ARCHITECTURE OF EXTR-A-CTION

Manifesto

Building Beyond Borders 2021 - 2022. The collective shapes its dreams in a 10 points manifesto.

Manifesto sound

A recorded conversation between the BBB team and its partners while reflecting on the collective thoughts about the manifesto. 

Stamp station

Stamp a coaster with your favourite points of the manifesto and help us spread our ideas further.

Catalogue des offres bruxelloises en économie circulaire 

A number of Brussels-based entrepreneurs and innovative minds are bringing the concept of regenerative thinking and action into reality. They are reaching out to us with a series of new (and viable) business models to bring about the change we really need. 

Paysages citoyens à Bruxelles

Where, within Brussels, are humans re-exploring and re-knitting that primordial, yet lost, bound with nature? Parckfarm, among others, is a place where social and natural intelligence collaborate again through the challenges of current times.

Model Parckfarm

BBB's Parckfarm festival, Tour & Taxis, Brussels. In July 2022, the greenhouse and its surroundings are the welcoming setting for a series of collaborative construction activities to explore the beauty of a regenerative world.

Ingredients

The ingredients for clay bricks can be found all around us. The samples on display all come from the Brussels Region: loam and sand can be found in the city's construction pits, pulverized brick comes from local demolition sites and straw grows on farms on the outskirts of the city.

Materials: loam, sand, straw, pulverized brick

The mould

Water is added to the raw materials to create a mixture of plastic earth. This mixture is put into a mould and pressed on by hand. The inner sides of the mould are pre-moistened and sanded to prevent the mixture from sticking. The brick is then carefully removed from the mould and allowed to dry.

Materials:  Plywood

Moulded earth block

The MEBs (unfired, moulded earth blocks) displayed here are entirely made of Brussels ingredients. Variations in the recipes provide the bricks with unique characteristics, in colour, texture and mechanical qualities. 

Block 1: loam, sand mix

Block 2: loam, pulverized brick mix

Block 3: loam, sand beer mix

Block 4: loam, sand, straw mix

Soil testing

The sedimentation and the biscuit tests give us an insight into the suitability of the main ingredient of the brick. The first test envisions the distribution of clay, silt and sand. The latter test indicates the amount of clay in the soil: the harder the dried soil biscuit, the more clay.

Earth block testing

Simple, practical tests give a first indication of the performance of the brick. No laboratory needed. 

TerraFibra

The use of bio- and geo-sourced materials provides virtuous solutions to adapt our construction systems and fight climate change as a result. This book demonstrates the potential of these modes of construction by analysing the 40 finalist buildings for the TERRAFIBRA Award, a prize for contemporary architecture built with raw earth and plant fibres. These projects prove that we can build differently, by relying on local resources and know-how, without forsaking innovation.

Fired and unfired clay brick 

A fired and unfired hollow clay brick next to each other. The unfired sample is extracted from Dumoulin bricks' production line before entering the kiln. To fire this brick, it is placed in a kiln for up to a week at temperatures around 1000°C. This action chemically changes the clay and therefore the colour, thus making it water-resistant. However this emits large quantities of CO2. Do we really need to fire every brick for every purpose?

Shredded textile, tarpaulin leftovers & glue

The tarpaulin leftovers are pre-consumer waste. Pre-consumer textile waste consists of materials generated during industrial processing of textiles, such as scraps, damaged or defective materials, samples and more. 

The shreds are from recovered post-consumer textile waste. Post-consumer textiles include end-use products, such as items returned or discarded by consumers. 

The binder used in the shredded textile brick consists of nothing but corn starch (maize) and water. It is a low-tech and biobased glue.  

Materials: recovered textile, maizena, water 

Shredded brick

The prototype was made from post-consumer textile waste. For this sample textiles destined for the incinerator were recovered from a second-hand store and pressed into a brick.

Materials: reused textile 

Tarpaulin pillow

This prototype was made from pre-consumer textile waste. For the sample, by-products of industrial textiles were recovered from a Brussels manufacturer to make a pillow case, which was then filled with post-consumer textile.

Materials: reused textile 

BBB T-shirt

In Belgium, an average of 26 KG of textiles per person per year are bought, 14,8 KG per person per year are thrown away. 

The second hand T-shirts were sponsored by Kringwinkel Hageland, and hand-stamped by our team. 

 Materials: reused textile 

The Aesthetics of Sustainability

This book summarizes the results of a research project led by Ecole cantonale d`art de Lausanne. Within this project master students of product design, materials specialists, manufacturers, and researchers worked together with the aim of exploring and defining the aesthetic potential of a new generation of sustainable materials. Fourteen case studies were made involving the development of materials made from textile waste, recycled paper, rubber granulate or vegetable fibers. The resulting new materials can be shaped, pressed, woven or welded. A selection of these materials are presented through experiments and prototypes of products.

Willow Cocoon: a bio-shelter

Willow tree branches are the perfect, natural and regenerative material to build outdoor structures. This model of a willow dome - as we will be building it in Parckfarm - makes the limitless potential of bio-sourced, local materials tangible.

Prof. Yvonne Knevels

Materials: willow branches, jute twine, soil

Biodiversity in a built environment

This prototype creates protection and nesting sites for birds and insects. Nature-friendly interventions to increase biodiversity can be easily integrated in our cities and should be mandatory in any new planned project. 

Materials: wood, earth bricks, dried grass, reed, bamboo and small twigs.

Het Zoniënwoud

The book on Sonian Wood answers some of the most prominent questions on the origin of the Forest, its importance to the capital city, the biodiversity, and the beech tree as the characterising type. With many photographs to document its richness, this book illustrates the history of the forest and its future affected by the pollution factor and the relationship to the city.

Shelves for the greenhouse

Parckfarm stands for its service to the community and the city through open activities and collective effort. With the same spirit, we will design and build the new shelves of the greenhouse as a refreshing touch for the new season. Based on salvaged and repurposed materials, the new design will follow Parckfarm principles on cultivating awareness of the local resources and their afterlife. 

Canopy prototype

This protoype shows the joint for the foldable canopy structure at Parckfarm. With one low-tech component, the entire structure can be easily assembled, folded away and dismantled.

Canopy model 

The model shows the foldable canopy project for Parckfarm. A single demountable and interchangeable joint makes the structure completely demountable. When open, the canopy will extend the space of the greenhouse during rainy days and bring some shade during sunny days, thanks to a layer of re-used tarpaulin laying on top of the structure.