The Upcycling Hub reimagines the traditional warehouse typology into a space that supports circular supply chains and community sharing at the neighbourhood level.

New warehouses and factories for storing and repurposing building components are developing as essential spaces of the city’s circular economy network. The Upcycling Hub investigates the possibility of extending the function of these places beyond their logistical purpose, towards a role as social aggregators and local marketplaces by making the processes of circular economy visible, accessible and desirable.

The project reimagines the classic warehouse typology, usually isolated and inaccessible, into an open building for the community that offers space for workshops, self-repair, small manufacturing processes and a central marketplace for up-cycled or second-hand materials. The Upcycling Hub takes up the role that a local “bottega” had for our grandparents where nothing was wasted, but everything was reused, repaired or repurposed locally with less impact on the entire supply chain. The design of the building tries to be a manifesto of this, using reclaimed window frames for the skin and for interior partitions, structural offcuts for furniture and workstations and a completely disassemblable structural system.

TYPE: Concept, Architecture & Circular supply model
LOCATION: Vienna, Austria
YEAR: 2022
TEAM: Alberto Roncelli, Nicole Vettore
AWARDS: / 1st prize, Ethical Architecture Award, 2023 / Finalist, Superscape Greenshift, 2022