Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking
The Elite Performance
Towards a new building culture defined by the exploration and manufacturing of renewable materials
The project seeks to transform Danish building practices, and address the ongoing biological and ecological crises. Through means of manufacture; agricultural waste and renewable resources are repurposed into construction materials. This initiative not only encourages the shift toward low-emission construction, but also places emphasis on factors such as aesthetics, affordability and social equality.
EU Member State, Western Balkans or Ukraine
Denmark
National
No
Yes
Denmark- Sydjylland, Denmark- Nordjylland
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Prototype level
No
No
No
As an individual
“The Elite Performance” is a project which seeks to redefine the contemporary Danish building practice, through a unique consideration on how local resources can play a vital role in a new building typology. By reinterpreting the way we treat, compose and attribute meaning to renewable resources, so that they become aesthetically pleasing works of architecture. In doing so we can drastically decrease the environmental footprint of buildings and incite socio-economic practices in local communities. At first the project sought to transform an existing highly emissive factory into a varied production chain of less treated building materials which were sourced from local renewable resources. But since then the scope has been broadened and now predominantly revolves around the practical, theoretical and philosophical concept of a new architectural typology based on materiality.
The project is currently involved with a local grassroot initiative called KalleBalleByg, which creates affordable, biogenic building modules of straw bales and local timber. In this regard the project provides sparring of both phenomenological and practical nature and helps envisioning the future use cases and architectural aesthetics. The goal with investigating “the elite performance” of sustainable materials is mainly to promote a care for the local environment, communities and culture - and serve as inspiration for the expansion of low-emission building culture.
The project is currently involved with a local grassroot initiative called KalleBalleByg, which creates affordable, biogenic building modules of straw bales and local timber. In this regard the project provides sparring of both phenomenological and practical nature and helps envisioning the future use cases and architectural aesthetics. The goal with investigating “the elite performance” of sustainable materials is mainly to promote a care for the local environment, communities and culture - and serve as inspiration for the expansion of low-emission building culture.
Vernacular architecture
Aesthetics
Renewable materials
Upcycle production
Social inclusion and affordability
The project maintains its central philosophy through the conclusions found within the initial research studies - “that the less a resource has to be treated for it to become a material eligible for building, the more sustainable it is.” Which simultaneously means that almost all building materials used today in the contemporary Danish building industry are highly energy consumptive, environmentally pollutive in its fabrication and often unable to be recycled.
We therefore have a great potential to introduce a new range of biogenic building materials that can be produced locally and in smaller scale productions.
Where resources are sourced from renewable supply-chains, such as agricultural waste products. By developing a new range of “low-tech” building materials with higher tolerances, the manufacturing chain becomes short, circular and can be made less invasive/ strenuous on local ecosystems. The intention of the project is to provide a sustainable alternative to composite materials, where the environmental footprint is significantly higher. This is exemplified in the both practical and conceptual work of the straw bale building modul.
The project promotes a new architectural aesthetic made possible by the functional requirements of the biogenic materials and the problem statement of the project thus becomes; “how we intend to build future buildings within a radically different system of both structure, tactility, and ornamentation?” Building systems, which prompt reflections on material interpretations and generate new aesthetics through the transition from composite to compostable construction. (See next section)
We therefore have a great potential to introduce a new range of biogenic building materials that can be produced locally and in smaller scale productions.
Where resources are sourced from renewable supply-chains, such as agricultural waste products. By developing a new range of “low-tech” building materials with higher tolerances, the manufacturing chain becomes short, circular and can be made less invasive/ strenuous on local ecosystems. The intention of the project is to provide a sustainable alternative to composite materials, where the environmental footprint is significantly higher. This is exemplified in the both practical and conceptual work of the straw bale building modul.
The project promotes a new architectural aesthetic made possible by the functional requirements of the biogenic materials and the problem statement of the project thus becomes; “how we intend to build future buildings within a radically different system of both structure, tactility, and ornamentation?” Building systems, which prompt reflections on material interpretations and generate new aesthetics through the transition from composite to compostable construction. (See next section)
When transitioning from a composite to a compostable way of building, there is a potential to rethink how materials are put together to support their physical nature. We have grown accustomed to a building system where anything from a small house to giant skyscraper can be built – just by altering the amount of concrete and rebar... But when switching to a diverse range of sustainable building materials, we need to reappropriate which materials are suitable for a given task (e.g., span-widths). In a sense the new natural building materials dictate a new aesthetic of sustainable architecture. Because all naturally occurring resources have a bound size and scale in which they can manifest. “There is a limit to the height of a tree, the length of a straw, the weight of a brick, and the span of an arch.’ As architects, we follow the intrinsic properties of the materials that we choose to work with. Therefore the materials have an appropriate scale in which they operate and instinctively, we humans instinctively know of the materials proportions. When designing we can use these assumptions to artistically create a harmonious material feeling of ease and balance in the observer. By having the architecture mimic the laws of the material nature and of our own intuition of that material. Therefore, some material constructions are more appropriate to the different sizes of the constructions. In here lies the potential to develop a new aesthetic, quality and cultural understanding of sustainable buildings.
The project attempts to alter the collective understanding of sustainable buildings and combats the unflattering stigma that biogenic houses are considered to be ugly, poor quality and not durable. By doing so, the project attempts to promote awareness and investments in affordable and sustainable housing, which in turn foster a socio-inclusive circulation. (See next section)
The project attempts to alter the collective understanding of sustainable buildings and combats the unflattering stigma that biogenic houses are considered to be ugly, poor quality and not durable. By doing so, the project attempts to promote awareness and investments in affordable and sustainable housing, which in turn foster a socio-inclusive circulation. (See next section)
The project's philanthropic philosophy manifests itself within the context of Danish society. Where it addresses some of the key challenges of intergenerational, and regional wealth-gaps fixed within the context of the housing market and property rights. By providing an alternative to big centralized, ridgid and monopolized (high-entry) corporations of contemporary construction - through lower cost and higher flexibility. Furthermore the innovation of biogenic material production is able to create local jobs as a small inclusive production facility.
This could be exemplified in the case of the grassroots company KalleBalleByg (KBB), which has taken an inclusive, open-sourced approach to developing straw bale housing modules in Tønder, Denmark. Within this production facility the “low-tech” treatment of the straw bales means that less education and special knowledge is needed for production, and therefore KBB have even opened up their production and made it available for the local community to partake and be a part of the manufacturing and innovation.
KBB is currently working on a local community project, where they intend to crowdfund investments to build social housing for vulnerable members of their community. The ongoing project of researching “the elite performance” of materials and architectural aesthetics has a natural partition in this local project under the title “Better homes for more people.”
This could be exemplified in the case of the grassroots company KalleBalleByg (KBB), which has taken an inclusive, open-sourced approach to developing straw bale housing modules in Tønder, Denmark. Within this production facility the “low-tech” treatment of the straw bales means that less education and special knowledge is needed for production, and therefore KBB have even opened up their production and made it available for the local community to partake and be a part of the manufacturing and innovation.
KBB is currently working on a local community project, where they intend to crowdfund investments to build social housing for vulnerable members of their community. The ongoing project of researching “the elite performance” of materials and architectural aesthetics has a natural partition in this local project under the title “Better homes for more people.”
As explained in the previous chapter, the philanthropic vision of the project tries to promote and stimulate local initiatives of local material productions. Within this context the project has already touched base with local communities and existing production facilities. Examples such as the brickworks factories of the northern Jutland region, the strawbale production of KBB, a seaweed production facility on the island of Læsø, Denmark, to name a few. Through architectural contemplation the developments of “the elite performance” have valuable knowledge and perspectives to offer the manufacturers, but the exchange is also often reversed. The empirical approach of these grassroot manufacturers provides great insights into how the construction and aesthetics of sustainable architecture can excel. Learning the limitations and natural properties of the biological resources provides an expert understanding as to which kinds of products can be made, and how they should be accounted for within a building system.
This way the project both empowers smaller initiatives and manufacturers with inspiration, sales strategies and architectural visions of their products. but also incorporate material specific know-how into the overall development and research, as to how the intrinsic properties and potential can most applicably be used in a design.
This way the project both empowers smaller initiatives and manufacturers with inspiration, sales strategies and architectural visions of their products. but also incorporate material specific know-how into the overall development and research, as to how the intrinsic properties and potential can most applicably be used in a design.
Extending the prior chapter, from which the project gains precious empiric knowledge from practitioners, this project also searches within academia of architectural education and post-doc. research. The project has evolved concomitantly with projects made at the Aarhus School of architecture, where peers and professors have further developed the understandings of the project. Also the project drew its initial inspiration from the workshops by the Mallorca based architecture firm “Aulets Arquitectes”. Here the ideas tie materiality and physical properties to the construction and aesthetics of architecture.
Perhaps accounted for in the previous chapters, I shall like to both surmise and add to the transdisciplinary approach of the project. Many fields of knowledge are included within the project. The empirical knowledge of practitioners of small scale factories, academic knowledge and theory from the established school of architecture, as well as the Danish building code and regulations. Also literature on topics such as sustainability, circularity, permaculture, construction, philosophy and socio-economics are inherent.
Last year we saw a wide material shortage and rapid price-inflation of conventional building materials, which perhaps is linked to the fact that all materials that we rely on for building today are highly energy consumptive. Perhaps it’s become apparent that there is a lack of resilience within the building industry.
The project is innovative for highlighting a different approach towards building materials, their supply chain and environmental footprint. The project may also be innovative in its belief that “available materials dictate the built architecture”. And by liberating new building materials, we also expand the building culture and richness. The project attempts to fuse together contradictory fields such as grassroot practitioner and capitalistic business practices, empirical and theoretical fields of knowledge. All in the attempt to liberate a new architectural thinking, where resource treatment, production and housing is fundamentally different, and offers our culture a new social typology.
The project is innovative for highlighting a different approach towards building materials, their supply chain and environmental footprint. The project may also be innovative in its belief that “available materials dictate the built architecture”. And by liberating new building materials, we also expand the building culture and richness. The project attempts to fuse together contradictory fields such as grassroot practitioner and capitalistic business practices, empirical and theoretical fields of knowledge. All in the attempt to liberate a new architectural thinking, where resource treatment, production and housing is fundamentally different, and offers our culture a new social typology.
The project title of searching for “the elite performance” reflects a romantic ideal of letting each material perform its highest form of beauty within a house. This way of thinking how a brick is especially pretty when it forms an arch and how a wooden construction communicates clearly how it is put together in order for it to stand sturdy (tectonics). In the approach of the project we extend this romantic gesture to less known materials and start to investigate their intrinsic properties and potentials. Figuring out exactly what composition makes these materials seem elegant and appropriate within a building.
Surveying which materials are sustainable we can investigate the production process steps needed for it to function as a building material. Rule of thumb is, “the less treatment the better”. Manufacturing concludes a series of transformative processes in which resources are treated through compressing, mixing, weaving, shredding, drying, cutting, and moving. When mapping the possibilities of building materials, it is important to reflect upon which require exhaustive processes, and which don’t. Treatments such as heating and high-pressure mechanical treatments are relatively more harmful to the local environment. Especially water and chemical treatments.
Lastly the project's methodology expands from the single material to thinking about synergies. Because there are limited structural properties to materials, some materials have difficulties working well on their own. So, in order to have the material perform a higher function than on its own, we investigate how materials can cooperate and support each other - through the joining of materials. Some are great for insulating, some for structure, some for protecting against the elements, just to name a few. A higher aesthetic and joy is found when the materials work together to achieve a higher form of beauty.
Surveying which materials are sustainable we can investigate the production process steps needed for it to function as a building material. Rule of thumb is, “the less treatment the better”. Manufacturing concludes a series of transformative processes in which resources are treated through compressing, mixing, weaving, shredding, drying, cutting, and moving. When mapping the possibilities of building materials, it is important to reflect upon which require exhaustive processes, and which don’t. Treatments such as heating and high-pressure mechanical treatments are relatively more harmful to the local environment. Especially water and chemical treatments.
Lastly the project's methodology expands from the single material to thinking about synergies. Because there are limited structural properties to materials, some materials have difficulties working well on their own. So, in order to have the material perform a higher function than on its own, we investigate how materials can cooperate and support each other - through the joining of materials. Some are great for insulating, some for structure, some for protecting against the elements, just to name a few. A higher aesthetic and joy is found when the materials work together to achieve a higher form of beauty.
The project's methodology described in the previous chapter should idealistically work as a programmatic approach to investigating local materials, figuring out how they can work together in their least treated use-case. Their purest natural form. This methodology could extend into other places in Europe, where local abundance of regenerative resources can be sourced respectfully and a local vernacular building method can be evolved. The goal of this project is ultimately to prove that by picking regenerative resources and making them work in a given context is a viable, affordable and meaningful solution. One which could enrich our cultures while decreasing our emissions.
The goal of proving the point with local regenerative resources in buildings becomes even more important when we extend the scope to other less developed parts of the world. Should they choose to develop their industries in the same manner that the Europeans did for the last decades - the global emissions could potentially sky-rocket. Instead of contemporary materials however, the project wishes to show a better way of innovation, one which stimulates local communities, creates jobs and a local sense of place. While supplying affordable and low-emission materials.
Currently the project is concerned with the holistic reflection and realization of the straw bale housing modul, which has been in development for a number of years now. As KBB are closing in on finalizing their fire-safety testing and certification (DS 1065-1) the knowledge gained throughout the project so far, shall attempt to be applicable right from the early stages of the startup. Providing conceptual and architectural support. The experiences are then incorporated, reflected upon and later shared with peers and the public, through academia, social media, as well as perhaps a series of articles, workshops and talks.
From here further development of materials such as clay, clay brick, seaweed, thatch and straw could be investigated to serve as complimentary materials within a biogenic building system. The intention is to future develop how the different compostable construction types can demonstrate a unique aesthetic and create a vernacular typology. A new way of envisioning life, community and wealth in rural regions and perhaps even suburban areas.
From here further development of materials such as clay, clay brick, seaweed, thatch and straw could be investigated to serve as complimentary materials within a biogenic building system. The intention is to future develop how the different compostable construction types can demonstrate a unique aesthetic and create a vernacular typology. A new way of envisioning life, community and wealth in rural regions and perhaps even suburban areas.
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