Solar Style: Developing customization methods for solar design with a material driven approach.

This graduation report covers the process and outcome of developing and designing novel photovoltaic (PV) products for architectural and design applications. The project aimed to find innovative solutions for seamlessly integrating photovoltaics into architecture and design and thus contribute to sustainable building practices. With a hands-on,...

Moving biocomposites into second gear: Exploring the potential of long fibre biocomposites in the mobility and transport industry

Although biocomposites have been around for some years now, their use is still far from mainstream. Yet, the material properties of biocomposites and their current applications show a lot of potential for more sustainable, lightweight and structural applications in many industries. Long fibre biocomposites show good specific properties and offer...

Materials Framing: A Case Study of Biodesign Companies’ Web Communications

Advances in biodesign offer opportunities for developing materials for everyday products from living organisms, such as fungi, algae, and bacteria. Gaining widespread acceptance of new materials from the general public can be a lengthy process, making biodesign a high-risk pursuit with potentially significant economic, ecological, and social...

Mess is More: Iterating Dwelling Design Processes For The Urban Poor In New Delhi, India

The architectural discipline has always maintained a safe distance from the ‘informal’ settlements by positioning itself as objective outsiders. However, in the case of India’s capital city of Delhi with 73% of its population living in these settlements, the discipline has been forced to re-position itself. Forming outside the claims of...

TRUE BLACK: Driving performance with the environment

TRUE BLACK is an environmental materials innovation for adidas Sport Performance that proposes the application of dope dye as unique brand attribute creating enhanced value for the consumer, economic and image benefits for the brand and significant resource reductions for the environment.

Open window on sustainable material innovation: Evidence from Flemish production industries

Our paper focuses on the results of a research project called Open Window on innovative material technologies for a sustainable Flemish production landscape’ (in short: ‘Open Window’). In this project, enterprises located in Flanders (Belgium) give testimony of their innovative products and processes. The aim of gathering evidence on material...