Landscape audit and material design
Surveying a 44 acre farm in Devon, auditing materials and skills that can enable the repair and re-building of the farm buildings.
We were commissioned to survey and uncover options for reuse of waste and bio-renewable construction materials sourced from the farm, the wider landscape and through local supply chains. The intention was to take a circular approach to procurement and construction – to see if we can re-imagine the built environment as an extension of the wider ecosystem and social context, maintained in good health through a symbiotic, seasonal, regenerative cycle of matter and energy.
The aim was to find materials and ways of building which have the least negative impact on the environment and most regenerative potential: low embodied energy and carbon construction; careful deconstruction and zero waste; lowest possible transport miles; minimal, low energy processing; little or no toxic chemicals or additives; use of sustainable, rapidly renewable materials; and procurement that might support local economies and unstable supply chains.
