[Theoretical Research]

Post-industrial brownfield redevelopment involves different disciplines, in¬cluding history, sociology, economy, ecology, engineering, landscape and ar¬chitecture (Hofer & Vicenzotti, 2012). Along with the socio-economic changes all over the world, especially in developed countries, the industrial restructur¬ing process has begun. Sustainable processes of reusing the post-industrial in¬frastructures are proceeding, which often are transformed into culture-related civic buildings (Pieczka & Wowrzeczka, 2021). The thesis is a variant of adaptive reuse, outside of four types of spatial strategies – preservative and interven¬tion in the interiors, coexistence of the old and new and domination of a new object strategy (Pieczka & Wowrzeczka, 2021). The Altona North Landfill (ANL) does not have any build forms, only industrial machineries. However, the Mo¬bil Altona Refinery is gradually shutting down and facilities irrelevant to storing oils will be demolished. So, instead of letting the decommission of refinery go into the landfill, this gives an opportunity to reuse these infrastructure frag-ments and emphasize the rich industrial history to the ANL site. The ANL site will be working as a ‘palimpsest’, capturing different layers and relationships of the site simultaneously coexisting in different scales and time, from regional to local, from past to present, to future (Kirkwood, 2001). While the operating licensed ANL site will be preserve, the thesis project will be conceived as an ongoing and transitioning process, till the day ANL is filled up. The overlapping future timeline of ANL filling up and Mobil Altona Refinery shutting down en¬able the common fixing point – a point when no more post-industrial materials (recycled waste and infrastructure fragments from the refinery) will be adding to the new build form. And a point when the ANL licensed site stop operating and start rehabilitation process. The unconventional setting will make project alive and more flexible and resilient.

Waste can be a reminder of what we have done.

Waste can be the solution of what we should do.

Waste can be the outcome of the old era.

Waste can be the marker of a new era.

Waste can be an inspiration for everyone.

Waste can be the bridge between the past, present and future.

In recent years, from series, movies, and anime to photography and art, the image of Industrial Infrastructure tends to represent ruins, wasteland, pollution, and dis¬asters these impressions of the decline and failures of industrialized society (Madson, 2019). For example, conceptual photographers Bernd and Hilla Be¬cher documented the deep history of the disappearing industrial structures. From grain silos and cooling towers to gas tanks, these typologies are celebrated as the ‘anonymous sculpture’ (“Bernd & Hilla Becher,” 2022). Andreas Gursky’s work on the other hand, in my opinion, shares the same core inside with Anni¬hilation (film) by Alex Garland. Gursky’s photographs always emphasize equi¬librium as a thin veneer over the chaos of overproduction. His famous piece of the industrial hub for the shipment of automobiles is distorted by the multi¬tude of automobiles, sea containers, and buildings, which pixelate the pristine landscape into an unreal visual shock (Small, 2018). According to Garland, the Annihilation is about ‘self-destruction’ reflected in the environment (Goldberg, 2022). The tool of density, division, and repetition is able to fully depict the aesthetic and atmosphere of a post-industrial, scarred landscape. Waste has also been another hot topic nowadays across multi-discipline. In the moving image industry, from Wall-e to the Isle of Dogs, waste is used as a vector to express fear towards the various possible future in post-Anthropocene. Ryan Madson (2019) reflected on the film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky and open the conversation between the passage of time, duration and human perception. Perceiving humans’ relationship to build the environment is our first step to addressing the adaptation to environmental damage caused by large-scale industrial processes in Anthropocene. The new chapter of the future landscape and built environment should include environmental justice for both humans and non-humans (Madson, 2019).

‘Take, Make, Waste’ is the linear economy in and before the industrial age. Nowadays, waste is understood as a renewable resource and new construction materials (Rotor Deconstruction, n.d.). The guideline has shifted to ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover’ circular economy, which is metabolic and maximizes the reuse while minimising the new input (Hebel, 2014). Many recent researches have been targeting urban mining to prepare for future natural resource depletion. Landfill mining, especially in the solid inert waste landfill like Altona North Landfill, the bulk scrap metal, especially steel used in buildings are the potential resource of metals in the ‘urban mines’ of Melbourne (Hebel, 2014). New emerging technologies, like 3d printing (Baiani & Altamura, 2018), has given more possibility for waste to be reused in many industries.

Rotor Deconstruction is a new business in build environment field and construction field that reuse construction materials . A similar case study to Rotor Deconstruction is the Rebiennale Platform (REBIENNALE, 2018). Biennales around the world is known for their spectacle, but people rarely realise their resource consumption. The amount of waste generated just to host the event has become unsustainable. Rebiennale Venice is one of the first world joint and collaborative platform that provide the scrap materials from biennale a second life (Kelly, 2010). Rebiennale carefully take down the works and keep them intact. All the materials are collected, categorized and stored for future uses. Instead of a biennale junkyard, it is more of a manifestation of biennale’s works (Kelly, 2010).