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Plastic Metabolism in a Garbage Apocalypse Kazanowski, Emily A.

Abstract

We have a plastic waste crisis. Our waste is concealed in bins, taken out to back lanes, buried at the landfill or shipped overseas. We have become increasingly expert at physically distancing ourselves from our waste. Spaces for waste are not for humans. Waste is invisible to us. Plastic Metabolism in a Garbage Apocalypse operates within a fictional, yet plausible, garbage strike. This strike brings the global waste crisis home, registering it at the scale of a household. How do we cope? Our perceptions must shift if we are to escape the constricting infill of waste in our previously pristine domestic realms. We must see waste as a raw material. This project proposes a new system of construction, operating on the existing body of the Vancouver Special, a locally specific and common housing typology. Domestic spatial relationships are re-imagined establishing an intimate relationship between the human body and waste material and processes. Building with waste is imperative. We must see waste as an opportunity, and allow new growth through the reconstitution of waste materials. Using a playful and optimistic perspective, Plastic Metabolism in a Garbage Apocalypse allows the messy and uglier sides of human life to support a productive domestic environment.

Item Metadata

Title
Plastic Metabolism in a Garbage Apocalypse
Creator
Kazanowski, Emily A.
Date Issued
2020-05-11
Description
We have a plastic waste crisis. Our waste is concealed in bins, taken out to back lanes, buried at the landfill or shipped overseas. We have become increasingly expert at physically distancing ourselves from our waste. Spaces for waste are not for humans. Waste is invisible to us. Plastic Metabolism in a Garbage Apocalypse operates within a fictional, yet plausible, garbage strike. This strike brings the global waste crisis home, registering it at the scale of a household. How do we cope? Our perceptions must shift if we are to escape the constricting infill of waste in our previously pristine domestic realms. We must see waste as a raw material. This project proposes a new system of construction, operating on the existing body of the Vancouver Special, a locally specific and common housing typology. Domestic spatial relationships are re-imagined establishing an intimate relationship between the human body and waste material and processes. Building with waste is imperative. We must see waste as an opportunity, and allow new growth through the reconstitution of waste materials. Using a playful and optimistic perspective, Plastic Metabolism in a Garbage Apocalypse allows the messy and uglier sides of human life to support a productive domestic environment.
Subject
waste; trash; recycling; domestic; architecture; garbage strike; body; Vancouver Special; prosthetic; organ; metabolism; rotational mould; circular economy; residential; housing; recycle; material; ugly; Chinese National Sword; hoarder; hoarding; hoard; fabricate; consumption; digester; compost; grassroot; parasitic
Geographic Location
Vancouver (B.C.)
Genre
Graduating Project
Type
Text
Language
eng
Series
University of British Columbia. ARCH 549
Date Available
2020-05-15
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0390872
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/74475
Affiliation
Applied Science, Faculty of; Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of
Campus
UBCV
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International