Towards a Reversible Design: the Case of Acoustic Materials

Overview of thesis

Demolished, deconstructed, transformed, revived… the possible end of life scenarios of buildings and their layouts are so numerous that the outcome is often difficult to predict. Yet our proximity to the ecological crisis obliges us to try; today we must rethink the architectural project in its entirety, starting with the conception of construction materials, in order to minimise the ecological footprint of buildings, particularly those towards the end of their lives. Within a framework of reversible architecture, this PhD focuses on the reuse of prefabricated construction materials. In particular, it looks at the case study of the redeployment of acoustic materials, of which the modes of development are often interrogated. The aim is to show how an evolution of uses must accompany new modes of development. 

For this project, focused on the reversibility of acoustic material in places that welcome the general public, which aims to develop experimental prototypes, the stakes lie in extracting a generalisable methodology for other construction materials. This PhD thesis will contribute to the development of each step of architectural research: architectural processes, architectural products and architectural performance, based on empirical data which will allow for theoretical construction within project-based research. This work will question, on the one hand, the capacity of a project to reinvent modes of use, and on the other, the role of experimentation in the development of a theory of the project. 

PhD supervisors:
TUFANO Antonella MAACC (Modélisations pour l'Assistance à l'Activité Cognitive de la Conception), L'Abbé Grégoire doctoral school, CNAM.
Co-supervisor: 
CAHEN Roland, CRD (Centre de recherche en Design). 

Research funding: CIFRE with SGR (Saint-Gobain Recherche Paris).
Date of enrolment : engoing