Urban Hearth Chicago
Designing a futuristic incinerator that can exist within an urban setting.
Project Information
Background
Trash can perhaps be a city’s greatest renewable resource. The Urban Hearth project attempts to visualize this reality, as well as address the growing concerns of compounding trash within Chicago’s dense urban fabric through incineration.
Role
Architectural Designer
Tools
Rhinoceros 3D, V-Ray, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator. Adobe InDesign
Project Year & Timeframe
2010 – 2 months
Project context and scope
While large factory-scale incineration plants exist across the US, turning municipal trash into alternative energy, none have been implemented within a city at building-scale. Furthermore, none have been implemented alongside public park space or housing. So what if there was a building that could use a city’s waste to power the city’s hotel & recreation space?
At Chicago’s urban hearth, located at 610 S. Michigan Ave, local trash is deposited at the rear of the building, where it is incinerated. The resulting ash is transported underground to nearby train tracks, while the gases released from the process is then filtered through modern filtration systems before being funneled upwards through three “honeycomb” frameworks to heat the rooms & environments within.
