Seeking to explore power as crucial factor in the design of the built environment, we will look at energy systems and related objects, from sites of generation to spaces of consumption, from distribution networks to control rooms.
Tutors: Filip Geerts and Sanne van den Breemer
Director of Studies: Salomon Frausto
Contributors: Santiago Ardila, Juan Benavides, Daniella Camarena, Stef Dingen, Marco Fusco, Jack Garay Arauzo, Theodora Gelali, Shaiwanti Gupta, Hao Hsu, Marianthi Papangelopoulou, Felipe Quintero, Gent Shehu, Siyuan Wang
@theberlage.nl
![Incuberating Toshima [noun] c: an organization or place that aids the development of new business ventures especially by providing low-cost commercial space, management assistance, or shared services.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e0be033c80b2d7d5c3ba503b10fea043310e6f641da48848e537ccf396e1d5c3/12_Gent_lemma-4_Toshima-Incineration-Plant.jpg)
Toshima Incineration Plant
Concrete object, Biomass, Recycle, Waste, Neighbourhood, Regional, Construction, Illustration
Waste Truck Scale, Platform, Waste Bunker, Waste Crane, Forced Draft Fan, Incinerator, Boiler, Cooling Tower, Bag Filter, Gas Scrubber, Catalyst Reaction Tower, Induced Draft Fan, Stack, Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Central Control Room. 1 The cycle of the consummation system faces the same fatal fate, yet it seems that with each end of a cycle, it gains more and more power. At least so suggest the data of the incineration plants from ‘The Clean Authority of Tokyo’ – the authority that underlines the waste management of the Tokyo metropolis. The increase in tons per year is evident, and so is the betterment of the incineration plants, which not only managed to reduce the disposal volume by 86% in 2019, but also produced a total power of 1,254 million kWh that in resell brought 102,7 million $. In addition to the generation of power, through its articulate system of incinerating, the plants generate in total 470,000 GJ heat, which brought 2 million dollars in return.2
Besides dealing with combustible waste, “The Clean Authority of Tokyo'' also manages the incombustible and large-sized waste. The two incombustible waste processing centers, located near the Port and Harbor, divide such waste into pulverization and separation. The location of these centers suggests not only the different transportation methods they use in comparison with the incineration plants but also the methods and structures of landfill disposal near the sea area. The very controlled disposal of waste into furrows, which are then covered with soil, form a sandwich pattern which ultimately prevents any scattering of waste, spread of odor, vermin and fire. 3 Despite being more friendly to the environment, the pulverization of waste is the last cycle of the system. On the contrary, the incineration plants, despite the potential hazard they bring to the environment, still manage to give back to their surroundings heat supply, electricity and hot water. Moreover, an incineration plant uses its own produced energy to power itself, so to some extent it can be considered as an off-grid giant that feeds only on the output of a consumer society.
However, on the broader spectrum of things, it seems like both the combustible and incombustible waste cancel each-others disadvantages out, to give the Metropolitan area of Tokyo an Authority that uses the adjective “CLEAN” in both its ‘free from dirt’ and ‘clearing out’ meanings. A meaning that is further exemplified in Toshima Incineration Plant’s dialectic relationship with the territory.
Located near the heart of the city, Toshima Incineration Plant thoughtfully conjugated with two crossing highways which seem to suffocate its volumetric mass. However, the strategy of such a plant is ingenious. Through its smoke, one can outrageously draw on the multiple scale of the incinerators system; from the amount of waste induced, to the local and metropolitan waste management and ultimately to the various outputs that range from fly ash and bottom ash used in cement factories, to the hot water used in the facilities near the plant. However, it’s rather paradoxical to swim on the hot baths of the next-door Ikebukuro Sports Center and appoint a physical examination in 豊島健康診査センター, knowing that the plastic bag you threw 1 month ago, is being burned at 900 degrees and is providing you with this relaxing moment. What better poetic finale to pull off the “Clean Authority of Tokyo”. This system in disguise it seems, is as good as the metropolitan metabolism can get.
Enjoy the very oblique bath Mrs. Watanabe!
1. Clean Authority of Tokyo 23, Issue 30, “Sumida Incineration Plant” https://www.union.tokyo23-seisou.lg.jp/
2. Clean Authority of Tokyo, Waste Report 23 2019, December 18, INET Co., LTD. pp. 1-8 https://www.union.tokyo23-seisou.lg.jp/
3. Ibid. p. 9-13
See ephemera: 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 & 68
Concrete object, Biomass, Recycle, Waste, Neighbourhood, Regional, Construction, Illustration
Waste Truck Scale, Platform, Waste Bunker, Waste Crane, Forced Draft Fan, Incinerator, Boiler, Cooling Tower, Bag Filter, Gas Scrubber, Catalyst Reaction Tower, Induced Draft Fan, Stack, Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Central Control Room. 1 The cycle of the consummation system faces the same fatal fate, yet it seems that with each end of a cycle, it gains more and more power. At least so suggest the data of the incineration plants from ‘The Clean Authority of Tokyo’ – the authority that underlines the waste management of the Tokyo metropolis. The increase in tons per year is evident, and so is the betterment of the incineration plants, which not only managed to reduce the disposal volume by 86% in 2019, but also produced a total power of 1,254 million kWh that in resell brought 102,7 million $. In addition to the generation of power, through its articulate system of incinerating, the plants generate in total 470,000 GJ heat, which brought 2 million dollars in return.2
Besides dealing with combustible waste, “The Clean Authority of Tokyo'' also manages the incombustible and large-sized waste. The two incombustible waste processing centers, located near the Port and Harbor, divide such waste into pulverization and separation. The location of these centers suggests not only the different transportation methods they use in comparison with the incineration plants but also the methods and structures of landfill disposal near the sea area. The very controlled disposal of waste into furrows, which are then covered with soil, form a sandwich pattern which ultimately prevents any scattering of waste, spread of odor, vermin and fire. 3 Despite being more friendly to the environment, the pulverization of waste is the last cycle of the system. On the contrary, the incineration plants, despite the potential hazard they bring to the environment, still manage to give back to their surroundings heat supply, electricity and hot water. Moreover, an incineration plant uses its own produced energy to power itself, so to some extent it can be considered as an off-grid giant that feeds only on the output of a consumer society.
However, on the broader spectrum of things, it seems like both the combustible and incombustible waste cancel each-others disadvantages out, to give the Metropolitan area of Tokyo an Authority that uses the adjective “CLEAN” in both its ‘free from dirt’ and ‘clearing out’ meanings. A meaning that is further exemplified in Toshima Incineration Plant’s dialectic relationship with the territory.
Located near the heart of the city, Toshima Incineration Plant thoughtfully conjugated with two crossing highways which seem to suffocate its volumetric mass. However, the strategy of such a plant is ingenious. Through its smoke, one can outrageously draw on the multiple scale of the incinerators system; from the amount of waste induced, to the local and metropolitan waste management and ultimately to the various outputs that range from fly ash and bottom ash used in cement factories, to the hot water used in the facilities near the plant. However, it’s rather paradoxical to swim on the hot baths of the next-door Ikebukuro Sports Center and appoint a physical examination in 豊島健康診査センター, knowing that the plastic bag you threw 1 month ago, is being burned at 900 degrees and is providing you with this relaxing moment. What better poetic finale to pull off the “Clean Authority of Tokyo”. This system in disguise it seems, is as good as the metropolitan metabolism can get.
Enjoy the very oblique bath Mrs. Watanabe!
1. Clean Authority of Tokyo 23, Issue 30, “Sumida Incineration Plant” https://www.union.tokyo23-seisou.lg.jp/
2. Clean Authority of Tokyo, Waste Report 23 2019, December 18, INET Co., LTD. pp. 1-8 https://www.union.tokyo23-seisou.lg.jp/
3. Ibid. p. 9-13
See ephemera: 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 & 68