Reclaiming Matter
Potentials of industrial by-products
Reclaiming Matter – Potentials of Industrial by-products explores new design approaches to handling carbonation lime from the sugar industry and waste stone dust from natural stone quarrying by translating these previously separate residual materials into a regional building material. The focus is on how design and industrial symbiosis—the targeted networking of neighboring companies to utilize by-products— can jointly enable sustainable production systems.
| student: | Catherina Stuckmann |
| mentored by: | Prof. Mareike Gast |
| year: | 2025 |
| level: | Master Thesis |
Reclaiming Matter – Potentials of Industrial by-products presents an alternative approach to dealing with industrial residues. Carbonation lime from the sugar industry and waste stone dust from natural stone quarrying are reinterpreted as independent resources and transformed into a locally producible building material. The project regards these by-products not merely as materials, but as starting points for a new form of regional value creation, where technical, aesthetic, and societal aspects intersect.
A central element is the principle of industrial symbiosis: targeted cooperation between neighboring companies makes it possible to link material flows and existing infrastructure and to put previously unused by-products to meaningful use.
The spatial proximity of raw material sources, processing, and application creates synergies that reduce ecological impacts, strengthen local economic cycles, and open up new social and cultural opportunities.
The developed material samples and the demonstrator serve as tangible interfaces where the interplay of residual material flows, design transformation, and industrial symbiosis becomes visible. They illustrate how the targeted connection of local actors can generate new value creation pathways and translate the potentials of industrial by-products into a culturally tangible context.