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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

18. The Architecture and the Value of the Waste

Author : Sara Marini

Published in: Carbon Footprint and the Industrial Life Cycle

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The text addresses the architecture of the WTE plant: the first part is dedicated to the relationship between architecture and waste, the second to the reading of some projects, in the last part conclusions are drawn and we outline the possible perspectives of change of this architectural machine. The relationship between architecture and waste draws various imaginary paths. The relationship between architecture and the trash is the reflection of the plot between the city and the minimum fragment of something useless and of the cultural role attributed to waste: to the city in use corresponds its double made of what is discarded, that in “less civilized” realties remains a resource and not a problem. In the vocabulary “WTE plant,” one of the many structures that transform and give new meaning to waste, is inherent reason of the uncanny relationship: the industrial machine, often called to coincide with the architectural building, change the unnecessary material to look into it new scraps of necessity. The nature of the container and its contents are opposed but also in the word ‘value’ lies an embarrassing contradiction: the word may tell a “soul virtues” and even “the merit or the price of everything.” Environmental issues remain in the background of this story: what burns inside of architecture produces powders, which change the air quality and the ecological parameters. They are the black shadow of this close relationship between waste and energy. The processing machinery of waste are part of a production process which implies the end of things: their umpteenth “enhancement” finally brings the total disappearance of the object, to its accommodative disappearance.

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previous chapter Technologies for the Bio-conversion of GHGs into High Added Value Products: Current State and Future Prospects

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“New York City is disposing of 38,000 tons of waste per day. Most of this discarded material ended up in Fresh Kills landfill before it closed. The Rapid Re(f)use project supposes an extended New York reconstituted from its own landfill material. Our concept remakes the city by utilizing the trash at Fresh Kills. With our method, we can remake seven entirely new Manhattan islands at full scale. Automated robot 3d printers are modified to process trash and complete this task within decades. These robots are based on existing techniques commonly found in industrial waste compaction devices. Instead of machines that crush objects into cubes, these devices have jaws that make simple shape grammars for assembly. Different materials serve specified purposes; plastic for fenestration, organic compounds for temporary scaffolds, metals for primary structures, and etc. Eventually, the future city makes no distinction between waste and supply.” Mitchell J et al. http://www.terreform.org/projects_urbanity_rapid_refuse.html. Accessed 10 nov 2016.

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Title: The Architecture and the Value of the Waste
Author: Sara Marini
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Carbon Footprint and the Industrial Life Cycle
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54983-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-54984-2

Copyright Year: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54984-2_18

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