BIØN is a network of organisations active in low-impact building techniques. We aim to share knowledge, practices and experiences to contribute to the built environment and our communities. Listen in to our diverse European network when we share our perspectives on building with natural materials, creating circular designs and working closely with the local communities.

In the design and build workshop in San Ginesio, ARCó organised a workshop following circular building strategies. Urban furniture was built from reused and recycled materials. The “design for disassembly strategy” aims to aid deconstruction (demolition) through planning and design. It allows components and materials to be removed more easily, facilitating their subsequent reuse.

Alessio Battistella from our partner organisation ARCò had the opportunity to present the experience gathered during six years of LearnBIØN program at the 32nd International Seminar and Award in Architecture and Urban Culture in Camerino, Italy.

The exhibition on the Bi0n network is coming to an end!

Thank you all for contributing your work and building new practices. We will now move out of Open studio at Färgfabriken, very satisfied with having shared our work in the Stockholm area. Thank you all!

All partners gathered in Stockholm for an intense work session on future plans for the network. We summarised the learnings from the partners and reflected on improvements to strengthen circular building practices all across Europe.

On Friday 17th June 2022, AES Studio’s Anna Sundman and Emily Aquilina hosted the international Conference ‘Down to Earth’ at Färgfabriken in Stockholm, Sweden. The event focused on the current practice and future possibilities for sustainability in the architectural and construction industries. Gaining insights into the practical knowledge, built work and natural/circular material innovations of BIØN, the Building Impact Zero Network, produced over a six-year European funded project.

BASEhabitat invited Tânia Teixeira to speak at a theory lecture for the University of Linz under the title Working in Networks - BIØN Building Impact Zero Network.

Building Impact Zero Network finishes 6 years of experimental building with circular materials, and now we want to share it with you! In a full day conference we will share our practical explorations in biological- and low-impact building techniques and all the surrounding knowledge of people-led movements, cooperative strength and the latest on earth building research

We are happy to announce to all friends of Bi0n that we now have set the date for the conference in Sweden. We will gather all partners and the knowledge from our 6 years of experimental building! So save the date and join us in Stockholm.

After telling you how the work was initiated during the Workshop BIØN² #2 Design & Build for Disassembly, here some updates on the results the team achieved during the initiative’s last week.

From 19th to 30th of July 2021 10 trainees attendend the Workshop BIØN² #2 Design&Build for Disassembly in the municipality of San Ginesio, province of Macerata, Italy. The team was welcomed by the members of G-Lab laboratorio di idee, a local youth association, by the municipality and by the project’s main stakeholde, the prior of the confraternity of the Sacconi of San Ginesio. In this edition the workshop is also one of a cycle of three workshops of the Master Circular Architecture: Shapes and Methodologies of the University of Camerino.

Apply now to participate in Design and Build for Disassembly. A two week building workshop in San Ginesio, Macerata, Italy

The workshop main focus is to build for Disassembly, with reused and recycled materials. A great way to lower the impact on the climate, and upcycle materials to becoming useful again. The workshop will be held in San Genesio, Macerata, Italy on the 19-30th of July.

More information on how to participate coming shortly!

There is still time until April 16th to enrol in the Master Circular Architecture: Shapes and Methodologies. One of the 3 workshops within this Master course will be held by BIØN-partner ARCò.

The history of our cities have been always characterized by phenomenon of transformation. Architecture is a system open to mutations, capable of “recycling” its own purpose, its own shape and its own meaning. “Examples like Spalato, like Teatro di Marcello in Rome and the Il Duomo di Siracusa, to mention three of the clearest examples, are reborn from recycling. It is not treated as restoration: the idea of conservation tends to embalm the image of the architectural or urban space giving value to the immutable. Instead the process of recycling, the change is the value, especially when it is able to generate successes as in the examples mentioned before.1” (M. Ricci 2011).

We are at Milan Design Week! The exhibition covers the BIØN activities from 2015-2018, including the preview of our guides, that will be available for download soon.

It is integrated at Terra Migaki Design 2019 in the Studio Museo Francesco Messina, from 9th until the 14th of April. The opening event will be the 10th April from 10:00 to 18:00.

Design and Build with Ø km (local and recycled materials), a 4 week building workshop in Milan, Italy. During this workshop we built with recycled materials and low tech building methods to suit the needs of the Casa Chiaravalle community.

The forth week, has been dedicated to close the opening with old windows that were ready to be demolished. We decided to recycle more than 60 square meters of windows to give the good transparency to the building and we worked on the visual connection through the inside and the outside.

The third week starts with a little changing of the participants, and few more mosquitos. The bottle walls had to be completed and each bottle had to be properly clean. It was a meditative job, which gave the expected result of a shining light through the glasses. The experience with the mortar mixture of the previous week was needed to use the good quality of mixture during the plastering. We used more than 5 tons of mixture for the wall and the plastering.

The second week stars with a little change of the participants, and a shining sun. We created the new wooden structure and the net support, we learn how to use some specific instrument of the site to mix the mortar and we started to prepare to wall to welcome the over 3.000 recycled bottles.