crushed concrete and glass get recycled into lime-cured bricks for a museum's new wing

Made from municipal waste of gent

Dubbed the ‘Gent Waste Brick for DING’, three architectural studios collaborate to produce lime-cured and low-carbon bricks made from 63% recycled municipal waste in the city of Gent for the construction of the new wing of the Design Museum in Gent (DING) in Belgium.

The temporary partnership between TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw from Ghent, Carmody Groarke from London, and RE-ST architectenvennootschap from Antwerp repurposes the growing discarded objects of the Belgian city into environmental-friendly blocks that will build the museum’s extension.

The pale-colored brick and white mortar are composed of locally sourced municipal waste streams including crushed concrete and white glass with lime as the primary binding agent. All composite materials have been carefully selected to create a white tone to follow the building’s façade.

The new exterior has been designed to reference the light-toned civic buildings in Gent. The waste materials are meticulously filtered and sorted in a production center in Gent before being pressed into their specified shape and size.

images courtesy of Carmody Groarke | photos by Cinzia Romanin & Thomas Noceto

Gent Waste Brick for DING

The design team says that Gent Waste Brick for DING is cured rather than fired which helps the final result gain strength from carbonation. ‘The hydraulic lime captures CO2 from the atmosphere as the bricks cure, sequestering carbon over the life of the building,’ Carmody Groarke team writes.

The design team worked in close collaboration to specify a material composition that is low in carbon and will deliver the required strength and resilience for use in external conditions. The lime-cured bricks will be manufactured on a brownfield site in Gent using a simple production process that could easily be replicated in other urban settings.

crushed glass

The design team assures that there are no resultant emissions, by-products, or waste during production. The new wing of Design Museum Gent will serve as an extension of the existing buildings and house galleries and event spaces of the museum’s cultural programs and visitor outreach. The museum writes that if everything runs smoothly, the new wing might be unveiled by the end of 2023.

The project has been funded through a generous grant from Circular Flanders and sogent, on behalf of the city of Gent, and researched in collaboration with Design Museum Gent, sogent, Carmody Groarke, BC Materials, Local Works Studio, and TRANS architects.

forming the bricks