Omlab

Omlab is a studio for circular biobased design (research). Omlab researches and manufactures for construction and (soil)biodiversity.

Mission
Climate change and resource scarcity (etc) make the accelerated scaling down of fossil and linear materials necessary. 3D concrete printing (3dcp) is booming and material saving, but remains a CO2-intensive method. For Omlab, 3dcp stands for 3D circular printing, as a contribution to the necessary transition.

Omlab works with waste, of which there is an abundance. Compared to the long history of linear building material, these circular resources are just starting to be researched for construction. In its research by design, the studio doesn’t use minerals, fossil raw materials or chemical additives.

Omlab focusses on local resourcing and for this, the studio speculates on future developments. Like: Waste will be processed into raw material in every region. This has already been achieved with Kaumera (after Zutphen also in Epe plus now a mobile unit) and cellulose from old toilet paper (after Friesland, a Recell-factory is now under construction near Utrecht).

Omlab participates in the government’s Emission-Free Building Programme. Buildmatterial 0.7 and samples of circular colours are part of the Foster and Partners materials library, London. Omlab co-operates with architectural firms such as Broekbakema and MVRDV.

Now, they are working on a fully-fledged, circular addition to concrete applications. From TRL 3 Omlab works together with Bruil Prefab Printing, engineering firm Movares, co-designers like Fillip Studios and education.

Find out more here.