Would it be possible to re-examine Italian architecture from 1945 onwards through the lens of Upcycling and Design for Disassembly - understanding these as design strategies for reusing existing materials while adding new value, and as critical alternatives to the relentless demand for producing new materials?

 

This innovative volume identifies and analyses twentieth-century Italian architectural experiences that reveal the continuous adaptation of ancient design and building practices of reuse, which can be considered visionary precedents of today's upcycling trends. In doing so, it challenges the usual view of the twentieth century as the period when the construction industry abandoned millennia-old practices of architectural reuse in favor of a cradle-to-grave model.

 

The essays and case studies featured in this book examine anachronisms, the endurance of ancient traditions, and pioneering design experiments in Italy and beyond. They uncover the roots, ambiguities, and potential of an architecture of upcycling, and provide a new historiographical, theoretical, and design framework for its understanding.

​

​