This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice
Municipal Solid Waste can be converted into biochar, the negative carbon additives, and its unique advantage include avoiding carbon emissions from waste transportation and burning while permanently storing carbon inside. Combining it with different building materials can lead to the possibility of a self-repairing building that redefines metabolism. The project will design a new trash chute system that collects and converts wastes during the operation of buildings into biochar-included materials as products, which forms a closed loop circulation economy around MSW that encourages a new lifestyle about trash sorted and shared living. MSW collected from surrounding buildings will be re-exported as biochar products to make a bigger influence. This infrastructural system works both at building-scale and urban-scale, connecting buildings, forming public skywalks, and leading to new types of aesthetic spatial qualities around the trash chute system.