Olaf Grawert

Emergency policies, industrial methods and public money.

And all of it aimed at new construction.

And even if we don't notice it day to day, this system still writes the rule books, no?

It trains us today to still see the risk instead of seeing the potential.

It still trains us to assume that the new is always better than the old.

And it's at the core of our legal system, which makes it not only less profitable for the market, but also much, much harder to renovate and transform.

Because all of it, tax incentives to subsidies, building codes to regulation, and risk insurances to credits, favor starting anew.

The question is, what happens if we look at things differently?

So now that we know it's rooted in this legal system,

the market builds its strategy on and we know about the consequences, it's the moment where we can say, how do we shift it?

And I think there it's important to understand that we humans invented that system.

So we have to make it work for us instead of us working for the system.

And this is what French architects Lacator and Vassal do.

And I want to present you one of their works today.

They look differently at what is already there.

To them, every building is heritage, not because of its architectural style and not because once a famous person lived in there, but because they recognize the social and ecological value in the building.

Lakaton Vassal, they never demolish.

They never demolish a building.

They add, they build on, they renovate, they transform.

And by doing so, they acknowledge all the energy stored in the walls and the roofs from the thoughts to the labor, to the legacy, and even the CO2.