Using Local Landscape Materials
We aim to create and sustain places that feel rooted in the landscape, that reflect and enhance the lives and pursuits of the people who inhabit them.
Repost from localworkstudio
This is ‘Fleeting Forest’, this years winter art installation at Granary Square, Kings Cross that we designed with assembleofficial in collaboration with webbyates (engineers) studio_dekka (lighting), aswarm_works and Cameron Bray from csm_architecture_march (sound), and rebecca.heald (curator). The Fleeting Forest is an assemblage of trees, passing through the square on a winter stop-over, on their way to permanent homes in public parks, community gardens and schools elsewhere in London. The installation embraces the seasonality of the winter woodland - of bare branches, fallen leaves, berries and damp earth - as an alternative to the the traditional cut and decorated Christmas tree. We’ve tried to create a human scale square within a square. At the heart of the project is an exploration of how a temporary installation can positively impact communities and environments beyond its confines - through the way we sensitively gather and disperse materials. We’ll be sharing more insight into this as well as some stories of how the project has been designed and built, over the coming days. Photo credit: Images 1-5 and 8-9 by John Sturrock. #granarysquare #fleetingforest #kingscross #publicart #woodlands #lwsjournal #stagingurbanlandscapes
Reposted from localworkstudio Some samples leaving the workshop today. Internal plasters and external renders made from site-based materials 🌾🌱🌿for our project in #southdownsnationalpark with bbm_sustainable_design #lwsjournal #landscapearchitecture
#Repost localworkstudio
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Difficult to put into words our experience in Denmark. Thatching with expert craftspeople; listening by candlelight to farmers, architects and artists; bare feet on soaped Douglas Fir boards; the dark sauna, freezing cold water; mist and mud. We learned a lot and came home with a rich store of new knowledge and inspiration to draw on when the spreadsheets and zoom calls get too much. #harvesttohouse #høsttilhus in the fine company of djernesandbell sommerskolen.info hanspeterdinesen nicholas___brookz jordbo_dk #lwsjournal #thatch #thatching #thatcharchitecture
localworkstudio Experiments with a technique based on vernacular Spanish rammed earth - Calicostrada (Lime shell or crust). This is a method of only using lime where it is needed - external weatherproofing of walls. The thin lime ‘shell’ was rammed in-situ into shuttering along with the thicker earth wall structure, creating a mass wall with different properties. Our version has plant-based insulation, capped with an external weathering layer of lime mortar. This is part of a wider body of research looking at the use of local agricultural byproduct for building insulation. The insulation layer in these test blocks contain no lime, cement or GGBS, but the material can be used like Hempcrete - which often is a concrete due to the addition of cement. Great to be finally using and testing local plant material collected at the end of the harvest in September 🌱 #architecture #plantbasedarchitecture #buildingcraft #sustainablearchitecture #materialdesign #plantpower #lwsjournal #hempcrete #plantinsulation #rammedearthwall #eartharchitecture
reposted from localworkstudio Bungaroosh block. Low-carbon building block ♻️🧱🪨. Bungaroosh is a Sussex vernacular wall building technique that uses waste masonry and lime mortar to create thick structural walls. Traditionally hidden behind render, it then became decorative with many different varieties of finish. We are prototyping a potential standard sized block that can be quickly constructed. ‘Cobbles’ of waste masonry are used alongside field flint. Flints are still picked ‘weeded’ from farmers fields on the South Downs in Sussex. An unwanted annual crop that appears after each ploughing. Made with 100% waste aggregates, low-carbon concrete and pointed with lime mortar. #bungaroosh #bungarooshblock #flint #sussex #southdowns #localrockscene #lwsjournal #architecture #design #wasteisaresource #landscapearchitecture #southdownsnationalpark #buildingcraft #limemortar #sustainablearchitecture #sussex #reusestudio d_a loves this
Chelsea Flower Show 2023: Straw-bale walls 🌾 Nurture Garden designed by @sarahpricelandscapes. Large sections of the boundary walls for Sarah’s garden were made with straw bales, and coated with raw, unpainted render, applied by @guyvalentineltd. The bales gave a thickness and solidity to the walls, in contrast to the thin, painted canvas screens. We borrowed from thatching techniques to stake the bales with Hazel rods, and stitched and tied them back to a frame, using a long steel needle 🪡. We chose the bales as ideal low-carbon walling for the temporary exhibition at Chelsea, and they’ll be composted after the show. Our renders show the undulations of the bales, and were coloured using excavated sand from nearby @crocus.co.uk (excavated whilst building a new reservoir), natural pigments and brick dust. Curved sections in the walls were formed with small cylindrical bales that we made using waste hop bines from @abushelofhops. These allowed for more sculptural shapes to be formed around the planting. See our website (link in bio) for more on our contribution to the garden. @rachel_asl @garden_build @thenurturegroup #strawbale #strawbalegarden #chelseagardenshow #strawarchitecture #naturalbuilding #materialdesign #lwsjournal
Chelsea Flower Show 2023: Canvas screens and paint 🎨 The Nurture Garden designed by @sarahpricelandscapes Sections of the boundary wall of Sarah’s garden were made of stretched canvas, painted with plant-based paints. We developed and made the canvasses and the paint for the garden, to provide a low-carbon wall that also referenced the paintings and colour palette of Cedric Morris @benton.end. The canvas material was sourced as waste from film studios, who use the materials for throwaway scenic backgrounds. The paints were designed and made by us, influenced by natural, historic Scandinavian paint recipes. The paint protects traditional timber buildings, and contains rye flour and linseed oil. We also added demolition waste as pigment and to add texture, combined with natural pigments from local sands (from @crocus.co.uk) and indigo plant 🌱 dye, for the blue and mauve colours. The canvases were undercoated at our studio, and the top-coats where applied by Sarah Price. We have tested this exterior paint for lightfastness, and are really enjoying the finishes, smell (!) and protection it can give to lower grade materials, to prolong their life in harsh exterior conditions. Plastic free! Petroleum free! Plant based! 🌱♻️🌳🎨 See our website (link in bio) for more on our contribution to the garden. @rachel_asl @gardenmuseum @thenurturegroup @garden_build @crocus.co.uk #plantpaint #plantbased #wasteisaresource #fineartpainting #chelseaflowershow #chelseaflowershow2023 #sustainablearchitecture #naturalbuidling #materialdesign #plantdye #plantpigment #plantcolour @beahemmings.designandcraft @matildagrover @ashleyjkempton #lwsjournal
Paver bricks made by us for @exchangeerith garden by @sarahpricelandscapes. Made using demolition materials from recent building works at The Exchange ♻️. The 1000 bricks will form hard landscaped areas in the new garden, and reference the original parquet flooring inside the building. Looking forward to seeing these in-situ. #wastebasedbricks #paverbricks #herringboneflooring #parquetflooring #lwsjournal #landscapearchitecture #brick #brickpavers #bricklove #hardlandscaping #gardendesign #erith #crayfordbrickearth
Experiments with a technique based on vernacular Spanish rammed earth - Calicostrada (Lime shell or crust). This is a method of only using lime where it is needed - external weatherproofing of walls. The thin lime ‘shell’ was rammed in-situ into shuttering along with the thicker earth wall structure, creating a mass wall with different properties. Our version has plant-based insulation, capped with an external weathering layer of lime mortar. This is part of a wider body of research looking at the use of local agricultural byproduct for building insulation. The insulation layer in these test blocks contain no lime, cement or GGBS, but the material can be used like Hempcrete - which often is a concrete due to the addition of cement. Great to be finally using and testing local plant material collected at the end of the harvest in September 🌱 #architecture #plantbasedarchitecture #buildingcraft #sustainablearchitecture #materialdesign #plantpower #lwsjournal #hempcrete #plantinsulation #rammedearthwall #eartharchitecture
Fun week of building with @assemble_studio_epfl 🏘️ Great to be part of a year of teaching architecture that provides focussed making sessions like this. Students have mapped local materials and processing possibilities for their projects. They’ve collected, sampled and prototyped ways of building that use: timber, hemp, straw, clay bricks and plasters, lime renders and natural paints. @assembleofficial @epflarchitecture #architecture #sustainablearchitecture #hemp #hemparchitecture #timberarchitecture #clayarchitecture #strawarchitecture #naturalmaterials #buildingcraft #lwsjournal #plantbasedarchitecture #eartharchitecture #materialdesign #limerender #teachingarchitecture #universityarchitecture #collegearchitecture #architecturaldesign #architecturestudents #studentarchitecture #studentarchitectureproject #cob #cobbuilding #timberarchitecture #prototyping #prototypearchitecture #clayplaster
Gold!!! 🏅 Congratulations and thank you @sarahpricelandscapes for inviting us into a very collaborative team for the Nurture Garden at Chelsea flower show. With @crocus.co.uk @garden_build @rachel_asl @guyvalentineltd sponsored by @thenurturegroup for @gardenmuseum @benton.end See our website (link in bio) for more on our contribution to the garden. #dreamteam #chelseaflowershow2023 #chelseaflowershow #lwsjournal
Traditional plaster ingredients. Diagram for a presentation to students - new module about the craft and application of bespoke plasters. #makeyourown #plaster #buildingcraft #lwsjournal
Fun project making window and door cills for @bakerbrown_studio using 100% waste aggregates from a construction site ♻️The bespoke mortar has been tested, and exceeds the appropriate British Standard for compressive strength 🏋️ #materialdesign #reuse #architecture #sustainabledesign #surfacedesign #circulardesign #wasteisaresource #lwsjournal #landscapearchitecture #terrazzo #terrazzodesign #reusearchitecture #design
Paver tiles for a garden by @sarahpricelandscapes. Made by us from waste and excess construction materials ♻️ Looking forward to seeing these in-situ. #wastebrick #c.andre 🧱 #lwsjournal #localworksstudio #brick #bricks #architecture #landscapearchitecture #hardlandscaping #hardlandscape #paverbrick #wastebricks #wastebasedbricks #materials #architecturematerials
Clay plaster samples for a current project in Denmark for @hedeskov_ with architects @djernesandbell. Using site excavation clay, iron-rich sand and plant fibre from bulrush #clayplaster #plaster #materialdesign #bulrush #architecture #lwsjournal #design #sustainabledesign #clayplasters #clay #naturalplaster #clayarchitecture
Completed false reef structure for #heavygardening project with Andrew Merritt @somethingandson. This will be sited underwater at the bottom of Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool. Hoping for maximum colonisation by shellfish and other sea life. The full sculpture will include 8 ropes for mussels to grow on 🐚 🦞 🦪 🦐 🐠 🐟. The reef structure ring is cast with our #shellcrete material using waste oyster shells from seafood restaurants. The outer shell decoration should mimic natural oyster reefs, and encourage different bivalve molluscs to grow on the shelly surface. #increasebiodiversity #shellcrete #oyster #oysterreef #mussels #liverpool #lwsjournal #falsereef #reef #oysters #oystershell #shell
Thanks to @carmodygroarke for including our work in their current exhibition @designmuseumgent. Describing the process of design for the new museum extension. Materials, bricks, tools and video document our collaboration with @bcarchitectsandstudies to develop external bricks made from excavation waste and other by-products from the city of Gent. 🧱♻️🧱🇧🇪🪨♻️⛏🧱…..also it’s been great to get out of the UK for a bit!!!#circularflanders #wasteisaresource #circulareconomy #europeanunion #materialdesign #design #architecture #lwsjournal #brick #brickdesign
Samples of materials for some bespoke shower trays for @thesecretcampsite @ruralworkshop. Testing for non-slip vs foot comfort vs cleanability! Made using waste brick aggregates ♻️ #lowcarbonconcrete #materialdesign #surfacedesign #architecture #lwsjournal
We are very excited to welcome Georgemma to Local Works Studio! She is currently finishing an MA in Sustainable Architecture at the Centre for Alternative Technology and is joining us as a part-time researcher and designer. Georgemma will be implementing and developing the studios low carbon construction methods and use of local, regenerative landscape materials 🌱@georgemma_hunt #sustainablearchitecture #reuse #circulareconomy #lwsjournal
Difficult to put into words our experience in Denmark. Thatching with expert craftspeople; listening by candlelight to farmers, architects and artists; bare feet on soaped Douglas Fir boards; the dark sauna, freezing cold water; mist and mud. We learned a lot and came home with a rich store of new knowledge and inspiration to draw on when the spreadsheets and zoom calls get too much. #harvesttohouse #høsttilhus in the fine company of @djernesandbell @sommerskolen.info @hanspeterdinesen @nicholas___brookz @jordbo_dk #lwsjournal #thatch #thatching #thatcharchitecture #plantarchitecture #architecture #landscapearchitecture