Upscaling bio-based products: poplar and hemp for soil and building circular synergies

Abstract The paper illustrates the rationale of an ongoing research aimed at identifying innovative applications for poplar- and hemp-based products in constructive systems, focusing on load-bearing poplar plywood elements and hemp blocks and panels for the building envelope. The underlying approach extends the circular-based perspective from the building component scale to the territorial and economic one, adopting a context-wise approach. The potential of these renewable materials is examined beyond the application to reversible building systems, to depict their comprehensive contribution to a carbon-neutral region by examining the links with the local territorial management and a potential short supply chain. The contribution describes poplar and hemp agricultural productions, connecting their outputs to several economic sector. After addressing the environmental benefits, the two cultivations produce in terms of climate change mitigation and adaptation, among which carbon uptake, it contextualises poplar- and hemp-based products within current bio-based solutions in the building sector, exploring possible applications in new and existing constructions through circular constructive systems. The results discussion outlines the sustainable multiscale synergies supported by poplar- and hemp-based building products within the research perimeter.