In Copenhagen, a consortium of over 40 partners has built a home made out of only biological materials, including tomato stems and seaweed.
The team included design house Een til Een, sustainable architecture firm GXN, and wood-treatment company Kebony. GXN collected farm waste from Denmark’s agricultural sector, which was combined with composites and pressed into boards. Kebony treated the boards with a biobased liquid to harden the material, which the Danish Technological Institute tested the boards for suitability.
“It sounds like science fiction that you can build a house from things such as tomato stems, straw, and seaweed, which is just as durable as normal buildings and at the time has a healthy economy and complies with the rules,” Danish Environmental Minister Kirsten Brosbøl, tells Wonderful Engineering. “However, the Biological House shows that it is possible here and now. I appreciate that way we really get some value from materials that otherwise would end up at an incineration plant.”
The structure is open to the public at Biotope, an exhibition park for sustainable construction in Middlefart, Denmark.
World’s First Home Constructed Completely Out Of Biological Materials Opens Its Doors To The Public