The Plastic House

Turning waste plastic into building materials

This project aims to convert waste plastic into building materials. Plastic is a valuable material, but we throw them out in abundance. Plastic is durable and long lasting. This project aims to take advantage of the material properties of plastic to make building materials such as plastic bricks and cladding for housing applications.

Our goal is to show that waste plastic can be a valuable construction resource viable building material that not only reduces the plastic waste and pollution problem but can also address the housing affordability problem by constructing low-cost housing using recycled plastic.

Our research activities include:

Designing modular construction techniques using self-supporting stackable plastic bricks and claddings. Such techniques would eliminate the need for supporting frames, thus reducing building materials and shortening building times.

Investigating structural properties of plastic bricks and beams to meet Australian building standards.

Investigating fire properties of plastic bricks and beams to meet Australian building standards.

Developing plastic waste sorting techniques.

The Plastic House. Image credit: dezen.com

⁠

Project Team

Associate Professor Thinh Nguyen (Project Supervisor)

Shu Namora (Masters in Project Management)

Danica Todoravic (2nd year Architectural Engineering)

Travis Rand (1st year Construction Management)

David Gluhak (1st year Civil Engineering)

Industry partner

Teklus Construction

Join the Team

We are looking for students from all engineering and building disciplines.

Capstone projects are available for civil, mechanical and electrical engineering students.

Contact

To express your interest in joining the team, or for further information, contact Associate Professor Thinh Nguyen at

thinh.nguyen@vu.edu.au⁠

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