A circular renovation project

Photography: Philippe Braquenier, Sepideh Farvardin, Equipe: Manus

TRACK is located in the former train museum: a monumental space in the north station that was vacant for almost 20 years. The ambition was to get the space back on track through a fully circular renovation process. The whole renovation took almost 2 years and involved clearing of asbestos, laying the full technical foundations: heating, electricity, water,… pouring new floors, flocking the ceiling with acoustic material, making new subdivisions, the list of interventions is endless. 

The materials for this renovation came from three mining sites: buildings or architectural structures that were in the process of being demolished or renovated, whose discarded materials were collected and reclaimed to use in Track. For the elements that could not be recuperated, such as the floor or ceiling, ecological alternatives were used: a mixture of recycled paper for the ceiling and ecosiliate for the floors. 

This kind of renovation process requires different methods: cataloguing, sketching and mapping take precedence over design. Each of the ‘mined’ buildings served as a source of specific material, which was mapped in zones and lists.  Photographer Philippe Braquenier captured this 'mining' process on three occasions. The photos from TRACK are by Sepideh Farvardin.