Today we’re answering a question you might not have thought to ask: can you build a wall out of eggshells?
And the answer is yes!
The Eggshell Project is an initiative by the Mexican design studio MANUFACTURA.
The designers were looking for a way to reduce the amount of food waste in the country, and cut down on the carbon emissions that usually come with big construction projects.
They found a solution through eggshells.
No, they didn’t walk on them.
But they did collect the eggshells, clean them and then break them down into tiny particles in a blender.
After adding what they called bio-binders, they created a material that works really well in a 3D printer.
And what the 3D printer prints out with this material can dry and harden without needing to be fired in a kiln.
For a recent installation MANUFACTURA took eggshells donated by local restaurants and built a wall out of 105 3D printed blocks, which, by the way, had almost an egg carton-like shape.
Now building one wall is of course not the same as building a building.
But then it’s not really supposed to be.
It’s a first step.
Over time, designers and builders may find practical ways to put these kinds of bricks to work for a green building technology.
And to make it more meta, they could paint their 3D eggshell walls with eggshell white paint and soundproof it with leftover egg cartons
A nonprofit group in Oregon called Washed Ashore has been doing a particular kind of upcycling.
They use garbage that washes up on the coast of Oregon to build large-scale sculptures of animals that are endangered by plastic pollution.
3D-Printing Bricks From Discarded Eggshells (Cool Hunting)
Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea
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