A home for sustainable building alternatives
We research, develop and certify sustainable, innovative, robust, construction systems which dramatically lower embodied emissions, reduce construction waste and resource consumption, create low-tech, gender-neutral work opportunities and restore natural ecosystems in the process.
We achieve this by researching, developing and implementing the use of low-carbon building materials, bespoke material mix-designs and appropriate design practices through local and international collaborations within the private, academic and government sectors.
By bringing together like-minded people and organisations around the world, we aim to create and promote interdisciplinary partnerships and collaborations that further these objectives within the engineering, architectural, sustainable design and construction sectors.
We achieve this by researching, developing and implementing the use of low-carbon building materials, bespoke material mix-designs and appropriate design practices through local and international collaborations within the private, academic and government sectors.
By bringing together like-minded people and organisations around the world, we aim to create and promote interdisciplinary partnerships and collaborations that further these objectives within the engineering, architectural, sustainable design and construction sectors.

Invasive alien plants as an alternative resource for concrete production
Cape Town, ETH Zurich - Switzerland – 2020

The “Tree House” Eco-Lodge – a low-carbon demonstrator model
Kruger National Park, South Africa – 2020
Tags
Affordable housing
alternative aggregates
awards
bio-based
Block Research Group
carbon pools
carbon sequestration
circular design
circular economy
climate adaptation
construction
Construction industry
Construction waste
decarbonisation strategies
earth-based
ETH Zurich
European Cultural Centre (ECC)
fireproof
gang violence
housing
illegal sand mining
Innovation
job creation
Life cycle assessment
low-skilled
mafias in construction
Material flow analysis
Optimised geometry-based design
organised crime
organised crime in construction
Policy decisions
Rapid urbanisation
regenerative
Research and development
Resource consumption
resource depletion
Robust building systems
sand wars
sustainable cities
Sustainable design
sustainable housing
Terra Fibra Award
the need for nonCrete
unsustainable
Venice Biennale 2021
“Sustainability is a value word and like all value words – freedom, fairness, beauty, justice it is subjective, nearly impossible to define, but possible to sense (or to sense its absence), and vitally important.”
- Donella Meadows