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Architecture as a Device: The Design of Waste Recycling Collection Centres

2018, Detritus

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Urban Recycling Center - A Recycling District Along Suzhou's Ancient Canal

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Green architecture approach in waste management building design concept

H T Fachrudin 1 and Khairuz Zafira 1

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering , Volume 1122 , 3rd TALENTA Conference on Engineering Science and Technology (TALENTA CEST 2020) 28th September 2020, Medan, Indonesia Citation H T Fachrudin and Khairuz Zafira 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 1122 012002 DOI 10.1088/1757-899X/1122/1/012002

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1 Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia

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Medan City has 2 landfill sites, Namo Bintang and Terjun. However, Namo Bintang Landfill was closed in 2013 by the Medan City Government. Namo Bintang Landfill is planned to be reopened to receive Medan City waste. The waste management will focus on the solid waste in the Namo Bintang Landfill that applies the Green Architecture which is focused on the Principles of Energy Efficiency and Conservation. The design method starts from a direct site survey, then data collection by observation, documentation, literature review, and comparative studies of similar projects that will be analyzed to produce a concept of design of waste to energy management area at the Namo Bintang Landfill. Combustion of waste into alternative electrical energy that can meet the electricity needs of the community. The process of waste to energy starts by burning waste at very high temperatures, then transfer the heat, and by used turbin, transformed it into the energy. The steam which drives the turbines - creates surplus heat which can be used for district cooling and heating, electricity, also recovered clean water, construction material, and valuable metals from the waste. This is the approachable solution in the field of energy, ecology, and sustainable environment.

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12 Rad Recycling Centers That Go Green in Style

By Eric Allen

The goal of civic architecture is to create municipal spaces that ultimately keep our cities, towns, and lives functioning as they should. Centers for recycling and waste management are just one part of that, yet their impact stretches beyond the daily grind to the well-being of the environment and, ultimately, the earth. With that in mind, contemporary architects are designing modern hubs of waste disposal and reuse with recycled and salvaged materials, intuitive layouts that facilitate efficient processing, and innovative façades designed to inspire. Here, AD has rounded up some of the freshest takes on recycling centers, from a wastewater treatment plant with a green roof, to a waste-to-energy plant by Bjarke Ingels [link: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/bjarke-ingels-article] topped with a ski slope, to the modular steel structure by Selldorf Architects that takes care of NYC’s recycling needs.

Known informally as an “urban stomach,” the Urban Waste Collection Station in Huarte, Spain, is a facility that compacts waste from surrounding areas to be shipped to other sites for recycling. Designed by Spanish firm Vaillo + Irigaray, the structure is clad with sheets of recycled aluminum that are painted lime-green in keeping with the project’s ecological theme.

A LEED Platinum–certified building, the East Side Recycling Center in Iowa City, Iowa, has a slanted-roof design and a façade made with glass, metal, wood, and concrete. Built by architecture and engineering firm Shive-Hattery, the facility features not only sites for disposing of oil, compost, and electronic waste but educational space as well.

Pivka, Slovenia, is home to this metal-recycling plant by the architects at Dekleva Gregoric Arhitekti. Functioning as a site to prepare metal waste for reuse, the plant comprises two structures, a concrete service building and a steel-mesh-covered office, both visually linked by a low concrete wall that contains the site’s heaps of scrap metal.

Situated on an 11-acre pier along the New York Harbor, the Sims Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility in Brooklyn processes recyclables from the city’s many inhabitants. Designed by Selldorf Architects, the buildings within the center are made with recycled steel and feature space not only for waste management but for classrooms and exhibitions as well.

By Michelle Duncan

By Erika Owen

By Joyce Chen

Form follows function at the Waste Disposal Installation in Delft, Netherlands, by Dutch architecture firm UNStudio. The design of the concrete-and-glass structure was inspired by the circulation of vehicles and processes of waste management, meaning the sloping roof and general layout of the building are intuitively planned for maximum efficiency.

The Seattle Public Utilities South Transfer Station serves its namesake city with a LEED Gold–certified building made with recycled metal and concrete by the architects at Miller Hull. Visitors can enter the site, which facilitates recycling, garbage disposal, composting, and rainwater collection, through an entrance clad in old street signs from the city’s department of transportation.

Made with recycled steel, the Phoenix North Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility was designed by HDR for energy efficiency, with solar-powered exterior lighting and a reflective roof with overhangs to create shade. The long, horizontal structure mirrors the flat Arizona terrain and features landscaping made up of the native plants it displaced.

Designed by Skylab Architecture, the Columbia Building at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant in Portland, Oregon, has a jagged roofline with concrete “fins” covered with vegetation for collecting and delivering stormwater to a nearby waterway. This structure, used for office space at the plant, runs on solar power and an on-site generator.

Designed by Ennead Architects, the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn consists of three main structures connected by glass walkways that sit atop the water-bottle-shaped centrifuges. The site features a visitor center with a sculpture depicting the natural water cycle by artist Vito Acconci and a waterfront park designed by environmental sculptor George Trakas.

Curved-glass screens are the defining feature of the recycling center in Kalmar, Sweden, by Strindberg Arkitekter. The largest screen encircles containers for recyclable materials from the city’s residents, while the smaller screen provides a patio and bench with views of the city.

This waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen, scheduled for completion this year, will replace a neighboring plant to introduce more sustainable waste management to the city. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the structure will feature a roof that functions as a recreational ski slope accessible by an elevator that provides a view of the building’s interior. Meanwhile, a smokestack will emit a ring of smoke every time a ton of carbon dioxide is released as a visual reminder of the city’s energy consumption.

Set to open in 2020, this power plant in Shenzen, China , will be the world’s largest, measuring about one mile in diameter. Designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and Gottlieb Paludan Architects as part of a competition, the cylindrical plant will convert 5,500 tons of waste into energy each day, in addition to generating power with a roof of solar panels.

By Jessica Ilyse Kurn

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Collection Center for Recyclable Materials / RUHM Architekten

• Curated by Paula Pintos
• Architects: RUHM Architekten
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  1880 m²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2019
• Photographs Photographs: Andreas Kraus
• Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:   Josko , Kotrnec , Speiser
• Lead Architects: Arch. DI Josef Ruhm, Arch. DI Christoph Stelzhammer
• Structural Designers : Zieritz & Partner ZT GmbH
• Construction Site Supervision : Kracmar
• On Site Management : Planbestand GmbH
• Geotechnical engineer : DI Walter Müller
• Electrical Engineering: : Ideee Hintersteiner KG
• Land surveyor : DI Schubert
• Design Specification:  DI Martin Schwab
• Fire Protection Planners:  FSE Fire Safety Engineering GmbH
• City:  Schweinern
• Country:  Austria

Text description provided by the architects. This center for recycling and waste management is a project of the community association for environmental protection of St. Pölten in Lower Austria, with one objective: to turn former rubbish-disposal areas into a user-friendly infrastructure for the collection and separation of recyclable materials in the local community, space that keeps our cities, towns, and lives functioning as they should.

The project consists of two structures: wood and concrete service building - public area raised 1.70 m above the operational area, visually linked by a lower concrete wall. According to the building’s purpose and the client’s zero-waste approach, the choice of materials was done in the most ecological, resource-saving, and low impact way possible, large parts are built as structures from laminated wood, safety areas are made of reinforced concrete with steel columns, whereas all the used insulation is ecological. An energy-efficient, solar-powered, green roof overhangs the structure creating shade, covered with vegetation collecting rainwater.

The operation’s logistics were the main design criteria. The main part of the building is of an open character, according to its function. The long horizontal structure mirrors the circulation of vehicles and processes of waste management, intuitively planned for maximum efficiency, essentially ensuring sufficient slots for the waste containers and uninterrupted traffic flow, so as maneuvering area for operations. The collection containers are filled on-site by the customers and afterward transported away by the disposal company for further processing.

To ensure weather protection for the groupage and the loading processes, the area of the collection containers is covered. The main façade towards the public area as well as the operation area is open and the managing office is thoughtfully integrated into the middle, enabling a better overview of the processes. In separate areas are planned the disposal of oil, batteries, electrical and hazardous waste, furthermore, the building is supplemented by a covered loading area for green waste and compost.

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The Missing Link: Architecture and Waste Management

Andreas Georgoulias, Hanif Kara, Leire Asensio Villoria

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40: Well, Well, Well

Puente Hills, California, is an unhealthy place. Home to one of the largest landfills in the United States, it was the main repository for all of Los Angeles County’s waste until the landfill closed in 2013. Over a period of more than 50 years, Puente Hills Landfill had expanded to cover an area of almost 1,400 acres, accommodating compacted waste stacks as high as 500 feet.

It is hard to visualize such an eyesore, but according to Edward Humes, author of Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash , the landfill could hold all the cars produced in the United States over the past 15 years while its height exceeded that of many skyscrapers. Because regulations require waste to be covered with soil as soon it enters the landfill, these “towers” were invisible—the problem was sealed from sight. 1 Mesquite Regional Landfill, a much larger and more remote mega-landfill, now serves as the county’s main waste repository. Located 200 miles southeast of Puente Hills and just over 10 miles from the US-Mexico border, it is expected to remain operational for the next 100 years.

Like many affluent societies, the United States is a land of insatiable, resource-intensive consumption, and has built these mega-landfills to accommodate the products of our vicious, and increasingly detrimental, resource-to-waste conversion cycle. In 2012, Americans generated approximately 251 million tons of waste, of which 135 million tons headed to landfills. Given the average landfill gate fee of $48 per ton, the simple act of throwing waste into landfills amounts to nearly $6.5 billion per year.

Often situated in remote locations next to forests, on land that could otherwise be used for recreational purposes, the roughly 2,000 operational landfills in the United States occupy more than 6,000 acres. They emit greenhouse gases that account for 2 to 5 percent of the country’s total emissions, pose significant health risks, and cause long term disruptions to their surrounding environments. 2 Why, then, are landfills still the most prominent means of waste management in the United States?

Money, not surprisingly, lies at the heart of the problem: the most polluting method of waste management is also the cheapest. Although the total number of landfills has decreased since the early 1970s, the vast areas of available land throughout the United States enable the development of mega-landfills. These sites accept waste at very low costs and pose significant roadblocks to the transition toward alternative waste management methods. 3 For many states, transporting waste to out-of-state landfills is the most financially feasible solution. Taxpayers in New York, for instance, paid $2.2 billion to cover the state’s waste management needs in 2012; $300 million were operational costs for railroad and truck transportation for the disposal of waste in out-of-state landfills. The trucks travel 40 million miles annually, the equivalent of approximately 16,000 trips from New York City to Los Angeles. The latest Congressional Research Service report estimates that in 2005 Pennsylvania received seven million tons of waste from New York and New Jersey, while Ohio received 500,000 tons of waste from New Jersey and 132,000 tons from Connecticut, both of which are located more than 500 miles away. According to the report, from 1995 to 2005, state waste imports increased by 147 percent.

All states relied heavily on landfilling until the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a result, they faced problems arising from groundwater contamination and pollution, especially in populous northeastern coastal states and Florida. 4 Today, communities increasingly endeavor to introduce recycling, composting, and thermal treatment programs, among others, to facilitate resource recovery and help revitalize surrounding environments. But while such alternative methods are safer and more efficient, they are not necessarily regarded by the public as healthier. With NIMBYism rampant, residents object precipitously to plans that site waste facilities—whether alternative systems or landfills—in their immediate surroundings. And why wouldn’t they object? How can you trust something that you cannot see?

Drastic efficiency leaps, environmental impact improvements, and technological innovations all happen far from the public eye. It’s nearly impossible to observe and understand what takes place in an incinerator or a recycling plant. Outsiders are rarely allowed on-site. The design of the plants, which seldom involves architects, only increases this sense of alienation. These strange edifices seem to be remnants of a not-so-distant past of exhaust fumes and industrial pollution. Their bleak, unwelcoming architecture makes no gesture to connect with the public, visually or socially; they offer no amenities beyond their core function, no opportunities for visitors or communities to engage, and only minimal integration with their built and natural surroundings.

Architecture can help remedy these problems, and better yet, can create new opportunities. In limited but increasing instances, architects are being employed to transform the persistent unhealthy prerogatives that surround these facilities, and to create community beacons—novel landmarks of local pride. Recent experiments in hybrid architecture—from ski slopes on top of waste incinerators in Copenhagen to educational centers in recycling facilities in Brooklyn—integrate recreational activities into the heart of previously uninhabited and largely forbidden public space.

These facilities spotlight how architects can create value in otherwise dull and alienated industrial environments, infusing them with a sense of community and purpose. Beyond their aesthetic qualities, these buildings also exceed established standards of environmental performance. In most cases, the core waste-treatment technology itself remains unchanged, but the design methodologies, operations, and waste processes integrate uniquely to increase efficiency and minimize environmental drawbacks. For instance, waste transferal stations accommodate several different waste streams and facilities in a way that significantly increases energy efficiency and minimizes delivery, processing, and transportation burdens. Similarly, new recycling centers are being designed with efficiencies that minimize energy needs, optimize operations, and reduce handling costs and transportation times.

With their innovative programming, and welcoming and transparent architecture, these buildings help to promote healthier communities. Some even confront surrounding neighborhoods with evidence of their waste production: when complete in 2017, Copenhagen’s Amager Resource Center will emit a smoke ring when one ton of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, illuminated by lasers.

But we should pause before concluding that these buildings—as innovative as they are—have only positive impacts. Are new, unintended problems on the horizon? Maybe, but we won’t know until they have operated for a number of years; many were only recently completed or are still under construction. Though they provide healthier alternatives than conventional plants, there is room for improvement. So, what will it take for these remedies to manifest—by, for instance, generating hybrid plant typologies for the betterment of environments? Can we reintroduce society’s pride in such facilities, as was the case with industrial buildings at the beginning of the 20th century? The untapped potential to enrich the design of waste-management plants is vast, and the missing link is architecture.

Architecture can’t operate in a vacuum though; waste management is an interdisciplinary problem. Many experts contribute to the design of a “conventional” plant: structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and waste specialists take part, as do environmental and transportation experts. In contrast with landfills, which are better off far away from the city, there are benefits to positioning waste-treatment plants within urban environments. And architects hold the key to making them more appealing, and thus welcome within communities. They possess the tools to introduce technological and social dimensions that other engineering disciplines cannot or will not do.

By being part of the project team from the start, architects can engage with project stakeholders and point out key social concerns. Such qualitative aspects of a project are typically neglected, but can lead to new opportunities or help avoid problems that may manifest later on. Throughout the process, solid design can address social and environmental dimensions, mending them with proven solutions and innovative design. As such, architects’ contributions enhance or merge efficient waste-processing technologies with landscape design, housing, recreation, and leisure. Not all architects will succeed in this integrative approach, and not all projects are suited for it. But for those projects that have such potential, architecture embodies opportunity.

However, for such an interdisciplinary approach to manifest, policy and regulations must change. As long as landfilling waste is the cheapest option, and environmental and social externalities are excluded from the pricing of waste treatment, fewer facilities will be built, and, of those that are, innovation will be constrained by project finances. Successful examples of countries with innovative waste-management systems indicate that policy, design, and planning need to go hand in hand. In Sweden, where almost 100 percent of waste is diverted from landfills, a novel regulatory environment has been fundamental in fostering the transition toward alternative waste-management methods. 5

More specifically, landfill charges need to be high enough to make landfilling economically and socially unsustainable and render alternative methods financially viable. Cities and towns need to accept waste as a resource—even as we collectively work to reduce it. The utilization of economically recoverable waste streams—combustible and organic waste—can lead to new ways of powering and heating our homes using waste as a resource. Furthermore, long-term strategic plans need to set overarching environmental and waste-management goals, promoting cooperation and communication as foundations to educate and engage the public in the decision-making process. Through outreach and education, the public can become aware that their participation is crucial. This in turn perpetuates a tradition of environmental consciousness and waste reuse, as well as public responsibility.

A few quick calculations demonstrate the opportunity that lies before us, and what we stand to lose if we don’t act now. If the United States converted all its waste into energy, every year it would be able to heat 10 million homes, power 14 million homes, reduce coal extraction by 100 million tons, and reduce carbon emissions at a rate equivalent to removing 23 million cars from its roads. On the other hand, if the current trajectory holds, the country will continue losing precious resources, as well as perpetuate environmental and health risks. States with higher population densities face the biggest problems. They produce the largest amounts of waste per capita but lack adequate space for landfills. Even states that have traditionally been significant waste importers will soon lose precious landfill space. For example, Pennsylvania imported eight million tons of municipal solid waste and substantial amounts of industrial, construction/demolition, and other hazardous waste in 2005, but will face a significant waste disposal crisis by 2020 if landfill capacity is not expanded or new facilities are not permitted.

Today, there are 84 waste-to-energy plants in the United States. However, if the country used its waste for energy production in a proportion equal to that of Sweden, 6 it would need 370 plants in the entire country—and waste-to-energy represents just one part of an overall waste-management portfolio. In other words, if policy allowed, the United States could realize its need for thousands of new facilities. Within this space of opportunity, new design concepts can offer hybrid solutions to generate clean energy, contribute to cities’ social and cultural activities, and protect wider urban atmospheres and microclimates.

This essay is largely based on the research of the “Waste Design Lab,” a Harvard University Graduate School of Design sponsored research project launched in June 2014 by Hanif Kara, Leire Asensio Villoria, and Andreas Georgoulias. The research will conclude with a seminar and studio in 2016.

Andreas Georgoulias teaches interdisciplinary design and sustainable development, and is Research Director of the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. His recent books include Sustainable Infrastructure in Latin America: Infrastructure 360 Awards (2015), coauthored with Ana-Maria Vidaurre-Roche and Judith Rodriguez; Interdisciplinary Design (2013), coauthored with Hanif Kara; and Infrastructure Sustainability and Design (2012), coedited with Spiro Pollalis, Stephen Ramos, and Daniel Schodek.

Hanif Kara is a structural engineer and Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is Design Director and cofounder of AKTII, a structural and civil engineering firm, where he has worked on pioneering projects such as Phaeno Science Centre, Peckham Library, and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

Leire Asensio Villoria is Lecturer in Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a registered architect in Spain. Together with David Mah, she is the cofounder of asensio_mah, a multidisciplinary design collaborative active in the design of architecture, landscape design, and masterplanning.

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Architectural Thesis entitled Davao Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Complex: A Public Interaction to Waste Scheme Through Biomorphic Architecture

LOOK: This is an Architectural Thesis of our Design Team Job Captain,  Raysnil Lumpay , entitled Davao Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Complex: A Public Interaction to Waste Scheme Through Biomorphic Architecture.

Biomorphic design is one of the contemporary approaches influenced by nature. It is a modern architectural style that embraces natural shapes and patterns into the architecture. It aims at turning naturally organic shapes into functional structures.

Did you know, leading countries like the US, Japan, China, and European Countries (i.e., Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, etc.) have been producing and utilizing energy from Waste-to-Energy facilities? This was prompted by a concern for groundwater quality as well as the scarcity of land for landfilling. Even a tiny country like Singapore has a solid waste disposal infrastructure consisting of four (4) waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities.

In the Philippines, Senate Bill No. 1789 or the proposed "Waste-to-Energy Act" is being pushed, which allows the use of WTE facilities in waste treatment and disposal and to generate sustainable energy. Davao City, in particular, has included the WTE as an alternative waste disposal infrastructure in its approved 10-year Solid Waste Management (SWM) Plan. It is the same for many LGUs in Mindanao based on some of the 10-year SWM Plans we came across.

This WTE Walkthrough Video is now available on our youtube channel "Ridge to Reef TV"  https://youtube.com/c/RidgetoreefINC . To stay up to date with our latest project videos and cool adventure videos, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking the above link or visit our websites:  www. ridge-to-reef. tv ,  www.ridge-to-reef.com ,  www.r2rconstruction.ph.  

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Architectural Responses to Waste, Landfills and Climate Change

The world population today stands at 7.6 billion generating at least 3.5 million tons of plastic and other solid waste in just a day! It is expected that the population would reach a figure of 9.8 billion in 2050 and the amount of waste that we would be producing every day is unimaginable. The threat that comes from things getting obsolete sooner than ever is growing numbers of landfills and dumpsites. These are often the overlooked parts of the cities and sites that people do not directly engage with, resulting in a lack of awareness about it. Landfills and dump sites pose a serious threat to the environment by destroying natural ecosystems and affecting human health as well. This article aims to investigate how architects can directly engage with the crisis of increasing waste production by tapping into industrial, infrastructural, and environmental realms of architecture. 

While the widely practiced architecture today deals with real-estate issues, there is a need for innovation and design in the functional architecture that aims at dealing with environmental solutions at hand. For example, commercial outdoor trash cans make it easier to recycle the garbage. Following are the works of architects who have explored and showed the value of design in infrastructural architecture – 

1. Incineration Line in Roskilde, Erick van Egeraat

The plant is an iconic representation of the Kara/Noveren’s next-generation incineration line that would incinerate waste from nine municipalities and other places from abroad to produce clean electricity and heat that would power the entire region of Roskilde. The façade of the plant consists of two layers – the inner skin acts as a climate barrier and the second skin has a circular pattern cut-out on aluminum plates. “At night the backlight perforated façade transforms the incinerator into a gently glowing beacon – a symbol of the plant’s energy production.” The overall design is based on purely simple and elegant construction details, clean angles resembling the neighboring factories, and the 97-meter high spire dominating the skyline.

2. Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility / Selldorf Architects

The Facility is a processing center for the curbside recyclable waste of metal, glass, and plastic, located on a waterfront pier in Sunset Park. The design has two distinct programs – a recycling center and an educational center. The two functions are connected via a 70ft long bridge. The site actively engages in habitat restoration, storm-water treatment, water-efficient landscaping, renewable energy, and optimizing natural lighting. It is built over four feet of site fill consisting of recycled glass, asphalt and rock reclaimed from subway construction.

3. Waste-To-Energy Plant in Shenzhen, Schmidt Hammer Lassen And Gottlieb Paludan  

The world’s largest waste to energy plant is to be constructed in Shenzhen, China that would handle 5000 tons of waste per day within a simple, clean, and iconic structure. The project would not only incinerate waste but also teach residents about waste to energy cycle. The circular form structure would organize the entire plant as well as the auxiliary buildings under one roof as opposed to the traditional rectangular factory designs. The large roof would have photovoltaic panels providing the opportunity for the plant to generate clean renewable energy. 

3. Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Support Facility, Skylab Architecture

The building has a jagged roofline which is oriented radially along the path of the sun. There are 7 concrete fins in the roof covered with vegetation and clerestory windows snuggled between the sawtooth roof. The windows provide natural daylight and ventilation to the interiors. The downward fold drains the landscaped roof runoff into a berm, on the south façade, and bioswales, returning the stormwater to the Columbia Wastewater treatment. The building’s hydronic system will connect to the plant water flow, efficiently heating and cooling.

4. CopenHill Energy Plant and Urban Recreation Center, BIG

  Amager Bakke or CopenHill is an excellent example of interactively engaging citizens with the waste to energy plant. The CopenHill, as the name suggests creates a man-made hill in the otherwise flat landscape of Copenhagen and provides its citizens with a surface to ski-on. The 41000 sq. m industrial plant has précised positioning and organization of its machinery in height order, creating an efficient sloping rooftop for ski terrain. While ascending the slope from the glass elevators, one can get a glimpse inside the 24-hour operations of a waste incinerator. The plant converts 4,40,000 tons of waste annually into clean energy and delivers electricity and heat to nearly 1,50,000 homes. 

5. Urban Solid Waste Collection Central in Spain, Vaillo + Irigaray

  The USWC is analogous to the ‘biological – stomach’, compacting waste from the surrounding areas. It acts as an intermediate stage between the waste produced from a house to the treatment/recycling center. It segregates the waste and packages it differently so that it can be then sent out to the appropriate recycling center. The structure is clad with sheets of recycled aluminum cans and painted in the shades of green. Unlike other industrial buildings, the facility co-exists with the city and doesn’t hide unlike its counterparts and also doesn’t turn a blind eye to the environment.

6. Sydhavns Recycling Center, BIG

  An artificial hill that would be a recycling center in its center and a grassy park on its top. The infrastructure facility would be an active and lively urban recreation. The recycling center would be in the figure of an eight, a sunken plaza that would have two banks of recycling bins, laid out as a pair of roundabouts. The north-east corner would have a tunnel-like opening that would act as an entrance/exit for vehicles to circumnavigate the spaces. 

Some architects have dealt with waste by directly treating the landfill through dumpsite remediation or converting landfills into the park through minimal architectural interventions. However, one thing that requires utmost attention is the need to create awareness and sensitivity towards this issue. Architectural interventions can reach a lot of people and sensitize people towards waste production and management as well as encourage people to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

7. Fresh Kills Park in New York, James Corner

  Fresh Kills Landfill opened in 1947 along the western coast of Staten Island, tidal creeks and coastal marsh. By 1955, it became the world’s largest landfill receiving 29,000 tons of trash every day. James Corner won the design competition for the transformation of Fresh kills landfill to reclaimed wetlands, recreational facilities, and landscaped parkland. The park has five main areas namely – the confluence, north park, south park, east park, and west park. Each part has its unique attributes, habitats, and amenities. It would generate and use renewable sources of energy and make the shoreline publicly accessible & restrict commercial activities to the center of the site. The project offers active recreational uses such as kayaking, sports field, open-air markets, visitor center, restaurants, and lots of other amenities.

8. Ariel Sharon Park in Tel Aviv

  The 125-acre landfill mountain similar to Freshkills would be converted into a central park for Israel’s most populated urban area. It will reclaim lost natural systems by integrating new and innovative water management techniques and offer a range of landscapes and recreational opportunities. 

9. Archifest Zero Waste Pavilion in Singapore, WOW Architects

  The installation ‘WonderWall’ is a zero-waste pavilion that reuses a simple material Versiweb to create extraordinary functions and engage the public in uniquely interactive ways. The mesh acts as a membrane creating intriguing spaces with more effect and allowing natural ventilation, as well as providing shelter from rain and sun. It encourages pop-up farming, and Zero waste strategies that can be easily displayed on the membrane. “The cellular nature of the mesh system forms intimate space or crenellations in which seeds of thought are propagated and nurtured.”

References: https://issuu.com/actar/docs/architecture_and_waste

Aayushi Sanghvi, a young architect who extensively believes in the potential of research to make informed design decisions. She considers intellectual design dialogues as the stepping stones towards cognisant architecture. She is flexible, quick learner and an avid traveller; learning about new culture, people, spaces and expanding her horizon every-day.

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The Architecture of Waste: Creating New Avenues for Public Engagement with Trash

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The relationship between industry, waste, and urbanism is one fraught with problems across the United States and in particular American cities. The interrelated nature of these systems of flows is in critical need of re-evaluation.

This thesis critiques the system of Municipal Solid Waste Management as it currently exists in American cities as a necessary yet undesirable ‘invisible infrastructure’. Industry and waste environments have been pushed to the periphery of urban environments, severing the relationship between the urban environment we inhabit and the one that is required to support the way we live. The flow of garbage from cities of high density to landscapes of waste has created a model of valuing waste as a linear system that separates input from output.

This thesis aims to investigate ways that industry, waste, and urban ecologies can work to reinforce one another. The goal of this thesis is to repair the physical and mental separation of waste and public activity through architecture. This thesis will propose ways to tie urban waste infrastructure and public amenities together through the merging of architecture and landscape to create new avenues for public engagement with waste processes.

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