SUSTAINABILITY

5 experimental materials
for the future of design
and architecture
Text by Salvatore Peluso
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Turning polluted soil into bricks

A selection of material innovations for

integration into buildings and products:
micro-algae capable of absorbing CO2
like tall trees, fossil-free metals,
photovoltaic membranes, bricks that
sequester toxins from the land and
biological textiles

Updated on 12 June 2023. There are many

independent experimental research projects that
could soon be harnessed at industrial level. These
projects and glimmers of hope for sustainable
development can help us imagine a future in which
Man’s impact on the planet is significantly reduced.

PhotoSyntetica – CO2-
absorbing micro-algae
Through the urban cultivation of micro-algae,
EcoLogic Studio produces oxygen and reduces air
pollutants. PhotoSyntetica is a research project
that the London-based studio has been working on
for several years, by means of a number of
experiments, prototypes and installations that turn
buildings into air pollution filters. The architects
have developed a curtain that functions as a
photobioreactor, in which a 2m2 module has the
same efficiency as a tall tree. It combines the
qualities of EFTE sheeting – a light, robust,
translucent and chemically inert material – with the
algae’s ability to capture solar radiation and absorb
CO2 ten times more effectively than trees.

Ecologic Studio, PhotoSynthetica, urban curtains in Dublin and

Helsinki. Ph Tuomas Uusheimo

AuREUS – photovoltaic film

The inventor of the AuREUS system garnered the
first ever James Dyson Sustainability Award 2020 in
the Sustainability category. It is a plastic material
derived from agricultural waste that converts UV
light into electric energy, developed by Carvey Ehren
Maigue, an electrical engineering student at Mapua
University in Manila. It is also very flexible and easy
to use, as well as highly effective, regardless of
weather conditions. Current tests indicate that it is
capable of producing electricity 48% of the time,
compared with 10-25% from photovoltaic cells.
AuREUS has the merit not just of tackling one of the
most pressing issues of our times – energy shortage
– it could also potentially be used in different fields
and by a large number of people.

Carvey Ehren Maigue, AuREUS JDA Imagery Sustainability Winner

Claybens – bricks from

polluted clay soil
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are
chemical products that are difficult to degrade. Used
for decades in various industrial processes – textile
production, electronics, paper coatings, paint, fire
retardant foam and wax for skis – they persist at
length in the environment and in the food chain.
With her start up Claybens
Claybens, Dutch designer Emy
Bensorphas come up with a solution to the problem:
heating PFAS contaminated clay soil to very high
temperatures allows the chemical pollutants to be
destroyed, creating a clean ceramic material.
Claybens turns this into bricks that can be produced
in bulk, allowing large quantities of soil to be
cleansed rapidly.

Turning polluted soil into bricks

HYBRIT – fossil-free steel

Steel is far from being considered a sustainable
material. The industry that rotates around steel
generates huge CO2 emissions - 1.85 tonnes of CO2
for every tonne of material produced. Between 12%
and 14% of global CO2 emissions are associated with
the steel industry. However, the Swedish firm SSAB
Oxelösund has come up with what they say is the
world’s first fossil-free steel, produced using green
hydrogen rather than coking coal, by harnessing
HYBRIT (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking
Technology), created by the company along with
LKAB and Vattenfall in 2016. Only small objects for
demonstration purposes, such as a candlestick by
the designer Lena Bergström have been produced
thus far. The aim is to start using it in complex
industrial processes over the next few years, and the
Volvo Group is the company’s first large-scale client.

Biotic – biological textiles

Dutch studio Lionne van Deursen is researching
the properties and potential of biologically grown
materials. Biotic is a series of biological textiles,
made from bacterial cellulose, dyed using natural
pigments. The bacteria feed off sugared green tea
and spin nano fibres of cellulose. Once the surface
layer solidifies it acquires qualities comparable to
those of leather: the material produced by the
microorganisms is biodegradable, extremely tough
and highly flexible. The experiments carried out by
Lionne van Deursen have yielded a collection of
textiles of different colours, degrees of translucency
and textures. The studio has designed a collection of
table lamps using this material.

SSAB Oxelösund, iron fossil-

free with HYBRIT technology (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology

19 October 2021

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