Resources

The Challenge

Construction Industry Urbanisation Demand

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Endless Demand

At the Urban Age Conference in Venice it was declared that social peace and security for the whole world in the next few years depends on whether we succeed in building 1 million residential units every week at an affordable price. 2.5 billion more people will be living in cities by 2050, the vast majority in Africa and Asia. Yet, much of the infrastructure to support this urban expansion is yet to be built.

Source: Urban Age

Scarce Resource

One of the biggest problems is limited building material. Although sand is available in many places in the world, it often cannot be used to make concrete and consequently to build houses. Desert sand for example is not suitable for conventional methods to build houses.

Source: nature

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Alternative Materials

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Our Solution

Polycare’s technology allows to produce Polyblocks made of durable and environmentally friendly polymer concrete. The special feature of this development allows the use of local raw materials such as desert sand or other free flowing filler – a game changer for the construction industry.

Further Possibilities

There is also potential for optimization when it comes to binding agents and insulation. We are constantly researching alternative, more sustainable substances that are not only carbon-neutral but climate-positive. For example, we’re exploring the possibilities of geo-polymers and bio-based polymers as binding agent. In addition, we’re testing organic foamed material and mycelium as insulation. The results are promising.

mycelium as insulation bio-based polymers

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Closed Loops

Closing the Material Loop

Circularity is an integral part of Polycare - and therefore also an essential field of research. In addition to developing new materials, we also research the integration of waste products into the material cycle of a modern construction industry. To do this, we bind building rubble, industrial waste and secondary materials in our Polyblocks, which would otherwise be residual waste with an almost endless half-life.

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Closing the Architectural Loop

One of the most important paradigm shift we believe in, is an architecture that is designed for disassembly. A building should be modular and built in a way that allows to reuse any component at any stage of the lifecycle. The challenge is to de-couple the lifecycle of the elements from the lifecycle of the building itself. Then we can transform the building industry away from "take, make, waste" towards "take, make, reuse, repair, recycle". This also creates new possibilities and unseen flexibility for future buildings.

Benefits

Closing the
material loop
Protecting
our ecosystems
Closing the
architectural loop
Being efficient
on resources

We’re constantly looking for „waste“ materials, that could be useful in our product development. If you have something interesting, please feel free to contact us.