ABSTRACT
The reuse of building components, although recognized as crucial towards a more circular construction industry, is struggling to gain traction. The regulatory framework delineating the design and construction practices, structured by an overarching matter-form polarity, leaves too little room for alternative practices to have an impact. This paper presents a radical example of designing with pre-existing components. Marcel Raymaekers, a Belgian salvage architect active between the 1960s and 2010s, was the subject of an extensive research by the authors of this paper, based on oral history and the collection of disseminated archive material. Building on these sources, we point out how building components were central to Raymaekers’ practice, and relate his approach to Early Modern and 20th century theory on design contingencies. And since Raymaekers’ practice shows how efficiently it can structure reclamation and reuse processes, we argue for a more central place to building components in policy, heritage and material certification.
