An Arborist's Approach to Building Regeneration: Planting Trees in Obsolescent Soil

Abstract

Given the environmental impact of utilizing non renewable resources in the open loop carbon cycle of build-use-demolish, it is imperative to effect a fundamental change in how the urban landscape is developed. This thesis proposes a symbiotic methodology of development based on the relationship between a tree and its soil in order to close the current open loop carbon cycle. Through the analogy of an arborist, a ‘tree’ [building element] is ‘planted’ [constructed] into ‘soil’ [obsolescent building] drawing on ‘nutrients’ [structural, architectural, etc.] embedded in the ‘soil’. This method of growth regenerates the ‘soil’ and enables the ‘tree’ to become a catalyst of new growth through the arboricultural method of grafting. This shift in perception of regenerating existing buildings is an ecologically effective solution and through the analogy of arboriculture will change the current climate discourse around building from pragmatic to poetic; igniting the imagination with possibility.