Looking at the number of buildings being demolished as part of urban renewal projects and the speed at which the city is changing, the designer Lihi Berger seeks to bring back the sense of value to existing materials and conserve the memory of a place through reusing elements from the demolished buildings.

The exhibition Matters of Conservation: Part 1 offers a new look at demolition, building waste, and conservation. What if all materials considered today as demolition waste could return to the cycle and constitute the buildings and cities where we will live? How can urban mining help conserve our built heritage?

Berger wishes to conserve the material and memories of buildings that are being demolished. In the exhibition, the result of her research, Berger explores the demolishing of buildings from a material viewpoint and asks to conserve the material culture of what is being razed.

As an initial stage of a continuous process, Berger suggests reusing elements such as handles and hinges –made of metal, whose production demands much energy, yet reusing them is simple.

Reusing an existing element has a crucial effect on our ecological footprint: it saves the energy invested in recycling or mining a new material, processing it, and transporting it around the globe. Among the environmental impact, the existing material carries cultural, aesthetic, social, and historical qualities that constitute the buildings we live in today.

The exhibition Matters of Conservation: Part 1 calls for ongoing public action to conserve the city's disappearing materials and built heritage.