Growing populations, increasing urbanisation and infrastructure have risen the global demand of sand, a limited resource, to an average of 18 kg per person each day, causing political and environmental problems.
Concreation is a material research, focusing on finding a substitute for sand. In collaboration with the Department of Bioprocess Engineering at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin a series of material experiments was conducted trying to solidify waste materials. Certain kinds of bacteria are able to build a crystalline calcium-carbonate structure, glueing single particles together and thus creating a composite material, which is stable, lightweight and insoluble in water.
These positive properties can open up unknown possibilities of structural engineering, enabling architecture to grow in organic shapes.
