2021 European Research Prize
Constructive Land

How can the competing demands on our landscape be reconciled to facilitate the development of biobased materials in a postcarbon future?

Central Saint Martins of the University of the Arts London, in partnership with Forestry England and Material Cultures, is pleased to present Constructive Land, a research proposal examining the future of the British landscape in the context of the climate crisis. Our fertile landscape is constrained by pressures from farming, woodland, and housing, all of which need reimagining as we move into a postcarbon future. The research looks at the potential of agroforestry to develop arable farming alongside productive woodland and explores what materials and building systems can be drawn from a new model of regenerative land management.

This innovative research will have impact at multiple scales: at the scale of the material, the building, and of the landscape, working together as a holistic system. Our research methods are practical—encompassing material testing, prototyping, and building—and academic, including interviews and an in-depth literature review. Led by Summer Islam and Paloma Gormley, the production and application of new biobased materials, drawn from conventionally “unproductive” woodland material, will be investigated and tested over the course of the project. An experimental timber structure, which will facilitate teaching and community engagement with our woodlands will be designed and built by a group of thirty MArch students over the summer of 2022.

Our research will question the different value systems imposed onto our land, and its outcomes will inform our teaching: building on our ecological curriculum for future creative changemakers and proposing new models of practice centering sustainability alongside materials and people.

Research Focus

The landscape of the UK is subject to competing demands, many of which are considered to be in direct conflict with one another. Are our fertile soils better dedicated to grazing land or arable farming? How can reforestation and afforestation serve us ecologically and also benefit the landowner or tenant farmer? And whilst the climate crisis has finally reached our headlines, the housing crisis rages on, presenting additional complexity to the decisions local authorities must make in order for the UK to meet its commitments to reach net zero. On top of this, growing our new biobased construction materials for the developments still to come presents a reimagining of land use previously unanticipated at scale.

By questioning the nature of a “productive” woodland, our project will investigate the different benefits and outcomes of woodland management, from climate resilience to increased biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Productive woodlands have the potential to source innovative new low embodied carbon materials which could transform the built environment, whilst also building regional supply chains across the country. The recalibration of our landscapes away from extractive practices toward a new model of regenerative land management, one which fosters regenerative resources, provides an exciting opportunity for construction innovation.

Constructive Land is an impressive mixture of practical and academic research. It is genuinely collaborative, bringing together three diverse partners to examine the possibilities of a new regenerative model for land management in the context of both climate emergency and the housing crisis. I very much look forward to seeing the implementation of the project over the next year.

Tim Marlow, Chief Executive and Director, Design Museum, London