Patchwork as an Innovative Practice Among the Fragments and Waste of the Anthropocene. Composite Materials and Reuse Strategies for Regenerative Coverings

We live in Anthropocene era, a period in which human activity has a significant impact on the planet, irreversibly altering the climate and natural resources. Artificial and organic materials intertwine in ways that seem irreversible. With the depletion of natural resources, architects, engineers, and designers are investigating the potential of increasingly abundant waste streams to transform them into raw materials for the future. In this context, the research project – developed in collaboration with the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Catania, the company Stiltenda by TS s.r.l. and the Institute of Polymers, Composites and Bio-materials of the National Research Council, Catania – aims to explore new solutions for managing waste generated from the production of awnings. The company primarily uses acrylic material, a polymer known for its high resistance but also for its environmental impact of such materials but also to experiment, through the «patchwork» technique, with new innovative forms of habitability and expressing a critiqué of planned obsolescence in industrial production. Through the experimentation of composite materials for modular roofing, where acrylic scraps are used as reinforcement, the research proposes a new paradigm for sustainable design, integrating waste and fragments into a process of material and cultural regeneration.