Nowadays, the amount of construction in cities, or at least in Barcelona, is overwhelming. Old buildings are taken down daily and new buildings get constructed in a matter of weeks. The social and environmental impacts of these actions are devastating, although the majority of the population see it as progress. This project utilises construction waste as a reflection on value and impact—value in the sense of material and cultural perception. 

Most of the materials discarded on construction sites are made from high-quality types of rock that originally come from quarries, and to exist as materials, mountains have to be heavily excavated. These actions go against biodiversity as well as destroying territories that are used solely for extraction. In addition, concrete is considered the most polluting material we use on Earth, even more so than plastic, and its main ingredients are also extracted from quarries and heated up at very high temperatures. These materials are neither renewable nor sustainable nor regenerative. 

This project pretends to make visible the value of materials even if considered waste. As citizens, we must demand that city councils and construction companies stop demolishing our cities. We must find new methods, new strategies and new practices in which what already exists is given value, for its history, for the materials and for our common well-being and benefit. All of these things combined could start generating a feeling of progress. 

I especially like these cylinder pieces because they are a mix of materials, an evocative example of the anthropocene, a sample of the most recently formed geological strata on the surface of the Earth.