The conceptual terrain for this studio was damage and damage control, which entailed the examination of the social, institutional, economic and governmental mechanisms through which the value of art is measured and established. The studio development of a comprehensive vocabulary relating to value and damage, thus establishing a conceptual foundation for the design and curatorial methodology The Salvage Art Institute - an organization that endeavors to collect, index and articulate the condition of artwork claimed as “total loss” resulting form damage beyond repair or removed from art market circulation. 

The display system and archival process of The SAI was borne out of a desire to reveal the latent value of damaged artwork, and argues that the dispersal of objects generates previously unknown boundaries. A cooperative relationship between the architecture and the artwork is synthesized; as they age and decay with each other, they form an agreement to damage and be damaged.