Starting from the start 020. Making Construction Upcycling Happen Through Collaboration

Among the materials recovered from construction sites, metal makes up a significant portion alongside formwork wood. For the META Design team, wood is a familiar material. Metal, however, calls for a different kind of expertise and depends heavily on long-term fabrication partners. The Construction Waste Upcycling Project is never the work of a single team; it is an experiment in reconnecting resources across different fields.

Once materials leave the construction site and enter the hands of designers and fabricators, processes that were once contained within the site begin to open up. Design is no longer just drawings and ideas—it becomes a shared, cross-disciplinary problem-solving process. Our role goes beyond simply supplying materials; it is about creating the conditions that allow this kind of collaboration to take place.

In Construction Waste Upcycling Project 1.0, many of the metal furniture pieces were made with the help of Will, a metal fabricator who worked closely with META Design to turn concepts into reality. Much like the metal he works with—cool, direct, and precise—Will’s process is carefully planned and meticulously executed. Cutting, welding, positioning—each step follows the next in a well-considered sequence. Watching him work feels like viewing a perfectly edited craft sequence: smooth, focused, and exact.

For most fabrication shops, working with recycled materials—each piece different in origin and condition—usually means lower efficiency and higher risk. In this project, however, these “non-standard materials” were allowed into the workflow and treated with care. To explore new possibilities, we chose to open up the boundaries of conventional practice. The value of the Construction Waste Upcycling Project lies not only in reusing construction waste, but also in bringing together the construction site, designers, and fabricators—aligning different forms of expertise and commitment to create something truly worth doing well.

Photo Credit: META Design

Editor: Shih Yi Feng

Starting from the start 026. Where Cultural Change Began to Ripple

Complaints and doubts are not necessarily negative. Sometimes, they are simply the beginning of conversation. FG Next had been in preparation since 2017, with weekly meetings devoted to discussion and debate, gradually shaping Farglory’s direction toward “sustainability” and “sharing”. The 1.0 shared space was the first attempt to bring the idea of circular regeneration in architecture into the workplace. When a concept moves from discussion into everyday reality—when it becomes part of where people work—it naturally invites people to feel, to reflect, and even to question. That, too, is part of cultural change.

Starting from the start 025. The Night We Moved In: Project 1.0

Six months earlier, the FG Next team had visited the META Design studio in Tamsui for the first time. That visit allowed us to truly see how discarded resources could be transformed into something meaningful. It aligned closely with the conversations FG Next had been having for more than two years around architectural sustainability. When we shared the background of FG Next, the issues we care about, and the idea of using the 16th-floor shared space as an experimental site, META Design understood that this was not a one-off commission. It was a company choosing to test new approaches within its own workplace.

Starting from the start 024. A Phone Booth Between Vision and Reality

After the completion of the 1.0 shared space, practical needs led us to add a phone booth. Looking at a space built entirely from construction waste, and then flipping through catalogs of commercially available office booths, it felt clear that simply placing a ready-made product inside would the overall look and feel of the space. It would look out of place.