HAMPTON COURT PALACE FLOWER SHOW 6-11 July 2010

Our Sustainable Show Garden "Together Again - D-shape Garden" exhibiting at this year's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show showcases contemporary outdoor seating build with technology of the future called D-Shape.

Inspired by continuous attempts of finding more and more environmentally friendly design solutions, this garden introduces, for the first time in landscaping practice, the use of a new D-shape building technology which has been developed to bring together sustainable cost-effective production and capability to overcome the constraints of traditional methods in creating the buildings of modern era.

The new construction method is similar to the 'printing' process of a 3D rapid prototyping, but done on much bigger scale. With this technology, a machine deposits an inorganic binder onto a bed of granular material (sand or gravel) layer after layer, following the instructions of a 3D CAD file. Obviously not all the granular material connects to the binder: the one in excess is removed to show the final structure as it has been drawn by the designer.

D-shape finds just the right balance between building in a sustainable way and exploring well-being through the attention to aesthetic aspects of construction.

Sustainability is really at the core of D-shape technology.

The base material is stone powder and it is taken from limestone sludge or quarry waste material. The use of otherwise wasted granular materials saves unrenewable and vulnerable natural resources used in traditional construction processes like timber, clay etc. The technology is developed to make the best use of locally available recycled materials. The manufacturing machine is a light equipment, easy to carry on site, significantly cutting the costs and the carbon footprint of the production.

Solidification process is geological-like. Magnesium based inorganic binder is used to allow the solidification process. The binder works in a completely natural way. It is similar to binding cements of rocks, which hold together the grains of natural stones. The material produced is stone, although created in a fraction of the time that nature takes to create it naturally.

D-shape technology which is using a construction scale additive fabrication has the intrinsic advantage of producing virtually no waste compared to 'subtractive' (milling stone to the desired shape) and 'formative' processes (use of formwork with concrete) and even other 'additive' building processes (brick laying).
All excess sand which remains after the solidification is reprocessed and reused in future fabrication processes.

The process requires no heating as for concrete production and brick firing and does not contribute to the CO2 emission. The process is powered by small amount of electricity which can be supplied by 20 square meters of photovoltaic cells.

On the creative side, D-shape technology allows designers to implement abstract shapes without the usual constraints of building with stone. This seating in particular communicates a sense of strength and lightness at the same time, offering a ecological and elegant space for entertaining and relaxation. High and soft clumps of grasses and neutral coloured perennials surround and complement the structure.

Besides ecological building process and design freedom the future of this innovative technology lies in meeting the challenge of provision low cost housing even without established industrial infrastructure using local material.

With this garden Design In Latitude wants to encourage people to think about our contradictory relationship with Nature and invite to adopt the right responsible approach to live in harmony, 'Together Again'.