Material Memory: What We Lose When We Demolish Buildings
Explore the benefits of building reuse in architecture, saving energy, preserving history, and reshaping urban landscapes sustainably.
Every year, millions of tons of construction materials are discarded, piled up in landfills, and silenced beneath the weight of the next building. Entire structures disappear to make way for others, restarting a voracious cycle of resource extraction, material production, and replacement.
Along with the debris that accumulates, something deeper is also lost: time, human labor, stories, and the collective memory embedded in matter. At a time when climate goals demand reducing emissions and extending the lifespan of what already exists, demolition is increasingly recognized as a form of urban amnesia, one that erases not only cultural continuity but also the embodied energy of buildings.
Despite the fact that the most sustainable building is the one that already exists, this principle rarely survives when other interests come into play.
Author's summary: Demolition erases cultural continuity and embodied energy.