Case Study
People's Pavilion
Details:
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Year: 2017
Design Team: bureau SLA & Overtreders W
Program: Exhibition/Meeting Space
Client: Dutch Design Foundation
Structural Engineers: Arup
Main Builder: Ham & Sybesma
Urban Mining Advisor: New Horizon
Reuse Information:
100% of materials borrowed from suppliers and Eindhoven residents
No permanent alterations: no screws, glue, drilling, or sawing
Materials include concrete beams, wooden beams, facade elements, glass roof, lighting
Facade cladding produced from recycled local plastic waste (early development of Pretty Plastic)
Project:
[Text description provided from the project statement on the official bureau SLA & Overtreders W websites – All rights to the content belong to the original author]
The People’s Pavilion is an architectural statement of the new circular economy. Designed by Overtreders W and bureau SLA, the pavilion embodies a radical new approach: all the materials needed to build the 250 m² structure were borrowed, not only from traditional suppliers and producers, but also from Eindhoven residents themselves. It represents a new future for sustainable architecture, characterized by a powerful design language, new collaborations, and intelligent construction methods.
Concrete and wooden beams, facade elements, a glass roof, and recycled plastic cladding: every component was borrowed for nine days and returned to the owners after Dutch Design Week (DDW), completely unharmed. To achieve this, the construction site operated without screws, glue, drills, or saws. A new construction method was invented, in which all materials were strapped together without permanent alteration.
The cladding of the pavilion consisted of shingles produced from plastic household waste collected from Eindhoven residents, carefully sorted by type and color. These shingles marked an important step in the development of the Pretty Plastic cladding material. The only permanent change: after DDW, the colorful plastic tiles were distributed among the citizens who had contributed the materials.
The People’s Pavilion won several awards, including the Frame Award in the Sustainable Design category, the Dutch Design Award in the Habitat category, and the ARC18 Innovation Award. It was also nominated for the New Material Award and featured in the Dutch Yearbook of Architecture 2017/2018.
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© Image credits: bureau SLA & Overtreders W + Photography: Jeroen van der Wielen & Filip Dujardin; Film: Cutjongens