New Cacao Eco Village Creates Homes Out Of 3D-Printed Chocolate Waste
The Cacao Eco Village in Ecuador, designed by architecture firm Valentino Gareri Atelier in partnership with nonprofit Avanti for local cacao farmers, boasts 3D-printed structures built from recycled elements of the crop.
The farmers, according to Dezeen, are mainly in charge of producing chocolate by extracting the cocoa butter and solids from harvested cacao beans.
Located in the coastal Manabi province, the village will see the use of three different “modules,” each with its own unique shape. They’ll be 3D-printed using cacao shell waste biofilaments that are left behind after producing chocolate.
The architects state that the design of the buildings takes inspiration from colorful Ecuadorian houses as well as the colors of the cacao trees’ fruits. Besides raw cocoa waste, local materials like bamboo and timber are also incorporated into the structures.
The modules were designed to incorporate self-sustaining elements. For example, decorative water tanks, modeled after local Ecuadorian art patterns, can collect rainwater.
Apart from serving as a village for the cacao farmers, the space—dubbed the “Silicon Valley for circular economy innovators”—also aims to become a destination for conscious tourism as well as a cacao processing factory, educational center, and co-working space.
World Architecture reports that the five core design principles behind the village are modular, functional, sustainable, tech-enabled, and connected.
“We have pushed the circular economy core principles so much that they informed the design philosophy of the entire project,” says architect Valentino Gareri.
“Waste is not only turned into a resource, but into architecture. In the not-too-distant future, we will be able to design buildings entirely made of natural materials and recycle them at the end of their life cycle in order either to create new ones, or to return them back to nature.”
[via Dezeen and World Architecture, images via Cacao Eco Village]
