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WASTE TO MILES 

AN OPPORTUNITY OUT OF MUNICIPAL WASTE

PRETHESIS
2019
studio hani rashid
university of applied arts vienna

It is essential to keep up with the way things work in a world where it is getting harder and harder to follow the fast evolution of technology. Architecture has the potential to play a major role in this process. There is no easy solution to complex problems. The pollution of the oceans, the disposal of used electronic device or waste in general, climate change, overpopulation; none of these challenges has an easy solution. They are so complex and intricate, that often it is more comfortable hiding or ignoring them. Architecture has to raise awareness of their reality and imminence by confronting people with these challenges constantly. Displaying and framing all the processes, complexities and creativity which are involved to guarantee our lifestyle on a longer run is one of its most important duties. Only by tackling these challenges and subsequently overcoming it, a deep condition of satisfaction and beauty can be achieved.

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the geometrical idea

THE MACHINE AESTHETIC
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The idea behind these geometry studies, is the development of an architectural aesthetic, which facilitates a seamless symbiosis between the industrial processes within an inceneration plant and the architecture allowing the public visitation of such typologies.

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THE CONCEPT

Given the widespread distribution of waste along the highway 50, my proposal is to install several waste to miles plants, which provide the street network with electricity and building material, help raising awareness of the GHG footprint of modern societies municipal waste and provide this in a “edutainging” way. Additionally, local companies and municipals are able to claim their independency of energy corporation giants and also provide green jobs and local work opportunities.

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the wastage

LANDFILLS - A CEMETERY OF ENERGY

Landfills are taking up vast amount of space. Whether the US is running out of landfill space is not such a big standpoint as it is in Europe. Nevertheless the municipal waste ending up in landfills is almost double than the European one. Of course the most efficient and environment friendly way to process waste is to recycle. But not everything is recyclable, especially after a certain material has been recycled several times.

NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE RECLYCLED
RECYCLE WHAT YOU CAN,
BURN WHAT YOU CAN'T!

paper

5-7X

The woodfibers get shorter after each recycle step. Recycled paper has inferior quality compared to virgin paper.

metals

Metals are categorized into ferrous and non-ferrous metals. All metals have an unlimited lifespan, and it is always a good idea to recycle them, regardless of how much you have.

glass

Glass, like metal, can be recycled an unlimited number of times. Because glass is harder to create from scratch, it is actually more cost-effective to reuse and recycle glass, making it the best item to buy at the store.

plastic

1-2X

hdpe: 

7-8X

In theory HDPE could be reclycled an infinite amount of times. But because of the contamination with different type of plastics after each recycling step the product deteriorates

ps:

0X

It is still considered not recyclable because there is not enough material left after breaking it down to make new products

pp, pe-ld:

variant

Depending on the Process

ps, 0:

0-1X

Not economically/ environmentally worth it

In 1 Ton of waste it is possible to generate 550 KWh of energy with the newest combus¬tion technologies. On the other hand with the same amount of waste lying in landfills with the gas to energy plan you can only extract like 10% of this energy in form of gas. The combustion of waste along with filtration systems only allow a reduced amount of CO2 to enter the atmosphere. Landfills produce 86x stronger ghg gas methane during the decomposition of waste. Such plants have reduced the GHG emissions by 350000000 tons in the last 20 years.

an interface between human and machine

ENTRANCE HALL
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