Building & Construction
Building & Construction years and the last third of materials displayed are more experimental. Secondly, they wanted to show how sexy and beautiful these materials can be. People touch, smell, and feel the materials and fall in love with them. This is not a subjective comment from their side, this is what they got back in the thousands of reviews they got on their questionnaires. Every material had a label and a QR code which you could scan for more information on what it is, how it’s made, by whom it’s made, what you can use it for, and when and where it is available. This way they not only seduce the people, they could also share all the information to facilitate networking and flow of information. Thirdly, they‘ve built their installation with laminated veneer lumber (LVL) in the computer and straight out of the factory. On-site, they only had to assemble it like a giant Lego project. Modular building will be essential if we want to beat the shortages in housing and the best and most affordable way to make them is out of wood. In other words, if you want to build more and fast, you have to do it sustainably. The great extra aspect of modular building is that you grow or shrink your house. This implies a total rupture of our thinking about building, living, and owning. Because now you can actually move your house, it is modular and dismountable, or you can add a piece or sell a part when you need more or less space. Fourthly, they used the same idea as with The Exploded view Materials and Methods to give each room a clear theme like water, earth, fungi and bacteria, plants, food, living materials, and sewage. But they also added gardens around and on top of the house to show where the materials actually originate from and also because they wanted to talk with the visitors about water collection, green cities, nature inclusivity, and waste management. Last but not least, they added stories to the materials and methods. Or to say it better, they went beyond just the building aspect of this house. Because if you want to build more sustainably, you have to consider the whole chain around it. So, they collected, and still are collecting, stories on four themes: Neighbourhood, Farming, Health, and Value. If we are going to build more sustainably and with more biobased materials, which we must, then we will have to change the way we use our lands. Where will we grow our wood, hemp, reed, algae, and mycelium? Who will do this? Lucas and Pascal believe that farmers will become the producers for the building industry, but are they up for it? Do they get help with it? Are we, as a society, up for it? We will also have to change the way we construct our neighbourhoods. How can we build in such a way that insects, bees, and small animals find a place to live as well? How do we build so that our houses and parks help with water management? Are we going to grow crops in or on buildings? Will our future cities be more of a fusion of brick and nature? Will we harvest our buildings? We will also have to change the way we value the impact of health. We can construct our buildings so that they can breathe instead of sealing them off. Biobased materials are way healthier to work with and to live amongst than traditional building materials. It has been proven over and over again. Are we going to take this into account when we tender? Is this going to be a more important value for consumers and governments? The health of our construction workers is valuable right? Building more sustainable also means that we will have to change the way we look at ownership. Do I keep all the materials in my house? Or does the supplier or the builder keep them so that they can reuse them in high quality to really make them circular? What does that mean for pricing? Can I resell my walls and my insulation after 20 years? We also will have to look at how we validate aspects such as CO 2 storing capacity or longevity of materials when we make our tenders or when we look at certifications of materials. Building with biobased materials implies a whole new way of thinking and doing. And in this last bit of text lies the whole crux. Do we fully understand that sustainability demands a radical change in the way we do things today? Can we build with natural materials that are easy to grow, hold a lot of CO 2 , are price competitive, healthier, and can be decomposed after use? Yes, we can. They are there and they are growing in numbers, quality, and production capacity. But are we ready for what they imply? We have to build more sustainable that is a given fact, and nobody denies it. But what Pascal and Lucas, non-architects, non-builders, “merely” artists, are trying to do with their work is to tell the bigger story. They want to open the dialogue that we have to work together way more than we do now. That we have to remove the walls between the different departments like agriculture, construction, science, health, education, and so on if we truly want to build a sustainable environment for all of us to breathe in. We are evolving towards a new value system, not because we are smarter and ethically better than before, but because we have to. It is up to us now to choose how we want that value system to look like, what values we really want to propagate and how we are going to deal with the consequences of our choices. You cannot have a cake and not eat it. Biobased Creations wants to use storytelling and imagination to open up a continuous practical ethical dialogue with all that are concerned. Will you join them? Both The Growing Pavilion and The Exploded View Beyond Building could be visited during the Floriade Expo 2022 (April – October 2022). The Exploded View Materials and Methods is on the road, for dates and locations check www.theexplodedview.com www.biobasedcreations.com 22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/22] Vol. 17
Teaming Up for Change Transforming Together A sustainable future requires urgent action — innovative, proactive approaches that keep us on the offense and reactive solutions for a preventive defense. And, we need to work together. Through the expertise and creative power of our people, DuPont Mobility & Materials is innovating solutions to challenges aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Plus, we are collaborating with customers and the supply chain to help industries transform toward a low carbon and circular future. Sustainability is a team sport. Let’s keep all hands on the ball. dupont.com/mobility/sustainability Visit us at the K Show – Hall 6, Stand C43 – to learn more. DuPont, the DuPont Oval Logo, and all trademarks and service marks denoted with , SM or ® are owned by affiliates of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. unless otherwise noted. © 2022 DuPont.
