Allowing nature to invade a power plant by turning it in a botanical academic centre aiming to help.
I propose giving power plants back to nature. The power plant Monceau-sur-Sambre in Charleroi, Belgium. Its design is breathtaking. The result of this transformation will be an academic institution that will serve as a European botanical research centre that will help on preserving Europe's treasure, nature. This institution will help countries dealing with a major problem, barren lands. Nature will have invaded this retired oxygen-killing machine, invaded it with plants, flowers, and kids.
Cross-border/international
Belgium
Poland
{Empty}
Charleroi, Belgium
Bytom,Poland
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
I propose giving power plants back to nature. To create for the first time a botanical research museum. The power plant I propose to undergo this change is the Centrale Electrique Monceau sur Sambre in Charleroi, Belgium. Its design is breathtaking. The result of this transformation,nolens volens will require the help of various architects and engineers, will be an academic institution that will serve as a European botanical museum, where students will be able to study to become the best botanists worldwide, a " university" fully devoted to teaching botany, a research centre dedicated to postgraduates,that will help on preserving Europe's treasure, nature. This institution will help countries around Europe to deal with a major problem, barren lands. All those vast acres that are barren, and deforested, all that land where people can't plant anything because their fields aren't compatible with the crops that they know how to plant can be saved by researchers and postgraduates that will work full-time not only to educate the new generations but also help these farmers. We will invent a new practice to help farmers all over Europe. They will send samples to our botanists. Students, postgraduates and professors all will study this sample and come up with a list of all the crops or plants that can or should be planted on the aforementioned farmer's land. This will bring a massive bloom to underdeveloped countries' agriculture. Essentially the building will have the proper pattern and design to grow and cultivate all the types of plants in the world, it also will be a storehouse containing plant seeds from all around the world. It will also be open to all tourists and visitors to see endemic plants, medicinal plants, and extinct plants as well as the most common ones. A power plant of that size, filled with plants that cling to the chimney paint the perfect picture for the message that we want to give:" The time has come for nature to invade!"
Power plant
Plants
University
Botanic garden
Research center
Historically, thermal power plants have been indirect destroyers of ecosystems and food webs. For this reason, many of the thermal power plants today are inactive and close to destruction. But these buildings of dizzying size cannot be demolished so easily even if the plan for this process was well thought out. The ecological damage it would cause would be catastrophic both in the terrain and in the surrounding atmosphere. Therefore, it would be best to act according to the recycle and reuse principle. If the destruction damages more than it repairs, then it is unnecessary, on top of that all these buildings have been neglected and abandoned, becoming dangerous for curious wanderers, which makes it impossible to ignore the danger they still possess. These power plants have an impressive architecture with their arches and chimneys from which the water used leaves in the form of steam. This architecture leaves room for all kinds of transformations, but under the judgment of an ecologist, it would be reasonable for these buildings to be 100 per cent sustainable and eco-friendly as a tribute to the damage that these power plants have caused. The very presence of plants would create a friendly habitat for humans and would regulate oxygen levels in the city. The opportunity that this research facility has to protect endemic plants and to bring back and breed endangered species is an extraordinary opportunity. Many endangered animals are bred in zoos. What about the plants that are responsible for the survival of mankind, what is being done because they are also going extinct? It will be one of a kind, probably the first of its kind, a plant-centred zoo. We not only need to protect all endangered plants but strip them of this adjective as soon as we can with our best efforts. And by effort, I imply this project. Given that the main goal is to overflow these open spaces with plants, the closer we get to the general goal, the reconnection with nature.
The view that the power plant will have only from the green of the plants will be amazing. The botanical research centre will serve as a museum where tourists and visitors will be able to visit and be educated about every aspect of the countless information about plants. The chimney of the thermal power plant will be covered with all kinds of plants, which will be positioned in such a way that their exposure to the sun and to the visitors is maximum. The building will lose that lifeless grey colour and win a vibrant green with speckles of every colour in existence Auditoriums will be built in those rooms where the temperature and light are not sufficient for the most important plants, but again the auditoriums will be full of plants, which will serve studying functions for the students. As a construction project, it will also include a library dedicated entirely to botany and discoveries in this field. This library will be open to the public. The main purpose of exhibiting these plants to the public is that, with the help of students who have free time, visitors can be educated about plants, a field where many people, a large part of the earth's population is not sufficiently educated. Therefore, even through its academic functions, that is, the education of students and the work of many botanists, it also has a more important function. The awareness of the masses about nature, plants, and their value. To manage to awaken in everyone the desire to protect these plants that you see, to amaze small children and give them a wider view, to teach them that nature is not only represented by flowers and trees but also by Rafflesia Arnoldii and other plants. mass education is a goal with great weight in the design of this plan.
Thermal power plants are massive concrete structures which, if we decide to demolish them, must be a decision of the government, and they will only be destroyed by dynamite, but the biggest problem lies in their proximity to residential areas, which will be damaged. . both from the explosion and from the ruins that are thrown into the air. Some say that the best decision would be to leave them as they are as historical objects. But their historical values are not as special as you think. These buildings such large ones are not maintained because it is a waste of funds. This has led to their slow decay. Curious travelers visit these places putting themselves in danger, therefore the local administration has completely closed access to them. So they are currently not used for anything except to occupy large spaces. Therefore, it would be better if they were repaired according to the project in question. Their destruction itself would require a large amount of money to cover the damages that the power plant would cause around it. But the repair to turn it into a botanical research center would require significatlly less money. The goals are:
Approaching the nature of the generations that still have the power to change the world we live in.
To help farmers in Europe in deciding which crops to plant on their land
Educating the younger generations precisely in relation to botany
Recycling of power plants with as little effort as possible
Regulation of oxygen levels in the places where these power plants previously worked
Saving endemic and endangered plants
The opening of study centers entirely dedicated to botany and nature.
It's fundamentally the best choice considering all the advantages.
All around the world there are students who are amazed by nature and who want to spend their whole lives next to her even when they are working. But universities that are completely dedicated to botany are missing, leading to the creation of small botany clubs that study biology in universities where botany is not even in the foreground. The creation of this center with one of its functions university education will unite a large group of scientists who, united, can turn knowledge into power to change the world.
People will have the opportunity to get to know nature, since it will be fully revealed in this botanical center for anyone who sees it. The opportunity to see plants that are 6 hours away by flight is a golden opportunity to see them within the safety of the wall of a research center.
The help that farmers will receive from this center is extraordinary, instantly increasing the surfaces and crops that will become useful only because of the help that will be offered. At the center of this concept will be the plants and because of it, unwittingly, people will be attracted like a magnet by the plants. This center will be full of plants all the time, but also full of people.
Locals know that the Monceau-sur-Sambre in Charleroi, Belgium was one of the biggest polluters and they proved this with the protests and demonstrations of 2006 that brought to its closing in 2007. It would be in vain, for these people who are very conscientious in relation to topics that include nature, to be asked to demolish a building that is going to cause catastrophic damage, but the proposal to reuse it as a research centre with reference to plants, nature's lungs is a complete demonstration with a message. That nature is welcoming at every door it knocks on. The very creation of a centre with such a large number of plants will also affect oxygen levels.
In accordance with the World Health Organization's guidelines, the air quality in Belgium is considered moderately unsafe. The most recent data indicates the country's annual mean concentration of PM2.5 is 13 µg/m3 which exceeds the recommended maximum of 10 µg/m3.
This centre has to have the most helpful impact on the levels of pollution. The opinion of the citizens of Belgium was taken into consideration and it was one of the main factors that influenced the design of this project, so the design of the concept took into account the influence it would have on the citizens of Charleroi on the contrary, it improves living standards.
Belgium stands at the heart of Europe, its pollution levels impact directly acid rain rates in Europe.
This power plant was chosen among all the others because of the pollution levels in Belgium. This botanic research centre is an added value that will restore what was lost.
Since this is an individual project, my ideas have only been influenced by professionals in various fields, but in the end, the concept is entirely my own. The professionals who have influenced me have not done so individually. What I mean by this is that I was not personally taught by them and they did not give me any specific advice about this project. I have been influenced by their words and work. Architecture, interior design, biology and botany are the fields that I have researched so I could come up with an idea that would be worthy to be put to use. I underwent research on architecture so I could choose the best power plant for this project. I choose the Monceau-sur-Sambre power plant simply because of its beautiful arches and design, its two stories structure gives quite a sight for visitors and students. It creates a balcony vibe that is mesmerizing since it is an indoor structure.
The choice to turn it into a botanic research centre came after my research in biology where I realised that plants are the lungs of our Earth and that power plants have done the biggest damage so it would only be fair if the opposite of a damaging factor, a repairing factor to be installed. This power plant can be turned into a lot of things, a museum, a runaway show, a refugee camp, but none of these transformations is the most compatible with the interior design and it uses its full potential.
When you go through a lot of research of finding a location of analysing it of transforming it and giving it a new form, it becomes a vivid image inside your head that you fall in love with every day.
With all the changes that are being done to urban and rural areas by eco-friendly architects, all of us can understand that the main goal is to be friendly with nature as much as we can even when we construct new places to live. The problem is we are only seeing the future and keeping in mind to construct only the new buildings in an eco-friendly manner. This way we are ignoring all those massive cement structures, abandoned by people and by nature.What if we change the way we work? What will happen if we stop constructing new buildings even if they are eco-friendly? And start repairing these buildings that are nothing close to eco-friendly but at the end of our transformation, they will be the healthiest places to live.
It's time we become more innovative and change the way we think. We should not construct new structures that nolens volens require polluting building materials. We must always keep in focus the "reduce, reuse, recycle" principle. If we constantly build new skyscrapers just under the pretext that they are eco-friendly, what construction materials are we saving, what are we reusing, and what are we recycling? Then we have to create new techniques which comply with the demands of humanity as well as techniques which truly embrace nature.
All aspects of the transformation can be transported as a methodology to other power plants. Each power plant can be turned into a botanical research centre, this is because of the years that they were built, the architecture has reached its peak and the return to fashion of minimalist styles and arcs that are deeply representative of the design of these power plants, these transformations and these botanical research centres will also have a modern element within them.
All processes such as educational processes, scientific research, and museum functions can be applied to any thermal power plant transformed into a botanical research centre.
The special thing about plants is that they can be transported by humans everywhere. They can take root in any environment where humans provide them with the conditions.
The technology that will be used for research laboratories can be installed in any thermal power plant.
What will be taught in one research centre will be taught in the other, what may be seen in one will be seen in the other. The research centre will be identical in what it will contain: the library the plants, and the auditoriums, what will be taught will be entirely the same, but the layout will be unique.
The idea is moveable, the concept is versatile. It is applicable everywhere so it doesn't matter if the power plant that is changed is Monceau-sur-Sambre in Charleroi, Belgium or the Szombierki power station in Bytom, Poland. What I want to achieve is a widely spread message that will raise awareness of how we should treat nature . In the end, it doesn't matter who gets to update first, it matters who will get this update.
There are a lot of global challenges around the world, but what my concept seeks to solve is global warming by regulating oxygen levels, and minimizing acid rain by also regulating oxygen levels.
If we start to make progress at a local level by regulating pollution in Belgium where pollution levels exceed 58% we could replicate this process in other power plants in Poland, Hungary, etc. This way by analyzing the local impact we could replicate this concept and on till it can have even the smallest global impact. Building a botanic research centre that will have countless plants that will release so much oxygen through the chimney that it will optimize the pollution levels. But not only. This centre can also impact the annual production accumulated by the farmers who will have benefited from the support scheme of these botanical research centres in the selection of the crops that should be planted in the respective lands.
In the end, the levels of agricultural products will increase, which will help the economic situation of different countries. This, in one way or another, is the right answer against inflation, the increase in agricultural production, which is the basis of the food diet of every person on the planet.
