David Oudega and Jonathan Kaye

VALOR

Student: David Oudega and Jonathan Kaye

Title: Valor: 21st c. Materials Laboratory

Studio: MSc1 Dutch Change

Semester: Fall 2022

Abstract
Valor engages the waste cycle of the circular food system by valorizing waste materials into new products. By incorporating a robust public program alongside novel industrial functions, the project seeks to integrate these previously  separated activities. These solutions are mutually beneficial, restoring the waterfront to local residents while maintaining port investment and job opportunities.

Each year in Rotterdam, up to 1/3 of consumer food products become waste. Of this total, up to 71.000 tons (86.3%) are incinerated or landfilled. While some of this material is transformed into energy, for most this marks the end of a linear life cycle. Yet, if it became a destruent food source, this same material could instead form the launchpad for a new cycle. Destruents are decomposers (e.g. fungi, bacteria) which consume biowaste. As they feed they grow, these organisms can then be transformed into new materials. Through this process, food waste is cycled back into the system as new materiality enters at the start of the chain. This production offers a raw material which can be further processed into finished goods. While Valor focuses on mycelium, there are countless strains of fungi and other destruents which offer numerous possibilities to mimic existing materials or innovate new capabilities.