With a spatial application in mind, Jeroen van de Gruiter was looking for a way of giving the composite board hinging properties. By heating some sections of the mat and others not, he created hard board modules with the unheated mat sections functioning as bendable, connecting elements. This gives the ‘bendable boards’ a number of different radiuses and allows them to adopt a wide range of different forms – for example, as cladding and finishing material of pillars and curvatures in building constructions.
The current stage in the development of the ECO-oh! mat is the solid board that is the result of the controlled heating of the mat. However, by intervening in the heating process or by manipulating the shape of the board, constructive and spatial applications can be found.