Excerpt: The Langfang Beifengdao Garbage Transfer Station, designed by Atelier Ingarden, leverages the environmentally friendly qualities of wood to transform the typically negative perception of urban garbage stations. The design of the facility integrates the natural structural logic of wooden beams and columns, creating a seamless harmony between architecture, structure, and space.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] This project is located on the edge of Langfang, Hebei. The south side of the site is a high-rise commercial and residential area developed in recent years, and the north side of the site is a blank area left after the village demolition.
According to the current situation and functional requirements of the site, the architects first raised two questions and used them as design goals: one is how to restore the micro-order of the urban corner space and return it to the daily life of the city; the other is whether it is possible to use basic architectural methods within limited investment to significantly improve the operating efficiency and external image of urban micro-infrastructure.
Based on this goal, at the beginning of the design, the architects first determined to use glulam as the main material. On the one hand, they wanted to use the environmental protection characteristics of wood itself to reverse the extremely negative image of garbage stations in the city.
On the other hand, the beam and column construction logic of the wood structure itself can achieve the complete unity of architecture, structure and space, thereby avoiding the “build first, decorate later” mindset of other local small infrastructure, and achieving the greatest common divisor between construction cost, space efficiency and final effect within limited space and limited investment scope.
The building is a construction unit with a width of 7800 mm and a length of 1800 mm. The entire building is arranged in 7 groups of units from south to north. 7800 mm is the most efficient width for parking two garbage trucks at the same time; 1800 mm is the most suitable depth for a basic operation space.
From south to north, the building is arranged with garbage collection and transfer space (2 depths), garbage truck main parking space (3 depths) and tool storage space (1 depth). In terms of building height, the design of the internal net height of the building is 5500 mm, and the additional structure height is 1200 mm, based on the 5500 mm clearance required for the highest point in the entire process of loading and unloading garbage trucks.
The east and west facades of the building are also made of plywood, but the layout is divided into two similar but different upper and lower sections according to the internal functional needs.
The lower section is 2000 mm high, and the plywood is placed vertically between the columns without windows, which corresponds to the upper limit height when the garbage truck is parked; the upper section is 3000 mm high, and the plywood is placed at an angle to bring flowing air and indirect lighting to the interior.
The building roof is constructed of European pine board and galvanized sheet, and a sun panel lighting window is set in the corresponding garbage truck parking area. The eight roof beams of the building are higher than the roof, dividing the roof into seven independent small areas to achieve natural drainage.
After the project was completed, the two initial design problems were well solved. The corner space was reintegrated into the city in a new order, and the garbage station changed its operating efficiency and external image under the intervention of basic architectural knowledge.
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