bentu design turns fly ash from power plant into concrete street furniture

"The project explores fly ash as a primary material for urban furniture, transforming it into a durable composite through a process of recombination with slag and other solid waste."

"Rather than treating waste as a residual category, The Second Mine frames it as a form of 'urban mining', where existing industrial outputs are reintroduced into new cycles of production."

"By working within the context of regional industry, BENTU Design constructs a material language that is both site-specific and process-driven, where reuse becomes a defining element of form and appearance."

"Through this approach, the project situates material transformation not only as a technical process but as a framework for rethinking how objects are produced, used, and understood."

BENTU Design's Second Mine project utilizes coal fly ash from the Shenhua Power Plant to create urban furniture. The project transforms fly ash into a durable composite by recombining it with slag and other solid waste, reducing cement content while enhancing material structure. This initiative frames waste as 'urban mining', reintroducing industrial outputs into production cycles. The furniture pieces reflect their origins through texture and surface variation, promoting a model of circular design that re-evaluates discarded materials for new applications.

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