AJ Climate Champions podcast: ‘We start with a map of nearby materials and products’

Material Cultures co-founder Summer Islam explains how a regional ‘materials matrix’ informs the design process

‘We imagine the future, rather than working within the present,’ says Islam, describing the approach of design and research consultancy Material Cultures. ‘We speculate on the potential for woodlands to produce certain materials, even though today we import them from mainland Europe.’

Material Cultures, co-founded in 2019 with Paloma Gormley and George Masoud, advocates greater use of bio-based materials in construction and bio-regional material sourcing. Bio-regional mapping involves in-depth research to find out what resources, products and skills are local to a site, such as visits to sawmills and interviews with nearby foresters and farmers to build local supply chains.

Through built projects, hands-on workshops, research, teaching and films, Material Cultures has emerged as a significant disruptor of ‘business as usual’. The practice’s main message is that our extractive construction industry needs a radical overhaul. ‘Our experience is that people want to make choices that align with their values,’ Islam explains. ‘They just aren’t informed, because we deliberately obscure, as an industry, the impact of certain processes and materials.’

Hands-on workshops with builders and community residents have evolved to be one of Material Culture’s most impactful workstreams, simultaneously addressing lack of industry understanding of how to build with bio-based materials and empowering builders and local residents with new construction skills.

‘Straw is the ultimate equitable material. Everyone can pick up a bale and build with straw,’ says Islam. In addition to straw, Material Cultures advocates greater use of hemp and wood fibre. These are three regenerative materials which could be scaled in the British context, according to Islam.

In this episode, we also discuss Material Culture’s work with Civic Square in Birmingham, developing a neighbourhood microfactory for community retrofit. In terms of retrofit, Islam cautions that ‘more insulation is not always the answer’. An awning or a minor modification to the plan might result in a more impactful outcome for a given cost.

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About Summer Islam

Summer Islam is a founding director of Material Cultures. She co-teaches 'Construction in Detail' in the Spatial Studies department at Central St. Martin’s. She has also taught at ETH, the Bartlett, and London Met.

Prior to setting up Material Cultures, Summer worked at 6a architects and Caruso St John.

Summer is currently pursuing a PhD in the Riot Lab at EPFL in Lausanne.