Upgrade: Making Things Better

Join us for the book launch of Upgrade: Making Things Better by Silke Langenberg

Repairing rather than throwing away, refurbishing rather than demolishing: to counteract the ongoing trend of wasteful material consumption, students at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich and ETH Zurich have been developing sustainable and imaginative concepts for repairing and improving a wide variety of objects, applying them both manually and by using digital techniques such as 3D printing. UPGRADE: Making Things Better, edited by Silke Langenberg follows up on Repair: Encouragement to Think and Make, and presents manifold approaches and projects, complemented by input from the fields of architecture, preservation, design, manufacturing, and craftsmanship. It includes contributions from scholars and practitioners such as Arno Brandlhuber, Adam Caruso, Wilfried Lipp, Freek Persyn, Eva Prats, Inge Vinck, and many more.

Silke Langenberg is full professor for Construction Heritage and Preservation at ETH Zurich. Her chair is in the Institute for Preservation and Construction History as well as the Institute for Technology in Architecture. From 2014 until 2020, she was a professor for design in existing contexts, preservation, and building research at the Munich University of Applied Sciences. She studied architecture and holds a PhD in engineering sciences. Her research focuses on the rationalization of building processes as well as the development, repair, and long-term conservation of serially, industrially, and digitally manufactured constructions.

AA Director Ingrid Schroder will introduce Silke Langenberg at an event at the AA Bookshop to celebrate the launch of this new publication over refreshments.

The book will be sold at a special price of £33 (RRP £44)