Anne Koudstaal and Simon Jorritsma, the inventors of PlasticRoad, stated: Together with Wavin and Total, we now have a vast pool of knowledge, experience and resources, and can take concrete steps in the development of PlasticRoad. We expect to have a first prototype completed by year-end 2017
This plastic road is perfect for our sustainable community. VolkerWessels construction company introduced the concept Plastic Road; a concept of plastic that is circular, quick to apply and also hardwearing.
Road Advantages
Plastic offers lots of advantages both in construction and in the maintenance of roads.
It is maintenance free product
Barely wearable
The material is impervious to weather
Plastic is resistant to heavy frost and extreme heat
Forty degrees of frost or eighty degrees above zero for plastic roads will be no problem
Recycled plastic
VolkerWessels claims that the modules will be build with 100 percent recycled material. Plastics are processed into ‘prefab’ road segments: industrial road sections which are completely transported to the new road. The road can be build in a short period of time. Moreover, because of the hollow structure there is room for other infrastructure such as cables, pipes and water.
Rotterdam pilot
The first candidate for a plastic road is the city of Rotterdam. That municipal wants to participate in a trial.
We are hoping to gain insight about the consequences for motorcyclists. What will be the grip of the plastic surfaces?
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Win Win
“Sinking roads are a big problem in the Netherlands. That’s because the ground is so wet that roads get soaked, which makes them sink to such a degree that, in some cases, they have to be replaced after just three to four years.”
Plastic has a great advantage: It’s not only impermeable to water, but it’s also much lighter than asphalt. Plastic roads could be designed with integrated storm drains – a system that collects water during heavy downpours to release it later in a controlled fashion.
Prefabricated roads would be quick to build, reducing the time we spend in traffic jams. And a plastic road could go 50-100 years without maintenance. Compare that to conventional roads, which need to be replaced three times over every fifty years, on average.
Buildings made of straw bales and hemp construction, can have zero heat requirements, they are saving money and reduce CO2 emissions.
Passive building – ModCellis one of the first products to make large-scale, carbon-negative building a commercial reality.
The system utilizes the excellent thermal insulation qualities of straw bale and hemp construction to form prefabricated panels.
Passive buildings
The construction offers super-insulated, high-performance, low energy ‘passive’ buildings to be built using renewable, locally sourced, carbon sequestering, sustainable building materials and can be used in offices, schools, housing and commercial buildings.
This innovative, offsite-manufactured wall and roof cladding system can be quickly and efficiently installed, creating buildings with thermal performance up to three times higher than the current building regulations require. Therefore the construction is certified as Passive House specification.
Ecological footprint
As a result, sustainable buildings of straw bale and hemp construction can have zero heat requirements, saving money and CO2 emissions.
The chimney principle is copied from ants and termites, which ingeniously craft corridors that regulate the temperature without active ventilation
Inspired by nature!
Environmental Education Centre
This building has been inspired by a termite hill. Natrufied architecture designed a beautiful CO2 end energy neutral building.
The Environmental Education Centre (picture) is housing offices, a restaurant, exhibition halls and a doctors practice. But for both of the buildings, the solar chimney is The Big Innovation!
Termite mount
In the solar chimney, air is drawn into the ground via pipes and discharged again via the tower. This principle is copied from ants and termites, which ingeniously craft corridors that regulate the temperature without active ventilation.
The buildings are designed with green roofs that isolate and will store all the rain and storm waters.
With new additions of wood and slate stone, together with the existing red bricks, a new earthy tone of materials will make a new composition of old and new in a ton-sur-ton strategy.
School renovation
For the new Campus Markenhage in Breda, the Netherlands, Natrufied designs a complex of buildings creating a base for 3 schools; Markenhage, Michael College and the Orion Lyceum. The 14.000 m2 building is partially new build, partially a renovation of an existing school building. Old and new are woven together into a new community, with respect to each schools own identity.
Inspired by nature
Working with ingredients from nature, the theme of Art d’eco has been developed as one of the main design philosophies of the office. With this the ambition is to support the environment as well as to create beauty: this makes the art of ecology.
All designs are inspired by Nature:
embedding the program into the surrounding environment
biomimicry design approach
use of natural materials
natural shapes or more abstract representation of natural patterns
parametric structures and biotic material approach
Integrating high tech and low tech sustainability into the designs is a natural part of their design work.
The hollow columns are designed to store rainwater.
To accelerate the Clean Tech Innovation, green architect GertJan Scholte has built a high tech pavilion of residuals in Amsterdam.
High Tech Pavilion
Building with bio-composites needs repetition – and therefore modular solutions – because the molds are expensive.
six-sided base of bio-composite material
Residuals as raw materials
The concept of Cradle toCradle is about quality and innovation.It’s main focus is striving fora large positiveimpact.
For the design of the pavilion, Scholte has chosen a six-sided base of bio-composite material. Supplemented with a triangle element.
The aim is to build a smart system for the collection of rainwater, with these elements. The hollow columns are designed to store rainwater.
Circular
More architects are experimenting with residuals and construction methods to contribute to a circular world. The engagement to a circular world is common. An example is the complete cradle to cradle business park 20 | 20 in Amsterdam.
Europe intents to develop a C2C Certified Community of Practice in Europe. The Europe government is facilitating a ‘living lab’ for industrial participants to learn, share, and collaborate, in order to identify opportunities and solutions for shared success.
Cradle to Cradle advantages
Products and processes are designed in such a way that materials remain available to humans and their natural environment
Products are designed so that the materials can be completely reused in the technical cycle
Products in the technical cycle must act as a high-quality raw material for new products in the technological domain
Absolutely no harmful waste substances may be released during the manufacturing process
Products are manufactured using circular energy sources
In the building is enough space for apartments and hotels
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Green skyline icon
The energy and ambition of Dutch WindWheel Corporation is contagious. They are convinced: This wind power FerrisWheel, will be the green icon of the future. They think it will not be hard to find investors.
The panoramic wheel, equipped with moving cabins (including a underwater film experience), should be funded by an attraction operator
WindWheel is exploring the possibilities for sustainable materials and local energy generation with solar, biomass and waste heat.
Circular Architecture
First, Dutch WindWheel wants to think about the innovations that has to accommodate the building. Together with 10 partners, Dutch WindWheel want to explore the possibilities for sustainable materials and local energy generation with solar, biomass and waste heat. Circular Architecture of ‘Climate Architecture’ as it is mentioned by the owner Lennart Graaff.
Rotterdam
By 2025 the FerrisWheel should be operational. Preference is given to Rotterdam (EU city 2015), but Amsterdam will be another great opportunity.
This stone called “Clairplus”, purifies the air. It breaks down 63 to 80% nitrous oxide (NOx and NO) from the air. This stone is one of the great, sustainable contributions to slow down global warming.
One square meter Clairplus purifies the air as much as a large tree does. 9 m2 reduces NOx as much as a normal car yearly emissions. Clairplus has a special coating of titanium dioxide.
We already knew that titanium dioxide breaks down nitrogen oxide influenced by sunlight. Usage in building materials is new. The coating functions as a catalyst: it changes the harmful nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrate, which is washed away by rainwater, just as plants do in nature.
NOx causes acid rain and smog.
Clairplus
MBI uses this patented technology for bricks and concrete stones which can be used for roads, gardens and parks.
It is possible to use 20,000 square meters of air-purifying stones in facades, streets and gardens in air pollutioned neighborhoods so cities get ‘green lungs of stones’.
Tests with air purifying paving stones in a street in Hengelo showed that the NOx concentrations throughout the day decreased with 19%
The stones used in Hengelo could break off 40 to 50 percent of the NOx
The Clairplus was also tested by professor Brewers in the reactor of the Technical University of Eindhoven which resulted in the purification of 63 percent
An additional advantage of stones with a coating of titanium dioxide is the self-cleaning ability. The stones retain the original color because the top layer will not be attached by dirt, algae and mosses.
Mecalithe forms tiny needles in the concrete. Now concrete strenghtenens itself. This process is fast, concrete can be lifted quicker out of its formwork.
Mecalithe® in Concrete saves 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2.
Production of cement supplies 3.5 billion tons of CO2 worldwide. The production of cement is bad for our milieu. Therefore MGX Group developed Houton: concrete made with wood-dust and reinforced it with Mecalithe®.
Mecalithe®
The admixture for Cement Saver (CemSaver) Mecalithe® is intended for the (prefab) concrete industry. This additive can be used as a hardening accelerator and makes it possible to considerably increase the final strength by about 30%.
What’s the secret?
Cement has hardly any fibers and therefore a tensile strength of nothing. Because of that steel must be used to reinforce the concreet.
Mecalithe forms tiny needles in the concrete. Now concrete strenghtenens itself. This process is fast, concrete can be lifted quicker out of its formwork.
MBI (concreet industry) started a pilot with founder Peter van Bakel – MGX / Suston – an agency that investigates new “concrete” concepts. This pilot showed that Mecalithe needed less cement and still yielded stronger concrete.
Inventor of the Mecalithe is Youva Raj Tyagi, professor concrete technique at the Caledonian University in Glasgow.
Green product
The ‘green concrete’ is extremely strong, and remains perfect in roads with a lot of traffic, when it freezes, and must withstand salt. The potential is enormous.
Cement is not only expensive, but also harmful to the environment, because cement must be heated to high temperatures, making it responsible for over 5% of CO2 emissions worldwide.
Less cement in concrete translates into fewer greenhouse gases.
Houton
Houton ® is concrete in which wood has been processed.
This raw material combines the positive properties of wood and concrete. Wood does not normally bond with cement because it is an organic material.
However, by adding Megatrax® to the product it is possible to make concrete containing 30 to 90% wood.
End there is more:
If Geopolymers are added to the cement, this will reduce CO2 emissions during the cement production by 80%.
Revolutionary is the use of the alternative Mecalithe excipient. With Mecalithe the concrete uses 30 percent less cement in his ECOFORTO concrete blocks
Concrete ECOFORTO stones can reduce up to 35% CO2 reduction. The ECOFORTO concrete has been launched by MBI. This stone is produced with 30% less cement.
The titanium dioxide coating guarantees not only a long life. If used on stones as the Clairplus, stones are also capable of infiltrating water and purifying the air. Because of this strong top layer the concrete blocks can be manufactured with minimal cement and primary materials and still can meet all strength requirements
Recycle
Furthermore, MBI replace 30 percent of its primary raw materials like sand and gravel by secondary raw materials from recycled and purified bottom ash of waste incinerators.
By using Rebeas sand and gravel from old railways, ballast gets a second life in the concrete. Also MBI plants recycle all their own debris in their concrete.
Revolutionary
Revolutionary is the use of the alternative Mecalithe excipient. With Mecalithe the concrete uses 30 percent less cement in his ECOFORTO concrete blocks.
Since the cement industry is responsible for 5 percent of all CO2 emissions in the world, this leads to a substantial reduction of the CO2 footprint.
Green product
The ‘green concrete’ is extremely strong, and remains perfect in roads with a lot of traffic, when it freezes, and must withstand salt. The potential is enormous.
Cement is not only expensive, but also harmful to the environment, because cement must be heated to high temperatures, making it responsible for over 5% of CO2 emissions worldwide.
Less cement in concrete translates into fewer greenhouse gases.
Extra
If Geopolymers are added to the cement, this will reduce CO2 emissions during the cement production by 80%.
The walkways, courtyards, and glass-wrapped volumes that form beneath the roof are remarkably transparent and invite people to engage with the expansive natural surroundings
The Grace Farms Building is a green building example nr. #1
Grace Farms, as this project is called, is also known as ‘The River’.
Sanaa was asked to design a multi functional complex including a nature center, gym, hub for social justice groups, community garden, a chapel and more.
The primary concept was for the building to melt into the landscape. But instead, Sanaa choose to lit it up. The result is beautiful.
Design
The main building, called the River, is a sinuous form that winds its way down a hill just a few hundred yards from the New York border, with five separate sections. Large glass walls provide views of forests and meadows; its covered roof twists and turns with the landscape. This is a perfect example of a circular, green building.
Trees that were cleared for construction, have been milled on site to construct the furniture for Grace Farms, including 18- foot-long community tables
Fifty-five 500-foot-deep geothermal wells have been drilled on the property for heating and cooling
Structurally, the building of glass, concrete, steel and wood is in essence a single long roof, which seems to float above the surface of the ground as it twists and turns across the landscape
The walkways, courtyards and glass-wrapped volumes that form beneath the roof are remarkably transparent and invite people to engage with the expansive natural surroundings
Seventy percent of mowed areas have been returned to natural meadows
Most of the houses at Sea Ranch are made of Redwood and they have gone to great lengths to make sure that the homes are spread out giving a reclusive and private feeling. While the homes are all on or very close to the coast this isn’t your Southern California surfing paradise. What I always really appreciated about Sea Ranch is that you can truly escape into the woods while still enjoying the comforts of being at home:
The Sea Ranch: one of the most inspiring places in the world
In 1964, Al Boeke, architect and Vice President for Community Planning, fell in love with the barren and grand Rancho Del Mar in California USA.
He wanted to develop a natural community and made a dream come true.
The Sea Ranch became one of the most inspiring places in the world full filling a regenerative country-life colony within a wildlife preserve.
Green building
The Sea Ranch is noted for its distinctive architecture, which consists of simple timber-frame structures clad in wooden siding or shingles. The buildings are designed to deal with prevailing weather and topography and could be considered as a hybrid of modern and vernacular architecture.
The Sea Ranch links buildings and natural beauty into a perfect community with the aim of dynamic conservation or ‘living lightly on the land’. Each landscape element can be recognized because of it’s natural form and scale.
Circular architecture
The used building materials are pure, rough and simple.
Details such as exteriors of unpainted wood or muted stains, a lack of overhanging eaves, and baffles on exterior lighting subdue the appearance of the buildings in the landscape.
Lighting is also baffled to minimize nighttime light pollution; there are no street lights, and the night sky is dazzling.
The lack of roof overhangs is also intended to allow the near-constant strong breezes to pass over the buildings without the turbulence the overhangs would create.
A herd of sheep is used to keep grass cut low to the ground to reduce the threat of fire during the summer months.
Inside the building is amazing. So much light and space
Not new: wow it’s a complete circular building
How do you give four dated bunched offices a second life without wasting material? Simple: build circular. Energy Company Liander did it. We have seen it. And it’s an amazing ‘new’ future proof and circular building.
Circular building
Architect Thomas Rau (Germany, 1961) does not talk about sustainability. He wants to re-use materials: he wants to create circular buildings.
The old offices (eighties) didn’t fit anymore. Rau has given the complex a complete facelift.
Old offices are not discarded, but covered by an undulating roof
Therefore, the office complex is experiencing a miraculous rebirth. Not sustainability but the concept of circular building is celebrated in almost a religious manner; 80% of the old building has been recycled.
Nothing-is-New Principle
Circular building is more than reusing the existing structure. All added materials, such as the concrete tiles, furniture and the insulation material, are recycled products and materials.
The brown toilets are vintage (from 1985)
The discarded clothing from the mechanics has been recycled into insulation materials
The old outside office walls have been covered with strips of wood waste incinerators that have been rescued and with vertical green gardens
Glas Roof
Thanks to an undulating glas roof over the existing buildings, Liander now enjoys it’s a great new atrium that gives an identity to the building.
As a result, there complex features day lighted streets and squares around the old offices
That timber and the greenery creates a warm atmosphere
And the building is energy plus which means it’s producing more energy than is needed
Rau created with its 6500 square meter roof new and comfortable interior for Liander. The atrium is primarily a meeting space.
The American architect William McDonough + Partners, founder of the cradle-to-cradle concept, developed a new full service business park with 13 offices, greenhouses, sport facilities and more
First Cradle-To-Cradle Business Park In The Netherlands
Let us introduce to you Park 20 | 20, the Netherlands. This business park is completely developed, using the principles of cradle-to-cradle or green, circular architecture.
This new business park involves: circular buildings, with extra attention for human dimensions. The developing process is much more complicated, but very successful.
Our system functions as an economic weapon because we show that we can make money out of buildings, with a new system for a sustainable future.
The whole project is 92.000 m buildings plus a hotel of 18.000 m: An investment of 350 million euros. The construction started in 2010 and will be completed in 2020.
Opportunity
Developer Zachariasse thought of the crisis as an opportunity.
“Actually, the crisis is a blessing in an industry where all margins disappear and everyone is under pressure to survive. We noticed that people started thinking: … Maybe we should work different. This new thinking helped us tremendously. As a developer, Zachariasse only wants durability and quality. For the buildings, and for the people who are working in it.
Slow food
Part of the project is that the buildings are constructed, taking care of the entire supply chain. Food is one of that supplies. That’s why Zacharisse has built a number of greenhouses. He contracted a farmer who cultivates the food in the greenhouses, which is then delivered to, and served at the restaurant.
The greenhouses are heated with gas from the waste water purification system. So he has organized a cycle that benefits human and the environment.
Cradle-To-Cradle revolution
Zachariasse built the whole park with the idea that all materials should be cradle-to-cradle, because this concept eliminates waste. Closing cycles for materials, energy and water.
It is not a matter of less consuming. It is a revolution. During the designing period you have to reconsider that all materials can be reused.
All buildings are designed so that they can be taken apart again.
The furniture is refurbished and reused. Instead of furniture that disappears at the dump, it is given a second life.
The wood is treated with vinegar (no chemical coating), so the wood can be returned to nature safely.
75% of the used concrete and steel are recycled material. Also, 30% of material is saved by using hollow floorings.
To much light was a problem in the Atrium. This problem is solved using solar cells which are integrated in the glass. The solar cells are providing enough shadow and renewable energy as well. By combining the budget of the glass with the budget of the solar panels, this solution was quite profitable.
All materials represent value. Therefore arrangements have been made with the manufacturers and suppliers of the materials. They remain owner of the materials and take them back at the end of the term.
The business park is developed with a central, integrated energy system, using solar and wind power.
Waste water treatment: a grey water system for rainwater is providing water for toilets and irrigation and energy is collected from the waste water.
The materials are the databases of the future. That means that you:
have to design considering that all materials can be taken apart
you need to create a database, knowing what material is where in the building
Scarcety of raw materials
If you follow this process, you have something very valuable. Demolition costs are on average of $ 50 per m2. These buildings gain more than $ 80 per m2, based on the materials and components that will be taken apart again. When you consider that material prices will rise, becoming scarcer and that the worlds population is growing daily with 250,000 people, it’s not rocket science to realize that the costs of materials will rise in the future. The next years, a materials database is a very good economic model.
Quality first
Zachariasse uses a very different way to involve its suppliers and manufacturers during the construction process:
They are not providing their products and then move on. He makes them jointly responsible
The suppliers are involved during the design phase
And instead of asking: “This is what we want, give your lowest price.” They are told: “This is your budget, give your highest quality! And tell us what your product can do for the overall quality of the building.”
This approach led to teams and mobilized knowledge.
Of course, this approach requires leadership and confidence but the result is that we realized a lot of innovations during the processes. There is more. The costs of failure during construction have been much lower because the industry was involved. They could tune their production to the delivery, avoiding a delay. And all suppliers earned a good living.
MobileFactory: Lego inspired Houses for the homeless. It is time to demonstrate how to change the world!
Dangerous debris that destroys people’s lives and their surroundings will soon be transformed by The MobileFactory’s The Flying Dutchman into high-quality building materials for poor people to build their own safe, dignified homes.
After a disaster, the worldwide standard is moving from a home into a tent, while moving from a tent to a home is but an illusion, a dream. Together we can change this!
Social housing in Haiti
All aspects of the production and building process will be demonstrated and our pilot project in Haiti will be presented. In Haiti we will help 30 families build the Petit Paradis community: 23 homes, varying in size from 60 to 100 m. During construction the families receive a remuneration that can be used as a deposit for the house, their home. The houses will be managed by Haiti Housing Community S.A., the first social housing corporation in Haiti, founded in cooperation with our Haitian partners.
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Happy Homes
Victims of war or natural disasters want their live back. Besides that, all people do want more. More space, more wealth and more food. We need to do something. Let’s try the circular economy. We offer you a great recycling project called Happy Homes.
Product innovation is much faster than system innovation. Let’s go for a durable and modular design. For mobility, housing and food. The result? Triple benefits:
Carbon (when we go for circularity, our CO2 will lower from 68 to 17 in 2050)
Jobs (the remanufacturing and recycling industries already account for about one million jobs in Europe and the US)
Resources (our primary material consumption wil lower from 78 to 47 in 2050)
The economy needs a shifting demand to more labored modular design. This saves our carbon footprint.
On a global scale, the net savings from materials could reach $1 trillion a year.
Colombian architect Andres Mendez Gerardino is building homes for the homeless, using discarded plastic.
We give credits to the guy who came up with this invention.
He is helping so many people and families.
Building Homes using Discarded Plastic
Let’s ensure this solution spreads all around the world. Not just for homeless, he can sell it for sheds, storage, parking garage etc… Great idea!!!
Views on Facebook, as of posting, have soared to over 19 million and shares have gone up to 362K — and quickly rising by the minute.
Watch this and you’ll understand why:
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Oscar Mendez brings new meanings of wasted plastics & rubbers to be home for the homeless. 46% of North Americans People are homeless. He find a creative solution for tonnes of wasted plastics and rubbers.
They’re processed and molded it into “LEGO-BRICKS” to be assembled into one unity as home. He and his team bring positive changes for people and environment at the same time.
“We are creating economic value from plastics that have no market. They are contaminated plastics, but now with a market after being recycled.”
The idea came from musician Fernando Llanos and was later adopted by architect Oscar Mendez, who through several years of research managed to develop bricks from processing all types of used plastics.
Triple impacts
This is an initiative of triple impacts: economic impact, environmental impact and social impact. Now the invention has started to benefit thousands of homeless, who are having their own housed built mainly in suburbs with the special chunks.
The housing deficit in Latin America is tremendous. 40% percent of people in Africa, Asia and Latin America do not own a home. One in seven people in the world lives in extreme poverty. Then Mendez wanted to improve this situation by offering houses.
With wide use of the new building components, Colombia also expects to downsize contamination caused by thrown-away plastics.
Recycle and ReUse
“On the environmental side, only in Bogota 6,300 tons of waste is thrown into the landfill is (each year), of which approximately 12%, or 750 tons, are plastics. Only 100 tons are recycled. We are recycling more of them to build hundreds of houses (for displace people).”
Sustainable infrastructure of the future: Floating cities?
The first floating city may be established by 2020. Climate change and rising river/coast levels: forget houseboats, try floating communities. The newest trend in real estate: building a home on top the water.
New nations
This Floating City Project combines principles of both seasteading and startup cities, by seeking to locate a floating city within the territorial waters of an existing nation. Historically, The Seasteading Institute has looked to international waters for the freedom to establish new nations and spur competitive governance from the outside.
This project offered an opportunity to develop a new urban nucleus of world-class residential, commercial and cultural facilities, as well as to promote a zero-carbon, energy-efficient and self-sufficient city. The proposal is now being reviewed by one of China’s largest property investors, China Transport Investment Co, for a project that could be built off of Hong Kong.
Floating architecture
This incredible ‘Floating City’, which spans four square miles, comes with its own dock, roadways and farms to make it completely self-sufficient. It would also feature vertical gardens, a hotel, entertainment complex and a huge floating arena which could host gigs and sports matches.
The building is made from hexagonal and triangular modules which connect together above and below the water using a series of walkways and tunnels.
The water world is dreamed up by British and Asian-based design firm AT Design Office and commissioned by Chinese construction firm CCCC
A series of canals connect the settlement together, meaning eco-friendly boats and submarines can provide most of the transportation.
Seastaeading investigated the DeltaSync design, and determined that DeltaSync’s concept is better adapted for the strategy of the Floating City Project, which encourages early seasteads to form within protected waters. In the future it will be important to do additional research on various components of DeltaSync’s design.
Contribution to a sustainable, green future – and ensure a save highway is possible, with this interactive smart highway lightened by glowing lines.
Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde uses special sun-charged paint that glows in the dark for as long as 10 hours.
Moreover this interactive paint indicates icy weather conditions by becoming visible in freezing temperatures.
Highway paint
The lines charge at day-time and glow at night (for 8 hours). Using these glowing lines ensures the safety of drivers and contributes to a energy-neutral future. The goal is for creative designer Daan Roosegaarde is to make roads which are more sustainable and interactive by using light, energy and road signs that automatically adapt to the traffic situation.
Smart Highways
Smart Highways are interactive and sustainable roads of tomorrow by designer Daan Roosegaarde . Its goal is to make smart roads by using light, energy and information that interact with the traffic situation.
Glowing Lines are charged during day-time and glow at night for eight hours. The first road has been constructed, and will further be launched internationally.
Pilot Smart Highway with Glowing Lines live
Van Gogh
The recent Van Gogh-Roosegaarde bicycle path is made of thousands twinkling stones inspired by ‘Starry Night’. The path combines innovation with cultural heritage in the town of Nuenen NL, the place where Van Gogh lived in 1883.
This bikers lane with solar cells, generates green energy
New designs include Dynamic Paint, Interactive Light, Induction Priority Lane and Road Printer.
Bikers path
The collaboration between Roosegaarde and Heijmans is a true example of innovative industry. The design and interactivity by Studio Roosegaarde and the craftsmanship of Heijmans are fused into one common goal: innovation of the Dutch landscape.
Smart Highway has been awarded a Dutch Design Award and an Accenture Innovation Award, and won the INDEX Award 2013.
ModCell is one of the first products to make large-scale, carbon-negative building a commercial reality. The system utiliises the excellent thermal insulation qualities of straw bale and hemp construction to form prefabricated panels.
The construction offers super-insulated, high-performance, low energy ‘passive’ buildings to be built using renewable, locally sourced, carbon sequestering, sustainable building materials and can be used in offices, schools, housing and commercial buildings.
ModCell wall
This innovative, offsite-manufactured wall and roof cladding system can be quickly and efficiently installed, creating buildings with thermal performance up to three times higher than the current building regulations require. Therefore the construction is certified as Passive House specification.
As a result, sustainable buildings made of straw bales and hemp construction, can have zero heat requirements, they are saving money and reduce CO2 emissions.
Koen Olthuis is the founder of the Dutch architectural firm DutchDocklands, that specializes in floating structures to counter concerns and impact of floods due to climate change and rising sea levels.
Climate change and rising river/coast levels: forget houseboats, try floating communities. The newest trend in real estate: building a home on top the water.
Floating communities
During his UP presentation — A Sustainable Future on the Waterfront — Koen shared his vision for literally building entire communities — and cities — that float! He studied architecture and industrial design at the Delft University of Technology, and has a patent on the methodology for producing a “floating base.”
Olthuis
In 2007, Koen was listed as one of “the most influential people in the world” in a readers’ poll by TIME magazine due to the worldwide interest in water developments. The French magazine Terra Eco chose him as one of the “100 green persons that will change the world” in 2011.
Do you want more information or get inspired from different floating city concepts, check the sidebar on the right.
Photanol is a biotech company that develops a breakthrough technology to convert CO2 and sunlight into valuable organic compounds. We are applying this technology in a number of markets, ranging from food ingredients to chemical bio-blocks and bio-fuels.
This stone called “Clairplus”, purifies the air. It breaks down 63 to 80% nitrous oxide (NOx and NO) from the air. This stone is one of the great, sustainable contributions to slow down global warming.
Mendez builds homes using Discarded Plastic
