About us

BC materials began in October 2018 as a workers' cooperative, spun off from the activities of BC architects and BC studies by Ken De Cooman, Nicolas Coeckelberghs, Laurens Bekemans, and Wes Degreef.

Initially, our focus was on pioneering urban mining in Europe by transforming excavated earth from Brussels' construction sites into new building materials, effectively bridging the gap between site waste and finished product.

Since then, BC materials has evolved into a comprehensive material development hub, expanding beyond earth. We now research and develop a wide array of building materials from geo, bio, and urban sourced matter, such as algae, cork, hops, sunflower, construction glass, stone cutting waste, and many more.

Our continuous innovation, through the execution of bespoke projects, drives the development of new materials. Those materials that demonstrate scalability are incorporated into our standard product portfolio. A key example of this successful process is the launch of Léém in 2023. Léém is our standardized line of earth materials, designed to make circular building accessible to the broader market. This is achieved through strategic collaborations with industrial partners, including Brickz for commercialization, and Vande Moortel and Claesen Betonbedrijf for large-scale production.

BC materials is part of BC architects & studies & materials. BC stands for Brussels Cooperation and points to how BC grew - embedded within place and people. We operate through 3 legal entities registered in Belgium: BC architects CV (architecture cooperative), BC studies vzw (non-profit education laboratory), BC materials cv (material production cooperative). BC is a hybrid practice, designing and undertaking "acts of building" towards systemic change in the construction sector. We strive for bioregional, low-tech, circular, beautiful and inclusive design. We work with our minds and our hands, undertaking activities such as community organisation, material production, contracting, teaching, prototyping. We aim to impact positively on people's ideas and planet.