, his design intention is to reuse the wasted and recyclable material and apply onto his project.
Case study 1: Belgian pavilion at the 2010 Venice architecture biennale.
By focusing on details of architecture, the collective brought poetry, history and emotion to the biennale. The exhibition investigates a specific phase in the life of construction materials: the time when they are subjected to use and are gradually re-shaped by human beings passing through them, walking on them, touching, pressing, stroking, scratching or holding them. They spent years touring public buildings in Belgium to document and collect sections of walls, banisters with chipped paint, wooden floors, stained carpets, tired stairs, elevator cabins, plastic chairs, door handles, windows, and other worn out fragments of buildings
Case study 2 : Rotor Deconstruction
Marteen Gielen once said that, after few years of studying about the material, he finally launch something which they sell those useful material while the building is undergoing transformation of deconstruction. They actually sell two categories of materials. On the one hand generic construction elements such as doors, windows, lowered ceilings, lighting divises, etc. On the other hand more exceptional batches of materials from landmark buildings. The "generics" are sold of straight from the deconstruction site. Before starting the dismanteling, an inventory of the available materials is made and send to potential clients in a newsletter. The listings allow clients to select the materials they are most interested in. Once the reserved elements are dismantled and duly packaged, clients are invited to come and pick them up or transport is arranged. This method reduces the cost of transporting and stocking materials and makes it possible for us to provide quality construction elements at very competitive prices, typically 20 to 50% of new value.
HWAN CHING SHEONG
1001541143
Maarten Gielen is designer, manager, and researcher of the Brussels-based collective Rotor, comprised of people sharing a common interest in material flows in industry and construction. He started his career at the age of 15, selling decorative items and objects found at scrap merchants and flea markets to fashion stores and florists.Arriving in Brussels in 2002, he set up BSF to offer technical assistance using salvaged materials to small cultural organizations. Two years later, the association merged with the organizations of Zinneke Parade, where Maarten set up a program for the reuse of industrial waste.
Maarten Gielen form a group call ROTOR, where collective of people with a common interest in the material flows in industry and construction.On a practical level, Rotor handles the conception and realization of design and architectural projects.On a theoretical level, Rotor develops critical positions on design, material resources, and waste through research, exhibitions, writings and conferences.
''THE BIG SHUFFLE''
During the talks, Maarten share about his experience about a project by ROTOR.
‘Belgian pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale’
This project is mainly about telling the unique of a material the texture or it and combining it all to become a piece of artwork at a gallery. The material that they use were those whom was abandoned during a construction. Which is the banisters with chipped paint, stained carpets, tired stairs, plastic chairs, door handles, windows and so on. Instead of throwing the unused material. They hang it up and arrange it into a piece of master art in a gallery for people to experience the feel of the material. One of the example is they use the unused carpet from a building transform into a piece artwork and attach to the wall of pavilion.
'Rotor Deconstruction’
Another project lead by Maarten, this project is telling about the important the material. This project will become a separate cooperative company, dismantles and sells reusable materials from quality buildings undergoing transformation or demolition.Once the reserved material are dismantled and packaged, clients are invited to come and pick them up or transport is arranged. In between all these projects he shared, the idea of reusing materials such as “how to manage “intangible” materials in a design process is a better solution for the world as the raw material of earth is getting low. He gave example of the company involved in this stream of work, for instance, Revendous which collects and resell secondhand materials. This company collects and clean the materials then sort them out and later on repackage and sell them.
From my opinion, i would say with this material reusing is a very good option to take in consideration for
post construction. A good architecture is not only about the look the design of it. I would say, after i attend the talk i realized how much important that the MATERIAL play the role in the building. Every single of it did count as a design. Instead of wasting material and money to build fame and brand
LIM WINN SERN
1001541161
Maarten Gielen is part of the thr ROTOR team. Rotor was founded in 2005 by a group of people with a common interest in the material flows industry and construction. Their work are handles of conception and realization of design and architectural projects, develops critical position on design, material resources, and waste through research, exhibition, writings and conferences. An idea of relocating materials from soon demolish building into new projects, reduces the waste of resources, and below there will be case studies of how they apply their idea in different projects.
Abattoirs de Bomel
This project was turning a former slaughterhous, in Bomel into a community art centre, run by the theatre of Namur, moved from the heart of the city. There were gaps between the building and the needs it had to fulfill of the renovation projects, because the building is owned by the city and the arts centre was only marginally involved. 3000 square meter facility was entirely empty without furniture. Rotor was commissioned to provide equipment, but also reflect on the use and run of space. Due to a tight budget, they resorted a lot re-used equipment and materials that could be found on site, and also second hand market. It is also their first time of using the material ROTOR was dismantling on a deconstruction sites elsewhere in Belgium.
The resto-bar of Abattoirs, has been furnisded with elements taken from a former building's cafeteria, designed by Christophe Gevers, famous for his restaurant designs. Storage cabinets, with doors in a light-colored wood veneer, come from another dismantled Brussels office building, carefully disassembled, trucked, and re-assembled. Sometimes they transform to adapt to the new project. They also designed new gear, such as the 60 ultra-light tables of beech-rimmed sandwich panels resting on aluminum trestles.
Rotor Deconstruction
ROTOR deconstruction is a project, that soon will become a separate cooperative company, dismantles and sells reusable materials from quality buildings, which are undergoing transformation, renovation or demolition. They sells two categories of materials. First one is generic construction elements such as doors, windows, lowered ceilings, lighting divies, and more. Second one is more exceptional batches of materials from landmark buildings.
The "generics" are sold directly from the deconstruction site. They will start by collecting available materials or furniture and send to potential clients in a newsletter, before dismantling. Once elements are selected then dismantled and duly packed, clients are invited to collect themselves or transport is arranged. Some parts of the buildings are still usable even though it is not sold, are shipped to their warehouse for quality inspection and restauration, so that it could be sold later or future use of projects.
Personal opinion
ROTOR is actually doing a great by helping the construction industry and also the environment at the same time. Sometimes the old and reuse of materials can also increase the value of certain use or space. From the question "Relating back to the reuse and recycle of the materials, mass production is actually affecting the materials flow in the industry. And where do you think mass production takes architecture to?" Maarten answer that the mass production is making architects doesn't involve in a lot of detail design and affect the creativity. This really make us rethink of our design work.
Tan Yeong En
1001231238