Sendai Eco-Village

2000

Green Municipal Incinerator and Masterplan for a Green Industrial Village

The commission was to design the housing for a very clean, high-technology, incinerator which was combined with a center for recycling and reuse. We propose that the new facility should be designed as the center of a small “Green Village.” Instead of isolating the incinerator, we suggested that it form the nucleus of a small development focused on green technologies and environmental remediation. Like a great cathedral surrounded by the smaller structures it supports, the incinerator is potentially a symbol and an enactor of responsible environmental management, a center of social life, and an economic driver. The building we propose is a little mountain, an artificial hill reflecting the profile of those surrounding it, a new and dramatic feature in the landscape. Within the hill is the incinerator, an environmental education center focused on a tour of the facility, a large greenhouse extension to the plant, and a municipal bath-house warmed by waste-heat from the plant.

Credits: M. Sorkin, A. Vovk.