Geodesign, eco-brutalist artefacts for architecture, tourism and urbanism

Abstract

Geodesign project is a co-promotion project funded by the Portugal 2020 program with the aim of developing new architectural products, integrating industrial waste and by-products generated by Portuguese companies, namely in the fields of steel, smelting, power stations, metallurgy and glassmaking. The partners of the project are W2V, SA, dedicated to waste management activities, Providência Design, dedicated to product design, the CVR technology center and the Portuguese universities of Minho and Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. Fly ash from thermoelectric plants, aluminum anodizing sludge and glass polishing dusts, among others, offer different plastic and chromatic qualities. When chemically integrated in the form of geopolymers or calcium-based materials, they exhibit different physical qualities of mechanical strength and aging. Taking into account their physical qualities and, consequently, the diversity of chromatic, textural and economical results, several functional products for wall covering, sound barriers and exterior furniture with expressive aesthetic impact were designed. Exploring the plastic qualities of a new brutalist, recyclable and sustainable aesthetic, a generation of artifacts was born that presents competitive advantages in the range of products for hotel, tourist architecture and urban planning in general. It will be the design of this brutalist aesthetic that, communicating sustainability, will be the factor of evidence to motivate the circularity of the economy and social inversion of the unsustainability of industrial consumption. The project provides for the technological test of development of new materials containing residues, their small-scale manufacturing and pre-industrial validation, after evaluating their economic and environmental impacts.