The Cork Studio, a garden building made almost entirely out of cork, has been constructed by Studio Bark as a building prototype that can be completely recycled, reused or composted.
To challenge the architecture industry's dependence on "unhealthy single-use materials", London-based architects  Studio Bark sought to demonstrate how one eco-friendly material can could be used to form an entire building envelope.

"As a society we waste a huge amount of time, energy and resources in decorating, redecorating, demolishing and rebuilding parts of our buildings, using unhealthy single-use materials," said the architect.
"We built the Cork Studio to show that there is an alternative."

Following a series of experiments that tested water, fire and degradation resistance, Studio Bark chose to work with cork – a strong, durable material that is sustainably harvested directly from the bark of the Cork Oak tree. "All of the elements in this solid cork building can be disassembled at the end of their useful life, and the individual components are either fully biodegradable or recyclable," continued the studio.

The Cork Studio was constructed using discarded granules from a wine cork manufacturer.
The granules were turned into solid blocks through a heating process, which triggers them to expand and release a natural resin that binds them together. Following this the blocks were cut into desired slab sizes, an...