The future of renewable resources might be… blood. It sure sounds creepy, but recent architectural graduate Jack Munro has developed a plan to make bricks from the blood of slaughtered livestock.
“Animal blood is one of the most prolific waste materials in the world,” Munro writes on his website. “The blood drained from animal carcasses is generally thrown away or incinerated despite being a potentially useful product.”
While still a student at the University of Westminster in London, Munro hypothesized that animal blood could be used to construct buildings in underdeveloped areas that lack more traditional materials for construction.
To test his theory, the recent grad collected blood from four cows, added an antibacterial agent to keep away fungus, and mixed the substance with sand. Munro then poured the mixture into a framework and baked it, finding that it didn’t take long for the elements to coagulate. According to Fast Co.Design, the recent grad was successful in making waterproof glue and bricks, although the bricks are not super strong.
For his thesis, Munro presented a design for a brick-making community in Siwa, Egypt, an area that has suffered from rain damage and could benefit from waterproof building materials.
Check out Munro’s full proposal here.
Bricks and Maybe Buildings Made From a Wasted Resource: Blood [Fast Co.Design]
