After a couple of years of virtual, Buildex is back at the Vancouver Convention Centre this year. There’s just one more day to take in the building-industry-oriented show, and if you can make it down there, do it. There are a few installations that will make you glad we’re back to experiencing these shows as they’re meant to be: in person.

ReGrow is an experiential installation from MGA | Michael Green Architecture and Unbuilders that illustrates the potential of the largest single contributor to our overflowing landfills €” demolition and construction waste. ReGrow demonstrates that this €˜waste€™ is actually one of the greatest tools we have as an industry to build a net-zero future.

Nearly 40 percent of our solid waste comes from the construction industry, and 40 percent of that waste is lumber. Unbuilders decommissions buildings and salvages materials€”including the 91-year-old lumber that came from a former distillery in New Westminster,  upcycled into a modern table by Workbench Studio in the installation.

The display challenges the old model of demolition€”and that the materials recovered from buildings are not waste, they’re just wasted. The central tree-like display functions as both an outdoor deck space, with moderately finished materials, and an homage to the tree those materials once were. And nearby, Workbench Studio flips the script on what “reclaimed” furniture can look like: highly finished, highly modern.

Another central display comes from Pure Design and Cosentino: the central bar. Designer Ami McKay’s playful take on a bar code in Dekton and Silestone is just the place you want to grab a cocktail to celebrate that our networking conversations can happen together, again.

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Anicka Quin

Anicka Quin

Anicka Quin is the editor-in-chief of Western Living magazine and the VP of Content for Canada Wide Media. If you've got a home design you'd like to share with Western Living, drop her a line at [email protected]