For many decades, manufacturers of construction products have prioritised good design, a practice that is almost unheard of in other industries. Their innovative strength remains undiminished. Companies in all sectors are currently developing exciting new processes for sustainable products and production methods. The winners of the 2025 ICONIC AWARDS are a testament to this.
by Fabian Peters
Designers were among the first to work with construction-related industrial products, which were among the earliest mass-produced items. By around 1900, construction products such as tiles, light fittings and fixtures were already being produced in large quantities in factories. Good design ensures an appropriate design language and economical production. This principle still applies today. However, good design must also now consider sustainability in terms of production methods, materials used and functionality. This means that designers and manufacturers must collaborate even more closely to optimise production processes and close material cycles. Many companies have set ambitious climate targets, some of which require new business models, and these have now produced remarkable results. We present some of these results here.
“Good design should ensure an appropriate design language and economical production. This principle still applies today. However, good design must now also meet another important criterion: sustainability.”
Green Power Replaces Gas
Many construction materials are difficult to manufacture. For example, they may be hardened in heating processes or require energy-intensive basic materials such as steel or aluminium. Finding solutions to these issues is currently at the heart of research for many companies in the building products sector. Ceramic production, for instance, has traditionally been associated with high energy consumption and, consequently, high CO₂ emissions. Currently, products are almost exclusively fired using gas-fired kilns.
At the end of 2023, Swiss sanitary ceramics manufacturer LAUFEN became the world’s first company in its sector to install an electric tunnel kiln. Production at its Gmunden plant in Austria has been CO₂-free ever since. The electricity used to power the kiln is green, too. LAUFEN even generates some of it itself using solar panels on the plant’s rooftops. Converting the production process was a huge undertaking. During the development of the innovative kiln, LAUFEN’s parent company, the Spanish Roca Group, acquired a majority stake in the Göttingen-based specialist Keramischer Ofenbau. The entire firing process also had to be re-engineered, since electric firing works completely differently to gas firing.
Towards Climate Neutrality with Green Steel
At KALDEWEI in Ahlen, bathtubs, washbasins and shower trays are made not of ceramics, but of steel. The stages of production that are particularly CO₂-intensive take place not at Kaldewei itself, but at the steelworks further upstream. For its ‘Edition Nature Protect’ range, Kaldewei is using steel labelled as CO₂-free or CO₂-neutral by producers for the first time. However, green steel is still only available in small quantities. In addition, KALDEWEI has recently started to focus on refurbishment. As part of a pilot project, shower trays and bathtubs originally installed in the 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin around ten years ago were sandblasted, re-enamelled and given a slip-resistant surface. They were then reinstalled in their original location. According to Kaldewei, this refurbishment process saved around 65% of CO₂ emissions compared to replacing the products.
Rapidly Renewable Raw Materials
The importance of wood as a material for building products is steadily increasing. However, wood regenerates only relatively slowly. This is why, in recent years, attention has increasingly turned to fast-growing raw materials. Bamboo is one of them, but fungal cultures will also play an important role in the future. While much of this remains in the visionary stage, the first insulating products made from mycelium materials are already ready for market. However, reinvention is not always necessary. Linoleum, for example, an invention of the 19th century, consists largely of rapidly renewable raw materials and can also be used as flooring in areas unsuitable for wooden floors, such as care facilities and hospitals. The material has recently been rediscovered.
Forbo Flooring, for its ‘Marmoleum Cocoa’ line, awarded at the ICONIC AWARDS 2024, uses waste products from cocoa production to give the flooring a distinctive texture. The manufacturer also takes back its old flooring, separates it by type and recycles it into new linoleum. The possibility of separating components by type is an advantage when reusing one’s own products. The more complex the product, the more meaningful recycling at the manufacturer becomes.
Marmoleum Cocoa, winner of the ICONIC AWARDS 2024, gets its structure from cocoa residues | Photos: Forbo Flooring
“The ability to separate components by type is one advantage of taking back products that you have manufactured yourself.”
Material Passports for More Recycling in Construction
While the reuse of products is beneficial, it can reach its limits when continued use becomes impractical due to technological advances. Windows and façade elements are now among the most technologically advanced building products, not least because of their important role in building insulation. Their thermal performance has improved enormously over the past few decades, and further progress is likely. This makes it all the more important to recover the valuable raw materials contained in used windows and façades at the end of their service life. Material passports are intended to facilitate the recycling of such complex building products in future. However, since these passports – whether physical or digital – can be lost during a product’s lifespan, some manufacturers are now choosing to permanently link them to the component itself.
At Rehau Window Solutions, this principle is called Window.ID – a pioneering approach that won an ICONIC AWARD in the additional category ‘Circular Design’ in 2025. With Window.ID, windows are equipped with an RFID transponder and a QR code that can be read at any time. This allows each window to be identified throughout its service life – for example, when repairs are needed. It also makes it possible at deconstruction to determine which recyclable raw materials the product contains. This is a prerequisite for the much-discussed concept of “urban mining” – the large-scale recovery of raw materials from old products.
“Good design can also contribute to sustainable behaviour in a completely different way – by changing habits and helping people to use resources responsibly.”
A Fitting That Conserves Resources
Good design can also encourage sustainable behaviour in a different way: by changing habits and helping people handle resources responsibly. The ‘Kay’ fitting series, designed by Stefan Diez for Roca and another winner of the ICONIC AWARDS 2025, demonstrates impressively how simple this can be. Diez, who has long been deeply engaged with sustainable design, departed from the conventional design of single-lever mixers in one crucial respect: in its neutral position, the ‘Kay’ fitting delivers cold water. To obtain warm water, the user must actively move the lever to the left. This feature automatically helps to save energy.
ICONIC AWARDS 2025: These are the winners!
The ICONIC AWARDS celebrate innovative projects and sustainable solutions in architecture, product design and interior design. Every year, the most innovative projects are given a global platform. This is where thought leaders from the industry come together.
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