The Japanese Tea house made from Italian Coffee
The forthcoming Venice Architecture Biennale will showcase an exciting new project from the Japanese architecture and engineering firm Mitsubishi Jisho Design, alongside designers Takaaki Fuji and Hiroya Inage.
Their sustainable teahouse will incorporate the use of Fabula Concrete, a revolutionary material developed at the esteemed University of Tokyo. This innovative substance is created from waste and is both robust and waterproof, making it an ideal choice for sustainable construction.
The teahouse will utilize local coffee grounds and pasta, providing an inventive take on the theme of environmental protection and sustainable design. Notably, the structure will feature a series of 45° waterproof pasta joints that can be tailored to the latitude of each location, ensuring optimal sun-shading. This unique project exemplifies the creative and practical approaches that can be taken towards sustainable design.
Fabula Creating Inspiration from Garbage
Fabula is a cutting-edge startup that has emerged from the University of Tokyo with a remarkable innovation: the ability to convert food waste into a premium-quality, biodegradable cement.
The driving force behind this development are researchers Kota Machida and Yuya Sakai, who are committed to reducing food waste and creating a building material that is four times more resistant to bending than traditional concrete.
Through a meticulous process, the duo can transform a wide array of food waste, including Chinese cabbage, coffee grounds, orange rinds, squash and pumpkin waste, banana peels, seaweed, and onion scraps, into a fine powder that is subsequently heat-pressed into a mold to create cement.
What sets Fabula apart is that their products are created from 100% biological materials, thereby offering a more eco-friendly alternative to the green cements currently on the market.
This promising solution holds tremendous potential not only for reducing the volume of waste sent to landfills but also for tackling global warming in the long term, should it become a viable alternative to traditional cement production.
Read more on Firstplanit
Check out our article on how Laing O’Rourke has gone all in on low carbon concrete