Sanderson, L., Stone, S., 2019.

UnDoing, Portfolio

This research addresses the significant issue of the interpretation and reuse of the already constructed, that is: buildings, landscapes, interiors, and situations. Issues of sustainability, culture, and heritage are crucial elements within the development of the built environment, and as such provide identity and a connection to place. The architect, designer, and artist may take a similar approach to analysis of any given environment, and yet, this interpretation can result in radically different outcomes. The research addresses four important questions: (1) What are the fundamental approaches to the remodelling of the existing situation (2) How can the methods for the reuse of existing buildings and sites be interrogated? (3) What are the essential overlapping similarities of approach to the existing environment taken by artists, designers and architects? How do the results of these investigations differ? (4) How do architects, designers and artists manage the conflict between the needs of the present with the value of the past? What is the inherent relationship between the history of the society or culture that constructed the building and the society that remodelled it? UnDoing provides a critically researched comprehensive overview of the theory, history, aesthetic resonance, and methodologies of the use and reuse of existing buildings and constructed environments, and, examines the parallels implicit within the different approaches taken by architects, designers and artists. The portfolio contains two significant and innovative elements of research: UnDoing Buildings - the book, and UnDoing - the exhibition. This is supported by a substantial number of other research elements including: catalogues, curated walks, exhibitions, conference contributions, book chapters, and a journal article. This research provides a rigours analysis of extensive sources from the primary evidence of the buildings themselves, to personal interviews, and archival materials. All parts share the important attribute of being directly connected to place: generated by the investigation, understanding and interpretation of context. The research crosses disciplines, making the approach more significant, generating interdisciplinary connections that traverse the normal practice boundaries. The findings have international relevance; all of the world is conscious that building reuse is a sustainable action and are anxious for methods and models to follow. The book, chapters, presentations and journal article critically examine changing attitudes towards adaptation itself and the methodologies of reuse, and include critically important issues such as the connection between adaptation and sustainability, smartness, inter-disciplinary areas such as installation art, and spatial agency, as well as more traditional aspects of architecture such as conservation, materials, construction and detailing. The 'UnDoing Buildings' (Stone, S., 2019) book is internationally used as a key-text within many schools of architecture and design, and is collecting regular citations. The collection of exhibitions represent a body of work that interrogates the nature of the existing situation, examines different strategies for the interpretation of that context and provides clues for the future adaptation and reuse of the place. The 'UnDoing' (Stone, S., & Sanderson, L., 2019) exhibition established significant links between the curation of the show and the curation of the city.