Hand On Reuse workshop: from scrap metal found on site we designed and built trestles for tables.
We were invited by Vacuum Atelier as tutors for Hand On Reuse, a workshop held in a former cotton mill in the Bergamo area.
The workshop provided an opportunity to continue a research project we have been developing for over 12 years, exploring the relationship between architecture, design, craftsmanship, and reuse through workshops, self-produced projects, collaborations, and teaching activities.
Our research starts from studying the materials available on site and exploring their potential to be transformed into new objects through simple processes, while minimizing waste, processing, and the tools required. It is an attempt to bring ecological and economic thinking closer together, exploring how reuse can become a replicable and scalable practice.
During the workshop, we worked on the design of a system of trestles for the future tables of the cultural centre, using exclusively discarded metal materials found on site.
The entire table is cut from a single 3.10 × 1.80 m sheet of okoumé plywood, from which all the components of the top, legs, and central spine are obtained. The design stems from the idea of using the material in the most essential way possible, reducing waste and conceiving the table as a unified system.
Following an initial mapping of the available materials, participants were divided into three groups, each working with a different type of material. Full-scale 1:1 drawings, cardboard and sheet-metal models, and subsequent testing led to the development of an initial prototype and, ultimately, to the production of two functional trestles by each group.
Vacuum Atelier
Studio GISTO
Atelier Terra
Atelier Terra
Alessandra Brenna
Christine Brinkmeier
Sophia Carmody
Anna Louise Damgaard
Emily Pingjia Li
Elisa Lomazzi
Matilde Pinotti
Alberto Santambrogio
Noa Sklar