Locally Harvested Materials

In ‘Green by Need’ Carola described historic building practices claiming that their character was local: humans sourced building materials locally and they also constructed following local traditional technologies. Construction was also embedded, she said, in social structures and culture. But have these practices become obsolete now? Can our return to circular principles also signal a return to harvesting materials and building locally?

In this video, Mo discusses cultural landscapes and how we can work in tune with local resources to produce construction materials without overexploiting the eco-system. She also discusses a project she undertook with her group, Bouwtuin.

• Before the industrial revolution constructing houses was a local affair: knowledge was passed on from generation to generation and building skills were acquired in practice. This knowledge was lost because of the globalization of the construction industry.
• The regional cultural landscape can thus be seen as the cradle for the local supply of natural building materials.
• In order to achieve a balanced regional value chain of local construction materials, it’s important to understand to what extent resources can be harvested without overexploiting the eco-system.