In a society where the need for a green, sustainable (energy) transition is becoming increasingly visible, one thing becomes very clear: the collaboration between the energy company and design studio is more than a creative, innovative venture.
It is a vision of how we can reuse industrial materials and give them a second life—an important blueprint for the future of the circular economy worldwide.
What if…
The collaboration between Vattenfall and Superuse was initiated through the What If Lab programme of the Dutch Design Foundation (now part of Coalitions). In these ‘Labs,’ Dutch Design Foundation invites large organisations from ‘the industry’ to formulate a problem that can then be matched with designers to provide solutions.
The organisation essentially formulates a design question. Dutch Design Foundation then presents this question to its network, with design studios and individual designers responding. In this case, Vattenfall selected four organisations to collaborate with for this edition of Dutch Design Week, with Superuse (in combination with their spinoff Blade–Made) being one of them.
The design question: How to deal with materials that have reached their maximum lifespan in a way that uses a minimal amount of new energy?
Opportunities
Since 1997, Superuse has been working on projects focused on reusing materials, amongst them the blades of wind turbines. Anyone familiar with this will not be surprised that Vattenfall selected them for this project.
Superuse saw the collaboration with Vattenfall as an opportunity to look beyond the blades and focus on other components of the wind turbine, such as the nacelle—which houses the turbine’s generator and connects the blades and the steel mast.
At this point, the result—a tiny house— is evident, but the goal of the project wasn’t necessarily to end up with a tiny house, but to explore whether a nacelle could be suitable for permanent habitation.
“Their goal is the same, their intent is the same, but the background is different, the thinking is different, but when you bring it together, you come up with very strong, good ideas.”
Working with the What If Lab was an opportunity for Vattenfall to ask creative designers the same questions typically posed to technical designers (engineers) within their company, explains Hjort. This project made him realise how the merging of different perspectives brought by creative and technical designers can influence the problem-solving process.
Inside the Nacelle
Jos de Krieger shares that before this project, like most people, he had never seen a nacelle up close, let alone stood inside one. This, of course, made the development towards the final design all the more challenging. Moreover, De Krieger mentions that it was at times difficult to receive data from Vattenfall about the nacelle, as it was still protected by copyright and other forms of data protection by the original manufacturers.
On other aspects, the collaboration went much more smoothly, such as the choice of nacelle model. De Krieger explains how Vattenfall’s experts helped in selecting the right nacelle for the project. It turns out that the chosen model was the first model large enough for habitation, and thousands of them have been built worldwide. Additionally, the generation of wind turbines to which the chosen nacelle belongs will soon be decommissioned. The model was also small enough to be transported relatively easily across Europe without the need for special transport measures.
All of these facts directly addressed one of Vattenfall’s key requirements for the project: scalability. Hjort mentions that Vattenfall did not want to create just a ‘showpiece’ for the Dutch Design Week but aimed for applications that could be used on a larger scale. Both Hjort and de Krieger agree that, in this respect, the collaboration has been a success.
"We didn’t just want to create a showpiece for Dutch Design Week — we wanted to develop applications that could be used on a larger scale."
Redefining the green transition
Hjort observes that in the Netherlands, the old windmills are cherished, while modern turbines are often seen as an eyesore. He believes that this project also helps to create a new narrative around wind turbines.
By viewing them as keys that open the door to a more sustainable future, Hjort suggests we rethink our image of the large white turbine. For him it’s about redefining the green transition and our relationship with the infrastructure that makes it possible.
Gold Mines of resourcefulness
This collaboration shows that sustainability goes beyond generating clean energy; it’s also about responsible material use. Wind turbines that reach the end of their lifespan offer a wealth of materials. Instead of sending them to landfills, they should be considered “gold mines” for reuse. The goal is to reuse these materials with minimal processing: saving energy and contributing to a circular society.
In this collaboration, which spanned just one year, there was an interplay between the large, structured organisation that Vattenfall is and the flexible, dynamic way of working at Superuse. Jos de Krieger highlights that Vattenfall’s structure was, on one hand, very educational and useful to them, particularly due to its solid governance and risk management. On the other hand, he notes that it was sometimes challenging to quickly adapt to projects with shorter timelines within such a large organisation that is used to long-term project horizons—a challenge also mentioned by Hjort.
According to him, this is mainly characterized by a difference in the patience that creative designers and technical designers have. Hjort suggests that, in similar collaborations, the impatience of creative designers must be accepted by technical designers, while the creative designers also need to create some level of acceptance for the slower pace of progress. A complex balance, but according to both organisations, a solid foundation has been laid in this project.
A success in several areas
It can be said that this project has been a success in several areas. At the same time, both organisations are clear: the goal of the collaboration was simply to show that it’s possible to convert a nacelle into something permanently habitable, and that goal has been achieved. Whether this will lead to large-scale conversions of nacelles into tiny houses remains up to other parties.
“We are not in real estate, and we are not diversifying into that. But we are hoping that someone will pick it up so that, in a few years when we take turbines down, the nacelle cover becomes an asset for someone else.”
Superuse confirms that they see this project as proof that reusing these materials on a larger scale is possible, and that there is much potential for other applications of this concept. Blade–Made is exploring if they can add nacelle repurposing to their portfolio, besides the current activity of repurposing blades for a second life. With the right client or cooperation anything is possible.
“If this can be done, then other projects that have less stringent quality requirements, such as holiday homes or even goat sheds, could use the same approach.”
Benito Walker
Benito Walker was involved in founding youth movement Youth for Climate NL in 2020, where he became its president. He later became a member of the youth platform of the Social and Economic Council (SER), chairman of Bureau Burgerberaad and vice-chairman of the National Youth Council, among others. Since 2023, he has been part of the jury of the Trouw Duurzame 100 (Sustainable 100), which he now chairs. Walker studies public administration at Leiden University and lives in The Hague.