Meredith Miller, associate professor of architecture and director of the masters of architecture program, and Thom Moran, associate professor of architecture, are principal investigators, and Chris Humphrey, FabLab associate manager and lecturer in architecture, is a research coordinator on a project awarded a 2-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant. The funding will support their proposal, “Using waste plastics from regional manufacturing to create new building material.”

The grant will support their ongoing efforts to commercialize Post Rock, their patented technology for creating a cladding material from waste plastics. The project has consulting support from OSU’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence and Fire Assembly Engineer Nicholas Dembsey.

This design-informed material research project aims to be the only composite product in the U.S. cladding market with a high level of recycled polymer content and aesthetic variation. The ongoing project focuses material research development toward a specific end use with its next step being commercialization. Post Rock has already endured two intensive phases of customer discovery, and with this grant, they can begin establishing a regional supply of source material. Utilizing new applications that add value to upstream waste materials and capture carbon in long-lasting products will create a more circular economy. Additionally, this poses a new strategy to combat climate change through architectural systems.