Exhibition: Building with Bio-Based Materials

Earlier this year, the Toronto Biobuild Collective (external link, opens in new window) , including more than 60 volunteers and six Toronto-based architectural practices — B+H, Dialog, KPMB, MJMA, studioDeep, and SvN — in collaboration with TMU Building Science graduate students and assistant professor Dorothy Johns (opens in new window) , designed, tested and built a series of wall assemblies using only bio-based materials. These mock-ups assess the viability of these materials for a range of building types, while also identifying their inherent challenges and barriers to wider adoption.

While this exhibition is a culmination of those efforts, it is also a beginning. Current building codes limit the use of many of these materials, but the Toronto Biobuild Collective believe that they hold transformative potential.

“Building with Bio-Based Materials”  is one step towards change — a source of inspiration and an invitation to rethink how we build.  It is an expression of optimism towards a world in which we build differently — one where we think further into the future and better consider all life around us. A world that is within reach, even if it sometimes feels far away.