BVN Architecture + UTS have won the top prize for Best Green Building Material / Product, in the INNOVATION category at the Australian Sustainability Awards 2022.  

While it’s an unusual win, architects are not ordinarily inventors, BVN is deeply engaged in addressing the climate emergency, looking for innovative solutions to aging buildings and their services such as air conditioning.

The Sustainability Award was won for BVN and UTS’ invention ‘Systems Reef 2’. It’s an air distribution system that circulates fresh air silently and organically. It’s a radical alternative to ducted air conditioning. Instead of steel it’s made entirely of recycled plastic and created using robotic 3D printing. It uses 90 per cent less embodied carbon and it ‘breathes’ like a frog’s skin, through tiny pores all over.

Also very beautiful, Systems Reef 2 looks similar to a coral reef: translucent, colourful and organic in shape. Rather than straight lines, it’s irregular and curved, to accommodate the natural movement of air.

SR2 represents a deep dive into the questions about how aging buildings can be upcycled, to create a more sustainable built environment. Earlier this week BVN + 3XN celebrated a major win for Quay Quarter Tower: a radical re-purposing of a tower. With SR2, BVN + UTS are tackling adaptive re-use from the inside.

BVN is acutely aware of how construction fuels global temperature rises. As designers and innovators, they see a responsibility to find viable, innovative solutions.

BVN’s Chris Bickerton sais, “Looking at ways to design and source more sustainable building materials and products is essential for transitioning towards net positive.

“We hope this award will encourage more research and innovation in this field.”