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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.