Lexicon

Abject
Accretion
Actant
Aeration
Aerobic
Algae-boosted
Animal
Anthropomorphism
Anti-Continuous Construction
Apocalypse
Aquaculture
Aquanaut
Ark
Artificial Intelligence
Autopoiesis
Assemblages
Asymmetry
Atrophy
Attraction
Autarchy
Automata
Automation
Autosymbiosis
Bambassador
Bathyscaphe
Bioconurbation
Biomedia
Bionics
Biosphere
Biotechnique
By-product
Capacity
Actant
Coisolation
Composting
Conservative Surgery
Consumer Envelope
Consumption
Continuous Construction
Conurbation
Correalism
Cultural_Memory
Cybernetics
Cybertecture
Cyborg
Dispositif
Diving Saucer
Dross
Earthship
Ecocatastrophe
Effluvium
Egosphere
End-use
Entanglement
Eutopia
Feedback
Foam
Folk
Gadget
Garbage House
Green Cyborg
Heuristic
Hoard
Holism
Homogenization of Desire
Hostile
Human Affect
Hybridized Folk
Hydroponic
Hyper-Materialism
Information Economy
Inner Space
Interama
Intra-Uterine
Maque
Megalopolis
Min-use
Mobility
Monorail
Multi-Hinge
Non-Design
Oceanaut
Oppositional Consciousness
Organic
Ouroboros
Panarchy
Parasite
Perceived Continuation
Permanence
Place
Prototype
Post-Animal
Reclamation
RI: Data Farms
RI: Garbage and Animals
RI:Shipbreaking
RI: Toxic Sublime
Sampling
Scale
Sensing Structure
Simulacrum
Simulation
Soft Energy
Spaceship Earth
Submersible
Superwindow
Symbiosis
Synthetic Environment
Technocratic
Technological Heredity
Technological Sublime
Telechirics
The Sublime
Thermal Panel
Actant
Thing-Power
Thinking Machines
Tool
Toxic Withdrawal
Turbulence
UV-Transparent Film
Vibrant Matter
Waste
Work

DROSS

A term used in "Dross City", and employed to describe foreign matter, or a "phantom material condition" that goes unnoticed.1 It not only describes waste, but also the extent to which it has merged with urban and natural landscapes, as well as the roles that it plays in our lifestyles. Different aspects of waste are explored throughout the readings. "From Pollution to Housing" focuses on by-products, and their potential as building materials that cheapen construction costs and reduce pollution. The reading also delves into the issue of scarcity of raw material, and how, in times of need, our perspective of waste shifts, to reveal that sometimes what we consider garbage is in fact, a resource. In "Powers of the Hoard", Jane Bennet explores what can be described as pre-expired products, or products rendered useless by their excess, weather they've reached the end of their useful life or not. The author also scrutinizes the compelling force "acting" objects can have on consumers, and she reveals the shifting nature of an object that can be considered trash as much as it can be considered a valuable, depending of the subject that beholds it. Lastly, Pawley explores the possibility of turning current production processes into a looped system that employs discarded products as building materials, and how consumerism can be taken advantage of, and turned into a solution that alleviates housing shortage.

1 "The word dross refers to matter that is foreign, worn out and impure; it is a phantom material condition that is unnoticeable to such an extent that it almost does not exist in our perception." Kallipoliti, p.105


Citations
Martin Pawley, Garbage Housing (London: The Architectural press), 47-114.
Jane Bennett, "Powers of The Hoard: Further Notes on Material Agency," in Animal, Vegetable, Mineral Ethics and Objects, ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen (Washington, DC: Oliphaunt Books), 237-269.
Witold Rybezynski, "From Pollution To housing," Architectural Design, vol. 12 (1973): 785-789.
Lydia Kallipoliti, "Dross City," Architectural Design, vol. 80 (2010): 102-109.