NADA NOVO / NO NEWS is an association that promotes the reuse of components and construction materials, and explores the cultural challenges of their application.
FÓRUM NADA NOVO, Porto and Guimarães. January - July 2024, supported by the Direção-Geral das Artes (Portugal), within the scope of support for Creation - Architecture. +info
About
NADA NOVO / NO NEWS, founded in 2023, in Portugal, carries out activity with industry, academia and in the public sphere, including investigation on reuse within vernacular, contemporary and future construction. The association seeks to bridge the subject between politicians and policymakers, construction professionals, supply chains and the general public. It adopts a transdisciplinary approach, with open and inclusive participatory activities that include workshops, experimental construction, training, exhibitions and publications.
NADA NOVO / NO NEWS seeks to contribute to the creation of networking and mapping of demolition contractors, suppliers, artisans and technicians connected with construction and component reuse. The association is also active in the fields of artistic practice, visual and performance arts to reach broader publics.
(1) source (2) categorization (3) care and social value (4) use
Manifesto
1. NADA NOVO embraces the premise that reuse principles are not ‘new’, and adopts an ‘anti-new’ agenda. / 2. NADA NOVO challenges authorities, schools, industry and designers to respond to the climate crisis by exploring the Anthropocene as an alternative source of materials to the extraction of virgin raw materials. / 3. NADA NOVO promotes the reuse of components and reflects on the opportunities it could create in conceptual and construction practices. / 4. NADA NOVO confronts the construction industry's conventional sourcing, storage and material flow practices with reuse strategies. / 5. NADA NOVO believes that implementing reuse in construction is a cultural challenge that requires creative engagement and new collaborative models with professional and non-professional publics. / 6. NADA NOVO rejects binary concepts of heritage that divide the material environment into ‘high’/’low’ value elements; encourages the broadening of aesthetics of buildings and places. / 7. NADA NOVO seeks methods to overcome disparaging connotations of reuse in self-construction contexts. / 8. NADA NOVO advocates the adoption of circular practices as a means to more affordable and sustainable housing. / 9. NADA NOVO highlights the potential of a radical transformation of the materials economy, via reuse, to tackle social inequalities present in the construction industry.
Who we are
NADA NOVO / NO NEWS was created following the mutual realisation of the founders - Cláudia Escaleira and Jonny Pugh, both with practical and academic experience - of the need for action to promote, reflect on and debate the reuse of building components.
NADA NOVO – ASSOCIAÇÃO, 2023-2024 (from left to right): Alice Prata, Cláudia Escaleira, Jérémy Pernet, Patricia Robalo, Jonny Pugh, Bruno Figueredo, Cidália Silva, Carlos Maia, Clara Vale, Rosinda Casais, (João Martins, Daniela Pugh).
> 4th June.INTERMÉDIOS contract with Direção-Geral das Artes (Portugal) within the scope of support for Creation - Architecture.
> 31st May - 1st June. Participation and lecture ‘Reuse in construction: mapping the “mines” for our future’ in the festival ‘Gentler Futures’, Lisbon. Coordination: By The End of May
> May. NADA NOVO joins the European organization for circular construction: Circular[x]Change, and participates online in the annual event of 2024 ‘How will the circular transition transform architectural practice’.
>
11th March. Organization and moderation of the lecture by Victor Meesters (ROTOR): From Spolia to Opalis, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP).
>
24th January - 1st February. WORKSHOP | Peças Desgarradas: a origem dos materiais(Stray Pieces: the origin of materials). Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP), Porto | School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD), Guimarães.
2023
> 10th November.FÓRUM NADA NOVO contract with Direção-Geral das Artes (Portugal) within the scope of support for Creation - Architecture.
> 29th September. Participation + moderation (Cláudia Escaleira), in the 1st edition of the International Seminar Shift – Arquitetura e Sustentabilidade, under the theme ‘Arquitetura Material’ (Material Architecture). Casa da Arquitectura, Matosinhos, curated by architect Paulo Moreira.
>
5th June. Foundation of the NADA NOVO association, on World Environment Day.
Projects
→ FÓRUM NADA NOVO
FÓRUM NADA NOVO (NO NEWS FORUM) is an invitation to participate in a program of activities on reuse in construction, with workshops, conversations and exhibitions for higher education students, professionals and the general public. FÓRUM NADA NOVO collectively explores the fate of the remains of the buildings we demolish to renovate cities (Porto and Guimarães) and searches for the stray pieces that escape fragmentation and accumulate at the back of warehouses.
It maps their lives, records their meanings and photographs these new 'mines'.
It rescues these pieces and builds the Forum in which 'nothing is new'—neither the pieces nor the practice of reuse— supporting the central reflection:
What is the future of reuse? How will we change?
The different practices are distributed across the northern part of the country (the districts of Porto and Guimarães). From the Architecture Schools (Porto and Guimarães), participants travel to material suppliers, and are then directed to urban cultural centers (Garagem Avenida and O Instituto), and ultimately to a community association (Pele), in the area of Campanhã.
‘FÓRUM NADA NOVO‘ takes place in Campanhã because it represents the reality of inequalities in Porto, yet at the same time is going through a process of strong urban regeneration through large-scale works based on new construction and rehabilitation processes that will move enormous quantities of materials and construction components. In a provocative way, attention is drawn to development that ignores the environmental and social potential of reuse. Project dates:
January-July 2024
NADA NOVO team:
Cláudia Escaleira
Jonny Pugh
Alice Prata
Jérémy Pernet
Rosinda Casais
Clara Vale
Carlos Maia
Cidália Silva
Patrícia Robalo
Collaborators: Tiago Ascensão Sarah Shrbaji Financial support:
Direção-Geral das Artes, Portugal.
Partnerships: School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD) / Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) / Pele, Porto / Women in Architecture (MA) / O Instituto, Porto / Materials Bank of the Municipality of Porto.
Support: Rotor, Belgium / NEB goes South, European Union.
Institutional support:
Northern Regional Section of the Order of Architects (OASRN) / Portuguese Association for Urban Rehabilitation and Heritage Protection (APRUPP).
→ FÓRUM NADA NOVO > PEÇAS DESGARRADAS WORKSHOP
An activity of the project FÓRUM NADA NOVO, ‘Peças desgarradas: a origem dos materiais’ (Stray Pieces: the origin of materials) was a workshop held in January 2024 between the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) and the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD).
The workshop set out to explore the paths taken by the remains of the buildings we demolish to renovate cities and their potential for reuse, and to steer the participants ways of seeing through the perspectives of social value of material heritage, environmental sustainability and gender inequalities in construction professions.
Where are these ‘stray pieces’? How are the 'mines' where they accumulate distributed across the territory? abandoned buildings? demolition companies? construction companies? warehouses? museums? informal collections? scrap dealers?
In what ways can we qualify their ‘values’? What is their aesthetic potential? symbolic? spatial? political?
What socioeconomic processes have brought them here? What uncertain futures could they have?
Who are the people who deal with this hidden aspect of construction? and what are their motives?
The participants visited 4 different types of these ‘mines’, each corresponding to a theme (‘origem/origin’, ‘salvaguarda/safeguard’, ‘aproveitamento/exploit’, and ‘resíduo/waste’). They were challenged to create, in an exploratory and speculative process, symbolic objects that point to re-readings and aesthetic meanings that go beyond the reductive notion of a map as a utilitarian instrument for geographical orientation or the physical representation of a territory.
Photos: Mayra Derberg, Clara Vale, Jonny Pugh, Eduardo Baltazar, Ana Alvanéo, Ana Dora Dates:
24th January - 1st February 2024
Team NADA NOVO: Cidália Silva Cláudia Escaleira Jonny Pugh Clara Vale Rosinda Casais Alice Prata
Team Mulheres na Arquitectura: Patrícia Robalo
Team LAB2PT: Tiago Ascensão Sarah Shrbaji
Participants:
Ana Alvanéo
Ana Marques
Ana Dora
Paula Lage
Mayra Deberg
Michael Lambuth
Teresa Almeida
Ricardo Serafim
Eduardo Peixoto
Paulo Sousa
Rodrigo Pereira
Célia Barbosa Financial support:
Direção-Geral das Artes, Portugal.
Partnerships:
School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD) / Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) / Pele, Porto / Women in Architecture (MA) / O Instituto, Porto / Materials Bank of the Municipality of Porto.
Support:
Rotor, Belgium / NEB goes South, European Union.
Institutional support:
Northern Regional Section of the Order of Architects (OASRN) / Portuguese Association for Urban Rehabilitation and Heritage Protection (APRUPP).
→ FÓRUM NADA NOVO > EXPO PEÇAS DESGARRADAS
Brings together the results of the 1st public activity of the project FÓRUM NADA NOVO: PEÇAS DESGARRADAS: A ORIGEM DAS MATERIAIS(Stray Pieces: the origin of materials), a workshop held in January 2024 between the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) and the School of Architecture, Art and Design from the University of Minho (EAAD).
filme Locations: Banco de Materiais, Câmara Municipal do Porto / RBA Armazém de Oportunidades, Silva / MV Gestão de Resíduos, Gondar Videos: Ana Alvanéo / Mayra Derberg / Jonny Pugh Edition: Jonny Pugh
Dates:
22nd March - 17th April 2024. INSTITUTO, Porto.
19th April - 10th May 2024. GARAGEM AVENIDA, Guimarães.
Team:
Cidália Silva
Cláudia Escaleira
Jonny Pugh
Clara Vale
Patrícia Robalo
Tiago Ascensão
Sarah Shrbaji
Rosinda Casais
Alice Prata
Exhibition photography: Jérémy Pernet
Participants:
Ana Alvanéo
Ana Marques
Ana Dora
Paula Lage
Mayra Deberg
Michael Lambuth
Teresa Almeida
Ricardo Serafim
Eduardo Peixoto
Paulo Sousa
Rodrigo Pereira
Célia Barbosa
Collaborators:
Tadej Urh
Mahdi Alizadeh
João Alves
Pedro Almeida Financial support:
Direção-Geral das Artes, Portugal.
Partnerships:
School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD) / Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) / Pele, Porto / Women in Architecture (MA) / O Instituto, Porto / Materials Bank of the Municipality of Porto.
Support:
Rotor, Belgium / NEB goes South, European Union.
Institutional support:
Northern Regional Section of the Order of Architects (OASRN) / Portuguese Association for Urban Rehabilitation and Heritage Protection (APRUPP).
→ FÓRUM NADA NOVO > PEÇAS RESGATADAS WORKSHOP
In this third activity of the FÓRUM NADA NOVO project, the workshop ‘PEÇAS RESGATADAS: PRÁTICAS CONCEPTUAIS E CONSTRUTIVAS’ (RESCUED PIECES: CONCEPTUAL AND CONSTRUCTIVE PRACTICES) addresses the implications of reuse in conceptual and constructive practices, with experimental techniques, unconventional uses of materials, and the exploration of the aesthetic language of reuse.
In a collective and participatory act of conception and construction, the 'FÓRUM' - a symbolic spatial device - is created, aiming to be: the symbolic representation of the urgency of the discussion about a human future with a scarcity of materials; the political device of civic participation to discuss a sustainable future; and the ‘centre’ of this meeting.
The 'FÓRUM' is built with used construction components collected from the sites visited during the 'PEÇAS DESGARRADAS' (STRAY PIECES) workshop, from other suppliers in the surrounding area and from demolitions that have taken place in the meantime.
The development of the workshop is complemented by the presence of Mulheres na Arquitectura (Women in Architecture), to confront participants with practical issues of gender inequality in the construction professions.
The workshop and final event (July 20th) of the FÓRUM NADA NOVO project take place in Azevedo, Campanhã, at ADEGA - PELE (a locally active cultural association), partner of the project. In this area of the city of Porto, while being confronted with profound social inequalities, we witness processes of strong urban regeneration with large-scale new construction and rehabilitation works that displace enormous quantities of materials and construction components.
Provocatively, attention is drawn to the need for development that incorporates the social and environmental potential of reuse.
‘Adega’, Pele cultural association, Azevedo, Porto.
Photo Rosinda Casais Participation:
University students, professionals, general public
Site:
ADEGA - PELE, Azevedo (Campanhã), Porto
Dates: 4th - 17th July 2024
NADA NOVO Team: Clara Vale, FAUP/ CEAU Carlos Maia EAAD-UM Cláudia Escaleira Jonny Pugh Alice Prata Rosinda Casais Jérémy Pernet
PELE Team:
Fernando Almeida Carina Moutinho João Soares Sara Jorge Carolina Bravo Maria João Mota Inês Lapa
Mulheres na Arquitectura Team: Joana Pestana Lages Financial support:
Direção-Geral das Artes, Portugal.
Partnerships:
School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD) / Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) / Pele, Porto / Women in Architecture (MA) / O Instituto, Porto / Materials Bank of the Municipality of Porto.
Support:
Rotor, Belgium / NEB goes South, European Union.
Institutional support:
Northern Regional Section of the Order of Architects (OASRN) / Portuguese Association for Urban Rehabilitation and Heritage Protection (APRUPP).