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Victoria Park House, Hackney, London
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Material Innovation
At Material Works we recognise the significance of the material choices we make when designing buildings. Architectural decisions have a direct impact on the amount of embodied carbon within construction projects and need to be carefully considered against client requirements and budgetary constraints.
As a result of significant research into the use and production of materials through projects at County Hall and across the UK, Material Works have developed a strategy which guides our design process and encourages a sustainable outcome.
This strategy takes the form of five guiding principles on how to use materials and the priority/order in which you should do so:
1. Celebrate the 'as found'
2. Work with material innovators
3. Reclaim as much as possible
4. Use natural or regenerative materials
5. 'Urban mine' from the locality to recycle waste
1. Celebrate the 'as found'
Work with the existing as much as possible, celebrating history and layers of a building
2. Work with material innovation
Work with sustainable material inventors to test new methods of construction.
5. Use recycled materials
As a last resort, recycled materials should be referred to for any new interventions.
1. Celebrate the 'as found'
Work with the existing as much as possible, celebrating history and layers of a building
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1. Celebrate the 'as found' condition
If possible, use what is found on site to reduce carbon. Create an inventory of items which could be reused and determine what needs to be done, if anything, to bring them into usability. Once a baseline approach to the existing building has been established, required new interventions can be assessed on what is absolutely necessary to to make the space usable. This helps to reduce the amount of embodied carbon in construction projects.
