A quote by Marcel Proust reads “the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but seeing with new eyes.” Applying this to architecture challenges us to find potentiality in the existing building fabric. As we continue to build with a vision that excludes a solution for a growing buildings stock, much of which awaits to be dismantled, we miss the possible creativity in constraint. We must see with new eyes to find that one of our biggest assets is already out there, lying dormant. What is important to understand is that building reuse goes beyond mere historical preservation and the principles can be applied to structures that are not culturally significant. And in fact, perhaps it is by reworking the current architectural landscape that we re-imagine the future of design.

 

The shutdown of diablo canyon presents an opportunity to appropriate the existing campus, consisting of several buildings and industrial structures, for the purposes of scientific research and discovery. Assuming the resolution of the site’s inherent hazards, the property will serve as a research facility to carry out scientific inquisition in a range of natural science disciplines including nuclear investigations, atmospheric simulation, earth sciences, and computer analytics.

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