ABSTRACT
Reducing material consumption necessitates a radical conception of the urban environment as a “sink” for building materials, following the notion of “safe sink” from chemical engineering. In architecture, this means being able to describe the tectonic correspondence between material consequences (how architecture moves material between society and nature) and immaterial consequences (how architecture moves human experience and behavior). As part of an ongoing doctoral study, this paper studies this correspondence in a case study exploring 5 constructs (sub-unit). Hence, the case study explores the tectonic correspondence between the immaterial capacities (experiential, phenomenological) of architecture and how they affect material flows (waste generation through renovation, demolition etc.) in three selected Danish low-dense housing developments. In conclusion, the paper discusses whether/how these immaterial capacities can become active design strategies for slowing material flows towards a conception of buildings as parts of a safe Urban Sink.
