PETMAT z.ú. is an independent nonprofit institute (ústav), registered in the Czech public register since September 2016 under IČO 05308887. Our mission is to support environmental responsibility in waste management and to shape public understanding of recycling and material reuse, through applied research into recycled PET plastic in architecture.
PETMAT carries out pilot research into plastic recycling methods including 3D printing, delivers public-awareness campaigns on recycling, and runs design-education workshops using recycled-material art as a teaching tool.
The group started its activity by developing a bottle-brick called „PET(b)rick“, which is produced by an industrial method of plastic blow moulding. While the PET(b)rick concept originated from research conducted at the Faculty of Architecture, CTU Prague starting in 2014, PETMAT has operated since 2016 as an independently registered nonprofit institute, separate from the university, governed by its own statutes and management.
The concept behind PETMAT originated on 1st of July 2014 in the Experimental Studio at FA CTU Prague, which has worked with waste as a building material since 2010. PETMAT z.ú. was formally registered as an independent nonprofit institute in September 2016.
PETMAT’s activities have been supported by KMV a.s. (Mattoni 1873) since 2014, and PETMAT maintains an ongoing research collaboration with FA CTU Prague, where its founders originally conducted early-stage research.
Every April – already as a tradition – we construct a pavilion for the publishers of CTU at the Book World event in Prague.
In March 2016 we installed 15 shining installations at the Student Night event at FS CTU Prague in cooperation with Experimental design studio A/N FA CTU, SNM UK and FS CTU.
With the christmas PETree next to the National technical library PET-MAT celebrates 18 months of existence.
The visualisation and the reality – PET(ch)airs at the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2015 Milano
PET(ch)airs outside: quiet a different story, becoming a „must have“ object in your garden.
//The PET-MAT Project solves the problem of recycled PET in Architecture. One of the solution is to produce a light brick made of low quality recycled polyethylene tereftalate – a brick made like a bottle. Previous research showed us the potential of post-user bottles to carry heavy loads, the book 150 000 describes examples of architecture made of PET bottles. Giving the bottle second (and third) life can decrease the amount of bottles polluting our nature.And economically, we think this is the way how to prolong the life of bottles and stabilise the quick consumer recycling cycle.
The idea has raised from Experimental atelier, a studio led by Kateřina Nováková and Henri Achten at FA CTU Prague since 2008. They started by working with the topic of garbage in architecture and ended up with seeing PET bottle as a representative.
When being financed by Mattoni we started to develop a building unit out of recycled PET called PET(b)rick.
Animation of the building process
Animation of a PET(b)rick house
