Amsterdam-based startup StoneCycling has gained attention across the globe for its experimental waste brick material, which uses recycled waste from demolished buildings to create something new, reports Fast Company writer Diana Budds. The process takes rubble, breaks it down to an aggregate, and mixes it with other materials such as ceramics, clay, and glass to create the new brick.
StoneCycling makes close to 20 different types of bricks today, which range from your everyday solid red variety to custom bricks and more ornamental versions, like terrazzo-esque Nougat. While the material van Soest invented has myriad applications—it could be used as cladding, interior finishes, surfaces, and in products—StoneCycling began with brick to jump-start the company.
“If we’re making a material, we should make a product since that’s easier to sell,” Massa says. The two decided that bricks—the most basic building block—would be the easiest way to infiltrate what Massa calls a conservative industry. “If it’s too futuristic, no one in the building industry will work with it. The building industry doesn’t like risk. Our materials are innovative, but not so alien that people don’t want to work with it.”
The first house to be completed using the material was the house of architects Nina Aalbers and Ferry in ‘t Veld of Architectuur Maken. The Netherlands house used 15 tons of rubble to create the new structure.
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