Plast is a poetic architectural proposal establishing a recycling facility at the heart of Umeå city.
The physical structure of the proposal is created by consumption and it is developed as a strategy to bring the consequences of consumption to where the consumption is carried out.
Everything we consume comes from the natural world. It is extracted, mined, farmed, grown and cut down. As we continue to consume at an ever increasing rate for the illusion of a "comfortable" life, the planet
suffers. Amongst numerous other things, we urgently need to change the way we produce and consume goods and resources.
The consequences of consumption are however first and foremost seen where these resources are extracted and processed, not where the actual consumption takes place.
Which is why ”PLAST” intend to bring these consequences in form of waste, to the center of consumption.
The location of the project is Rådhustorget, defining the center of the Swedish city Umeå both physically and symbolically.
It is surrounded by clothing stores, restaurants and other services, and can therefor be understood as a center of consumption.
The recycling center will be built by consumption, as initially solely plastic is collected at the site to be transformed into
building blocks creating the structure of the recycling center.
An industrial machine By Fusion Blocker, brought to the site, transforms used plastic into building blocks.
The plastic building blocks created at site will over time constitute the recycling center.
As the project lives on, the process of generating plastic blocks will continue. The blocks will create walls, benches, other structures and new social rooms. But the expansion will eventually become a problem. The square, and maybe even all of central Umeå, will be turned into a plastic
landscape. It will force a change in consumption behavior.
This project is a poetic architectural installation forcing city dwellers to face the consequences of their consumption, inflicting a change.
