Collective Ecosystem Boschgaard

Year

2024

Location

Den Bosch

Client

Zayaz

A transformation of a former community centre into 19 residential units with collective living and neighbourhood functions in Den Bosch.

A first residential complex made from residual materials. Superuse is the architect and creator of the reuse strategy. Construction company Versteegden, residents and housing association Zayaz embraced the strategy and together we realised the project. Boschgaard shows what is already possible with circular construction.

We harvest the materials from around the project, which turns out to be more than enough to build the entire project. We simply don’t go to the construction market!

By saving new materials, we avoid €700,000 in future environmental damage, or 1/5 of the construction cost. New conventional materials have been used to a very limited extent.

The residents help intensively with the project. They harvest materials, help build and supervise the project within the development team. In this way, it is possible to realise the project within the budgets for social housing.

The CO₂ savings are 70% compared to the current building standard.

The building is for the energetically self-sufficient to a high degree. This is achieved thanks to a good orientation to the sun, very high-quality insulation of the outer shell, many PV cells, and use of geothermal heat. Moreover, it is climate-adaptive and biodiversity-enhancing thanks to the collection of all rainwater, a heavy-duty green roof, overgrown facades, and the combination with the urban field.

Anyone who 5 years ago would have said they were going to visit a residential building made of waste today, would have been looked at strangely. Reusing waste in modern society is now unusual, unlike producing waste. In this, Boschgaard makes a radically different choice: 84% of all materials are secondary, while the national average does not exceed 8%.

84% of all materials are secondary. The goal was secondary material use; the higher goal is a livable planet.

Césare Peeren of Superuse On Site partly moved in at the beginning to understand how the residents wanted to live, and from there the concept was developed. He further developed the design of the system layers within the project, such as the social system, water, electricity, passive measures, biodiversity and urban agriculture.

An adjacent 1 ha urban field will be managed by the residents and cultivated together with people from the neighbourhood.