Astrid Mjøen Holstad holds a bachelor’s degree in Interior Architecture from Høyskolen Kristiania, Oslo (2023) and is currently completing a master’s in Design at HDK-Valand, Gothenburg (2024). Her master’s project, Demolition Dialogues – Concrete Stories of Circularity in Construction, explores how interior architects can contribute to shifting the construction industry towards circular practices. Through hands-on collaborations with builders, engineers, demolition professionals and city planners, she investigates how dismantling methods influence the reusability of materials. The project culminates in a series of side tables made from reused concrete – each piece embodying a different dialogue between demolition site and design studio, between circularity and construction. The tables will first be presented in Gothenburg during HDK-Valand’s degree exhibition, where they will serve as a gathering point for the event “Talk by the Tables”, before touring to the Ex-Works 25 exhibition in Älmhult. Holstad’s work is rooted in a strong environmental awareness, yet driven by a belief in design’s creative and collaborative potential to generate hope. She sees interior architecture as a field uniquely positioned to engage with complex material flows, and she aims to continue this work by developing future collaborations within progressive construction and demolition practices.
