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SE contributed with a piece taking inspiration from insects by rethinking the framework of a structure and working from an idea of reusing biological material. A lot of times we tend to think of reused materials as something man-made (waste) that can be repurposed to not harm the environment by decomposing in nature.

Another category is the biological waste that humans 'produce' just by living that is a possible undescribed resource. The idea was to develop a new structural material consisting of nutshells and human hair, things that would otherwise decompose without real benefit to any ecosystems.

Nutshells could be crushed and hair could be cut into smaller pieces, all then mixed with an adhesive. The whole mixture was poured into molds where it cured to flexible bands in shapes matching the design. These bands were then stiched together and hanged on a formwork. After a longer process of curing and drying the formwork could be removed and the structure could carry itself by its own strength. The final structure is standing as an example inspired by the insect's nest, that would be built up of various collected biological material, leftovers from larger animals and plants etc.

The result is a stepping stone and a part of our mission of making construction principles and building materials generally more sustainable. It is the intension to show that this development can be approached in a lot more creative fashion if one is starting from another point than usual.

TEMPORARY

structure