The architectural firm Karbon’ specialises in sustainable building and has been collaborating for several years with craftsman Gautier Nagant, who specialises in straw bale construction. In February 2020, Karbon was due to take part in the X Artefacts exhibition, which was to be held at the ULB as part of the Thinking-Making academic symposium. As a result, Karbon’ decided to create a wooden structural element using compressed straw. Gautier Nagant was invited to work with Karbon’s staff to build a 1:1 scale model, which will later be included in the exhibition.

From a technical perspective, the scale model (mock-up) aims to develop a better system for building walls using straw. Gautier Nagant is critical of the traditional timber formwork system filled with straw and cellulose. Instead, he wishes to use straw without cellulose, and to make full use of the insulating as well as structural qualities of straw. The mock-up demonstrates how to construct a wooden structure into which the straw bales are compressed. To minimise the ecological footprint, the structure is also made of local solid timber, meaning no glue is required.