“I’ve always been interested in how things go together, and how things get taken apart,” says Amy Seo, one-half of Sydney-based studio Second Edition. Second Edition, founded by Seo and Shahar Cohen, was created in response to the amount of construction and demolition waste ending up in Australia’s landfill sites. While many designers begin the creative process in their studios, Second Edition’s process relies on being present on construction sites. “We found that through our architectural training we had become separated from the act of building, and we wanted to get our hands dirty,” they say.
Seo and Cohen met while completing a Masters of Architecture program at the University of Technology in Sydney, and they founded Second Edition while completing a research thesis tackling the question: What is the feasibility of a deconstruction and reuse network in the context of Sydney?
Working across deconstruction consultancy and material procurement (among other fields), Second Edition relies on research on how intervention can take place during the building process. “Our interest lies in a circular economy, both as a financial and logistical framework, but also as an architectural one.”
While the idea of reusing discarded building materials may conjure up images of recycled timber-slab dining tables, Second Edition’s work is highly detailed, with every element meticulously thought through. Offcut Kitchen, released in 2021, is an excellent example of research and material expression. Using Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) grating commonly used for walkways and taken from offcuts from an external staircase, the material is recontextualized into a modular kitchen, designed for disassembly, and designed to work with standard fixings available for purchase at local hardware stores. Not only is Second Edition reusing materials, but it’s also allowing the materials to create a new aesthetic language within their outcomes. “We take inspiration from people and projects that test the boundaries of material procurement and specification. One of our main sources of inspiration is from the materials we find,” says Seo and Cohen.
In addition to physical outcomes, one of Second Edition’s key pillars is knowledge sharing, participating in lectures and discussions with its peers and members of the wider architectural community. Seo and Cohen also have plans to edit and manage an online platform that publicly shares the people, objects, projects and ideas that form their research. “We’re really interested in how we can introduce repair, reuse and refurbishment into the way we design materials,” they say.
The Off-Cut Kitchen takes two hours to deconstruct and requires only a screwdriver and socket wrench.
Image: Hamish McIntosh
What would be the dream project?
Deconstructing an iconic Sydney building and finding new uses for all the intricate custom-built materials and elements.
Most inspiring space you’ve been to?
Neus Museum in Berlin by David Chipperfield. It’s the blending ofold and new that does it for us – it’s incredibly well considered.
How did you gravitate towards your field of design?
Second Edition started as a research project, so it was all about learning about how we could build more resource-efficient buildings and objects.
Source
People
Published online: 7 Mar 2023
Words:
Dale Hardiman
Images:
Hamish McIntosh
Issue
Artichoke, March 2023
