Business case

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Using bio-based materials such as bioplastics, mushroom-based materials, etc.

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Locally produced food has to travel shorter, which means less fuel is consumed and less greenhouse gases are generated. Moreover, buying locally produced food helps local farmers and markets and creates more jobs in the local businesses. 


Produce locally

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Urban Opportunities

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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     Kathryn Larsen’s project, Seaweed Thatch Re-imagined, which she presented at Antenna 2019, looks to the old seaweed thatching method of the Danish island of Læsø. 
During the Middle Ages women used to create roof thatches made from eelgrass that washed up on the shores of the island. The women treated the thatching process like the spinning of wool and completely dominated the construction industry on the island at the time.
The material was rot resistant, could withstand any weather condition and also served as an insulating material. The island had a thriving seaweed export industry. However, during the 1930s there was a global wasting disease that nearly destroyed the eelgrass beds of Denmark. 

As a result the people of Læsø had to turn to traditional thatching materials and methods. Today eelgrass is seen as a waste material. According to Larsen 22 000 tons of eelgrass are thrown out annually. 
Larsen believes that if we change our perspectives on the material we can begin to harvest it again and create a more eco-friendly building material. She thus came up with the concept to bring seaweed thatch to the modern building industry by creating fabricated thatch panels. 
“I envision that these panels could be used on facade and roof and act as supplementary insulation and at the same time act as a kind of green roof,” says Larsen.
Adding: “I firmly believe that from learning from our past we can build for a better and greener future”.
This talk is part of the third antenna conference, a collaboration between Design Indaba and the Dutch Design Foundation, which recently took place as part of Dutch Design Week.
Find out more about Antenna. 
      

KØBENHAVNS ERHVERVSAKADEMIIndividual Thesis Research and Year-Long InstallationYEAR: April 2018-PresentADDRESS: 29N Guldbergsgade, 2200 København NSUPERVISORS: Mette Marko Hansen, Anke Pasold (Material Design Lab KEA)SUPPORT: KEA Campus Service (September 2018), Boligfonden Spirekasse (March 2019DEZEEN’S TOP 10 INNOVATIVE MATERIALS OF 2019PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Imagine a building material that is rot resistant, fire resistant, non-toxic, insulates comparably with mineral wool, and can be used to create carbon negative buildings. Sounds amazing, right? Actually, this material has been used for centuries already around the world- until we forgot how to use it. It’s called eelgrass, and is a type of seagrass.         I chose to focus my thesis on the seaweed houses of Læsø, as it is a subject without many resources in English, and has huge potential for the global building industry. In the middle ages, on Læsø they began to build thatched eelgrass roofs after running out of timber on the island. Eelgrass grows across the world, but has declined in amount due to climate change and a wasting disease in the 1930s, and the thatching method on Læsø was nearly lost as a result.Eelgrass has an incredible potential as a world-wide building material. As a result, I chose not only to focus on the historical context of the seagrass, but current and future applications of it.         data-provider-name=YouTube>Installation VideoIt is not a requirement for the thesis to conduct original research. However, I decided to expand on my previous finalist competition entry and develop a prefabricated panel that could be used for roof or facade externally.These panels, along with the small scale tests, will be installed on a structure on the roof terrace of Guldbergsgade 29N for a year to study how the eelgrass reacts over time to the elements, as well as the thatch construction that I have created.The installation will continue even after the thesis submission in October 2019. The panels were designed with the original tectonics of the Læsø houses in mind: embracing the organic quality of the material instead of forcing it to conform. However the wood boundaries and underlying structure of the panels transforms the tectonics, adding repetition and order to the organic properties of the seaweed.       Photo by Anders Lorentzen, KEA CommunicationsInvitation by Material Design Lab           Photo by Anders Lorentzen, KEA Communications    I began with small-scale tests, building off both the old methods of thatching, and existing research from Studio Seagrass and Tobias Gumstrup Lund Øhrstrøm's master thesis. Tobias combined eelgrass with different natural binders, which in some cases made it immediately waterproof, and also created a structural integrity.        These small scale tests consisted of first working only with water and eelgrass, rehydrating the eelgrass, and then adding minimal amounts of natural binders, on 10x10cm structured wood panels.  Since the goal was to retain the organic quality of the eelgrass, very minimal amounts of binder were used in the mixtures and recorded meticulously to account for human error and variety. I only used natural binders, so that the non-toxicity of the eelgrass would be preserved.I started with two natural binders and water. I expanded to eight different binders that were plant or animal based with different bloom strengths. Three of each binder and panel typology were made in these sketch models to be installed on varying sides of the installation structure. After the small scale tests, I decided to make the larger panels out of just water and eelgrass. This is because in general the binders changed the texture and the nature of the eelgrass, removing it from its original context.The water allowed flexibility in the eelgrass while thatching, while the binders stiffened and in some cases made the eelgrass more brittle. However the binders could improve the water-tight abilities of the construction and studying it outside over time will allow me to research this.                       Photo by Anders Lorentzen, KEA Communications    

Denmark

Copenhagen

Kathryn Larsen

Copenhagen School of Business

<p>Natural construction materials are a good alternative to traditional materials derived from finite resources, which are easier to recycle than concrete or cement. Danish designer Kathryn Larsen&nbsp;has created panels from eelgrass, a seaweed that has been used in traditional Danish construction methods. Her prefabricated panels, which are currently being tested on the roof of the Copenhagen School of Business, are waterproof, durable and 100% made from natural materials: timber, seaweed, and water.</p>