Project | GEO-DESIGN - Artifacts for hotels and urban furniture incorporating waste
Co-financed by the European Union through the ERDF - European Regional Development Fund, in the North2020 - Northern Portugal Regional Operational Program 2020.

Total eligible cost | € 606,621.26
Financial support from the EU | € 419,223.00
Self-financing | € 187,398.26

Location | Portugal

Consortium
W2V, SA (Lead Promoter)
CVR - Center for the Valorization of Waste (Copromotor)
Francisco M. Providência Designer, Lda. (Copromotor)
University of Minho (Copromotor)
University of Trás Os Montes and Alto Douro (Copromotor)

Synthesis
Description

It proposes the implementation of innovative products with a strong design component, intended for architecture (especially at the level of hotel and urban furniture), using innovative materials.

Combining the use of industrial waste in the Northern Region of Portugal with a high quality design and intense R & D activity, it is proposed to develop products that respond to specific market trends. The aim is to develop products of a high aesthetic and functional quality, responding to the new trends in the architecture market worldwide, which looks for aesthetically attractive products due to their differentiating, sophisticated, low cost characteristics, responding to international standards and consumer desires . In addition to the development of new and innovative products and the materials with which they will be manufactured, the project also intends to develop the technological process inherent to the manufacture, namely as regards the pre-treatment of waste and the processes of molding, forming and finishing, As well as to pilot the production of the same, also evaluating the economic and environmental impact of this process when applied to a wide range of industrial waste.

Goals

- Develop products with a strong design component, for architectural applications (in particular in hotels and urban furniture), manufactured with innovative materials incorporating waste in their composition;
- Design the chromatic and textural system (from the selection and incorporation of 10 residues) for the aesthetic characterization of a set of 10 artifacts to be developed for application in architecture and urban furniture;
- Create 10 prototypes, designed by the creative team, namely: 3 for facade / floor coverings; 3 for urban furniture; 4 specifically designed for use in hotel units, all based on innovative materials formulations to be developed;
- Develop 10 formulations of new composite materials, incorporating waste, for applications in the manufacture of the products, to be conceived by the team of designers;
- Build a pilot installation for testing and validation of concept, adapted to the manufacture of several types of innovative products and with a strong design component;
- Validate the production process under pilot conditions, using 10 different wastes with application potential, in a scale-up situation, representing a flow of 200,000 tonnes / year in Portugal and 25 Mton in the European Union;
- Validate the application of the new products in situations of contemporary architecture, namely through the partner architecture offices: Arch. Eduardo Souto de Moura (Porto) and Pitágoras - Integrated Architecture and Engineering (Guimarães), both based in the North of the Country, in cities Which are Cultural Heritage of Humanity.