A section of work from 2018–19 Diploma Unit 18 Opalis, Developing the Market for Second Hand Building Components in the UK, taught by Lionel Devlieger, Maarten Gielen and Aude-Line Duliere, has been included in the 'Beazley Designs of the Year 2019' exhibition at the London Design Museum. Opalis is an online directory for contactors, architects and owners who wish to source reusable building materials.

In the same year that RIBA declared a climate emergency, it was announced that the production of cement for use in construction and infrastructure works was responsible for up to eight per cent of global of CO2 emissions.

Rotor identified a gap in the market for a bridge between second-hand dealers of building materials or scrap merchants and the architects or contractors who could use those materials to reduce costs and carbon emissions in their projects.

Lionel Devlieger and Maarten Gielen are among the founding members of Rotor (Brussels) and together with Aude-Line Duliere, who has been part of Rotor’s development team, are unit masters for the Diploma Unit Salvage: Exploring, Designing and Building with Reused Materials at the AA.  Read more about the unit brief.

Find out more about Opalis in the Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition on the London Design Museum website