Educational Media Reviews Online

Americans build more than 24 million new homes each year. They also tear down approximately 200,000 buildings, annually. This generates around 100 billion pounds of trash. The question posed in this film is, “Can one person’s trash become another person’s house?” One man – San Francisco’s Chief Building inspector Laurence Kornfield –thinks so. OK, actually four men think so (accompanying Kornfield are architect John Peterson, salvage guru “Flash,” and structural engineer Pat Buscovich) – and one woman documented it. Director Anna Fitch brings a fast-paced, energetic, journalistic approach to this documentary about an incredible building challenge and the team of artists, engineers, and builders who make it happen.

Charged with creating a safe, stable, stylish house made entirely from salvaged supplies (all building materials with the exception of the nails and screws must come from scavenged, reclaimed, or recycled goods, free of charge), the team has one month to design and build ScrapHouse on the lawn of San Francisco’s city hall in time for the 2005 UN World Environment Day celebration.

The design team, engineer and building inspector get to work quickly, drawing up plans and testing the viability of each scrap of material’s intended use. But two weeks in, it seems like the project risks being scrapped due to lack of a general contractor (essential to making the 2D plans a 3D reality). Presumably just in time, kind young contractor—John Pollard—scraps his two week vacation and rides to the work-site-rescue in his mini cooper. With the team complete, the project moves full steam ahead.

Barring a handful of interpersonal skirmishes between the architect(s), contractor, and builders (an interesting comment on the work-force divide) and minor bumps in the scavenging of usable materials, the project proceeds relatively smoothly. Much of the success of this documentary is due to Fitch’s on point direction and script as well as Grochowski’s tight editing. The lively soundtrack and deft narration by Nick Shatzky deserve mention, and help make this an enjoyable viewing exercise.

This film would find good use in classes dealing with art and architecture, sustainability, city & regional planning, and similar issues related to environmental or urban studies.