EAT WASTED
An upcycled food experience in the Copenhagen Meat Packing district
EAT WASTED aims to craft a unique spatial experience centered on upcycled food products, bridging the gaps between production, consumption, and digestion. The vision goes beyond satisfying the basic need for food, embracing the broader impacts of food on our bodies, communities, and everyday rituals. By fostering open dialogues, the project seeks to challenge and redefine conventional perspectives on food waste and sustainable practices.
The project envisions a multifunctional space featuring a food production facility for pasta made from bread waste, integrated with an inclusive and adaptable dining area. This space invites community engagement through a diverse program of activities, including soup kitchens, educational workshops, restaurant collaborations, and catering services. Located in the Copenhagen Meat Packing District, the project respects the industrial heritage of the site, revitalizing its original food production aesthetics with an innovative approach that reimagines consumption and digestion processes.
2024
Spatial design
A new actor in the food waste industry
How do you feed a city? As urban populations grow, so does the challenge of food sustainability. In Denmark alone, over 1.2 million tons of food are wasted each year, with two-thirds coming from businesses and the rest from households. In 2020, Denmark ranked as the third biggest food waste producer in Europe—an alarming statistic demanding change. Eat Wasted was born from this urgency. Founded in Copenhagen, it transforms surplus bread into high-quality pasta while fostering community engagement through shared meals, catering, and education. By integrating production with public events, Eat Wasted redefines how we experience food, bridging sustainability with social impact. Their vision extends beyond a single product—it's about reshaping urban food culture, minimizing waste, and inspiring new ways of thinking about consumption. By closing the loop between production and consumption, Eat Wasted isn’t just making pasta—it’s redefining the future of food sustainability.
Eat Wasted redefines dining by merging food production, consumption, and community engagement. Upcycling food waste into pasta on-site, it transforms the maker’s role, overseeing both production and shared dining experiences. Meanwhile, the host’s role extends beyond hospitality, tackling food insecurity and sustainability. The space blends industrial production with public interaction, offering three key experiences: a food production facility, an inclusive dining environment, and a local market selling bulk pasta and surplus fresh produce. By involving locals in the upcycling process, it blurs the line between public and production, reshaping urban food culture.
Site (55.66925, 12.55877)
A Site Rooted in History and Transformation
The White Meatpacking District offers the perfect setting for Eat Wasted, aligning with its mission of integrating food production, consumption, and community engagement. Once a hub for meat processing, the district has evolved into a vibrant center for food, creativity, and innovation while retaining its industrial heritage.
Built in the 1930s, its functionalist architecture was designed to maximize hygiene and efficiency, making it an ideal space for modern food initiatives. Today, strict renovation guidelines preserve its identity, creating a rare synergy between historical legacy and contemporary food culture—a balance Eat Wasted seeks to reinforce.
Transformation Strategy: Bridging Heritage and Modern Production
The transformation of Halmtorvet 19 aligns with a broader approach to adaptive reuse in the Meatpacking District, focusing on highlighting production processes and restoring original architectural components to seamlessly blend past and present. As a former food processing facility, its industrial character—marked by white glazed tiles, Klinker flooring, and exposed mechanical systems—becomes a crucial design driver. By treating technical installations as spatial entities, the project explores how contemporary food production methods can coexist with historical elements. This approach ensures a cohesive transformation, where production principles shape spatial organization, balancing functionality, preservation, and experiential engagement within a heritage-listed context.
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Designing the Production Space: A Dialogue with Waste and Industry
The production space is defined by a functional yet expressive material strategy, balancing hygiene, sustainability, and visibility. New partition walls separate production from public circulation, ensuring strict food safety standards on one side while incorporating waste-based materials on the other. Repurposed windows create framed views, revealing the transformation process. A functionalist layout integrates standardized hemp panels, aligning with industrial aesthetics while facilitating reuse. In storage, shelving is repurposed, and bio-waste PVC strip curtains reinterpret traditional industrial elements, provoking a reaction between disgust and fascination. A transparent drying room makes food production tangible, reconnecting visitors with its hidden complexities.
Surfaces are chosen to hold decay, not conceal it, embracing the slow food movement’s rejection of excess. Repurposed stainless steel tables, relics of industrial kitchens, bear the traces of time—revealing flaws yet effortlessly renewed. Still life imagery disrupts conventional consumption, exposing the paradox of glorified abundance and hidden waste. These compositions merge food and space into memory, balancing static image and lived experience. A window, not a barrier but a bridge, reframes consumption—inviting natural light to shape textures and perception, restoring food’s connection to time, place, and consciousness.
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