Berlin Gets It Right: Building Materials of the Future
Berlin, September 28, 2026 – Anyone making their way around Berlin will quickly notice one thing: There’s a lot of construction going on. And all that construction generates a lot of waste. Excavation work alone produces around 2 million metric tons of soil in Berlin each year. This is the material dug up to make way for new construction projects and is currently treated primarily as waste and sent to disposal sites. Berlin-based climate tech startup Earthbound GmbH, founded in 2025, is working on a much more sustainable and innovative use for this material. The company develops and produces load-bearing earthen building materials from soil excavated at urban construction sites. Its goal is to divert this material from the existing waste stream and bring it into a regional materials cycle, turning what was once considered waste into a circular building material.
To produce its load-bearing solid building material, Earthbound processes clay-rich excavated soil without firing or chemical stabilizers. Instead, it uses technology developed through research at Bauhaus Erde gGmbH. According to the company, the compressed-earth building materials produced using this process are fully recyclable and designed for use in construction. Earthbound currently operates a semi-automated pilot production facility at the Urban Tech Republic in Berlin-Tegel, where it produces around 30,000 blocks using machinery that is still rented for the time being. This allows the company to test and refine its production processes, material preparation and quality control. But founders Christian Gäth, David Janotta and Micha Kretschmann already have their sights set on the next step: turning the pilot operation into a scalable, industrial production system. Having successfully demonstrated its technology, the startup is now focused primarily on scaling up production and laying the groundwork for automated, high-volume manufacturing. And as the construction industry increasingly looks not only to conserve resources but also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Earthbound’s earthen building materials offer another major advantage: According to the company, they generate more than 95% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional building materials.
There is good reason for Earthbound’s choice of earth as a building material. This natural product of rock weathering is readily available in large quantities from regional sources. Processing it requires relatively little energy, while the resulting material is durable and suitable for structural construction. The fact that mineral excavated soil is still largely treated as waste, even though much of it could be used to produce earthen building materials, is due in part to a lack of established value chains. Specialized machinery is another requirement. This is where Earthbound sees significant potential. The company analyzes mineral soils, develops material formulations and translates them into viable production processes. The startup is also supported by Berlin Partner, Berlin’s economic development agency, which provides expertise in funding opportunities and helps facilitate partnerships.
And partnerships are now particularly important. Following successful initial testing of its earthen building materials and the transition toward series production, Earthbound is looking for partners in the construction industry to launch pilot production projects together. There should be no shortage of potential: Berlin’s many construction sites offer a clear indication of just how significant future demand for sustainable building materials could become.
© Raquel Gómez Delgado
© Rademaker
