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Book Chapter

From Objects to Buildings: Reuse as a Design Strategy

  • Sara Conte
  • Michela Rossi
  • Giorgio Buratti
  • Francesca Sena

The concept of reuse, now directly associated with economic sustainability, expresses a fundamental principle of design. Design originates in the search for models capable of providing appropriate solutions to concrete problems and develops through the reinterpretation of previously existing solutions—namely, through the reuse of ideas. This practice, which is intrinsic to both creativity and design, is rooted in traditional rural culture, where the recovery of discarded goods represented an effective strategy of resource economy. Today, this approach has gained renewed relevance within the framework of the circular economy, in which design can offer intelligent solutions also to architecture by starting from the reuse of production offcuts. In this perspective, environmental sustainability emerges from the valorization of waste as a resource.

  • Keywords:
  • Design,
  • Sustainability,
  • Circular economy,
  • Generative modelling,
  • Digital innovation,
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Sara Conte

Politecnico di Milano, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-3671-9442

Michela Rossi

Politecnico di Milano, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-9860-0562

Giorgio Buratti

Politecnico di Milano, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-6882-0844

Francesca Sena

Politecnico di Milano, Italy

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  • Publication Year: 2026
  • Pages: 2284-2307

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  • Publication Year: 2026

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

From Objects to Buildings: Reuse as a Design Strategy

Authors

Sara Conte, Michela Rossi, Giorgio Buratti, Francesca Sena

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1113-0.100

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2026

Copyright Information

© 2026 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

ReUso 2026 - New heritage and future strategies. Perspectives on conservation and promotion

Book Subtitle

14th International Congress Barcelona-Girona, 4-7 November

Editors

Alessandro Scarnato, Marisa García Vergara, Ángeles Layuno Rosas

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2026

Copyright Information

© 2026 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1113-0

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-1113-0

eISBN (xml)

979-12-215-1112-3

Series Title

ReUso

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