Reduce, Reuse, Recycle or (Upcycle) 2

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle 2

For our Sustainability project, which is the follow on from the smaller book making and power point brief, we have been asked to renovate and use our “upcycling” knowledge within a current building. The distressed building can be found situated on Seafield Road in Dundee and is the “supposed” living space of our real life client who will work and live in this newly remodeled home. As a book conservator she requires enough space for both her living space and studio within and since meeting her and discussing what she wants the space to obtain is proving to be a challenge.

The main purpose to this brief is for us designers to become aware when designing, that the need to be more environmentally friendly is of great demand. From researching into “Green Design” for the previous brief you begin to understand that the little ways of going about “Reducing, Reusing and Recycling” can be of great benefit in the future.

We have had several power points and lectures based on sustainability. Ranging from the technical side of things down to new and up and coming materials. Richard Atkins who is an environmental architect was a guest speaker a few weeks ago and he spoke about the company he works for and their past and previous projects.

This links in well with the Eco-build conference, that took place on Tuesday 2^nd of March down in Earls court in London. A group of us Interior Designers took this long trip down to attend this four-day event that was of great use to this project. The event consisted of many companies advertising their products and designs that were sustainable or eco friendly. From listening to speakers at the event the main problem to do with this is that the many displays were promoting their eco friendliness, when in fact their products weren’t good for the environment as they give out toxins.

Coming away from this event I have realized that it does take a lot of time, energy and money to achieve an eco way of designing. So by keeping this in mind I will try my best when doing the same for this project, to try and work with what you have and going about it the right way.