From Technology to a Landmark -Selected Thermal Waste Processing Plants in Europe

Abstract

Rising pollution levels and the amount of generated municipal waste places new challenges before modern cities. These are challenges of a technological, economic, social, as well as a spatial and architectural character. These challenges, when architectural matters are concerned, are often strictly associated with technological conditions. New solutions in the field of technological installations can constitute limitations in design terms, or quite the contrary - they can be treated as guidelines in the case of the creation of a new form. The goal of this article is to provide an answer to two questions: In what manner (in the case of thermal municipal waste processing plants) is the shape of a structure determined by technological solutions? In addition, in what scope does the effect of mutual architectural and technological dependencies in the form of a building affect the immediate surroundings of such plants and - on a wider scale - the space of a city. A significant element of this article is also an attempt at determining whether currently designed new thermal municipal waste processing plants are being located in a manner that gives them the capacity to also play a considerable role in the crystallisation of the structure of a city or of suburban areas, including metropolitan ones. One country that has been faced with the challenge of building new thermal waste processing plants is Italy, due to the considerable problem of managing municipal waste and the associated environmental and social problems. The research performed by the author included an analysis of a selection of thermal waste processing plants located in Italy. Afterwards, as a part of a case study analysis, those structures that stood out against the analysed set either due to distinct architectural features or a higher capacity for spatial impact were presented. The case study presented by the author formed the basis for a discussion about the subject of architectural form and the significance of pro-environmental structures with a hybrid form of use within space. The conclusions drawn from the study can also be useful as models of implementing pro-environmental solutions in other countries that are currently facing an unsolved problem of stockpiling municipal waste.