Straw as a building material - a radical tectonic perspective

How can straw be transformed from its current status as excess material into a building material of the future?

Straw is a biogenic material, regarded as excess material by agriculture, and it is now being used in construction. The exhibited projects challenge the potential of straw as a building material in the form of mega Lego bricks, facade panels, woven cladding, acoustic elements and simple building systems for housing refugees.

The projects analyse straw though a lens of radical tectonics and absolute sustainability. They investigate the development of building principles based on frugality and the cycles of Nature.

This exhibit features are ten focused straw studies developed during a research and innovation course as part of the graduate programme Settlement, Ecology & Tectonics. The course involves collaboration with architectural practices and the construction industry.