Material Hub
2023 · Ongoing Project
Research
Sustainability
UX
Web
The Material Hub is a place where people can hand in and receive used materials. The hub aims to be set up in the immediate vicinity of the DIY store in order to create a low-threshold and complementary service. The hub is designed to make the reuse of used materials part of everyday life in order to promote the long-term circular use of materials and conserve resources. The Material Hub is also intended to be a contact point for information and events by Berlin stakeholders. Through this symbiosis, established systems are used to achieve a faster transition to a circular economy and circular thinking. The Material Hub project originated from my master thesis, now I am the project coordinator and manager. With the Material Hub, I was nominated for the Bundespreis Ecodesign 2023. We are currently a finalist for the Social Impact Award 2024.
The Material Hub is based on my master’s thesis. For 3 years, this research was dedicated to the question: What leverage points need to be moved and how in order to promote the reuse of materials and awareness of the value of materials in Berlin? Based on participatory interviews with private individuals and actors dealing with materials, material cycles in Berlin were analyzed using system design. This led to the identification of leverage points, which are manifested in the vision of the Material Hub.
One of my first steps to promote the project was to create a web presence for the Material Hub. I implemented it from scratch using the JS Framework Vue with Nuxt and Tailwind CSS. The website it created to be expanded once the next steps on the project take place, e.g. with a blog. Please have a look: www.materialhub.de and so on Instagram @materialhubberlin.
