Don't Build, Rebuild
The Case for Imaginative Reuse in Architecture
$42.69
- Paperback
232 pages
- Release Date
2 December 2025
Summary
In a time of climate crisis and housing shortages, a bold, visionary call to replace current wasteful construction practices with an architecture of reuse.
As climate change has escalated into a crisis, the reuse of existing structures is the only way to even begin to preserve our wood, sand, silicon, and iron, let alone stop belching carbon monoxide into the air. Our housing crisis means that we need usable buildings now more than ever, but architect and critic Aaron Betsky shows tha…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780807021378 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0807021377 |
| Author: | Aaron Betsky |
| Publisher: | Beacon Press |
| Imprint: | Beacon Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 232 |
| Release Date: | 2 December 2025 |
| Weight: | 369g |
| Dimensions: | 229mm x 152mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“[An] eye-opening treatise… . Insights abound as Betsky delves into examples—which include not only remodeling but also disassembling old structures and reusing their constitutive parts in new projects, and touch on everything from traditional Japanese woodworking to tents designed for Coachella. Readers will be captivated by Betsky’s hopefulness.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Nothing is as ecologically sound as reusing the things we’ve already built—and as this book makes clear, nothing is as beautiful either!”
—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
“Aaron Betsky offers an essential alternative to the wasteful paradigm of conventional construction… . This thought-provoking and important book is a must-read, urging readers to embrace a more sustainable, circular approach to architecture and design.”
—Stefan Al, author of Supertall: How the World’s Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives
“This fantastic book extends beyond the usual parameters of reuse, incorporating powerful insights and tactics from such things as installation art, squatting, and digital simulation. Don’t Build, Rebuild is a rousing call for the decommodified and decarbonized built environment that we so desperately need.”
—Matthew Soules, author of Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century
“Most proposals for mitigating climate change are ‘too little, too late.’ Aaron Betsky has the courage to say ‘stop building NOW.’ Instead, he argues, we need to make better use of existing structures, and he takes us around the world to see the many ways repurposed buildings can be beautiful, egalitarian, and just.”
—Fred A. Bernstein, architecture critic
About The Author
Aaron Betsky
Aaron Betsky is a critic of art, architecture, and design and the author of over twenty books on those subjects. He writes a twice-weekly blog, Beyond Buildings, for Architect Magazine. Trained as an architect and in the humanities at Yale, Mr. Betsky has served as the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Netherlands Architecture Institute, as well as Curator of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
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