Sustainability
Sustainability in design involves examining materials, production processes and the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle. Resource use, durability, repair and recycling inform approaches to reducing waste and supporting a circular economy. Projects and research offer a closer look at these choices, considering how design decisions affect manufacturing, use and disposal, alongside the challenges of measuring their impact.
What happens when a material is grown rather than manufactured?
This gives rise to projects like Cenit and Lomo, which explore the potential of Celium™, a cultivated cellulose-based biomaterial grown using bacteria fed with agro-industrial waste. Developed by…
Mazda is making diesel from algae: how it works and why it matters
According to Mazda, our cars could one day run on algae-based fuel. How close are we to making this a reality?
Raw, rebel, real: Dutch Design Week 2026 is coming back to the essence of design
From a full-scale printed house and a department store for living materials, DDW 2026 puts unpolished, experimental design at the centre of the city for 9 days.
Building a home with 2,500€ in a rural Bangladeshi village
Architect Xinyun Li’s unbuilt concept for a bamboo-weaving village in rural Bangladesh proposes a different kind of home, built with found materials and inherited skills.
When Barbie melts down: gomi’s Childhood Memories collection and the limits of toy circularity
The Barbie x gomi collaboration is turning waste into audio equipment, commenting on sustainability, designing for children, and consumer nostalgia.
Earth Valley Theater: when architecture is not just for humans
In the mountains of Wuxi, China, GOA transforms an open-air theater into a shared habitat: spectators, birds, nature, and architecture become part of the same performance in a…
Would you grow algae in your kitchen?
Maja Rowecka, a design graduate from Warsaw, has created the startup Greenspire, offering a kit to cultivate the world’s most nutrient-dense algae at home.
The Pluriversity, education as a catalyst for regeneration
At Future Days 2026, Studio Saol presented the result of a three-year research project for an Irish university: a speculative model that imagines a future where education actively…
Waste, reconsidered: debris turned into cement-alternative building materials
Highlighting the emerging intersection of material science and circularity within the construction sector.
Ibira Work, opening the office to nature and its urban surroundings
The São Paulo studio creates an office building where nature and the landscape become part of the working environment – for informal meetings or moments of exchange between…
SUR+PLUS, a collection that questions our production systems
The series of seating designed by AtMa reflects on the concept of surplus, proposing a sustainable alternative while also becoming a metaphor for connection in contemporary society.
What if humans are no longer at the center of design?
Rethinking Design for Longevity through a planetary lens.