Office Full of Waste

Like many European countries, the Dutch government has the immense task to upgrade their military premises. Meanwhile a clear route is set towards a circular economy. This led to the notion that reuse of both buildings and materials will be vital to accomplish both tasks. To boost reuse, the Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency set up the 'Office full of Waste' project to lead by example. A typical, outdated military office (1980) was chosen to refurbish into an open high-quality office within standard budget and procedure, and a design restriction in the use of new materials.

To prevent the use of new material a site-specific R-ladder was followed; maintaining the building as much as possible (step 1), reclaiming and reusing materials on site (step 2), applying donor-materials from elsewhere (step 3), using bio-based materials (step 4) when the above was not possible. 70% of the interventions were done with reused materials, leading to a reduction of the embodied carbon of 50%, compared to the same refurbishment with new materials. Compared to a new build the reduction is 80%. As the goal of the project is to stimulate reuse in Dutch building practice, the design and building process followed a non-conventional procedure. Parallel to the traditional process for the overall building design, secondary design processes were organized for a series of fifteen replicable ‘circular products’. This method proved to bring grip to the complex assignment and organize the expertise needed per product.

First, a new layout was made while maintaining the existing building as much as possible. This shaped both the layout and material expression. Revealed concrete structure, exposed brick and ceramic floor give patina to the interior and a sense of place. Secondly, materials that were not preserved were reclaimed and made into new building components. Wooden ceilings, brickwork walls, concrete skylights and ceramic flooring are examples of this. These elements blend in naturally within the material pallet, bridging between the original and new architecture. In addition, donor-materials were gathered from elsewhere. Particularly a bank office served as main donor building. Wall- and ceiling systems, lighting, cooling ceilings and air handling were transplanted. These components bring in a refined quality to the project. The possibility of circular maintenance was part of the assignment. Meaning a.o. products had to be durable, repairable and replaceable with similar circular products.