Metal Recycling Plant

The recycling plant's daily activity entails the accumulating and separating of waste metals to prepare them for reuse. The project consists of a huge concrete production area with a low wall that delineates the site and two buildings on the edge that are identical in volume but constructed in completely different materials: one is made entirely of concrete, whereas the other is steel & from the structure to the cladding. This difference in materials clearly defines the different functions of the plant as well as the parts of the programme that are generic and those that are specific. The concrete building contains service areas and a workshop meaning that it could be adaptable to future uses. The metal building houses the control station that supervises the weighing of the incoming waste and outgoing metals.

What is longlasting and what is recycle friendly was one of the key questions we were able to follow in the project for a metal recycle plant, where they first accumulate and then separate different waste metals and prepare them for reuse. The project consists of an immense production plateau and two small buildings on the edge of it. We clearly divided the generic base, flexible for multipleuse and the very specific, nonflexible, therefore ephemeral and recycle friendly by its activity. In these terms the huge concrete plateau with a definition wall and attached concrete service building define the core of the current production, however they easily allow for change of program within the industrial zone. This huge part of the project required careful placing of the plateau in the environment ensuring least earth works and lowest possible concrete wall. On the other hand, the small 100% metal office building works as a very specific control deck supervising the weighing of the incoming waste and outcoming metals. Since this specificity means nonadaptability we had to allow for easy and clear onsite recycling when this building is not needed anymore. In contrast to the very rough production that goes on at the site we have embedded some abstract or we like to think 'poetic' content in the project. The two buildings are of the same volume, but materially very different: one is made entirely out of concrete, whereas the other is all steel & from structure to cladding. Thus the two buildings speak about the context of material separation process of the metal recycle plant. materials: steel, reinforced concrete. We clearly divided the generic base, flexible for multipleuse and the very specific, nonflexible, therefore ephemeral and recycle friendly by its activity.

In these terms the huge concrete plateau with a definition wall and attached concrete service building define the core of the current production, however they easily allow for change of program within the industrial zone. This huge part of the project required careful placing of the plateau in the environment ensuring least earth works and lowest possible concrete wall. On the other hand, the small 100% metal office building works as a very specific control deck supervising the weighing of the incoming waste and out-coming metals. Since this specificity means non-adaptability we had to allow