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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.

Restorative by design

South Africa – 2021

Carbon-Neutral Social Housing

Cape Town, South Africa – 2020

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

Palazzo Mora Exhibition Time, Space, Existence – 2021 Venice Architectural Biennial 2021

Venice – May 2021

Hand Woven Formwork

Malawi, Venice, South Africa – 2021

Developing low-cement binders with invasive wood chip aggregate

South Africa – 2019

The “Click Brick” – BRG ETH Zurich, South Africa

Zurich, Cape Town – 2021

Lightweight Funicular Floor – with no steel reinforcement

Cape Town, Venice, Zurich – 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

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