Mass timber, the new technology

industrial timber

A revolution has taken place in the construction industry: the development of mass timber, the technical term for industrial timber. It allows for the construction of innovative buildings. Mass timber as a construction material can now even outperform bricks, concrete … Read more

Climate change: trees to the rescue

Bringing nature back into cities, in the form of trees, can help fight global warming. Climate change is the challenge of the century. The last UN Environment Emissions Gap Report warned that, in order to ensure global warming stays below … Read more

Affordable green homes

Some proponents of affordable housing may be under the impression that sustainable homes are more expensive to construct and maintain than those built using traditional means. However, there are actually a number of sustainable practices that can make green homes … Read more

The many faces of hemp

Hemp

The ecological properties of hemp makes it one of the types of insulation used in construction with the lowest carbon emissions footprint. A relatively recent interest in hemp as a building material responds to a global trend that encourages the … Read more

Biobased means thinking in short cycles

orga architects biobased

Biobased really is a sub-branch of circular, says Daan Bruggink of ORGA architects. The circular economy knows two cycles, technical and biological. The biological cycle of course contains the ‘real’ natural materials: wood, reed, fibre, flax, and so on. Technical … Read more

Daan Bruggink: building naturally with ORGA

Daan Bruggink is one of the standard bearers of sustainable architecture in the Netherlands. If anything, he insists on building based on nature: ‘We at ORGA Architects first consider natural forms,’ he says. ‘Second, we consider natural techniques such as … Read more

Green building

If we could really succeed in establishing a sustainable production chain of concrete, it would be more effective and cheaper than solar and wind power. An example of the potential of green building for the environment and a sustainable society. … Read more

Flax fibre instead of glass fibre

Synthetic and glass fibres have never completely substituted natural fibres. On the contrary, there is a growing interest for application of natural fibres in composite materials – biobased or not, biodegradable or not – and as an insulating construction material. … Read more

An autarkic building

Sorry, this review of the sustainable restaurant ‘Aan Zee’ (By the Sea) in Oostvoorne near Rotterdam is only available in Dutch.

No glass wool, but flax wool

Three years ago, I attended a DPI (Dutch Polymer Institute) meeting, on the question to what extent sectors had embraced the biobased economy. Everyone present made much of the achievements in their sectors; just the man from the building sector … Read more