Staging disassembly : incubating post-industrial renewal

Abstract

Over the past five decades, the American urban industrial landscape has become marginalized as the expanding global economy has sought international markets for manufacturing. At the agency of the user-as-investor, this proposal seeks to re-manufacture the post-industrial site to explore the problem of how to effectively reclaim salvaged materials for on-site reuse. As a critique of speculative, clean-slate development, the thesis will explore an incremental disassembly and phased reorganization of a site in Brooklyn at the material and urban scale. Through on-site implementation of manufacturers and automated tooling, this project will speculate on means of creating new value for salvaged materials. The resulting form is a vaulted roofscape that supports public access and leisure space while creating a local strategy for post-industrial renewal.