SUSTAINABILITY

Published 11/24/2025

EuReComp team highlights ROCCA Cabin demonstrator for EOL composites

The ROCCA Cabin serves as a proof of concept for how large composite parts, often destined for disposal, can re-enter the value chain as architectural elements with both functional and aesthetic value.

Edited by: Grace Stubbins

Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld and Products Finishing

The ROCCA Cabin rendering — a modular, sustainable demonstrator made from repurposed composite components. Source (All Images) | EuReComp project/APM

As industries worldwide confront the growing challenge of managing end-of-life (EOL) composite materials, the EU-funded EuReComp project, led by R-Nano NTUA, with Dr. George Kotsikos serving as project officer, is demonstrating that circularity and high-performance design can go hand in hand. Among the project’s most tangible results stands the ROCCA Cabin Demonstrator — a fully functional, modular structure built almost entirely from repurposed composite components originating from the wind energy and aviation sectors.

Developed under Work Package 5 (WP5) and currently led by Anthony, Patrick & Murta – Exportação Lda (APM) (Lagos, Portugal), the ROCCA Cabin demonstrates the creative reuse of EOL composite materials across multiple structural and functional components (see slideshow below).

Former turbine blade tips were repaired, painted and reused as façade elements and wind barriers surrounding the cabin entrance — a clear visual statement that sustainability can complement design elegance.

A decommissioned pressure tank from the aviation sector was repurposed as a rooftop water reservoir, supplying the cabin with utility water — an inventive example of industrial upcycling.

ROCCA PROJECT PROCESS STEPS

Composite sandwich balsa panels reused in the interior flooring and thresholds.

Custom sink manufactured from reused composite sandwich balsa panels.

Modular steel frame structure of the ROCCA Cabin ensuring durability and transportability.

Composite wall panel production (left) and prepared for assembly at APM facilities (center) and interior views of the nearly completed ROCCA Cabin (right).

Transformation of an aircraft pressure tank into a rooftop water tank.

Recovered glass fiber balsawood composites from wind blade shear webs were repaired, polished, varnished and reused across several parts of the cabin, including sidewalls, bathroom flooring and the door threshold. A custom bathroom sink was also produced using the same reclaimed composite material.

Furthermore, the ROCCA Cabin construction used a dedicated resin infusion process that enabled the integration of recycled glass and carbon fiber (rGF, rCF) reinforcements into new composite components.

EuReComp partners at the ROCCA Cabin site during inspection and discussion of next steps.

The glass fiber-reinforced polyurethane wall composite panels embed rGF materials, while roof components integrate reclaimed rCF patches through infusion processes, ensuring strength and circularity. The reinforcement parts also use rCF and rGF mats, and 3D printed naval windows — made from PA12 reinforced with chopped carbon fibers — complete the structure.

The panels were produced in custom molds and installed onto a steel structural frame, ensuring both durability and modularity.

ROCCA Cabin’s construction followed a phased and traceable process, including:

Selection and preparation of EOL parts
Resin infusion and reinforcement of shear panels and roof elements
Assembly on a modular steel frame
Final installation of windows, cladding and finishing details.

Final work is underway on 3D printed naval windows, final cladding and the as-built documentation, marking the transition from demonstrator to deployable unit. EuReComp partners see the ROCCA Cabin being applied for off-grid or modular housing; floating boathouses; disaster relief shelters; public micro-infrastructure; and sustainable modular workspaces.

By enabling real-world demonstrations such as the ROCCA Cabin, EuReComp aims to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation and market-ready circular solutions for the composites industry.

EuReComp is an EU-funded collaborative research project with a strong focus on circularity, set out to provide sustainable methods toward recycling and reuse of composite materials, coming from components used in various industries, such as aeronautics and wind energy.

The team’s work will be tested and validated through the development of five demonstrators “using novel manufacturing methodologies and incorporating recycled materials, obtained from different recycling processes.” The ROCCA Cabin is one of them.