AJ Climate Champions

Episode 54. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman and Rachael Owens.  AJ Climate Champions latest series focuses on retrofit. Our guest today is IF_DO founder Sarah Castle, who explains that community engagement is not just asking people what they want, but what they can do. ‘It’s about giving people the power to change their environments and making them feel part of it,’ Castle explains in this episode. It’s an approach that is at the heart of IF_DO’s work and is manifest in their work in Hastings, East Sussex, where they have transformed derelict buildings into affordable, community-centric spaces for social enterprise Hasting Commons. We discuss the refurbishment of the grand 1924 Observer Building which had suffered more than three decades of neglect and a dozen owners when IF_DO took on the project. The first phase created a cultural venue with exhibition, theatre and music spaces, workspace, a cafe and gym. ‘It’s a space that can hold everything - from raves to weddings,’ says Castle. IF_DO’s approach prioritises ‘essential improvements over cosmetic enhancements.’ Rather than allowing ourselves to get ‘overexcited about tile colours,’ we have to focus on making the building ‘robust, well-insulated and easy to look after,’ says Castle. The building’s intricately detailed faience facade has been upgraded through a careful balance of repair and renewal. Central to IF_DO’s work is an understanding of procurement that is driven by available grant funding, which Castle terms ‘pod,’ phased organic development. Hastings Commons has secured over 100 grants over the last decade. The Observer Building is owned as a community land trust, which provides a legal framework to ensure affordability and perpetuity. ‘This creates protected spaces within a sphere of gentrification, where rents are controlled below market rates,’ Castle explains. ‘It’s about forever,’ she says. Sponsored by Holcim Foundation Awards. For show notes and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.

Episode 53. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman and Rachael Owens.  AJ Climate Champions is back, with a new series focusing on retrofit. Our guest today is Maria-Chiara Piccinelli, associate director and project lead on the London School of Economics’ Firoz Lalji Global Hub (FLGH). In the episode she explains how each building element requires one-to-one conversations to determine the best reuse, and that the contractor must be on the same journey. After deconstruction at FLGH, up to 70% of bricks  were broken or crushed powder.  Piccinelli argues that a new design aesthetic, a hyperlocal vernacular, can emerge from the specificity of the building, its materials and its location. She cautions against the standard default response of using timber, insisting that all materials should be explored. Sponsored by Holcim Foundation Awards. For show notes and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.

Episode 52. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman and Joe Jack Williams.  To achieve replication at scale, Nicolas Coeckelberghs of Brussels-based BC Materials favours compressed earth blocks over rammed earth. ‘Our goal is to bring earthen construction from a niche to a growing market,’ says  Coeckelberghs. He likens this challenge to playing chess on multiple fronts, creating demand while simultaneously supplying the market. While acknowledging the aesthetic appeal of rammed earth,  Coeckelberghs cautions that it is technically complex and unaffordable at scale. In this episode, Coeckelberghs describes BC Architects’ 15-year trajectory from its first earth building in Burundi, to the proliferation of collaborative workshops which led to a strand of consultancy work, to the creation of cooperative BC Materials in 2018. This led in turn to the recent launch of Léém, a manufacturing company that produces circular materials: unfired bricks, and clay plasters and paints. While  Coeckelberghs is an innovator, he is also pragmatic and advocates focusing on easy wins. ‘Don’t use earth to make facades, just use it to make structures inside,’ he says. He sees enormous scope for application of earth blocks internally where they are protected from the weather and hence more durable. In search of a way to scale the earth blocks production, BC Materials visited concrete and brick manufacturers across Belgium to understand their manufacturing techniques and explore possibilities for collaboration. Partnerships with large manufacturers are now underway, and BC Materials produces its blocks through  ‘industrial co-working’,  using the larger plants’ production line during their ‘off’ hours. For show notes and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.

Episode 51. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman and Joe Jack Williams.  Daniel views mud and waste as opportunities, not obstacles. He advocates an approach of ‘maximum optimism’, explaining that mud and waste enhance his designs. ‘I follow the materials; they do not follow me,’ he says. Sourcing materials primarily from within five miles of a site, Daniel describes how mud and waste can be transformed into beautiful buildings. But this was not the case from the outset.  Daniel first incorporated waste bottles into an early project because the budget ran out before the windows had been purchased. He then realised that a new aesthetic had emerged from this approach. Daniel argues that architects need to be on site, not in the office, in order to observe their surroundings. ‘Open your eyes. Be out there!’ he advises. Architecture is not a white collar job; it’s about going to site, according to Daniel. ‘Today architects are not able to see because we are simply oblivious to what is happening around us. This way of practice has to change,’ he insists. Daniel’s ambition is to bring earth construction to the mainstream and he is not opposed to adding small amounts of cement to his earth mixes to increase structural strength. ‘We need to enter commercial construction. If that means using a bit more steel or cement than the purest form of mud architecture, I’m open to it,’ he says. For show notes and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.