Master Thesis: From Non-Extractive to Post-Extractive Architecture. Geographies of Waste
by Simona Popova
Supervisors:
Dr. César Reyes Nájera
Céline Zimmer
Spring Semester 2022
The project “From Non-Extractive to Post-Extractive Architecture. Geographies of Waste” addresses the geographic, environmental, and economic impacts of construction and demolition waste within the context of Luxembourg and the Greater Region and presents strategies on how to deal with them. The thesis departs from a collection of all the relevant practices following the principles of non-extractive architecture, all through their distinct positions and discourses.
Non-extractive architecture rethinks the responsibility of the architect’s role and explores externalities and side effects of material economies and supply chains in the building environment. It is a practice that acknowledges the multiple impacts of human activity and more specifically related to architecture and construction practices, on the planet Earth. It realizes the fact that resources on the planet are not limited and advocates for change in architectural practice and education, for change in our economic system, and for policy-making and a more interdisciplinary approach to practice.
It is essential to acknowledge construction as an additive process, that to respond to a need and provide resources or services, they must come from somewhere else. Every additive process or human activity results in a consequence somewhere else and produces an amount of waste. Furthermore, these processes are intertwined with certain labor practices. All these activities and practices are extractive and exploitative in a certain way. Following this argument, the project begins with one general question: ‘’Is it possible to imagine an architecture that is non-extractive, non-exploitative’’?