Kathryn Larsen
Explorelab
[Seaweed] Farm to Table: Designing with shells, seagrass and seaweed for the Dutch Building Industry
Excess seaweed, shell waste and seagrass are all parts of a normal marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, in most cases where algae blooms excessively, seaweed and seagrass are left to rot on beaches. Although seaweed farmers are curious about the carbon sequestration potential of algae in architecture, they lack a guide for construction.
[Seaweed] Farm to Table creates a material archive of recipes for biomaterials from seaweed, shell, microalgae and seagrass, and proposes construction systems from the materials, which were made as prototypes on a scale of 1:1. These include shellcrete, seaweed clay plaster recipes, seaweed paints with microalgae pigments, and a bioplastic recipe.
The design created from the research features a floating housing complex in the Oosterschelde, on the banks of a seaweed and shellfish farm. It serves as a showcase for this unique, new circular construction system and a home for those who love being near the sea.