Entrepreneur, Marius Smit, plans to contribute to Amsterdam’s architectural beauty in a truly unique way. How? By building a floating cathedral made from recycled plastic fished from the city’s own canals!
And can we just say — the design looks stunning.
Amsterdammers bouwen drijvende kathedraal van stedelijk afvalmateriaal: de Cathedrall @ThePlasticWhale @marius_smit https://t.co/9LFcRRBD4W #duurzaamheid #circulaireeconomie pic.twitter.com/8aj2rIF36Z
— Online Kenniscentrum Duurzaam Ondernemen (@DuurzOndern) June 29, 2023
The ‘Cathedrall’ will be a grand cathedral-esque structure in Amsterdam but with a few funky twists.
First and foremost, it will be entirely made out of recycled waste materials — hence the ‘all’ in the project’s name, which represents the shared responsibility for the environment.
Not only that, but the whole structure will be floating on the waters of the capital city, Het Parool reports.
From plastic trash to useful treasures
Smit started the organisation, Plastic Whale, 12 years ago. Ever since, it has been keeping the Dutch canals clean by removing plastic waste (canal swimmers say thank you).
You might be wondering, and then what? Well, they turn the plastic into boats (woah) and designer office furniture! But even after all that, Smit says that he still has containers filled to the brim with fished-out plastic (please stop littering).
READ MORE | The Green Cathedral: a Dutch gem made entirely out of living trees
Together with the design studio D/DOCK and the impact innovation agency Max-G, Smit wants to give the continuously arriving plastic waste a new life in a beautiful 15-metre-high cathedral.
A building made out of recycled materials
You might see this project pop up in Amsterdam sooner than you think, with construction set to start at the end of 2023 and finish by 2025.
Smit wants to stay true to the impressive layout of traditional cathedrals. As a result, the ‘Cathedrall’ will have a big open space in the middle for exhibitions, events, and lectures with smaller side aisles.
He hopes that it can become a space for companies and governments to come together and move forward on the Netherlands’ path to a more sustainable and circular economy.
In order to complete the build, the group is also planning to collect residual materials from other sources that would otherwise just be laying around and polluting the city.
While the location of the ‘Cathedrall’ is still undecided, we know it will be in Amsterdam (and there are whispers that they’re considering plopping it at the Marineterrein or Kop van Java-eiland 🤫.)
Do you know of any other cool sustainable initiatives like this one? Tell us in the comments below!