The straw project; urban re-densification with low impact and residual materials

Abstract

When “business as usual” and the untenable amount of resource extraction and CO2 emissions within the building industry is no longer an option if we are to have any chance of reaching the SDGs and turn the critical climate development, we need to seek for other sources to resources. The context of the thesis is the urgent need to counteract climate change and make a transition to a more sustainable use of resources, energy and space as well as answering to the housing situation in Gothenburg. Statistics shows an increasing influx of inhabitants concentrated to the metropolitan area with steadily growing housing queues and the estimated population growth until 2040 is +120 000 inhabitants. The focus of the thesis has therefore been to explore how upcyling of residual straw from the agriculture and other natural, low-impact materials can play an important role in this transition together with strategies for sustainable urban re-densification. By focusing on prefabrication techniques for straw wall elements the traditional material meets modern housing standards and the efficiency required on an urban construction site. The design proposal acts as a pilot project and a testbed for all the research and explorations gathered throughout this process. It displays aesthetic and architectural possibilities of the materials and highlights the paradigm shift needed within the building industry by reducing CO2 emissions, resource extraction, land exploitation and energy use through its significantly reduced environmental impact compared to conventional building materials and sequestration of about 76 tons of CO2 . The result is a 4-storey residential building on an infill-site in the urban setting of Gothenburg, adding a new layer in the cityscape that tells us how we, by questioning and breaking conventions, shifted to a more long-term sustainable use of resources.