Outdoor
The Catena Blocks are fragments of earth shaped into a new language of form. The blocks consist of four primal geometries that speak in endless variation—compositions that can unfold as playfields, architectures, or ephemeral rituals of space. Their sheer compressive strength allows them to rise beyond the scale of the hand, into landscapes of construction that oscillate between the monumental and the playful.
At the heart of the project is not material alone, but gesture. The hydraulic press, nomadic in nature, journeys from place to place, producing blocks directly from local soils. Each territory imprints its sediments, its colours, its textures—making every constellation of Catena unique to the ground it emerges from.
Yet the essence of Catena lies in its invitation: to play, to collaborate, to remember that building is not only an act of shelter but also of connection. They are instruments for well-being, choreographing moments where bodies move, ideas collide, and communities assemble.
For Grond Studio, the Catena Blocks exist in a space between artifact and performance—circular relics of the earth reimagined as a collective game. They are not fixed objects, but an open score: structures awaiting interpretation, architectures becoming playgrounds, geometries turning into gatherings. They are earth transformed into rhythm.
Grond Studio is a material-driven practice founded by Pieter Van Bruyssel, exploring the poetic and structural potential of earth.
The studio works at the intersection of design, architecture, and art, with a strong focus on circular building methods.
Central to its practice is the transformation of raw soil into tactile systems, objects, and installations that invite collective interaction.
Through projects such as the Catena Blocks, Grond Studio experiments with modularity and open design principles.
The studio’s work often bridges scales, from intimate material explorations to large spatial interventions.
Pieter Van Bruyssel approaches design as both a craft and a research-driven act, rooted in ecology and community.
His fascination with soil stems from its dual nature: both ancient and ever-renewable, fragile yet immensely strong.
Grond Studio collaborates across disciplines, drawing connections between material innovation and social engagement.
Mental well-being, play, and collective building are recurring themes within the practice.
Ultimately, the work of Grond Studio and Pieter Van Bruyssel offers a vision of design as a circular, communal, and deeply human endeavor.