Kirsten Lynge - Tides of Innovation: Seaweed Acoustics and Circular Ideals

Hearing Architecture

The Hearing Architecture podcast, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, presents Again and Again and Again, a mini-series hosted by Hilary Duff.

Each week, we will bring you interviews and conversations as we seek better ways to understand, harness and deploy the expertise and knowledge of professionals currently within the design community, at home and abroad. Our guests are all experts on circularity within the building industry and share the aim to display that waste is not an accident but the consequence of decisions made at the design stage. Here is our opportunity. We, as designers, have an opportunity to do better.

In this episode we speak with Kirsten Lynge of Søuld. Kirsten is head of sustainability and co-founder of Søuld, a Danish material manufacturer committed to providing forward-thinking designers, builders, and end-users with eco-friendly, recyclable and CO₂-storing building materials made from eelgrass.

At Søuld, Kirsten uses her skills from her engineering background, where she has been trained in managing sustainable production systems. She pairs this with her love for eelgrass, awakened from a childhood at Læsø, a Danish Island known for its historical eelgrass roofs, that last for centuries.

I was lucky enough to touch and feel some of this seaweed or grass. There was number of historical samples in the office when I spoke with Kirsten. It was quite astounding to touch something that has been around for over 300 years and think about how materials such as these could be utilised to stand in buildings that aim for a lifespan of even a slim portion of that time.

Listening to Kirsten, the ideas of the product seem so simple or obvious that it can be hard to understand why our industry makes it so difficult to make them viable. This is a scenario I came across many times when talking to those producing similar solutions.

Specifically, Kirsten has queried: Why not take a material that is in abundance in Denmark, seaweed, to press and shape into a building material to insulate buildings. It Revives old traditions of seaweed houses and focusing on common sense solutions with a proven track record in other times in our history.

In our discussion today, we discuss what happens when a simple idea meets a complex industry - How regulation, formal and informal industry practices, and competition by established players, all shape how a sustainable idea manifests into a viable product. Kirsten’s team has made it work in the landscape of the construction industry and its existing practices and players. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

Alongside the invention of the product, Kirsten, and the team at Søuld has had to educate and convince contractors, architects, and engineers, as well as customers. They have had to battle to prove compliancy and codes in a space where current regulations match the performance and test logic of current products, often made in factories, and without the curve balls that natural materials throw. They have had to fight to exist in a risk-averse industry where there is significant financial hurdles, hesitancy to deviate from existing regulations, and where the interest in promoting new, more sustainable solutions is lower than what our environment needs.

To sum up, Søuld and fellow counterparts in the industry of new sustainably focused materials, have had to do much more than just develop their innovative product or service. They must reconfigure and persuade an entire value chain to embrace their innovation. Ultimately, they have to help build an entire new industry.

Søuld is well on its way, being helped along by key and interesting business partners, research grants and a supportive network of local designers.

Today's episode showcases one particular story, as an exemplar of the journey of these small businesses, designers and great thinkers preparing Solutions with the potential to move the world in a better, more sustainable direction.

This has been Again&Again&Again, a mini-series of Hearing Architecture, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, made possible with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation This episode was recorded during a period of residency with the Danish Arts Association in Copenhagen. Thank you so much for listening, and thank you to our international guests Kirsten of Søuld. Thank you for your drive, aiming at something beyond minor modifications of current practice. And in your offering of functional, sustainable, and beautiful alternatives to traditional building materials that can improve sustainable development whilst also improving human health and well-being.

Our sponsor Brickworks, also produces architecture podcasts hosted by Tim Ross. You can find ‘The Art of Living’, ‘Architects Abroad, and ‘The Power of Two’, at brickworks.com.au or your favourite podcast platform.

If you’d like to show your support please rate, review, and subscribe to Hearing Architecture in your favourite podcast app. If you want to know more about what the Australian Institute of Architects is doing to support architects and the community please visit architecture.com.au

This is a production by the Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. The miniseries Again&Again&Again is proudly supported by the Alstair Swayne Foundation. The Institute production team was Madelynn Jenkins, and Claudia McCarthy, and the EmAGN production team was Daniel Moore and Hilary Duff. Music by Blue Dot Sessions released under Creative Commons Licencing.

This content is brought to you by the Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. This content does not take into account specific circumstances and should not be relied on in that way. This content does not constitute legal, financial, insurance, or other types of advice. You should seek independent verification or advice before relying on this content in circumstances where loss or damage may result. The Institute endeavours to publish content that is accurate at the time it is published, but does not accept responsibility for content that may or will become inaccurate over time.