Salt

Eric Geboers

Recent TU Delft architecture graduate Eric Geboers has developed a way of separating salt out of seawater in order to create a new type of building material – along with water that can be used for irrigation. Geboers believes the technology could be useful in desert areas, particularly as many deserts are situated in fairly close proximity to coastal regions.

Geboers says his new salt-based building bricks are made from a mixture of sea salt and starch. The salt sticks to the starch and is extracted by algae grown in the seawater

Felix Mollinga

Felix Mollinga creates objects made by the organic growth of crystallisation and man made 3D printed frames.
The process of 3D-printing and the forming of mineral crystals seem worlds apart, but are actually based on the same principle, slowly materializing layer by layer. Fascinated by their similarities and differences, he managed to manipulate them into a co-creative unity.
Both materials need a day to complete their part of the structure. The printing is controlled, precise, and industrial. The crystals are unpredictable, stubborn, and organic. One strengthens fragility and the other contributes sparkle and translucency.

Research paper: The salt architecture in Siwa oasis

The research concerns the peculiar and unknown building technique utilised in the construction of Shali, ancient fortress built in the XII century in Siwa, an oasis of the western Egyptian desert. The architecture is characterised by the use of salt blocks, taken from the nearby salty lakes. The blocks are utilised in the masonry with an abundant mud mortar very rich in salt. Such technique still lives in our time, utilised by old masons for some new buildings.