Description

Situated between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden directly at highway B 40, one of numerous landfills of the Rhine-Main-region is operated by the Rhein-Main Deponie company. On roughly 85 hectare garbage mainly from the greater Frankfurt area is treated. Landfills like Flörsheim-Wicker nowadays are high-tech enterprises for the rehabilitation, securing and replanting of garbage. A great number of laws, acts, and regulations stipulate the protection of future generations.

The Flörsheim-Wicker landfill is a bioreactor. Due to natural biological processes the organic waste fractions produce landfill gas. The gas is sucked from the landfill and transformed into heating energy and electrical power in a power station module. This energy is partly used for the operation of the landfill and partly sold to energy providers to finance the site. The leachate of the Flörsheim-Wicker landfill and the ground water flowing underneath the site are cleared in the water treatment plant and afterwards fed into the public canal. The gas and water treatment plant requires complex technical equipment, which was to be enclosed in an appropriate architectural envelope.

The central building of the plant is located on the southwest edge of the landfill site. The long building running parallel to the highway is erected on a reinforced concrete cover slab. The façade is composed of large exposed concrete slabs, steel, aluminum, and glass. A transverse volume housing technical equipment crosses above the main building and incorporates two cylindrical stair towers; at the ends it is supported by building-height wall slabs.

The interior is clearly organised following the different functional zones. The organization is reflected in the composition of the materials of the façade and the vertical concrete slabs that are placed freely at right angles in front of the façade. The large hall for gas utilization is situated in the western part of the building. The glass-and-aluminum façade affords views on the gas motors. The central operational area is to be found in the middle of the building. It contains the double-height entrance area, the control towers, a workshop, the transformer room as well as changing and sanitary rooms. A single-flight central staircase leads up to the offices and meeting and staff rooms on the first floor. To the east another large hall housing the water and leachate treatment plant is located.

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Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.