New Recycling Plant for Urban Waste Valdemingómez

The project is part of a series of interventions intended to arrive at a rational system for treating and recycling waste in Madrid, as well as at the incorporation of the closed tip within the future Southeast Regional park, one of the most attractive ventures of the city to sew up the social and environmental differences between north and south.

The recycling plant brings together a heterodox rubbish selecting and processing complex, storage, workshops and offices, all beneath a vast green inclined roof which echoes the gravitational nature of the process as well as the original hillside on which it sits, a hillside “put back” by making use of the compound produced.

The new installations for treating solid wastes are aligned in accordance with the recycling process: the weigh station for trucks, the actual recycling plant, the compost shed, and the point from which rejected residues are sent to the dump. The recycling plant centralizes several heterogeneous strategies for garbage selection under a green roof. Its inclination echoes the gravitational character of the classification process, as well as the contour of the slope it sits on. A recycled polycarbonate enclosure unifies the program, and along with the shed for the compost that is used to fertilize the garden-roof, it stresses the educational mission of the center, including a museum-like route that is designed to raise citizens’ awareness of environmental issues. The facility has a life expectancy of 25 years, after which it should find a new use as part of the park, or be disassembled entirely so that its components may be employed again.

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