Pedagogies of Re-Use

Duncan Baker-Brown is a practicing architect, academic, and environmental activist. Author of The Re-Use Atlas: A Designer’s Guide Towards a Circular Economy, he has practised, researched, and taught around issues of sustainable development and closed-looped systems for more than 25 years. He recently founded BakerBrown, a research-led architectural practice and consultancy created to address the huge demands presented by the climate and ecological emergency as well as the challenges of designing in a post-COVID world. Over the years Duncan’s practices (and academic ‘live’ projects) have won numerous accolades including RIBA National Awards and a special award from The Stephen Lawrence Prize for the Brighton Waste House – the prize money has since been used to set up a student prize for circular, closed-loop design at the University of Brighton, UK, where Duncan teaches.Duncan was the University of Brighton’s principal investigator for the North West Europe's Interreg Facilitating the Circulation of Reclaimed Building Elements (FCRBE) project. He was responsible for curating the pedagogic outputs for the FCRBE team (lead by Rotor). Said outputs are the subject of this book, which he has co-edited with the wonderful Prof. Graeme Brooker.Graeme Brooker is Professor and Head of Interiors at The Royal College of Art, London, UK. He has published numerous books on many aspects of the interior including the recent publications 50|50 Words for Reuse (2022), Brinkworth: So Good So Far (2019), Adaptations (2016), and Key Interiors Since 1900 (2013). He has co-authored/edited ten books on the interior including the highly acclaimed Rereadings (2005; Volume 2, 2018). He has led interior programmes in Cardiff, Manchester, Brighton, and London institutions and has been a visiting professor in Antwerp, Berlin, Istanbul, and Milan. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of the journals Interiors: Design: Architecture: Culture, INNER, IDEA, and DESIGN&. He is the founder and was the director of the charity Interior Educators (IE), the national subject association for all interior courses in the UK, between 2006–2018 and 2023–present. He is a trustee of United In Design (UID), a charity set up to address the lack of diversity in the profession of interiors. He is currently working on the funded project – ATLAS, an archival-based work with the European Council of Interior Architects (ECIA) and the books The SuperReuse Manifesto (2024) and The Story of the Interior (2025). The latter is a history book that moves beyond standard chronological accounts and, instead, retells thematic histories of inside spaces through narratives of the room and the private and public interior.

"This is an excellent collection of essays, brought together by two of the most influential voices on the reuse of buildings. It is sure to make a significant contribution to the crucial shift from new-build (which is almost all based on a mindset of extractivism) towards the regenerative possibilities of refurbishment."Michael Pawlyn, architect and systems thinker. Co-initiator of Architects Declare and co-author of Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency"The Pedagies of Re-Use is an essay - or to be more precise sixteen engaging essays - that explore the potential for new models of architecture that respond to the essential need for Re-use to reshape what teach and what we do. The book is the product of a teaching programme run by The International School of Reconstruction which was set up during Covid. In that sense it is the product of two crises - climate change and covid.But in the inspirational and informed hands of Baker-Brown and Brooker the design 'essays' focus on the investigation of what needs to be done and how it can best be done. In that sense the book is the exciting story of how architecture and construction must adapt and can adapt. It is both important work an optimistic guide - and an essential read."Simon Allford, Executive Director and Head of Design Studio, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris"There’s no sense in educating architects, engineers, or any built environment practitioners for the 20th century vision of cities or the construction industry. And yet, too often, that’s exactly what’s still happening. If we’re to break the cycle of perpetuating an extractive, linear economy that we quite literally cannot sustain, then it’s imperative that we change education: of young people new into our sector, and of us all. It’s fantastic to see this explicit attempt to unpick exactly what skills we need to transition to a world where creating human habitats is not done at the expense of a planet that supports all life."Smith Mordak, Chief Executive, UK Green Building Council"The Pedagogies of Re-Use by Duncan Baker-Brown and Graeme Brooker et al, advocates for transformative building practices, opposing extractivist methods and promoting the sustainable circulation of reclaimed building elements. It proposes a global approach for remaking cities to reduce energy, water, and natural resource use by the adaptive re-use of existing buildings. Baker-Brown challenges conventional construction methodology, making it essential reading for those reshaping cities responsibly. This book particularly resonates with me in Vancouver, where rapid growth over the past two decades has led to the systematic demolition and disposal of timber homes, historic buildings, commercial structures, and raw earth."Alan Davies, Architect AIBC, MRAIC, RIBA, Vancouver BC"Duncan Baker-Brown and Graeme Brooker have curated a wonderful collection of essays advocating for the urgent need to shift from new-build construction to regenerative refurbishment. This book emerges at a time when our educational frameworks and building culture in architectural and construction practices is found lacking; As the climate crisis intensifies, it is evident that current training does not equip practitioners with the necessary tools to respond effectively to the compounded effects of environmental degradation. This book critically investigates the current situation and provides alternative models & practical solutions, emphasizing the adaptive re-use of existing buildings, which will constitute 80% of our infrastructure in the next 50 years. This work provides indispensable insights for reshaping our cities responsibly amidst climate change and rapid urban growth. The Pedagogies of Re-Use may very well be the most useful book you will read this year."Brigitte Clements, Strategic Lead at ACAN and Director of LOKI Architecture + Development

• THE MEGA-THEMES 1. Build Lifeboats, Not Coffins: Reimagining Architectural Education for a Just Transition 2. Re-use Aesthetics and the Architectural Roots of Ecological Crisis THEMES PURSUED DURING THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF RE-CONSTRUCTION 3. Raw 1 ‘Social Fabric’ 4. Raw 2 ‘Re-imagining infrastructure’ 5. Raw 3 ‘The Re-Use Imaginary’ 6. Useless 1 ‘Deep Re-Use’ 7. Useless 2 ‘Banqueting in Useless Buildings’ 8. Useless 3 ‘Hands-on Experimentation: Exploring the Potential of the Useless’ 9. By-product: Methane 10. Hybrid ‘Composite/ Re-Use/ Re-Mix: the Dub tracks’ 11. Offcut ‘A heuristic of flows’ 12. Material Flows 13. Housing Life-Cycle Extended: How to identify, adapt, and reuse existing buildings and their components to support housing REFLECTIONS ON RE-USE TEACHING & PRACTICE 14. How to teach architectural design in the (new) age of contingency? 15. Reversible Building Design Studios during Green Design Biennale 16. Re-Use Pedagogies: a reflection