Repurposing old industrial wastes: the Blue Springs and Habitats

These projects were about transforming and repurposing iron-mining byproducts and reclaimed building materials, infusing them with novel properties and functions. Throughout this process, these materials underwent a metamorphosis, acquiring a stabilized texture and prolonged durability, all the while retaining their inherent aesthetic appeal. All these processes led to a new method to treat industrial wastes.

"The Blue Springs - the path of water" I - VI.

This work that is centered around blue slags showcases transformed and repurposed old industrial wastes and the refined geological connection between places. 

It aims to underscore the shared heritage and invite all of us to resonate with it on a deeper level. All the materials have been collected from an iron-mining region in Harghita Mountains in Transylvania, Edit’s homeland. In the aftermath of the volcanism of the Hargita Mountains, carbonic springs (mineral waters) led to old iron mining settlements to emerge along the iron deposits. This region has colorful metallurgical slag residues, from which - through a firing process - I created clear geometric lens shapes.

“Habitats - the path of earth” I - IV.

These works showcase some possibilities of CDW - construction and demolition waste - management through metamorphic processes. CDW takes up more than 8% of global waste. That is a significant number which is already tackled by companies who handle these materials and turn them into recyclable products - mostly as road filling materials.

I collected several types of old bricks at the same old metallurgy site in Szentegyháza. On the one hand the purpose of the work was to transform these materials into a more stabilized material structure in order to make them long lasting and useful in an architectural context. On the other hand it was to find a new visual language for the brick facade architecture. The technical challenge was to manage the different melting points and thermal expansion of the unique bricks that made it almost impossible to fire and melt together all the water-cut brick slabs into one piece.