Glass bottles, plastic waste or old bricks and drainpipes: there are more and more architectural icons made from recycled materials around the world. This is not only sustainable, but also extremely attractive. In Munich, the MONACO is an architectural and visual highlight.
Munich, 30 July 2025. The façade of the Bulgari flagship store in Shanghai – an eye-catcher made from old champagne bottles. Historic barn bricks were used for the Neues Museum in Berlin, and even bed springs for a luxury pavilion in Dubai. The planned new MONACO office building in Munich is therefore in good company with its design. The MONACO already has what it takes to be a design gem and has therefore been awarded the German Design Award 2025. The exterior façade of the future office building not only consists of 60,000 textured, reused clinker bricks, but is also complemented by around 20,000 shimmering tiles made from recycled material. This attractive and innovative facade cladding saves around 40 percent CO₂ and conserves resources for the future. The plastic shingles come from the company ‘Pretty Plastics’ and are a novelty in Germany.
MVRDV brings international design to Munich
‘Making the topic of recycled materials visible is a commitment to cradle-to-cradle design. At MONACO, too, the façade is becoming a social and architectural statement. Many raw materials are too valuable to end up as permanent waste. They deserve a second life,’ says Andreas Wißmeier, managing director of Grünwald-based project developer and builder Rock Capital Group.
Construction work on the building in Munich's Werksviertel district started in spring 2025. Rock Capital Group plans to complete the spectacular new building with around 4,000 square metres of office space in a new work design and 580 square metres of terrace and rooftop space by 2027. The property on Helmut-Dietl-Straße was designed by the multidisciplinary and internationally active architects of the renowned Rotterdam-based firm MVRDV. They are already responsible for Werk 12 in the Werksviertel, which was named Building of the Year by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in 2021.
Swimming centre leads the way with plastic shingles
Things are one step further in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Since last autumn, the largest Pretty Plastics application to date can be admired on the façade of the Tongelreep national swimming centre. With 30,800 tiles covering 1,400 square metres, this renovation project sets a milestone in sustainable architecture. The Pretty Plastic tiles are made from 100 percent upcycled plastic. The idea of giving disused window frames, rain gutters and downpipes a second life as façade cladding came from architects Overtreders W and bureau SLA. The Dutch company has been transforming plastic waste into building materials since 2017. Their façade tiles are now available in twelve colours and three designs – and are used worldwide. For MONACO, they are now also available in Germany for the first time.
But it's not just plastic that is becoming an impressive design element. The façade of the Bulgari flagship store in Shanghai is mainly made of green recycled glass – a look reminiscent of jade. The idea came from the same architectural firm that is now bringing the plastic shingles to Munich: MVRDV uses surplus and waste material from industrial and bottle glass production. For the luxury goods company Bulgari, champagne bottles were the obvious choice, set in an Art Deco brass frame.
New life for demolition bricks and old aluminium
In contrast, 350,000 reclaimed bricks were used in the conversion and renovation of the Neues Museum in Berlin by David Chipperfield Architects. The historic building was severely damaged during the Second World War and was reconstructed over a period of twelve years using old building materials from the surrounding area. Another type of brick is K-Briqs, which are used particularly in Dubai and consist of 90 per cent construction and demolition waste. The material not only has the thermal properties of conventional concrete, but also a lower carbon footprint and interesting colours. Demolition bricks are also being given a second chance in this country: the ‘Sedimentloft Marienwerder’ by Tillmann Wagner Architekten is a one-room holiday home built entirely from recycled bricks.
Sauna benches and bed springs for façades
Things can also be more experimental: at the Luxury Pavilion in Dubai by Fahed + Architects for Design Week 2017, the façade was even designed from a network of interwoven recycled bed springs – which in turn were collected by the local waste management company. In Hanover, builders have reused old sauna benches from a fitness club for the entrance area of a residential building. They cover 90 per cent of the façade with reused building elements sourced from local demolition and renovation projects.
As creative and innovative as individual projects are, the figures show that we are only at the beginning when it comes to recycling building materials. According to calculations by the federal association of the same name, only 10.6 per cent (13.7 million tonnes) of soil and stones currently end up as finely chopped bulk material in mining, rather than being recycled as building materials that make buildings shine and amaze people.
More information: https://www.monacooffice.de/english/home