We do know from reports that one of the top positions in the chart of the most polluting materials is occupied by textile waste: it has for example been been calculated that each year textile waste amounts to 210.000 kiloton only in The Netherlands, the equivalent of 350.000.000 pairs of jeans.
Trying to find a solution to deal with textile waste, while also studying new strategies for the government plans stating that all new-build homes must be built energy-neutral by 2020 and that by 2050 all construction in The Netherlands must be circular (as stated in the 2018 Transition Agenda for a Circular Building Economy document), Studio Samira Boon, i.c.w. the research programme Urban Technology of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (UvA) and NEXT architects came together last year with a unique project to develop BiOrigami, a new composite.
This winning research project (it was awarded a Knowledge and Innovation Mapping grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) investigates how biocomposite materials can become functional, sensory and flexible architectural products.
The material resulted from this research is composed of a bio-based plastic and textile waste derived from old jute bags and jeans, so this can be defined as a circular biocomposite.
Manufacturing is developed witth state-of-the-art parametric design and digital production techniques, but the structure is based on Japanese origami, a field in which Studio Samira Boon is specialised, having employed origami techniques for textile 3D construction for years.
Origami techniques add important properties to the flat biocomposite, including bearing capacity, flexibility and acoustics, but also patterns of soft bending lines and hard surfaces on a flat material.
Prototypes made with this material are part of an exhibition about textiles and design organised during We Make The City in Amsterdam. The festival is on until today, but let's hope the team behind this material will keep on experimenting in this field and maybe prompt researchers in other countries to work on further biocomposites that may help us reducing textile waste.