Sectional perspective.

Inside the tech repair shop (above); outside during a collection from the secure bullion vault (below).

Plans - ground and first floors.

Plans - first and second floors.

Inside the gold extraction laboratories (above); workspaces around the bioreactors (below).

Orthographic section.

Research into chemical processes for extracting gold from waste electronics.

BA Architecture|Group A

RYE LANE ALCHEMICS

by Lourenco Viveiros

Name

Lourenco Viveiros

Course

BA Architecture

INPUT: Used & broken tech appliances

PROCESS: Repair or recycling; extracting gold from electronics

PLACES: Shop; repair shop; workshop area; storage area; biochemistry lab; safe vault

OUTPUT: Repaired appliances; increased knowledge; gold bullion

DESCRIPTION: There is around 10 to 100 times more gold in discarded electronics than in the ore from which it is commonly mined (6ppm in ore and between 80 and 800ppm in Printed Circuit Boards). The apparently innocent envelope of this building presents itself as just another tech repair shop. Inside, giant bioleaching tanks extract gold from broken electronics. Profits from this process subsidise costs of technology for local residents. The project explores ideas of camouflage, both in its relationship with the street and the arrangement of spaces and functions within. There is a deliberate separation between those repairing and rescuing tech equipment, the concealed scientists working on the uppermost floor and the gold vault in the basement.