Re-Source

DAE project team: Ginette Verstreate, Ester van de Wiel, Joost Adriaanse, Jos Klarenbeek, Thom Bindels, Simone Post, Paul Slot, and Manon van Hoeckel.

The project Re-Source: Participation in Reframing Residual Materials in Design Theory, Design Practice and Design Education was a collaborative venture looking at the engagement of key individuals in circular economies and their impact upon resources.

Mapping out urban residual flows to use them as a source for circular thinking, doing and learning, RE-source analysed and provided insight into the structure of the systems, locations, products and materials. It designed strategies for transforming these flows into a resource that can be used over and over again.

Dr David Hamers from Design Academy Eindhoven’s research department collaborated with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Dr Ginette Verstraete and Joost Adriaanse), Studio Ester van de Wiel and the municipality of Rotterdam, in research that addressed the transition towards a circular economy.

The research, which also looked at how a variety of professionals participate in circular economies, focussed on how differing design practices can help reframe, rethink and remake flows of residual material into resources. It also explored the roles that various participants can take in this process and how their participation can inform design practice, education, and research.

At DAE, design researcher Ester van de Wiel supervised five research associates: Jos Klarenbeek, Thom Bindels, Simone Post, Paul Slot, and Manon van Hoeckel. Each worked in situ with a particular material flow in the city of Rotterdam, choosing their approach. Ester van de Wiel reflected on how these hands-on ways of working develop, and what opportunities they offer for both the city of Rotterdam and the design and research practice.

This research project received funding from The Netherlands’ NWO/SIA initiative for applied research and ran from November 1, 2017, to November 1, 2019.

RE-source received a Dutch Design Award in the category Design Research. Judges commended the project as an example of collaboration in its highest form, tackling an important, current topic.

‘RE-source is aclassic example of thorough design research, whereby sustainability is given meaning in various forms,’ said the judges. ‘RE-source is exactly right and succeeds in approaching a complicated theme with a pleasant playfulness. The project has a richness that does justice to the complexity of the topic.’