Renaud Haerlingen
Architect, former Principal at Rotor and Co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction
Renaud has been a principal at Rotor from 2010 till 2020, is a co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction and remains a satellite member of the cooperative organization based in Belgium. At Rotor, he led open-ended design projects, design assistance consultancies and engagements with high profile actors from the real estate sector.
In recent years, he has given lectures, led studios and multiple academic workshops at places such as the Royal College of Art in London, TU Delft, ETH Zurich, Social Design at Die Angewandte in Vienna, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru or Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Since 2015, Renaud has sustained a privileged relationship with Switzerland through engagements with leading institutions and connections with local actors. In 2023, he relocated to Geneva.
Prior to this, Renaud worked on the design development of projects in the Middle East and as a member of the Brussels collective Boups, he organized free-parties and designed public happenings. In the late nineties, he joined Masterclasses by Kasuyo Sejima and Toyo Ito that settled his sensibility for Japanese Architecture.
Founded in 2005, Rotor is a group of professionals interested in material flows in relation to resources, waste, use and reuse. Rotor’s approach consistently—and very often visually—emphasizes the effects of human planning, oversight, and extended use on the built environment. In parallel, dismantling and reselling activities are conducted under the heading of Rotor Deconstruction, a separate, spin-off entity created in 2014.
Judge’s selections
Opalis Award
ReLink —Platform for Building Materials Reuse DX—
Meiji University
I wish to christen this award under the Opalis umbrella in recognition of the resonating undertaking of pointing these remarkable companies on the map of Japan. Opalis.eu, an anagram of Spolia - the roman practice of repurposing architectural stones - is an online directory of reclaimed materials resellers recognized as a milestone for supporting circular schemes in the construction sector.
The possibility of reuse in architecture implies, on one hand, a proper handling of the end-of-life of a construction, backed by adequate assessments, and on the other hand the integration of materials that are not new into a design and a building process. However small, marginal, or focused on antiques, the professional companies trading reused materials are faced with the full spectrum of economic viability and are dealing with the challenge of moving, storing and preparing construction materials. For these reasons, they are the experts to count on at a time to regrow these meaningful practices
Out of Dark Age Award
White tires for road bikes are available for early bird sale, 700 28C, carbon black free.
LIPPER K.K.
Tires are black and the black is dirty. The pursuit to develop a natural tire reinforcement material invites us to look at a sub-part of an extremely common object. While it may not seem to be a sexy topic, reinforcement is the elephant in the room, and tire pollution is a major problem.
The work of Lipper, associated with an extended Shizuoka ecosystem, demonstrates a high level of maturity. Once our attention is caught on this issue, Lipper’s white color-based solution is bliss. The look is a quintessential inversion and a refreshing display to introduce a new era. I’m looking forward to its industrial deployments.
Stewardship Award
CORALCOLLABO
CORALCOLLABO
I’m not a fan of certification systems; I sometimes suspect them to take the spotlight instead of the actual field work. CoraColla's entry to the crQlr Awards and the context of Yaeyama islands offered me a focus on scale. I like the story of how the idea came about, how it led to study-sessions and how it created spaces to address the stakes and engage with stakeholders. The tool, intentionally humble, is an appropriate stewardship mechanism: the acceptance of responsibility to shepherds and safeguarding the valuables of others. It supports backwards investigations of potential cause-and-consequence chains, and through finding the forms and language to reach out widely, people from all walks of life will contribute to regenerating coral reefs. In practice, to prevent red soil erosion, I want these sticks to be stuck in the field for more than 1 meter!
Down to Earth Award
Creating a Circular Community Through Food
Ramune Pic LLC
From a computer screen ‘sign in’ page to the ways of Satoyama : a place where nature and people exist in harmony. My work has been concerned with the circulation of used construction materials, but at a meta level, it has served as the backbone for a group of young adults to practice an interdisciplinary collective intelligence. Thinking through hands-on engagement reveals insights that cannot emerge at a decision-making table or within a lecture format.
I trust that seeds of the greater good lie in the joy and energy emanating from the settings crafted by Harmo. The environmental challenges facing our generation need to be informed by contemporary citizens connected to the ground.
(*) "Down to Earth" (the name of the Award) refers to a brief political essay written by Bruno Latour in 2018.
Already There Award
Yutaka Ibasho Mobile Circulation Lounge
nitehiworks
I would like to present the Already There Award as a lifetime achievement recognition. Beyond the Yutaka Ibasho Mobile Circulation Lounge, this application unveiled a series of quietly remarkable works from Minoru Inayoshi and Nite Hi Works.
As of today, the notion of value has been lost in translation through the shortcuts of modern economics and misunderstandings of externalities. Meanwhile, materials at the scale of objects, spaces, or towns are being discarded around us. The ability to craft and plot qualitative situations from overlooked conditions and existing materialities hones precious skills to reconsider value. This body of work illuminates pathways to transcend the appeal to novelty fallacy and to create refined beauty through a nuanced engagement with the traces of the past.