Dutch Design Week 2022 takes place from 22 to 30 October in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. MaterialDistrict lists some of the most innovative material projects present (part 2).

The Embassy of Circular and Biobased Building
At DDW 22, the Embassy of Circular and Biobased Building will start its new multi-year programme called Possible Landscapes. In it, they investigate new perspectives for a sustainable living environment, to ensure that the millions of houses that have to be built and renovated are CO2 and nitrogen negative, contribute to soil quality and biodiversity and ensure a healthier living environment.

Living materials
In two projects, Studio Hendrikx “strives to restore the parasitic relationship between humanity and its environment by expanding the horizon of human imagination by exploring living materials.” The first, The Living Roadblock, Hendrikx uses moss to create a living road block, not only improving the air quality and mental well being of humans, but also to reduce traffic noise and heat in summer. Similarly, with The Living Bin, Hendrikx imagines a world where we don’t drive our trash around the city, but use it to feed sea anemones. The bin is hand-blown out of glass into an organic shape, so it can host specially grown sea anemones capable of eating our organic waste and provide a light show through their luminescence.

Urban Reef presents their ongoing research with materials, bio-receptivity and interaction design. It questions the human relation with nature and sees the city as a living landscape, a reef. Through research, design, technology and theory Urban Reef develops samples of the bio-inclusive city. These reefs are labyrinths of shelters generated by natural algorithms and are 3D printed with (living) materials. With capillary abilities they can absorb water and provide a diversity of micro-climates and nutrients, thus creating more opportunities for organisms to live in the city. Humans can connect with the reefs through senses and IoT sensors.

Building Biodiversity
Omlab developed material prototypes Buildmatterial and Itbettermatter, with almost 100% raw materials from sewage and drinking water treatment. Buildmatterial shows that 3D constructive printing (3Dcp) can become 3D circular printing. And the lime in Omlab’s 3D printing paste Itbettermatter counteracts acidification of the soil. In a collaboration with designer Lilian van Daal, Omlab developed Stroncq, a prototype of a biodegradable slope tile forms the seat of a stool. With MVRDV, Omlab created speculative fauna modules, biodegradable architecture for insects, birds and other city dwellers.

Wood construction
Cliphut is a system of wooden clip connections without the need for screws or glue for lightweight houses, but also furniture.

Regrowth, on the other hand, explores the connection between computational design and leftover materials from the wood industry, like branches and logs that are too small or have unusual shapes. By using digital tools, branches are processed in a minimally invasive way to create furniture pieces.

Solar
Designed by V8 Architects and Marjan van Aubel Studio, the Solar Pavilion generates heat and energy on site, using the latest techniques and aesthetic solar panels. The simple form of the pavilion consists of four robust steel masts between which a sheet of glass solar panels is stretched. It is fully circular and uses borrowed standard building and energy components that will be returned to the owners and partners. As a result, every part of this pavilion can be disassembled and reused afterwards.

Shelters
The research group New Materials and their Application focused on the improvement of temporary housing for refugees. The end result is a circular and recyclable new textile that can be used for tents in refugee camps, as well as in the festival or creative industry. The textile had to comply with several demands, like it should be able to be reused under simple ‘dishwashing’ conditions. It also had to have a recyclable, waterproof coating.

Photos via DDW