Dutch architects used 15 tonnes of compacted industrial waste to create their new home in Rotterdam

Dutch architecture firm Architectuur Maken built a house in Rotterdam using bricks made from rubble. The bricks were used on the façade of the home to blend in with the brick façades in the neighbourhood.

“Brickwork is one of the most used and loved material for façades in the Netherlands” said the architects.

Dutch architects Nina Aalbers and Ferry in ‘t Veld of Architectuur Maken decided to design their own skinny home between two existing properties in the city centre.

Measuring just over 4.5 metres wide and almost 9 metres deep, the four-storey home has a floorplan of 120 square metres with each floor designed to be used as a single room. The kitchen and dining room are placed at ground level, while an office and bathroom are on the first floor. The living room occupies the whole of the second floor. Finally the top floor is used as a bedroom and terrace.

Then the couple decided to use fifteen tonnes of compacted industrial waste . Those bricks are built using waste from the ceramics, glass, and insulation industries, as well as rejected clay.

They sourced the bricks from StoneCycling, a company specialising in bricks made from recycled materials. StoneCycling is a start-up founded by Tom van Soest and Ward Massa, former Design Academy in Eindhoven students, in 2013.

The company collects rejected materials from a 100-mile radius of their factory in the southeast of the Netherlands. All StoneCycling bricks are checked for frost resistance and maximum pressure.

“The brick and the process we had with StoneCycling also shows the way we like to research what we are designing.”

There are a lot of Dutch architects now thinking of new sustainable ways to build. Houses are now being built in the Netherlands using almost no energy.

Photo Credits: Ossip van Duivenbode