Upcycle Centrum Almere

The Upcycle-Centrum-Almere is a modern iconic pavilion that offers space for all facets of the circular economy and will attract more circular entrepreneurs. The building itself is also circular, made from waste = raw materials from Almere, fully demountable and energy neutral.

As a "cockpit", the management building offers a good overview of the entrance and the platform. The raised platform makes it easy to dispose of the items in the containers. Below the platform are areas where the collected waste is dismantled, stored and can be processed into new products. Starting entrepreneurs can make and sell products from a few rooms with a display window function. The roof and shell provide the user, visitor and the delivered raw materials with shelter from the weather. The 3rd floor facilitates education and innovation. In the coming year, the education room will be furnished with furniture produced on site.

Reuse

Upcycle Centrum Almere itself is also an upcycle product. It was realized with, among other things, demolition material for the swimming pool, the sports hall and the former municipal yard in Almere. The building shows what recycled material is, without sacrificing architectural quality. For the Upcycle Center, an inventory has been made of three buildings to be demolished in Almere, in which the materials that could be resused were documented, and how these could be applied in an architecturally and constructively responsible manner, without the costs being greater than the benefits. For example, steel structures from the demolished buildings have been re-used constructively (made recognizable by coating them in anthracite). The wall tiles in the bathroom were spare tiles that were stored in the pool. The washbasins from the municipal yard have been cleaned and reused. The overhead doors and the fencing around the site come from the demolished sports hall in Almere.

Remanufacture

The Upcycle Center allows people to look at waste differently: car tires became bicycle racks, bicycle wheels have been transformed into fencing and galvanized air ducts have been reused as facade cladding of the management building. The wooden facade is partly made of cleared trees from Almere that had to make way for the renewed A6, and partly of old steps, former dressing room benches and demolished scaffolding, for example. Below the platform are areas where the collected waste is dismantled, stored and can be processed into new products. Starting entrepreneurs can make and sell products from a few rooms with a display window function.