Debate day on the biobased materials sectors and the issues surrounding their structuring
For this second day of meetings and exchanges organised in Spain, the actors of the bioconstruction and agricultural sector of the Catalan region were present. The event was held on Friday 1st April at the ETSAV (Escola Técnica d’Arquitectura del Vallès) and brought together some twenty participants who were able to discuss the challenges of bio-based materials for construction.
The objective of the day was to benefit from feedback from actors acting at different levels of the value chain of biobased materials (farmers, architects, engineers or builders) in order to feed the debate around the case of the valorization of corn and sunflower stalks for construction.
Mariana Palumbo (UPC) first presented the SAVASCO project before introducing the presentations of the speakers who were able to testify about their experience at different levels of the valorisation of agricultural products and the use of bio-based materials for construction. Please find below the list of speakers and their presentations:
- Mariana Palumbo (UPC, Departament de Tecnologia de l’Arquitectura) : presentation SAVASCO, Structuring of a cross-border sector for maize and sunflower stalks for construction (presentation in Catalan)
- Màrius Simon (Federació de Cooperatives Agrariès de Catalunya) : Valorisation of maize and sunflower stalks for construction (presentation in Catalan)
- Salvador Ordoñez (World Wood Future) : “The future is now”
- Greta Tresserra (Bamboo Hub) : Bamboo as a building material (presentation in Spanish and Catalan)
- Josep Bunyesc (Architecte) : Local materials, wood and straw (presentation in Catalan)
- Quentin Judalet (UPC, Projet SAVASCO) : Creation of the SAVASCO network of actors (presentation in Spanish)
The day then continued with a visit to the workshops where the materials developed in the project are manufactured. The participants were able to observe the raw materials, equipment and construction materials up close and discuss with the team in charge of the production of the blocks made of earth and granulates from maize and sunflower stalks and the panels made from sunflower stalk pith. Finally, a visit to the prototype’s construction site sealed the day and made it possible to explain the construction systems involving the materials developed, which will be put in place by the end of the project.
The SAVASCO project team would like to thank all the people who participated in this day and hopes to meet all the actors in the Catalan region on May 6, 2022 for the inauguration of the prototype on the ETSAV campus.