The Upcycle Academy, is a project centered around the sustainable development of the arts and crafts education. The concept revolves around gathering excess materials from the surrounding school building providing a space to recycle and upcycle them to be able to reuse these materials in future arts and crafts projects by the students reducing the waste produced by the school significantly.
The project includes spaces for students to process excess materials, workshops to recycle and reuse them and a research lab to develop new sustainable techniques and technologies. The project also houses and auditorium with an exhibition to host events and seminars to share the students’ findings and ideas with various other organizations.
The building is designed to provide suitable spaces for these functions by rotating to avoid direct sunlight to the workshops and to provide a courtyard that works with the area around the Kumbet. this allows better atmosphere in the communal areas and suitable working environment. The design also utilizes a recycled steel structure and a recyclable copper façade to emphasize the importance of sustainability and connect the traditional copper work crafts that Kayseri is known for to the future vision of sustainable arts and crafts.
