During the event we held at our factory together with Fundación Paideia Galiza, as part of the European project Circular Challenge, we had the opportunity to talk with leading professionals in architecture, construction, and sustainable design. One of them was Diego Freire, director of Zero Housing, who shared his vision of circularity, the challenges of accessible sustainability, and the potential of materials like RiceTab to transform the way we think about spaces. This is his perspective.
What surprised you most about the visit to the Birdmind factory?
Everything surprised me. How a byproduct is transformed into a premium product; I was amazed that everything is recycled and also by the fact that they are already thinking about the next steps. Right now, they’re focused on rice husk, but they are already working with other byproducts, which I find incredible.
How do you think materials like RiceTab can transform the way spaces are designed?
Maybe more than the way spaces are designed, it’s about the way we think about them. I mean that when you enter a space and they explain that those materials come from a byproduct, like rice husk, it opens your mind and makes you realize that things can be done differently. I think that’s the most important part; it’s not just the space itself, but the awareness that there’s a different way of doing things.
What role does sustainability play in your current projects?
It’s a very relevant part, since we build our houses and façades using less water, emitting less CO2, and giving the end customer the chance to generate significantly lower energy consumption throughout the building’s entire life cycle.
It’s often said that committing to sustainability comes at a higher cost. In your case, you’re also talking about homes that are more affordable in terms of final price.
If your product isn’t affordable, circularity and sustainability aren’t viable. Our work is to pursue standardization every day and improve production processes so that circularity can actually reach the market.
What drives you to try unconventional materials?
Above all, it’s curiosity. When you start a new company, you tend to be more restless, and you look for partners across your entire value chain. For example, here with BIRDMIND, you can see a capacity to create different things, and when you connect with people who share the same drive, interesting things, ideas, or projects tend to emerge.
Where do you imagine using a material like RiceTab?
For example, in our façade system, there’s an interior panel where it might be integrated as part of the system. Its level of circularity is also a push for us to study how to integrate it and seek new solutions.
What trends do you think will shape the future of sustainable design and construction?
What we’re seeing is that customers want sustainability, but they also want it to result in savings. That can be achieved, from a production perspective, through standardization and increasing production capacity; and also, as I mentioned, by ensuring that circularity results in lower resource consumption over the product’s life cycle.
