Description

The waste sorting and incineration plant in Bègles near Bordeaux has a waste incineration capacity of approximately 240,000 t per annum. By means of a highly developed system for the generation of energy, it produces electrical power for about 20,000 homes; it also creates new jobs for the region.

Waste incineration plants are generally regarded as shabby and unpleasant and therefore are unwanted. However, Jean de Giacinto and Bernard Schweitzer have designed a complex that displays the industrial processes in the plant and thus attempts to take away the resident’s concern about toxic emissions, noise and injuries to their health. The plant appears rather like a museum exhibiting waste.

During the planning process the focus was on the protection of the natural environment. An appropriate site comprising a lot of green areas and trees adjacent to the Garonne was chosen. Short transport distances between the closely arranged facilities ensure that noise and exhaust emissions affecting residents are reduced considerably. Refuse lorries deliver the waste but do not operate on the premises. Electro-filters are installed to clear the smoke; they reduce exhaust emissions to under 30 % of the statutory levels.

The complex is subdivided into two units: a sorting plant and an incineration plant. The latter processes the non-recyclable materials after paper, plastic and metals have been extracted. In spite of the delicate subject, the architect’s aim was to stage the processes in the plant. The steel skeleton of the long incineration unit can be read from the outside and the undulating shape of the double-concave membrane roof reflects the water’s movement of the adjacent Garonne.

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