Grateful!
I start with a word of thanks: have I ever written on this platform that as a society we should be very, very grateful to the leaders in Biobased Architecture, product design and investors? In my book 'how to Re-Build your place Future-Proof NOW' published in '23 I already mentioned 100 frontrunners*. They make us stand where we are now.
We are not yet at a purely sustainably equipped living environment, but we are getting closer**. The projects currently planned by governments are already moving beyond these percentages with higher biobased target values towards 2035. And some projects are already ignoring that. Because it is possible. Such as the net zero The Urban Woods, here in Deventer. High-rise buildings.
High time for a broadening of biobased products.
It is still a challenge for architects and developers to offer clients diversity and distinction. The size of ready and applicable materials and products is increasing. But more is needed to interest the masses and make them easier to keep up with. (Without falling into overproduction or supply.) In the meantime, start-up and scale-ups are betting on investments, especially with the two main European Union schemes to greenwashing and misleading environmental claims to counteract coming. (Consumer targeted active as of September 2026! Towering fines for exceeding.)
Biobased designers and manufacturers also need to sustainable expressions - text and images fully substantiate . The NMD thinks along with subsidies through 'the stains scheme' for missing environmental data, for a complete LCA and EPD.
Mimmik Tiles, by FRONT SEARCHES FOR FLOOR PROJECTS
Interesting is Mimmik Tile! The world's first floor tile grown by bacteria. Because an EPD requires 18 months of production data, provider FRONT is also present shy of short term projects where the Mimmik Tile can be used as a floor finish: think of entrances, offices, restaurants, hotels. The factory in Denmark currently produces 20,000 m² per year, with a capacity to scale up to 500,000 m² and far above. Each specification scales up production, increases impact and encourages the next round of innovation.
Mimmik Tiles have already been incorporated into the 'De Parel' project in the Polder.
A completely wooden, round and energy neutral building, designed by Kolpa Architects for Construction company and project developer De Vries and Verburg.
For project details, contact and a sample to Amsterdam-based FRONT.
Just published:
The Atlas of Circular Design by Textielstad Enschede,
as part of it Circular Economy Office (CEO) three-year European project with 13 partners from 6 countries (among others. The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway). The research focused on reuse, repair and modular office furniture design and is a plea for furniture-as-a-service. Gispen and Ahrend offer such subscriptions now.
I would like to follow up on the comment 11.2 in the above-mentioned atlas:
"The environmental impact of a textile product - and also a piece of furniture - is concentrated at the production stage."**
That brings me to (Studio)'s simple but effective comment Tjeerd Veenhoven recently in the school desks of the WUR, that everything that grows naturally no longer needs to be manufactured and should therefore be applied by us first because it simply saves emissions.**
Think of organic linen; hopefully it's from Wad van Waarde production ready soon. (Plant flame retardants are under development elsewhere.) Also think of Wool and cotton - like that of Load Collection The world's 1st Demeter certified textile label! what is ready for project application. This also applies to that of Dutch Wool Collective. As for furniture the Vepa hemp chair (pictured above). And who now makes nettle-based textiles?
A good road leads away from plastic waste.***
'Recycling only leads to more micro-plastics' (Eileen Blackmore, Wad van Waarde). 'Their strength and resilience obtain fossil-based plastics through toxic chemical ingredients and it saddles the world for more and more years with more and more destructive macro, micro and nano plastics, according to Haroutioun Askanian', (Saxion Hogeschool Enschede). Biobased, biodegradables' are the replacement.‘
* How to Re-Build your place Future-Proof NOW is the title of the book I wrote in 2023 about the status of circular and biobased (re)construction and furnishing. It is also an ode to the front runners, ranging from architect to construction trade to designer. Send an email using the email link below if you would like one of the last copies. Cost 39.00 incl. shipping.
**Note: Growing or producing the fibre, processing it into yarn, weaving and finishing account for the vast majority of energy consumption, water consumption and chemical load over the life of the product. - This advocates working mainly on post-consumer waste, with fast-growing crops on naturally suitable soils and organic cultivation. - Once a fabric (-vof furniturev- ) is in use, each additional year spreads the initial investment over a longer period (source: European Environment Agency, 2022).
***Info following: Textile Transition of the Wageningen Academy A newly initiated course from the WUR and Fibershed Foundation that year.
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*do you tip makers with whom you have good experiences as an architect or developer?*
Makers - from studio to industry - can place their biobased products from (re)construction and interior free of charge on https://superbios.nl.. It is free of charge and brings convenience and speed to the application by 'architects' and project developers'. With us you will find no greenwashing, no plastics. Reuse of natural materials. Together, with a broader choice and more great examples, we reach more applicants and clients.
IN THE AGENDA
Architect@Work September 9 and 10 in Rotterdam
Good things are biobased,
Kind regards,
Wilma Dijkgraaf
Booster, Entrepreneur SuperBio's
