Recycled Concrete Aggregate

Concrete is a widely used yet highly unsustainable building material thus by re-using/recycling this material from existing buildings, that would otherwise contribute to landfill, it would increase the sustainability and decrease the embodied energy of new build projects and increase the life cycle of this material and perhaps could be re-used within building interiors to pay homage to the site/buildings previous use. For this project I Investigated the industrial and under-utilised process of recycling concrete to form an aggregate which can then be used to produce new concrete. Throughout this material exploration I mirrored the industrial process on a small handmade scale and carried out several tests to determine the best ratios, size and type of recycled concrete aggregate versus virgin aggregate to assess the impact on the materials visual and physical qualities. As a result of my testing and research I then produced a final artefact, a handmade pre-cast concrete floor tile (400 x 400 x 40mm) using recycled concrete aggregate and a plywood and acrylic base formwork.