Can you tell us something about 2012Architecten?
In the vast majority of its projects, 2012Architecten works with waste materials from industry and construction and considers re-use as an integral design strategy. Besides ecological motivations, the firm is creatively driven and inspired by the potential of the materials they find.
The history that is inherent in the used products and materials and that is absent in unused new materials offers potential added value if taken into account in new products and compositions. The use of intelligent design work, that takes into account the existing characteristics of the waste in an early design stage, leads to innovative applications and unexpected design.

Can you give an example?
Villa Welpeloo is a house designed for a couple who wanted to store and display a collection of drawings and graphic art by contemporary young artists. It comprises two bedrooms, as well as a guesthouse, a studio/kitchen and a big hall.
In order to select and trace the materials used for this villa, 2012Architects made a so-called harvest map: a map that shows which materials were available from within a 15 km radius of the house site. The main facades were built with wood that would normally be chipped or burned.
Cable manufacturer TKF has an average of almost 200 waste cable reels on-site, which too damaged for use as intended. However, the wooden boards inside the reels are undamaged and of equal size. The boards, collected from one thousand of these reels, provided enough material for the facade and interior walls. Talks with the local glass factory resulted in access to a small part of their 100,000 m2 single glass sheet waste. We had the different sized sheets cut to the same size, which simplified their application for a heat collecting glasshouse. The house was insulated with a third, recycled material. In the surrounding region, there are manufacturers who produce trailers lined with polystyrene panels. The windows were cut out of these panels. Villa Welpeloo will also use these panels for insulation. We estimate that approximately 70% of the Villa, so far, has been constructed from recycled materials.

And the Wikado playground?
The old playground near Kinderparadijs Meidoorn no longer met the requirements. On October 10th 2008, the brand new Wikado playground was opened. This unique playground was created from the rejected blades of modern wind turbines and lots of other recycled materials. The result is quite something. In the Netherlands, 200 of these blades are discarded each year. These huge hollow, synthetic pipes have been used as towers and tunnels in which kids can hide, climb, and chase each other. The ‘gliding tower’ has two slides to glide down from and the water tower creates a waterfall. There is also a ‘high-rise flat’ and a watchtower with the cockpit of a F16 as its top. The Wikado subdivides the playground into a number of areas where you can use the swings, play football in the panna cage, play with sand and water or just ‘chill out’ in the butterfly garden.

What were the basic principles behind it?
Based on the layout of the elements we were going to keep, such as the trees, and the centrally located concrete plateau, the windmill blades have been placed in the background, which led to an automatic subdivision of the various activities. This is how wild and quiet activities, toddlers, older children and the parents are separated over the playground. With Wikado, a maze was created where children can endlessly chase each other. The composition also creates many protected areas where smaller groups of children can play together without being disturbed. Around the central concrete plateau, four blades have been used as towers. They each have their own characteristics, and can be recognised as the water tower, the watch tower, the high-rise tower and the gliding tower. Between these towers, a net has been constructed from car tyres, which creates an area where street football can be played.

And the construction?
It took 2 months to design and the playground was constructed in 4 months. Financing came, in large part, from subsidies. The new Kinderparadijs playground was partly made possible by a considerable subsidy from the European Committee, from URBAN II. The motivation behind this subsidy is to support innovative projects in the area of urban renewal in underprivileged neighbourhoods.
Other important financial contributions to the playground came from the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Housing Corporation Rotterdam, Borough of North Rotterdam, Nike and various private funds such as Stichting Bevordering van Volkskracht, the Centrum voor Beeldende Kunsten and the Job Dura Fonds.

What is the experience so far?
As it turns out, the aerodynamic shape of the blades is
very natural and makes children feel at home. For instance, they lay down and relax on the blades that lay flat on the ground. The basic materials go very well with their function.
The children enjoy it as seen by the considerable increase in the number of visitors to the park. The children can be alone but can also group up. Enclosed areas and open spaces alternate, and children can have fun chasing each other in the maze.