Raamland: Assemblages, on-screen and on-site

Journal article, 2025

Basing architecture on locally gathered reclaimed materials is becoming increasingly common. Such practice often downplays the role of representation, as design can be developed primarily through mock-ups using materials at hand. Raamland, a pavilion and community garden in Bruges designed by the authors’ studio Norell/Rodhe, explores an alternative approach in which representation supports an extended design process. This involves documenting and assembling elements and materials on-screen, in a real-time rendered model, both before and in parallel with their assembly on site. This approach, which enabled much of the design to be developed remotely, has implications in which representation plays a crucial role. The rich materiality of the model became a means of overcoming the ‘layers of abstraction’ that make conventional CAD drawings ill-suited to reuse practice. Access to this materiality during the design process gave agency to the unique characteristics, such as texture and colour, that reclaimed materials typically possess. Constructing on-screen assemblages with these characteristics present provided a way to test combinations of different forms and materialities, something that would normally require direct access to the material on site. Ultimately, the project yields a layered architecture that celebrates the diverse origins, histories, and temporalities of its constituent materials.