Our philosophy

We apply the following principles in our work, experience them yourself. They are powerful.

• Life Cycle Thinking
Looking at the world everything, everyone has a life cycle. Life Cycle Thinking means looking at the full picture. A statement on the production does not specify anything about the use phase. There are always trade-offs. Knowing them is knowing where to put your efforts and investments. We look for the trade offs and try to optimize them. We apply the Life Cycle Assessment methodology (LCA) to tell you all about it. Thinking in this way can lead to new perspective: you might find yourself selling a service and not a product.

• Cradle-to-cradle: closing the loop
Nature consists of all kinds of loops. Think about water. It evaporates, condenses, falls down and evaporates again. This applies to everything. Closing the loop for your products means not ending up with an undesired sink or storage. If you use materials that you can reuse yourself you are already half way there. It refers to potential leaks as well: if you stay away from hazardous substances they will never come to you. Substitution is the key word here. A waste to someone might be a valuable source for someone else. They only need to be linked. What is the recycle potential of your product?

• Functional performances
If you specify a product feature of a building, would you like to know whether it is comfortable or that is uses insulation with an Rc-value of 2.0? If you buy a toy for your child do you want to know whether it contains phthalates or do you want it to be safe for your child? The difference is thinking in functional performances. It focuses on the service that needs to be provided. To do this can be achieved in thousands of ways. We think in functional performances, specify them into requirements and then try to fulfill them.

• Durability
The lifespan of a building or product defines the maintenance and replacement rate of its parts. What is the primary failure mechanism in your product? What material property relates to that? Can we influence this? How can we design for ease of reuse and recycling knowing replacements are due? If all components have the same lifespan nothing needs to be replaced. If we want to lease a service or offer a guaranteed service plan, how can we be sure not to turn up surprised? Try a session of 'what ifs' and see what you can do.

• Undepletion
A sustainable business does not deplete resources. All energy comes from the sun, why not use it directly? The sun belongs to everyone, so equal opportunities for everybody. Many resources are locally available, why not use them? Why not built a road with the rubble that comes from the construction site next by? When you 'undeplete' your business today you know for sure you can be in business tomorrow.

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