Design Director honored by Villum Foundation and Velux Foundation
Simon Ingvartsen’s design for BESTSELLER Logistics Center West demonstrates how straw construction can transform the design of large industrial buildings, proving the potential of biogenic materials at scale.
Contact
Simon Ingvartsen
Design Director, Architect MAA
We are proud to share that Simon Ingvartsen, Design Director in our Copenhagen studio, has been awarded the Building Component Award 2025 by Villum Foundation and Velux Foundation.
One of Denmark’s most respected recognitions in architecture and construction, the award celebrates individuals whose work highlights the value, significance, and practical applications of industrially manufactured building components in daily life.
Awarded alongside Lars Keller, co-founder of EcoCocon, the company that produces prefabricated straw panels for construction, Simon is recognized for his role in bringing this design to BESTSELLER Logistics Center West in the Netherlands, a 155,000 m² logistics hub. He led the design and drove the adoption of EcoCocon’s panels, demonstrating straw is a good design choice even at industrial scale. Drawing on the successful application of the panels at Feldballe School, Simon recognized the potential to scale the system for a much larger project and worked closely with the client to secure their support for using straw in a typology rarely associated with biogenic materials.
Integrating new materials and methods at this scale has only been possible through close collaboration. Building on lessons from Feldballe, the project team – together with Rambøll and the wider consultant team, and not least a client with strong ambitions, BESTSELLER – made it possible to realize straw and timber construction at an industrial scale.
“EcoCocon’s factory produces the components with great precision, and the team is genuinely committed to sharing their knowledge and helping others discover the potential of this ingenious building component. It is an honor to be recognized alongside Lars, I hope we can continue opening up new possibilities for industrial architecture.”
Simon Ingvartsen
Design Director, Architect MAA
New applications
Straw has been used in construction for thousands of years, and today it is being reintroduced through modern industrial processes that allow it to be prefabricated into panels that are quick to assemble and highly durable. As a natural agricultural byproduct, straw is renewable and carbon-storing, it offers high insulation and a naturally balanced indoor climate without the use of synthetic materials. When compacted into panels, straw becomes strong, durable, and fire resistant – able to endure intense conditions while maintaining its structural integrity.
Using 40,900 m² of straw wall panels, BESTSELLER Logistics Center West will be one of the largest straw-based buildings in the world. Built with straw, mass timber, and other biogenic materials, the design will deliver a significant reduction in carbon emissions compared with a standard industrial design. Straw alone stores 88 kg of CO₂ per m² of wall area, illustrating the material’s enormous potential in large-scale construction.
“Simon has shown what’s possible when biogenic materials guide the design. His vision for the logistics center demonstrates that even large industrial buildings can have impact,” says Eva Ravnborg, Director, Denmark.
01/05
