Sustainable social architecture: João Gonçalves & Studio Vale
In Germany and around the world, governments are preparing for a shift: the adoption of widespread circular economies and consumption reduction policies in the name of climate-friendly production. But some designers and architects have already taken it upon themselves to start building for the future. For João do Vale Gonçalves, founder of furniture and interior design company Studio Vale, sustainability has always been at the forefront of his design philosophy.
Gonçalves worked for German interior design agencies for over 10 years before founding Studio Vale in 2018. Based in Berlin, the firm focuses on creating community oriented interior designs utilizing sustainable material and products and has worked on projects for Soundcloud, Kita Ora, a child daycare center, and German Auto Labs. Plantclub recently collaborated with Studio Vale on an office design project, where we witnessed firsthand Studio Vales’ seamless construction and forward-thinking design.
In an industry that hasn’t yet fully embraced sustainability in practice, Gonçalves has carved out a place for his work and goals.
This office space includes a plant feature wall. Photo by Sebastian Dörkin.
Influencing the Culture Toward Sustainability
Cradle to Cradle is a design concept that incorporates the recycling of materials to create products with a positive ecological footprint beneficial to nature and human interaction. For Gonçalves this means paying special attention to sourcing and exploring avenues that circumvent the norm for construction. In his case, that meant gaining more control over the process by forming his own company.
“I was a bit frustrated that sustainability was such a taboo and superficial topic for interior design firms. Somehow we arrived at a point where there are great sustainable products, recycled, upcycled, Cradle to Cradle certified, you name it. But in terms of processes for interior design projects, they were just like not there at all,” Gonçalves said on his approach to introducing recycled materials.
And although there has been hesitancy to adopt more sustainable practices such as using salvaged materials, governments are reviewing construction and building legislation to facilitate circular construction strategies as a possible solution to the current material scarcities and rising material costs.
“We [couldn’t] affect the whole system at the same time. So we tried like little moves at a time. For example, if you go to a big interior design architecture company, in a big project, there's gonna be 200-300 sources of products. [Material for products] were coming in from all over the world. And that was a bit shocking for me, that a big design company did not have any control over that. And so I wanted to have a bit of control with that, like the CO2 footprint of a product.”
A look at a project, on which Studio Vale & Plantclub worked together. Photo by Sebastian Dörkin.
A Break From Elitism
On the freedoms that come with owning his own company, Gonçalves also spoke on the social aspect of the process of his designs, pertaining specifically to his method of breaking away from corporate elitism. Whenever the project landscape for corporate projects is looking good, he sees it as an opportunity to take on projects from social institutions that would usually not be able to afford design services. He jokingly calls them "Robin Hood" projects.
Sampling materials is an important part of João’s process
Hybrid Work As An Accelerant Toward Community
The COVID-19 pandemic and switch to WFH created an opportunity for interior design consultants like Gonçalves to reimagine spaces and institute construction on workplaces that have gone years without updates. Although the pandemic created a stark separation from office life, Gonçalves sees it as a breakthrough that had to happen in order for companies to take the social aspect of work more into account.
“The office community kind of makes the firm culture bloom and every company has a different firm culture. By putting people face to face in the same space, this firm culture develops. And in this I see the potential, like it has been having for the last 10, 20, 30 years, to create the firm culture that keeps people in the companies.”
On the value of having plants in the office, Gonçalves sees it as a step towards fully integrating the human experience into indoor work life.
“And this is one of these things that immediately creates a strong impact. And it's also a way with a fairly reduced budget to create an immediate impact on space and make people want to come to the office.”
Studio Vale is itself an inviting space to exchange ideas.
João does a lot of the construction of designs in his work room.
Nature and Human-Centered Design
In design, Gonçalves’ training has helped him focus on not only positive output for the environment but also people. Discussing human-centered design, he takes into account ideas such as employee wellbeing, acoustics of rooms, community-oriented workspaces, and the introduction of plants.
“[Adding plants] almost creates fictional space inside the office. I like the fact that it can almost be constructed with the visual, the additive, the palpable properties of plants. We use plants to cover up maybe some things in the architecture that are not so nice. We use plants to create a break in the corners of the architecture.”
Gonçalves envisions a brighter future in the workplace with the growing trend of incorporating plant design. With more and more consideration towards a healthy work-life, he sees this trend as something that is “here to stay.”
“We are seeing how nature can come into the work life because work life has been so automated and so removed from the human experience. [We’re thinking about] how can nature as a whole come slowly back into human life, whether that means working outside or that means finding ways of integrating into better work life balance.”
A view of the office space that both Studio Vale and Plantclub worked together on. Photo by Sebastian Dörken.
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