Matt takes on the mining industry - showing it can give back to nature.
Can a landscape architect shape the mining industry?
Back in uni, Matt thought academia wasn’t for him.
3 years into a landscape architecture degree, he had enough and noped out.
How do we find our purpose?
For Matt, the answer was out there in the great unknown:
He spent a couple of years traveling the world. When he ran out of cash, he’d pick up odd jobs.
One of those jobs was his gateway to the mining world - where he saw first-hand the negative impact on the environment.
One day, while scouting a site, Matt turned to his supervisor and said:
“I hope we don’t find anything.”
His supervisor promptly called Matt an idiot - whatever humans can’t grow, needs to be mined.
That’s the moment Matt realized the true cost of modern life - the depth of the scars we inflict on the earth.
He thought:
“You can either be part of change, or stand by and complain about it.”
That’s the moment Matt realized the depth of the scars we inflict on the earth through mining.
It’s in Matt’s DNA to go against the status quo, saying: “You can either be part of change, or stand by and complain about it.”
With the soul-searching chapter complete, he set out to graduate and change the mining industry from within.
Matt, left, with his family.
Back at the University of Adelaide, his German tutor introduced him to how coal mines in Germany had been transformed into lakes.
For his final project, Matt looked at how a copper mine near his home could be reintegrated with nature.
His ideas weren’t met with enthusiasm.
Then Matt applied for a Churchill Fellowship and that changed the game.
Beating out 1,000 applicants, Matt travelled to the US, UK, Germany, and South Africa to learn how landscape architecture can help the mining industry.
Matt moved to Sweden to work with an architecture firm and break into the mining industry.
Things were slow, until one day, he was asked if he could build a waste deposit from 100M tons of rock.
He said yes.
Inside, he was screaming: “oh crap.”
To prepare, he took a course on geomorphic design in Spain.
As the project came to life and eventually wrapped up, Matt decided this was it.
He invited his colleague Frida along for the ride and VAST Landscape Architecture was born.
VAST exists to turn post-mining landscapes into thriving natural habitats.
They thought geomorphic design would be an obvious sell:
- Its cheaper to build.
- Cuts CO2 emissions.
- Reduces erosion up to 50%.
- Lowers ongoing maintenance costs.
But after getting ghosted over and over, it was the human angle that saved them.
Framing their pitch around landscapes for future generations – spaces where people's children could walk and enjoy – made clients put their money where their mouth was.
So far, VAST has:
- Won Swedish Mining Innovation’s Idea Competition.
- Built the first geomorphic test site in Scandinavia - covering 4 hectares, 1.4M tons at $880K.
- Landed a research project based on the test site and designed a 2nd site covering 15 hectares.
Matt just moved to Canada to explore the market there.
If you know someone working in the mining industry, link them to Matt and the team so they can share more about geomorphic design.
Know anyone who creates engaging content on sustainability? Drop them in the comments to help tell VAST’s story.
Underdog Founders 21 - Matt Baida, VAST.
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