Upcycling Deconstructed Concrete in Landscape Architectural Projects

In urban areas, landscape projects are typically preceded by large scale demolitions generating massive amounts of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. While alternatives, such as crushing concrete into Recycled Concrete Aggregate are gaining momentum, crushing is a downcycling which entails significant energy use and buries the material below new roadways - missing the opportunity for the material to tell its story. From projects such as Queens Plaza (with Margie Ruddick/WRT Design) to the Greater Brunswick Charter School in New Brunswick (with Rutgers Cooperative Extension), the work of Tobiah Horton has integrated demolished or deconstructed broken concrete into site and product design. The work captures the maximum amount of embodied energy in the concrete, by designing and fabricating products that have greater use and exchange values than concrete paving.