All Cyclifiers

Some years ago, NIOO decided to merge activities from two of its locations into one new sustainable building: the new building for the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Wageningen. NIOO director, Professor Louise Vet, was inspired by the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) principles and wanted to take the design and construction of their building one step further than the most sustainable buildings built to date in the Netherlands. Sustainability is generally measured by energy efficiency; the C2C concept, however, poses new criteria. The question is not what can we do to limit environmental damage, but rather how can we make a valuable contribution to the surrounding environment? The C2C guiding principle is that production should be waste free. In the Cradle to Cradle model, everything we make and leave behind is regenerated as raw materials for use in the natural environment or in new products. The other two main principles are: use solar energy and celebrate biodiversity. The designers were instructed to keep as close to this philosophy as possible.