Civic Delight

How can we build differently?

We are interested in how buildings are made. We considered the specifics of materiality and construction - thinking through making at a 1:1 scale, with the ambition of making architecture that is civic, sustainable and provides delight.

We focused on the use of bio-circular low-embodied carbon materials and how these materials can be used with passive strategies to make sustainable buildings in a dense urban context. 

Our studio was interested in what it means to work in a city and how new projects can work as a catalyst for change.

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We based ourselves in the Northern urban fringe of Sheffield City Centre, an area which has seen an explosion in development and change within the last 10 years.

Targeted by developers for potential high profit returns, this part of the city has seen the most financial investment in the city, but is shaped only with profit margins in mind. 

Historically this area has been occupied by a mix of small and medium scale industry, homes and businesses. This is now being rapidly replaced by high-rise, low-quality, short term rented accommodation - housing determined by spreadsheet; without consideration on quality of life, creating or retaining communities, or connecting to the city as a whole.

The studio was committed to working within the existing situation, addressing critical questions being asked of the profession today.

In response to this the projects that emerge from the studio aim to be realistic, deliverable, and interventional - whilst remaining radical, creative and humane. 

This year (2022 to 2023) we specifically designed projects that engage with ways of living or working in the city, civic in attitude not necessarily in function.

Studio tutor

Kate Nicklin