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Designing for the second life of a building

David Otero· Partner· 12 May 2026· 8 min
Designing for the second life of a building

The most sustainable thing an architect can do is talk a client out of demolition.

Keep the frame

A structural frame is decades of embodied carbon already spent. Tearing it down to pour a new one is a decision that should require an argument, not a default.

Reversible interventions

Everything we add should be removable. The next architect deserves the same choice we had.