VPRO Tegenlicht: Biobased Building

Geert Rozinga (Editor-in-Chief and director at VPRO Tegenlicht) recounts the making of this special below:

"In 2019, I made the episode Houtbouwers with researcher William de Bruijn: a fifty-minute plea about why we can build much better with wood than with concrete and steel. Around the same time, a fantastic pavilion by architect Marco Vermeulen was on display at Dutch Design Week, where you could literally experience what such a wooden revolution could look like.

Since then, we've been asked regularly when part two of Houtbouwers would be released. 'Such a success; surely, there must be a sequel?' 'But then, there must be a new story in it,' was our invariable answer.

And then there was Lucas de Man. In 2021, he showed at Dutch Design Week what you can make with local crops and where you can grow those crops in the Netherlands. The seed was planted and the term ‘landscaping the future’ soon came to mind; what if you could redesign the Netherlands so that it would be good for farmers, builders and the soil?

A country where farmers grow crops for construction. Where builders enter into a long-term relationship with farmers. And where the soil also benefits. Biobased crops store CO2, which remains stored as long as you use it as insulation material in homes. Pioneering farmers and builders could thus form the basis of a materials transition.

One of the leading pioneers in ‘Building with the farmer’ is landscape architect and activist designer Julia Watson. She took us to a pavilion that literally grows with nature. She takes the connection between farmers and builders one step further, stating that living architecture can become the future of our cities. She will tell more about this in a lecture at the Van Abbemuseum on Saturday 19 October, during Dutch Design Week.

During DDW, you can also see a bamboo pavilion by architect Sanne Eekel on Ketelhuisplein in Eindhoven. This all gives biobased building a big boost.

The VPRO will also be at DDW with the entire editorial team in Microlab Hall where we will set up a biobased construction site together with the public.

Come all and build with us!”

– Geert Rozinga, director of ‘Building with the Farmer’