Waste Not, Waste Wanted!
A civic centre for ecological reuse and creative production
Hembrugterrin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
MArch Y1
Studio: DS16
2025-2026
AFK Architectural Futures Representation Prize - First Place Winner
The nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands is a long standing ecological and political conflict driven by exceptionally high nitrogen emissions, largely produced by intensive livestock and dairy farming. Across nearby Natura 2000 landscapes, this excess nitrogen accelerates the uncontrolled growth of invasive weeds and algae, slowly overwhelming fragile ecosystems and threatening biodiversity. Materials once considered ecological waste are instead reimagined here as a resource for making. Harvested overgrowth is transformed into fibres, paper, pigments, dyes, and surface materials, turning landscape pressure into creative potential and converting unwanted flora into valuable matter.
The chosen site, Hembrug, sits outside of the city of Amsterdam in southern most of the historically rich municipality of Zaanstad. Established in the late 19th century, Hembrug operated as a highly secretive and strategically ammunition production site, serving as the centre of Dutch ammunition manufacturing for more than a century. During the active years of Hembrug and the Artillerie-Inrichtingen, recruitment was shaped by national duty and wartime mobilisation rather than open advertising due to its secretive nature. Men were drawn into military service through propaganda with state messaging framed around defence and loyalty,
This climate fed directly into Hembrug, where factory work was positioned as an extension of military service. Skilled labourers from Amsterdam and Zaanstad were recruited through military networks, technical schools, and apprenticeships, with employment presented as disciplined industrial work in direct support of the nation’s defence effort.
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Design process
The existing buildings are typical Dutch masonry brick buildings, each served its own purpose as part of the ammunitions production chain. The project seeks to find simplicity, elegance and lightness from paper making to delicately contrast and celebrate the existing buildings. Allowing massing experiments with paper and study into traditional paper making practices to inform the curvature and translucency of the roof structure, through model making, paper making and designing through sections,
Sectional model at 1:200
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The scheme, step by step
Step 1 - Gather and prepare materials
Cleaning of algae to grinded into pigments
Technical details
Housed within a newly inserted structure, the process begins with the preparation of raw materials: algae and invasive weeds drawn from the surrounding landscape. Set against the water’s edge, the building opens onto working platforms where materials are washed and agitated, the sound of water moving against fibres and surfaces forming a constant, rhythmic backdrop. As visitors pass along the footpath threaded between building and platform, they encounter the process through the senses. The sharp, organic scent of wet vegetation lingers in the air, while the soft friction of washing, rinsing, and handling materials drifts upward. Positioned between above and within, the act of preparation becomes both audible and atmospheric, extending beyond sight into a more imersive spatial experience.
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Step 2 - Grind
Gallery space looking into pigment making mill
Moving inward into the main hall, the space is first encountered through sound the steady, resonant grinding of gears echoing across the volume. The rhythm of the pigment mill carries through the open plan, a mechanical pulse set against the stillness of the existing brick masonry.
Within this expansive interior, a vertical tower housing the mill rises in contrast to the heavy walls, marking the centre of production. Visitors are drawn through this field of sound and movement toward the gallery, where the raw process of grinding gives way to display.
Artist’s residency
Dotted throughout the buildings, artists’ residencies are interwoven along the route, their presence visible and accessible, encouraging visitors to observe, engage, and reflect on the transformation from process to artefact.
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Step 3 - Make
Paper making studio
Entering the oldest building on site, the space is carried by the soft, rhythmic woosh of paper moulds moving through water. The sound reverberates gently against the aged fabric, marking a slower, more tactile pace of making. Here, the process of traditional paper production unfolds in full view, where repetitive gestures and physical labour shape each sheet.
Visitors are guided through the space, moving alongside the act of making, close enough to register its weight and precision. Suspended above, a large sheet of paper stretches across the volume, filtering light and enveloping the interior in a diffuse, tactile atmosphere, an immersive extension of the process itself.
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Step 4 - Dry
Paper hanging to dry
Air movement defines this stage. Set within an existing building, the walls are carefully punctured to introduce large operable shutters, drawing air across the space from north to south. Inside, sheets of paper are suspended in rows, their drying governed by the slow, continuous passage of air.
Visitors do not enter this building. Instead, they move around its perimeter, looking in through the open shutters. Through these framed openings, the process is revealed at a distance quiet, repetitive, and essential where airflow, light, and time combine to give strength to each sheet.
Step 4 - Research
Research lab
Finally, the process culminates in research. Residual materials are transferred to a dedicated laboratory, where algae is analysed to measure nitrogen levels, situating the site within the wider environmental condition of the Netherlands.
Set apart from the public route, this controlled space is only partially revealed through a large dormer window, allowing visitors to look down into its operations. Here, the cycle is completed: waste becomes data, and production becomes reflection, extending the project beyond its physical bounds. In this moment, the horizon is no longer ground-bound but lifted, reframed as an environmental and atmospheric condition that stretches outward, connecting the site to broader ecological systems.
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Site plan
Section
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