Wasteland – From Waste to Architecture: Upcycling at DAC
Exhibition
Jan 26 - Apr 17, 2017
Wasteland – From Waste to Architecture in 2017 showed how Lendager Group could turn waste into new resources through upcycling—such as floors made from tyres and ceilings made from plastic bottles.
Floors made from car tyres, ceilings from plastic bottles and walls from reclaimed wood. The Wasteland exhibition by Lendager Group at the Danish Architecture Center challenged our relationship with waste and invited us to explore the near future where waste will play a vital role in how we live, work and consume.
Denmark alone produces roughly 12 million tonnes of waste annually. In the Wasteland exhibition, the sustainable architectural firm Lendager Group addressed how waste can be used in new architecture – as new resources. We are all beginning to understand the importance of recycling, but what will really push boundaries in future is the concept of ‘upcycling’.
In the upcycling process, the material is not just recycled, but reused as a new and improved material. For instance, the Lendager Group demonstrated in the exhibition how concrete can be made even stronger by combining the new product with old, recycled concrete.
The exhibition was themed on six different materials, including glass, concrete and plastic. First we met the materials as by-products and then we saw the transformation they undergo to become new materials, new buildings – even new urban spaces, where everything is reused.
One example is the Danish Upcycle House, built by Realdania By & Byg – a house made solely from upcycled materials such as old shipping containers. The result is a house built with an extremely small carbon footprint that is at the same time designed to adapt to the seasons with rain water collection, high utilisation of daylight and so forth. The house costs DKK 1 million to build, thereby proving that this method is economical. And there is no compromising on aesthetics as the house features a contemporary look and a wealth of details.
Wasteland ram from the 26th of January to 17th of April at the Danish Architecture Center. To tie in with the exhibition, there was a series of events and visits to Lendager’s projects and other sites. The exhibition also hosted a smaller free exhibition for children where children and their parents were invited to build a house from scrap.
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What was the Wasteland exhibition?
Wasteland – From Waste to Architecture was an exhibition where Lendager Group explored how waste can become new resources and new architecture.
When did Wasteland take place?
The exhibition ran from 26 Jan to 17 Apr 2017.
What was the exhibition’s main idea about waste?
It presented a near future in which waste becomes crucial to how we live, work and consume, framing waste as a resource.
What does “upcycling” mean?
Upcycling is about reusing materials by transforming them into a new, improved material rather than simply reusing them as-is.
What concrete material examples are mentioned?
The exhibition mentioned floors made from tyres, ceilings made from plastic bottles, and walls made from scrapped wood.
What should I know if I only read one thing?
Wasteland (26 Jan–17 Apr 2017) showed how waste can become architecture through upcycling, presented by Lendager Group.