A house built with seaweed

Omar Vázquez Sánchez, founder of the company Blue Green in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, constructed a house in fifteen days, with seaweed as the primary building material.

Seaweed is gaining popularity as a material. It is abundantly available, biodegradable, and versatile. Designers have used it to make anything from fabric to insulation to board material, and from chairs to lampshades to roofing.

Vázquez Sánchez’s idea to build a seaweed house from the material came six years ago, when he noticed the cyclical presence of seaweed that washed up on the shore. To make the building material, Vázquez Sánchez mixed seaweed with adobe, a building material made from earth and organic materials.

The house, which was constructed in only 15 days, features two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. It required 50 per cent less materials than standard social housing, and thanks to the seaweed, has great thermal insulation. Additionally, the house can withstand anything from earthquakes to hurricanes, as proven by tests conducted by UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico).

The main goal of the house is to give low-income people a change to have their own home.

Photos: Omar Vázquez Sánchez / Pilar Rodriguez Rascon / Víctor Hugo Acevedo (via ArchDaily)