Book: ‘Don’t build, rebuild’

In his latest book ‘Don’t build – Rebuild’ Aaron Betsky broadly inventorises the history and current diversification of reuse across the globe. He collects a wide range of strategies that have been applied to experiment and grow support for this more than logic architectural approach. The book aims to inspire architects, students and educators to open up the esthetical vocabulary towards a less predictable built environment: “Architecture can thus be a form of hunting and gathering, in which structures come together for as long as we need them out of what is already on hand.”

Do not expect a coffeetable book with abundance of photo’s or renderings as the book mainly describes the culture of reuse, covering early projects by a.o. FRANK O. GEHRY & ASSOCIATES, INC., ELMGREEN & DRAGSET, and more recent ones by URBANUS Architecture & Design, Civic – Public Architecture, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, Rotor vzw-asbl, BC architects & studies, Popma ter Steege Architecten and Superuse.

Published by Penguin Random House / Beacon Press.