Relaja
Relaja is a modular urban furniture system that uses recycled marble as a main production material. It is produced in a local social company in the same city where the waste marbles are produced, so it’s produced locally. It is an example of circular design criteria applied to a product.
An urban furniture system that gives value to a waste material in small local economies
Project: Relaja
Client: Ajuntament del Prat / Reformes Saó
Location: Barcelona (Spain)
Year: 2012
Materials: Recycled marble, galvanized steel, FSC wood
Keywords: Recycled materials, Local production, Circular design strategies, Social production, Km.0, Modular design
Why?
The marble and granite sector generates a large amount of waste that is difficult to manage every day, both in terms of volume and weight. That is why it has been considered to develop an urban furniture system that reuses this waste, using circular design principles.
What?
Relaja is a modular system of urban furniture that values the stone waste of the environment in which it is located. Produced by Saó-Prat, an association that provides work and training to people at risk of labor exclusion, it has been implemented in El Prat de Llobregat.
How?
Moving away from conventional urban furniture systems, Relaja does not consist of a set of pieces of furniture that are reproduced in the same way regardless of the place where they are installed. Nutcreatives proposes a flexible design that can be adapted to the needs of each location. The system is based on a series of modules that are built from the remains of granite or marble slabs generated in the area where they are located. These modules are made up of steel cages that are filled with the residue of stone material, as it comes from the production center, resulting in a resistant element, of great durability, aesthetically attractive and at an affordable cost.
In this way, a waste of great environmental impact is valued and the economic activity of companies in the area is favored. The project, which can be extrapolated to any geographical area, proposes the selection of nearby raw materials -which are mostly construction waste- and suppliers close to the installation site. The production is simple and manual, taking place in job placement workshops, where the project is integrated into the training program.
