Healthy Building Materials

Healthy Building Materials Seminar | 2024

First Exhibited: April 30, 2024

Location: Schloss Studios, Sibley Hall, Ithaca, NY

Co-Exhibitors: Isabella Cobo-Aguirre, Jose Ortega, Ana Samaniego

Professor: Marta H. Wisniewska

Design a part of an exhibition analyzing a conventional construction material and their healthier alternatives.

The Healthy Building Materials Exhibition, as part of the Healthy Building Materials seminar, explores healthier alternatives to common construction materials that contain toxicants, or artificial chemicals that are harmful to human health. My team chose wood as our material of investigation, where we researched and studied engineered and natural woods currently used in construction and presented alternatives that can be bought or made by one’s self. As part of the team I produced diagrams explaining how to make certain healthy materials and produced various samples of engineered wood alternatives, and assisted in arranging the layout for our portion of the exhibition.

*Map showing the countries that produce the most lumber as well as the location of where healthier wood alternatives are sourced, produced, and exported.*

*Diagram showing the process of crafting molded paper block composites.*

Designing Engineered Wood Alternatives

As part of the exhibition I crafted material samples constituted primarily of the wood and paper detritus–namely sawdust and paper pulp. I mixed them in a blender with water, then added wood glue to the mixture, placed the mixture into a three-part mold, and clamped the mold shut with a table vise. The vise squeezed out all of the water, leaving the inside with what was essentially a plastic-wood composite (the
plastic coming from the wood glue). After about a day I opened the mold, removed the composite, and allowed it to dry for a few more days.

*Images showing the process of making the samples.*

*All five paper block composite samples made for the exhibition, and a panel I crafted made of glued newspaper sheets, also exhibited.*

Qualities of Wood Alternatives

The paper block composites shrink as they dry, but once dry feel quite rigid and have a texture somewhere between plastic and wood. Additives such as coffee grounds were added but did not seem to strengthen the composite, though no quantitative strength tests were performed on the samples. The newspaper panel’s layers of color create the appearance of blurred colors effect when seen from the side, and the top and bottom portions can be sanded for a rough, layered, collage-like effect.

Images of the wood portion of the Healthy Building Materials in the Schloss Studio and later the Sibley Dome Balcony in Sibley Hall, Ithaca, NY. The materials and drawings made for the exhibition were made in collaboration with Isabella Cobo-Aguirre, Jose Ortega, and Ana Samaniego.