Secondary Exploits: Sustaining the Post-Industrial Landscape of the Booth Street Complex Through Architectural Reuse & Salvage

The contemporary contexts of climate change and urbanization are two which can be characterized by unprecedented change, often accompanied by degradation of built, natural and political landscapes. As a viable solution, the existing architectural building stock provides a wealth of potential for helping to abate the impending crisis. To explore the possibility of sustaining the integrity of the built environment and of cultural identity, this thesis investigates architectural reuse and salvage as a secondary exploit of resources - resources which are manifest as values and as materials readily found within existing fabrics. How can a post-industrial urban society capitalize on the potential of embodied material and societal wealth found within existing architecture, via secondary sourcing, extracting and processing? To respond to this question, the following exploratory work focuses on Ottawa's Booth Street Complex, its associated network of industrial research and development sites, as well as the materials which comprise both.