InsideFlows: The Superuse Approach to Design

Working towards a systemic understanding of the working flows in our environment, Rotterdam-based architecture office Superuse Studios investigates ways of giving resource flows a positive contribution to design, delivering innovative and sustainable solutions that respond to user needs and client interests.

For their exhibition in The AF Project Space Superuse Studios presented their ongoing collaborative research with the INSIDE Masters programme at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Focusing on the subject of resource-based design – or in the Studio’s words “superusing available flows and resources and connecting them into urban ecosystems", the exhibition presented a series of case studies by Superuse and selected other authors in a specially designed installation. The Project Space was transformed into a walk-in map of resource flows for visitors to explore. Featured projects showcased the superuse approach in practice across a range of disciplines from architecture and product design to food production and distribution.

InsideFlows: The Superuse Approach to Design also hosted the UK launch of the Superuse – Harvest Mapping website, a new digital platform connecting makers and clients with resource streams of reclaimable materials.

The exhibition also showcased the design for the Gibbon’s Rent Gateways, a permanent commission that Superuse Studios will be developing for launch later in the year.

This exhibition formed part of The AF’s headline contribution to the 2013 London Festival of Architecture. 

Superuse Studios, established in 1997 by Jan Jongert and Cesare Peeren, use reclaimed and recycled materials as the starting point for their creative practice, viewing re-use as an integrated design strategy called ‘superuse’. This concept applies to building materials as well as energy supplies, human resources, water, transport, and food cycles. Superuse Studios develop strategies for cities to connect different closed loop systems, while integrating these processes into the existing urban environment. 

With a diverse portfolio spanning architecture, research, interior and furniture design, the studio’s past projects include Wikado playspace, a playground made from discarded windmill parts; Villa Welpeloo, a residential project that aspired to use as much surplus material as possible; and DordtYart, a versatile space for contemporary art housed within a converted former shipping yard.