RAW project: a digital pipeline to build with waste‑sourced and fast‑growing bio‑materials

Brussels, August 19th 2026

Summary

›RAW is an EIC Pathfinder project building a digital pipeline to use waste‑sourced and fast‑growing bio‑based materials in construction.
›The project combines non‑destructive material characterisation, non‑prescriptive computational design and adaptive fabrication to embrace natural material variability.
›RAW is testing materials such as a 3D‑printable biopolymer made from agricultural waste and reclaimed timber, while developing life cycle mapping tools to locate ingredients and estimate environmental impacts.
›The project is funded under the EIC with a total budget of about €4.6 million and runs from November 2024 to October 2027.
›Adoption challenges remain significant including supply logistics, regulatory acceptance, long‑term performance data and the need to identify real end users for the tools.

RAW: computation and craft for resource aware architecture

RAW, short for Computation for a new age of Resource AWare architecture, is an EIC Pathfinder project that aims to change how buildings are made by putting variable, bio‑based and waste‑sourced materials at the centre of the design to fabrication chain. Rather than forcing these materials into uniform specifications, RAW is developing a digital pipeline that measures what a batch of material actually is and routes it into bespoke design and fabrication decisions so each piece is used where it performs best.

Who is behind RAW and what it seeks to achieve

The project is coordinated by the Royal Danish Academy (KADK) and brings together nine partners across seven European countries. Project leads interviewed for the EIC Coffee Break feature are Nadja Gaudillière‑Jami, Assistant Professor at KADK and one of the coordinators, and Johannes Huber, Business Development Manager at Wood K plus and an adjunct lecturer at Luleå University of Technology. Their stated mission is to make bio‑based materials viable in the architecture, engineering and construction sector by designing an infrastructure that expects and works with variability rather than against it.

Item	Detail
EIC Grant agreement ID	101161441
Total cost	€4 596 970
EU contribution	€4 596 970
Coordinator	Royal Danish Academy (DET KONGELIGE DANSKE KUNST-AKADEMISKE SKOLER) - KADK
Project duration	Start 2024-11-01 End 2027-10-31
Partners	9 partners from 7 European countries

The technical approach explained

Non‑destructive assessment:RAW starts by measuring incoming material batches without destroying samples. The project uses sensing and characterisation techniques to capture material properties that vary between batches. Those measured properties then feed computational models that predict where the material can be used in a building component.

Non‑prescriptive computational design:Instead of applying single prescriptive specifications, RAW develops computational design systems that accept a distribution of material properties as input. The software maps weaker and stronger regions of a batch to parts of a component where performance requirements differ. This is an inversion of typical design workflows where the material must meet a fixed spec.

Adaptive digital fabrication:RAW ties material characterisation to fabrication processes. Adaptive fabrication means production scripts, robotic paths or 3D printing recipes are adjusted to the actual measured material so that each fabricated element uses the material where it is structurally or functionally appropriate.

Materials in focus:The consortium is working with reclaimed timber streams and a 3D‑printable biopolymer made from mixed agricultural waste. The biopolymer is a composite that must be formulated from local ingredients and printed. Reclaimed timber requires methods to assess and grade each piece to decide how it is best used.

Early discoveries and environmental links

After roughly 18 months of work the team reports two notable developments. First they have demonstrated practical connections between digital characterisation and environmental assessment. Life cycle assessment methods can already be applied to bio‑based materials but RAW is extending them by connecting LCA to digital maps of ingredient sources, transport distances and recipe choices. Second they have begun producing tools that visualise where to build relative to where feedstock ingredients are located and what local 'recipes' are feasible for 3D printing the biopolymer.

RAW’s environmental intent is explicit. The project aims to reduce waste, enable circularity, and increase carbon storage in buildings by retaining biogenic carbon in durable products. However the team acknowledges the complexity: regional transport of low‑density agricultural residues can quickly change the net climate benefit, and LCA outcomes depend on substitution assumptions, end‑of‑life pathways and local energy mixes.

Why the EIC Pathfinder mattered and practical advice from the team

The partners say the EIC Pathfinder funding provided both the latitude to explore an ambitious, cross‑disciplinary question and the applied focus needed to keep an eye on implementation. RAW sits between fundamental research and near market innovation which makes the EIC an appropriate instrument for the work.

Advice for prospective applicants:Project leaders advise being clear about the intended users for your tools, mapping an exploitation path from research to adoption, and striking the right balance between academic and industrial partners so the consortium can both explore and deliver. They also counsel researchers to be bold in scope when applying to frontier calls.

Concepts and tradeoffs worth unpacking

RAW’s conceptual leap is to accept natural variability in biomaterials as an input rather than a nuisance. That requires stepping away from the construction industry’s longstanding preference for standardized, certifiable materials like steel, concrete and engineered timber. To change procurement and design practice RAW needs convincing evidence about long term performance, robust predictive models, and workflows that integrate with existing designers and fabricators.

Non‑destructive testing methods and predictive modelling:Common non‑destructive approaches include ultrasound, X‑ray or CT scanning for internal defects, surface imaging and spectroscopy for material composition, and small scale mechanical tests such as bending or indentation linked to statistical models. Raw data must be translated into engineering parameters and uncertainty estimates so designers can safely allocate materials to low or high demand zones.

These techniques are not new, but combining them with design automation and factory robotics at building scale is technically challenging. There is also a question about how much measurement is needed to make reliable decisions and whether the cost of characterisation plus adaptive fabrication remains competitive against conventional materials.

Practical barriers and open questions

Several practical hurdles will determine RAW’s real world impact. These include establishing consistent supply chains for heterogeneous feedstocks, demonstrating long term durability and fire safety of new material mixes, meeting building codes and insurance requirements, and convincing contractors to change established workflows. The digital pipeline must be usable by practitioners and integrate with common BIM and factory systems. The team flags the social dimension too, noting that digital automation can have distributional impacts and that ethical and inclusion questions should be considered alongside technical development.

Context within EU research and construction policy

The EU has pushed construction decarbonisation and circularity onto its research agenda. Projects like RAW align with Horizon Europe priorities by targeting climate action and digital transition. But policy momentum does not guarantee market uptake. Standards, procurement frameworks and public pilots will be decisive levers for adoption. The EIC Business Acceleration Services can help bridge the gap between experimental pilots and procurement opportunities, but projects must still demonstrate cost, performance and regulatory compliance.

Voices from the project

Nadja Gaudillière‑Jami emphasises the difficulty of predicting performance for biomaterials and frames RAW as an attempt to measure and route variability into design decisions. Johannes Huber frames the project with a craftsman metaphor where computation plays the role of a craftsman’s eye and adaptive toolset. Both stress that RAW is as much about the environmental and social impacts of digital tools as it is about technical innovation. They cite Virginia Eubanks’ Automating Inequality as an influence on thinking about automation risks and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World as a literary reminder of technology’s double edge.

Implications for industry and research

If RAW achieves its ambitions it could create pathways for previously overlooked bio‑residues to enter construction markets and provide tools for localised, materially informed architecture. Practically this could reduce the carbon intensity of some building elements and open new aesthetic and structural approaches. Yet success will require rigorous evidence about long term performance, transparent LCA reporting, and early adopters prepared to experiment under controlled conditions.

Where to follow RAW

RAW is funded by the European Innovation Council and runs from 1 November 2024 to 31 October 2027 with a total EIC grant of €4.596. The project is coordinated at the Royal Danish Academy and involves nine partners from seven countries. For technical details, deliverables and updates consult the project website and the CORDIS project page maintained by the European Commission.

Final note: RAW is an ambitious attempt to bridge sensing, computation and fabrication in pursuit of low‑carbon construction. The approach is promising but far from guaranteed. Its eventual value will depend on reproducible evidence about performance and environmental benefit, practical supply chain solutions, standards alignment and clear routes to adoption by construction professionals.