Waste Acoustics: The Journey of Coffee
How can we reimagine waste? What could used coffee grounds become?
Working with Industry City coffee shops to gather their coffee ground waste, we’ve made a new biocomposite material that uses a starch binder and jute from the burlap sacks coffee is shipped in. We call it “coffee clay.” Our goal is to turn coffee clay in to acoustic panels with measurable performance. Here we present our first design iteration: “Diffusion Cascade.”
Inspired by the leaves baristas make in our coffee drinks and thinking about a new life for coffee waste, we’ve designed leaves made from coffee clay that overlap each other like shingles. Each leaf is acoustically diffusive, making a room feel more spacious. The overlapping leaves catch sound between them, and then deliver it to the absorptive back layer of burlap.
Our coffee partners (and neighbors) at Industry City made this project possible, donating over 200 gallons of used coffee grounds. Thank you One Girl Cookies, Colson Patisserie, Starbucks and Tadaima!
“Waste Acoustics: The Journey of Coffee” will be on display for the summer of 2023 at Industry City, Brooklyn. See it in IC shipping container in Lobby D of Building 5/6 flanking its courtyard. Enter through 87 35th Street near 3rd Avenue.
Project Date: 2023
Project Lead: Josh Draper
Researcher Assistants: Ethan Mihlstin, Douglas Tang and Catherine Betz
Special Thanks: Ning Xiang, Ziqi Chen, Doyeon Kim, Maddy Rockwell, Ruth Benjamin, Theresa Rivera, Dawn Casale, David Crofton, Aileen Laurila, Asia Tineo, Ayaka Ando and Darvel Charles
Work Linked to this Research: