sandbag castle casts sustainable concrete alternatives into floating installation in eindhoven

yvonne mak builds floating castle from low-carbon concrete

Visual artist Yvonne Mak’s installation Sandbag Castle addresses the environmental impact of conventional cement by showcasing low-carbon concrete alternatives. Positioned in the Dommel river beside Eindhoven’s Van Abbemuseum Café, the five-meter-wide by three-meter-high structure consists of hundreds of stacked, sandbag-shaped concrete forms resembling a castle.

sandbags and warning flags critique protective infrastructure

The installation by artist Yvonne Mak incorporates several key design elements to communicate its structural and environmental themes. Cast in concrete, the sandbag-shaped modules reference temporary flood barriers, highlighting the widespread reliance on concrete for protective infrastructure. Positioned atop the castle, red warning flags reference beach safety warnings. These flags feature a custom coat of arms incorporating symbols for water, bridges, flora, and hands, representing the intersection of nature, infrastructure, and human intervention.

• design integrates ten experimental concrete formulations

The physical composition of the work directly incorporates over ten distinct low-carbon concrete variants, including calcined clay, alternative binders, geopolymer concrete, recycled aggregates, and self-healing concrete formulations. Developed with main partner TBI alongside specialized material and technology contributors, Sandbag Castle demonstrates existing and emerging structural alternatives designed to reduce the CO₂ emissions of concrete construction.

project info:

name: Sandbag Castle
artist: Yvonne Mak | @studio_yvonne_mak

location: Eindhoven, Netherlands

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