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Waste collection is part of everyday life in the city. This idea underlies the waste collection station designed by Wessel van Geffen architects in the Transvaal district of The Hague. The result is an energy-neutral building that takes a new step in designing with recycled materials.
After closing a waste delivery station in Scheveningen, the Hague municipality decides to house their new waste delivery station not on the outskirts, but in the city center. The designated location is an inner-city business park adjacent to a residential area. Wessel van Geffen Architects designs the waste disposal station within the given contours and succeeds in further optimizing the layout with clever interventions. For example, the shed roofs have been turned a quarter turn, making the saw teeth visible in the facade and the large building blends naturally into the adjacent residential area.
At the same time, the waste disposal station with its characteristic galvanized steel facade is a striking feature in the neighborhood. An important municipal requirement was for the building to be energy-neutral and to work as much as possible with reused materials. The conventional design process was therefore turned inside out: not the form was the starting point for the architect, but the available materials.
In cooperation with the contractor, Van Boekel Zeeland and reuse consultant Superuse Studios, the choice for the facade material fell on galvanized steel contour plates: an industrial residue from the automotive industry. In connection with the demanded life span of 50 years, the galvanization plant was already involved during the design process. This is supplemented by sandwich panels deemed unsaleable, posts from sawn used Azobé sheet piles and rock wool from an industrial hall demolished by the contractor. Only the galvanized steel main supporting structure is new. The components used are placed so that the resulting composition not only refers to the waste that is collected in the building, but also subtly refers to the facades of the houses the building faces. In this way, the waste transfer station blends convincingly into its complex urban environment, while at the same time being a self-conscious statement about the possibilities of recycling.
