Designing with nature - exploring ecological systems in architecture

With this group, we explore visionary concepts that enable us to consider how we may cross boundaries taking us out of architecture and work with different fields of expertise that can help us solve sustainable construction in new ways. We look to the future to propose buildable solutions today. One result of our research and development initiatives is the recent establishment of a new enterprise, 63000Homes, to produce and install low-cost high-quality homes using off-site construction technology.

Emma is a practicing architect and design researcher. Her work focuses on the future architectural landscape in relationship to nature, exploring environmental responsiveness and resilience in the context of climate change and resource depletion. Straddling the boundaries between sustainability, technology and design, her work is highly collaborative and multidisciplinary, involving both industry and academia. She is a writer and tutor at various schools of architecture, e.g. Environmental Design at The Bartlett, UCL, and has established a long-term research partnership with Brunel University, developing design-research projects with students.

'Designing with Nature', the ongoing collaboration between astudio and Brunel University unites students and academics from the far-reaching fields of product design, engineering, biology, computer science and business, and architects at astudio to develop a new series of materials, products and processes for the built environment.

Emma discussed the principles of nature facilitate the move towards a circular economy in building design, the role of biomimetics in the design and development of new materials and structures and cross-disciplinary collaboration as a method of unlocking solutions to the complex issues of future sustainability.