FRAGMENTS: Designing with Nature – A Celebration of Vision & Sustainability!

About

FRAGMENTS

Designing with Nature

BSc Architecture. Year 3 Integrated Technology.

The way we build directly impacts the ecosystems we inhabit. As the urgency to shift towards regenerative materials grows, this exhibition explores how architecture can move beyond extraction and towards a symbiotic relationship with the natural world.

BSc Architecture Year 3 students, as part of their Integrated Technology autumn module, revisited eight architectural projects to explore how alternative material choices and construction systems can enhance environmental performance. The models presented here go beyond replication; some are reinterpretations that challenge conventional notions of sustainability in architecture, questioning the relationship between materials, design, and ecological responsibility.

Rather than relying on carbon-intensive materials such as concrete, steel, synthetic insulation, and plastics, these projects investigate the potential of biogenic resources like timber, clay, seaweed, hemp, and straw—materials that sequester carbon, support local economies, and can return to the earth at the end of their life cycle.

This collection of models serves as both an analysis and a provocation, asking how architecture can evolve in response to the limits of our Planet. Through a process of research and making, these works highlight not only the possibilities of low-carbon construction but also the deeper cultural and ecological narratives embedded in architectural materials.

STUDENTS:

Alfred Mowse, Amiran Khan, Armin Jahan Tab, Baasit Salih, Baris Freed, Diana Stoica, Elizabeth Johns, Emanuelly Cardoso Santos, Emmanuel Torson, Eraee Jargaui, Estera Krashi, Giovanni Arin, Haadiya Ashraf, Ivan Mills-Lamptey, Jakub Strasz, Karleen Menes, Katarzyna Szczegielniak, Manuel Jackson, Marwah Ali, Maryam Khan, Melissa Sarango Rivas, Michael Hurley, Mrugaya Valay Nagdeve, Pulcheria Thanasingham, Sahil Nayak, Salima Rahman, Sunamita Russu, Teodora-Marilena Busnosu, Toshiyuki Yasue, Yogesh Mall, Yunus Ege Gureli.

TUTOR:

Teresa Serrano

This exhibition revisits and reinterprets eight projects featured in the book Atlas of Biogenic Houses by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David J. Lewis. Through reconsideration of construction systems and material choices, these projects have been adapted to enhance their environmental performance. The selected projects include Wall House by FAR Frohn & Rojas, Dune House by Archispektras, Clay Field by Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects, House Simma by George Bechter, Mauritzberg Test House by Sverre Fehn, Koeris House by Zeller Moye, Modern Seagrass House by Vandkunsten Architects, and Small Cottage Ojacastro by MAAV.

WITH THANK TO:

Carl Callaghan (Head of Department) Garry Doherty (Facilities Manager) Deborah Do-Rosario-Benros (Cluster Lead, Architecture and Physical Design) Adam Wiseman (BA (Hons) Commercial Photography) Luke Jones (Senior Lecturer Architectural Design and Methods) AVA Workshops, Daryl Brown (Technical Associate) David Morgan (Technical Assistant) Paula Smolarska (Technical Associate)

Poster by Teresa Serrano and Elena Danescu @rabbitmasterpiece.

Main poster piece photo credit: Sannon Childs.

A special shoutout to @visiongraftmedia for beautifully capturing every moment of this remarkable event. Your photographs have preserved the essence of this amazing exhibition.