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What’s So Luxurious About Luxury Vinyl Tile, Part III: The Poison Plastic and Why “Recycling Will Not Save Us”
CategoriesArchitecture

What’s So Luxurious About Luxury Vinyl Tile, Part III: The Poison Plastic and Why “Recycling Will Not Save Us”

By Zarkon Group,

This article was written by Burgess Brown. Healthy Materials Lab is a design research lab at Parsons School of Design with a mission to place health at the center of every design decision. HML is changing the future of the built environment by creating resources for designers, architects, teachers, and students to make healthier places for all people to live. Check out their podcast, Trace Material.

Between 1950 and 2019, more than 7,000 million metric tons of plastic waste were generated. We add roughly 400 million metric tons to that figure every year. If your eyes glazed over while reading these frankly incomprehensible numbers, just know that our plastic waste problem is out of control. Recycling, the solution long promoted by the plastics industry as a panacea, is deeply flawed at best and entirely unfeasible at worst.

So, if recycling as we know it won’t save us, what do we do with the mounds of plastic clogging our waterways and landfills? Even if we could recycle plastics effectively at scale, does it make sense to recycle a toxic plastic like Luxury Vinyl Tile?

This article is Part III of a three-part series on the hazards of vinyl flooring.

  • Part I explores the “dirty climate secret” behind the popular material and shares some healthier, affordable alternatives.
  • Part II considers the long history of worker endangerment by the vinyl industry and how this legacy continues in China today.
  • Part III, this article, explores the dark side of recycling.

The Guilt Eraser

Municipal Solid Waste – Worker in recycling facility, The U.S. National Archives, Library of Environmental Images, (ORD), image via GetArchive

As early as the 1970s, plastics industry officials warned that effective recycling of plastic wasn’t feasible. One said in a 1974 speech that “there is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis.” And yet, the plastics industry forged ahead with its recycling messaging. Plastic’s enemy number one was the guilt people felt about the wastefulness of single use products. So even if the industry wasn’t actually recycling or protecting the environment, they needed consumers to think that they were.

One industry lobbyist called recycling the great “guilt-eraser”. “Recycling assures people that plastic isn’t just an infernal hanger-on; it has a useful afterlife. As soon as they recycle your product,” he explained, “they feel better about it.”

Throughout the ‘90s, as environmental pushback mounted, the plastics industry fought back. Recycling was their most important message, so they spread it far and wide. The industry spent over $250 million on public campaigns about the usefulness of plastic and its ability to be reused. They wanted people to feel safe and comfortable with their products. They also invested millions in recycling efforts, but those efforts have come up dramatically short. In 2021, the U.S. (by far the world’s biggest plastics polluter) only recycled around 5% of plastics.

We spoke to Kara Napolitano who is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Sims Municipal Recycling Center in Brooklyn, New York for an episode of our podcast, Trace Material. We cover the sordid history of plastics recycling and its uncertain future. Kara, who lives and breathes recycling, had this to say about how we should set our plastics priorities:

“My job is to teach people about recycling. But I have to bring attention to the fact that recycling is only halfway up that waste hierarchy of preferred methods for managing our waste. Recycling is not number one. Recycling will not save us. At the very top of that waste hierarchy — the most preferred thing to do to manage your waste — is to not create any waste in the first place.”

Kara reminded us that the well known waste management hierarchy goes: “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.” If we are to reverse the course of our plastics crisis, we must focus our efforts on drastically reducing production and consumption of plastic all together.

The Poison Plastic

Image generated by Architizer using Midjourney

There are lots of questions that need answering about the future of recycling. While there is consensus that we should focus on reducing plastics production, there are debates raging about what to do with the mounds of plastic we’ve already created. There is, however, no question about PVC’s place in that future. From a health standpoint, PVC has no place in a circular plastics economy.

That’s because PVC is toxic at every stage of its life cycle. The building block of PVC, vinyl chloride, is a known human carcinogen. Then there are performance additives: plasticizers to make PVC flexible can disrupt the body’s endocrine system and heavy metals used to make it rigid are toxic too. These toxic chemicals are in the millions of homes across the country that utilize the number one flooring choice in the US: Luxury Vinyl Tile. And, these dangerous chemicals don’t magically disappear if PVC is recycled. When companies advertise recycled LVT or tout its ability to enter the circular economy, ask yourself: Would I paint my house with recycled lead paint?

Problematic and Unnecessary

The U.S. Plastics Pact is a group of “stakeholders across the plastics value chain” that are trying to create a circular economy for plastics in the United States. To be clear, this group is certainly not anti-plastics nor anti-recycling. Yet, they have labeled PVC plastic to be a “problematic and unnecessary” material and are working to eliminate it from all packaging by 2025. This is because PVC is “not currently reusable, recyclable or compostable with existing U.S. infrastructure at scale” and “contains hazardous chemicals or creates hazardous conditions that pose a significant risk to human health or the environment (applying the precautionary principle) during its manufacturing, recycling (whether mechanical or chemical), or composting process.”

PVC is incredibly difficult to recycle and it interferes with the recyclability of other plastics too. Even if recycling PVC at scale could be figured out, its carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals remain. These chemicals pose a threat to residents in the use phase and again to humans and the planet at disposal. The vast majority of PVC ends up in landfills and incinerators. When PVC is burned, a host of toxic chemicals, including dioxins, are released into the air, soil and water. While there may be hope for a future where some plastics are able to be effectively recycled at scale, PVC should not and will not be a part of that future.

Rethink, Redesign, Reform

We should continue to support innovations in plastics recycling. Exciting progress is being made in the field of biological recycling, which uses enzymes from bacteria, fungi and insects to break plastics down into their component parts. This allows for theoretically infinite recycling of plastics that could have a smaller carbon footprint than making virgin plastics.

What we should not do is continue to use recycling as a guilt eraser. No innovations in recycling can justify the continued production of materials as toxic as PVC, and therefore LVT. The most effective thing that we as designers and architects can do to protect humans and our planet, is stop specifying plastics (especially PVC) wherever possible. In part one of this series we shared a list of healthy, affordable alternatives to vinyl flooring. You can find other thoroughly vetted flooring options in our materials collection on the Healthy Materials Lab website.

We’ll leave you with a re-imagining of the waste management hierarchy (“reduce, reuse, recycle”) mentioned earlier from Chief Scientist of Environmental Health Sciences and friend of Healthy Materials Lab, Pete Myers:

Re-Think

Many applications of plastics are non-essential. Serious efforts should be made to identify the essential uses of plastics vs. non-essential.

Redesign

Chemists should be given the challenge of creating safer materials to use when the services of plastic are required.

Reform

The regulatory system needs to be reformed by incorporating 21st century biomedical science in its assessments of safety.

As architects and designers our charge as pivotal members of the design and construction industry is to re-think the design decision making process that has been “business as usual” for the last several decades. If we put the health of our bodies, the planet, and all those living there at the center of our design decisions, the way we build will radically change. That thinking has to extend to the entire lifecycle of the materials we use.

If we consider their impact from the time they leave the earth to the time they are returned to the earth, we will have no choice but to re-design our systems of production. These shifts in thinking will leave no place for toxic plastics or any other toxics in our work. Centering human and ecosystem health in design and construction will positively change the future for everyone.

Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.

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The design industry needs to let go of its obsession with the new
CategoriesSustainable News

The design industry needs to let go of its obsession with the new

By Zarkon Group,

If design is about solving problems we need to start questioning whether new products and furniture are always the answer, writes Katie Treggiden.

“What’s new?” is often the first question a journalist asks of a design brand when stepping onto their stand at a trade show or beginning an interview.

Annual stylistic tweaks have driven unnecessary upgrades to cars since the concept was introduced by General Motors in 1923. The emergence of pre-packaged food and disposable drinks bottles in the mid-20th century enabled people to buy instead of make, replace instead of repair, and reclassify objects and materials as waste, rather than holding on to them as resources. This made ordinary people feel rich, fuelling an insatiable desire for the new.

There has already been a real shift towards designers using waste or “second-life” materials

In her 1999 book Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash, Susan Strasser coined the term “the veneration of newness”. It is a phenomenon that emerged in 1950s America, ushering in the throwaway culture that came to define the second half of the 20th century and continues today with fast fashion, fast furniture and even fast tech.

It’s time for change. The design industry needs to let go of its obsession with the new and instead start venerating the patina of age, and lead the transition to a circular economy.

The second tenet of the circular economy, as defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is to “keep materials and objects in use”. There has already been a real shift towards designers using waste or “second-life” materials and talk of “design for disassembly”. We’ve started to get our heads around the idea of keeping materials in use, but what about the objects themselves?

Fashion might have led the design industry towards “fast furniture”, but it’s also leading the way back towards repair. British brand Toast now employs as many repair specialists as it does designers, and not only offers clothes-swapping events and repair services, but also Toast Renewed – a collection of repaired clothes and home accessories.

The pieces cost more than their original RRP, adding value to stock that would have once been destined for outlet stores and demonstrating a business model for repair. “As a matter of integrity, brands have a responsibility to incorporate repair, rental or resale into their business models,” said Toast’s Madeleine Michell. “These steps come with challenges, but they are essential for a transition towards a more circular system.”

We need to start questioning whether new products and furniture are always the answer

Raeburn is another fashion brand built on circular principles. It was launched in 2009 with a collection of eight garments made from a single pilot’s parachute and has continued the themes of reuse and repair to this day. “It’s apparent that repair and mending is becoming part of the mainstream again,” founder Christopher Raeburn told me. “I’d like to think that the future will see repair celebrated as it used to be, but it’s also important that this comes in tandem with better product design.”

A handful of product and furniture brands are starting to take note. TAKT launched Spoke (pictured), a sofa that is designed for repair, during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design in June. “The change we need is to design products that have exposed, visible fixings that can be operated with simple, accessible tools – if tools are required at all,” said its designer Tørbjorn Anderssen. “We need to ensure that recyclable mono-materials are used wherever possible and we need to provide customers with spare parts that extend the life of products.”

If design is about solving problems, perhaps we need to start questioning whether new products and furniture are always the answer. “We don’t make lights, we find them” is the strapline of Skinflint – a certified B Corp that has saved more than 50,000 vintage lights from landfill.

The brand salvages lamps from the 1920s to the 1970s, restores them to modern safety standards and then offers a lifetime guarantee, repair service and buy-back scheme. “We’ve demonstrated that a fully circular approach to lighting is absolutely possible,” said founder Chris Miller. “And we hope that other leaders in the industry will follow suit, bringing change to the sector as a whole.”

If we can stop asking “what’s new?” and instead celebrate what isn’t, perhaps we can let go of a 20th-century model that is no longer serving us, and lead the way in the transition to a circular economy.

Katie Treggiden is the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a membership community and online-learning platform for sustainable designers and makers, and the author of Broken: Mending and Repair in a Throwaway World (Ludion, 2023).

The photography is by Claudia Vega.

Dezeen In Depth
If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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We are neglecting areas where our industry causes harm
CategoriesSustainable News

We are neglecting areas where our industry causes harm

By Zarkon Group,

Architects must start placing greater emphasis on protecting biodiversity in their projects, writes RSHP sustainability lead Michelle Sanchez.

It’s time to make peace with nature. Architects should add strong biodiversity mitigation principles to their projects no matter the scale and constraints.

Since the 2015 Paris Agreement, some organisations in the construction industry have advocated deploying all our efforts into implementing guidance, targets, and calculation tools to allow us to achieve net zero by 2050.

Sustainability as a concept goes beyond environmental impact

No doubt there is much to do in terms of carbon reduction in the industry, but by focusing all our energies and resources down that road we are forgetting two major things.

First, sustainability as a concept goes beyond environmental impact. Sustainability was defined back in 1987 by the UN as the balance of the environmental, economic, and social impact of any project – this is the Sustainability Triple Bottom Line. We are forgetting that sustainability engages with a far greater range of issues than carbon emissions alone.

Secondly, our industry has a much wider negative impact beyond the 38 per cent contribution to carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. Now that we have a way forward to reducing operational and embodied carbon, we need to look at sustainability as a whole and see other areas where our industry is causing harm.

Biodiversity comes out as one of the big-ticket items that we need to tackle next. Infrastructure and the built environment are responsible for 29 per cent of threatened species, according to the World Economic Forum.

And biodiversity is more crucial to our way of life and our economy than we realise. Forty-four per cent of global GDP in cities is estimated to be at risk of disruption from nature loss. Business as usual is no longer an option – we as an industry need to do better.

It will benefit people, too. To return to the Sustainable Triple Bottom Line concept, having nature-based solutions embedded into our designs has a positive social impact on the local communities and building users. The enhancement of biodiversity is directly linked to the improvement of health and well-being, especially with respect to mental health. There is a direct correlation between having access to external, green spaces and the well-being of the user of that space.

Adding a 10 per cent net-gain is not enough

Politicians are slowly waking up to the issue. The COP15 summit has started work towards a new global pact on nature protection. In the UK, the government’s 25-year Environment Plan will require all new development in England to provide a biodiversity uplift of at least 10 per cent according to a habitat-based metric.

This legislation is expected to come into force in November and will need to be considered by all stakeholders in the built environment – from designers and architects to financial institutions and property consultants. But adding a 10 per cent net-gain is not enough to be able to reduce the negative impact that our way of life has had on biodiversity.

We need to be creative and innovative. We need to find clever ways to provide green spaces, wildlife corridors and shelter for different kinds of animals. We need to encourage pollination and generate green infrastructure at scale whenever we can.

I am calling all architects and building-industry stakeholders to review their current projects against the BiodiverCities report from the WEF, where experts have listed a series of five key strategies that we can add to all construction projects to enhance biodiversity.

First, we must make the built environment more compact. Higher-density urban development will free up land for agriculture and nature. It can also reduce urban sprawl, which destroys wildlife habitats and flora and fauna. Existing cities and settlements should be considered for strategic densification. Just like we are starting to review existing buildings and their possibility to be retained or fully retrofitted before making the decision to demolish, we should have a similar approach with any land that does not have an existing structure that could be used for other purposes than urbanising the environment.

Second, we must design with nature-positive approaches by having buildings that share space with nature and are less human-centric. Nature-positive strategies should not be an afterthought or a tick-box exercise to comply with a planning requirement. All developments must include nature-friendly spaces and eco-bridges to connect habitats for urban wildlife. Should we start placing biodiversity at the core of project design I am sure that we will end up generating greener and more appealing places.

It’s time to rethink what we are doing as an industry

We also need planet-compatible urban utilities. To stall biodiversity loss, we need utilities that effectively manage air, water, and solid waste pollution in urban environments. In addition to benefiting nature, this will provide universal human access to clean air and water. We can implement new technologies that could transform urban utilities and make them planet-compatible.

Nature as infrastructure involves incorporating natural ecosystems into built-up areas. Instead of developments destroying floodplains, wetlands, and forests, they would form an essential part of the new built environment. This approach to development can also help deliver clean air, natural water purification and reduce the risk from extreme climate events.

Finally, we need nature-positive connecting infrastructure such as roads, railways, pipelines, and ports. Transitions in these areas mean a change in our approach to planning to reduce biodiversity impacts, with a willingness to accept compromises to enhance biodiversity. Building in wildlife corridors and switching to renewable energy in transport are key elements of nature-positive connecting infrastructure.

It’s time to rethink what we are doing as an industry and realise that by focusing so much on carbon reduction we are neglecting other areas where our industry causes much harm. We need to tackle climate change and sustainability from all fronts. We need to design in a holistic way that considers the Sustainability Triple Bottom Line and every impact related to it.

I would like to start a call for action and to encourage architects, developers, contractors and consultants to rethink the way we design buildings and public spaces, to find strategies to add biodiversity enhancement, and to truly assess the impact that our projects have on biodiversity.

Michelle Sanchez is sustainability lead at RSHP.

The photo, by Joas Souza, shows the green roof of the Macallan Distillery in Scotland, designed by RSHP.

Dezeen In Depth

If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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Climate Solutions From the Global South: Why the Future of Architecture Is Regional
CategoriesSustainable News

Climate Solutions From the Global South: Why the Future of Architecture Is Regional

By Zarkon Group,

This article was written by Carl Elefante. Architecture 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from a major emitter of greenhouse gases to a central source of solutions to the climate crisis. For 20 years, the nonprofit has provided leadership and designed actions toward this shift and a healthy future for all.

A year after the UN climate summit relaunch in Glasgow, many participants departed COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh searching for a silver lining. For some, the bright spot was action taken toward climate justice. Although the 2015 Paris Agreement acknowledged that circumstances in developed and developing nations differ, by establishing the Loss and Damage Fund, COP27 reconfigured the international climate action framework.

The nations primarily responsible for carbon pollution are not the most vulnerable to its life-and-death consequences. Global peace and justice demand that polluting nations (largely in the “Global North”) clean up their mess and help protect others (largely in the “Global South”) from the havoc they are causing.

While nations in the Global South earnestly turn to the Global North for financial support, there is hesitation to look to the Global North for climate solutions. Too many fail to account for regional conditions and cultures.

Sana’a’s foundation dates back over 2,500 years; the city in Yemen is filled with tower-houses built of rammed earth (pisé). | Photo by: Antti Salonen, Old Sana’a, CC BY-SA 3.0

In the building sector, the mismatch between accepted Global North solutions and the needs of the Global South is pronounced. For a century, the Global North has exported its energy-consuming glass towers and concrete roadways regardless of climate zone or social structure. Still-favored Global North models are far from problem-free today, and opportunities for appropriate regional adaptation remain largely unexplored, neglecting knowledge that could benefit both the Global North and South.

For those in “advanced” countries, it can be difficult to appreciate that less-modernized cultures have ideas and know-how that are relevant and valuable today. The oldest cities, like Damascus and Cairo, have been inhabited for at least six thousand years. Until about 1800, with the rapid proliferation of fossil-fuel-driven, resource-hungry, technology-infatuated modern-era development, cities thrived without creating a global climate crisis, ecological collapse or systemic resource exhaustion.

Consider the contrast between preferred modern-era and traditional construction materials. Today, concrete is the dominant construction material in developed countries. Concrete production accounts for eight percent (8%) of annual global greenhouse gas emissions — a number greater than the annual national emissions of Canada, Germany, South Korea and Saudi Arabia combined. Concrete does not decompose and cannot be reshaped or recycled — only down-cycled from a high-value material (structural concrete) to a lower-value material (aggregate).

Nicknamed the Manhattan of the Desert,’ Shibam is a vertical city made of sun-dried mud brick tower houses that dates back to the 16th-century (Yemen). | Photo by Dan from Brussels, Europe, Shibam (2286380141), CC BY-SA 2.0

In contrast, about one-third of the world’s population (mostly in the Global South) lives in buildings constructed with air-dried, clay-based materials like adobe and cob. The clay, sand and straw used to make them are locally sourced and decompose after use. Methods are so basic that many clay-based buildings are constructed by the people who occupy them — no global supply chain required. Incorporating wood-supported floor decks allows multi-story structures like those in the Yemeni cities of Sanaa and Shibam. Faced with lime-plaster stuccos, clay-based buildings are weather tight and durable, their heavy thermal mass beneficial in both hot and cold climates.

Some contemporary architects are taking note. Schools designed by 2022 Pritzker Laureate Diébédo Francis Kéré for his home village of Gando, Burkina Faso, are constructed by villagers from clay brick.

Yet, Kéré’s buildings are unmistakably modern. For the first school, Kéré introduced a non-traditional vaulted ceiling. The building is shaded by an overhanging sheet metal canopy on trusses fabricated from bent steel rods. With louvered wall openings, the canopy and vault produce a passive ventilation system: hot air at the canopy draws cooler air through openings in the ceiling vault and louvered windows below.

Gando Primary School Extension uses vaulted ceilings to increase the school’s thermal comfort by allowing hot air to escape upwards through integrated ventilation gap. |GandoIT, Kéré Primary School Extension Gando, CC BY-SA 3.0

To better engage diverse cultural and heritage perspectives in UN climate and sustainable development activities, a coalition of cultural organizations formed the Climate Heritage Network (CHN) in 2019. CHN was launched following the publication of The Future of Our Pasts: Engaging Climate Heritage in Climate Action. Prepared by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), The Future of Our Pasts provides a detailed roadmap for integrating cultural and heritage considerations into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Compelling scientific evidence about the risk of climate change was first highlighted by the UN at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Carbon polluters in the Global North have not needed better science to act but greater resolve. Their inability to make sufficient progress for more than three decades has changed the international landscape. The Loss and Damage Fund adopted at COP27 acknowledges the responsibility of developed nations to act decisively and rapidly on behalf of all people.

Culture and heritage advocates such as CHN believe it must also begin a period of profound awakening in the Global North. Ideas that brought progress in the modern era have ossified into biases that are inhibiting the fresh thinking necessary to overcome the climate emergency. For those of us in the building sector, words written by Jane Jacobs ring loud and clear: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” Her wisdom is most urgently needed for global climate solutions.

Carl Elefante, FAIA, FAPT, is a Senior Fellow with Architecture 2030 and Principal Emeritus with Quinn Evans Architects. Known for coining the phrase: “The greenest building is one that is already built,” Elefante writes and lectures nationally on historic preservation and sustainable design topics. Carl serves on the International Steering Committee of the Climate Heritage Network. In 2018, Carl served as the 94th President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He is a Fellow of the AIA and the Association for Preservation Technology (APT).

Reference

Free Webinar Recording: Implementing Zero Waste Strategies into Your Design Practice
CategoriesArchitecture

Free Webinar Recording: Implementing Zero Waste Strategies into Your Design Practice

By Zarkon Group,

Do you ever sit back and wonder what happens to your waste? Do you ever ponder the environmental and economic impacts of waste on the planet?

Architizer was thrilled to have Jessica Jenkins, Environmental and Technical Project Specialist at Inpro, speak at the most recent Architizer live event. Hitting us with hard facts, the dos and don’ts and workplace initiatives for waste diversion, Jessica left the audience empowered to take matters into their own hands. Zero waste is attainable within the design industry, and Jessica thoughtfully broke down how to get there.

To reach a wider audience and for those who were unable to attend, the recorded session is available on-demand! Click the button below to watch Jessica Jenkins’ insightful presentation:

Register + Access

Waste is at the forefront of many global sustainable initiatives. Why? Because we all contribute to waste. It is part of our daily lives and, realistically, isn’t going anywhere. Currently, we are running out of space to house our waste. In the US alone, a whopping 292 million tons of trash was generated in a single year. To make room for all this waste, natural habitats have been destroyed, greenhouse gas emissions have risen, and taxes have gone up to offset the costs of running expensive landfills.

Zero waste has been defined as diverting 90% of total waste from landfills.

Thankfully, there are proactive ways to reduce our collective and individual contributions to waste. And such strategies can be implemented into building design. The benefits of designing for zero waste are immense, leading to more sustainable creations, increased property value and safety. Whether a boutique architecture firm or a large manufacturing company, waste diversion is possible within all parts of the design industry. All it takes is a little bit of elbow grease.

For some real-world context, Jessica shared a bit on Inpro’s zero waste journey. By 2025, Inpro aspires to become a zero-waste company. Currently, they have hit an impressive 85% diversion rate, and with only 5% to go, the company is thrilled to offer long-lasting, recycled products to their customers. Sharing a few of Inpro’s key strategies on waste diversion, here are three important factors to consider:

  1. Take ownership: Owning up to your company’s waste streams and processes is a must. It is the first step before implementing waste diversion strategies.
  2. Collect and use data: Striving for zero waste is not a linear process. Examining your company’s current processes through metrics and data is crucial to reaching this goal. Constant reevaluation and reassessment is key.
  3. Convenience is a must: Waste diversion initiatives must be made convenient and straightforward to use.

Looking beyond the workplace and towards the design process itself, Jessica also shared some helpful strategies for zero-waste design.

  1. Clearly communicate: Communicate valuable information (such as recycling guidelines) through legible signage.
  2. Prioritize easy access: Ensure your zero waste strategies (such as designated recycling areas) are accessible and conveniently placed within your building.
  3. Opt for sustainable products: While performance is key to waste diversion, so are the materials used within said processes. Ensure you have durable wall protection and long-lasting materials.

To hear Jessica Jenkins’ complete list of tips for zero-waste design, click the link below.

Register + Access

Striving for zero waste is attainable within all aspects of the architecture and design industry. At first, it may appear like a demanding and unattainable goal. However, in practice, all it takes is a solid waste diversion plan and a continual commitment to the cause.

Top image: The Cradle by HPP Architects, Düsseldorf, Germany

Reference

21st Century Architect Guide: 7 Visualization Tools Architects Can’t Live Without
CategoriesArchitecture

21st Century Architect Guide: 7 Visualization Tools Architects Can’t Live Without

By Zarkon Group,

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, learn more about Architizer’s Vision Awards. The Main Entry Deadline on June 9th is fast approaching. Start your entry today >

The architectural design process is an intricate dance between creativity and technical mastery. From beginning to end, as each act of a project unfolds, and visions come to life, every architect must rely on an array of visualization tools to help them successfully navigate project stages. These tools are our trusty partners throughout the performance that is design.

From sketching the earliest of ideas to unveiling new worlds in digital landscapes, many tools have revolutionized the way we work and transformed how we communicate our ideas. While we each have individual preferences, undoubtedly, from concept to completion, there are some visualization tools we can all agree we would rather not live without.

Conceptualization: Sketching and Diagramming – The Napkin Chronicles

Interior of the reimagined Autodesk Gallery, San Francisco, CA, United States Photograph provided by Autodesk

We’ve all been there — a moment of divine inspiration striking in the middle of lunch, hastily scribbling our ideas on a napkin, a receipt, even our hand. Be it through traditional (pen and paper) sketching or digital tools like SketchBook by Autodesk and Morpholio Trace, conceptualization is the wild west of design documentation, and that’s precisely what these programs are built for.

By allowing us to quickly test various design concepts, proportions, and relationships while providing a platform for experimentation and ideation, such sketching software helps to support and facilitate mark-making and disjointed thought. The intuitive interface and versatile features of these digital sketching apps enable architects to easily switch between mediums, layers, and scales, streamlining the concept process and ultimately helping us make sense of our own ideas effectively.

Schematic Design: 2D CAD Drawings – Back to the Grid

Autodesk Technology Center, Boston, MA, United States Photograph provided by Autodesk

With concepts refined, then comes the time to embrace the precision and orderliness of 2D CAD drawings. Bidding adieu to the delightful chaos of the napkin sketches, programs like AutoCAD and Vectorworks become our new best friends. During the schematic phase, meticulously articulating our visions is essential, ensuring that not even a single datum line goes astray.

Whatever your preferred platform may be, CAD programs allow us to create detailed, scalable drawings, facilitating coordination with consultants, and fine-tuning the review process for and with clients. Over the years, the software’s extensive libraries and automated tools have increased the efficiency of drawing tenfold, reducing errors and resources required at this stage of the design development process.

Design Development: 3D Modeling – The Taming of the Shrewd

Interior of the new reimagined Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, CA, United States Photograph provided by Autodesk

The design process can often feel a lot like herding cats, chaotic and unpredictable. 3D modeling software such as SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit can feel like our trusty shepherd’s staff in times of uncertainty and compromise. With these tools, we can juggle competing interests — structural engineers advocating for fewer cantilevers and environmental officers requesting more green space alongside MEP consultants demanding cavernous service risers.

3D models give us the capacity to study the spatial relationships and materiality of our designs, enabling us to make informed decisions on practicality with as little impact on the design ambition as possible. The real-time rendering capabilities of these programs thrive in the quest for seamless collaboration between team members, promoting an iterative design process and ensuring that all disciplines are working in harmony.

Visualization: Rendering and Virtual Reality – The Picture-Perfect Performance

The Lumion office building by atelier PRO architekten, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photograph by Jan Paul Mioulet

During the design process, renderings are akin to a grand soiree, a sumptuous feast for the eyes that unveil creations in all their splendor. With virtuosos like V-Ray and Lumion at the helm, 3D renders allow us to conduct a mesmerizing performance of light and texture, conjuring spellbinding visuals that leave clients entranced.

These rendering maestros boast an array of sophisticated features, from global illumination to physically-based materials and ethereal atmospheric effects, empowering architects to craft lifelike images that impeccably embody their design aspirations. Furthermore, VR technologies such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive transport us to a realm where we can meander through our masterpieces as though they already stand tall — always remember to mind your footing in the tangible world as you navigate the virtual one.

Construction Documentation: BIM – The Clash of the Disciplines

The pièce de résistance of the design process, construction documentation through BIM software, such as Revit, is where the rubber meets the road. Architects know that, in today’s world, coordination is the name of the game, and nothing tests resolve quite like the clash detection feature in our BIM software.

By consolidating architectural, structural, and MEP models into a single, comprehensive database, BIM enables us to identify and resolve conflicts early in the design process, preventing costly and time-consuming issues during construction. BIM’s powerful parametric capabilities also facilitate the generation of detailed schedules and specifications, ensuring that the information is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date.

Digital Fabrication: Parametric Design – A Brave New World

Designed using CATIA V&A Dundee by Kengo Kuma and Associates, Dundee, Scotland. Photograph by Hufton+Crow

As we explore the frontiers of design, the relatively new realm of digital fabrication beckons. Unlike days of old, armed with kappa board and scalpel, parametric design and computational tools like Grasshopper, Dynamo, and Catia empower us to translate complex geometries and intricate patterns into buildable forms. These tools enable us to visualize and rationalize our boldest ideas, bridging the gap between digital models and physical constructs.

We can optimize our designs for structural efficiency, environmental performance, and material utilization by scripting algorithms and generating parametric models. As we venture into the brave new world of 3D printing, CNC milling, and robotic assembly, these visual documentation tools are our invaluable guides, helping us push the boundaries of architectural possibility.

Interactive Presentations: Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality – The Future is Now

Autodesk, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Photograph provided by Autodesk

As the future of architecture unfolds before us, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies are poised to revolutionize the way we present and experience our designs. Tools like Microsoft HoloLens, Magic Leap, and Apple ARKit allow us to superimpose digital information onto the physical environment, creating immersive and interactive presentations that captivate our clients and collaborators. These cutting-edge technologies enable us to visualize and manipulate design elements in real time, engaging with our projects in novel and exciting ways. By overlaying digital models onto site photographs, AR can enhance client presentations by demonstrating the proposed design in context. As we embrace AR and MR, we stand at the forefront of a paradigm shift, forever changing how we document, present, and interact with architecture.

Throughout the timeline of a project, architects employ an ever-evolving array of visualization tools, from the nascent stages of conceptualization to the emerging realms of digital fabrication and interactive presentations. By embracing these tools and the many more sure to be introduced over our careers, we can continue to push the boundaries of architectural possibility, shaping the world around us with passion, precision, and innovation. As we salute the visual documentation tools accompanying us on our architectural odyssey, let’s not forget the camaraderie and ingenuity that defines our profession. Together, we can create spaces that inspire, transform, and endure for generations.

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, learn more about Architizer’s Vision Awards. The Main Entry Deadline on June 9th is fast approaching. Start your entry today >

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The Culture of Architecture Needs an Overhaul, Part II: Historical Background, Today’s Context and Future Steps
CategoriesArchitecture

The Culture of Architecture Needs an Overhaul, Part II: Historical Background, Today’s Context and Future Steps

By Zarkon Group,

Evelyn Lee is the Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies, founder of Practice of Architecture, and co-host of the podcast, Practice Disrupted. She takes inspiration from her experience in tech and outside of the profession to reimagine practice operations for firms.

The great resignation, the shesession, labor shortages, burnout and a reprioritization of life priorities have made culture conversations much more topical, but they aren’t new. This article explores some new(er) and old(er) organizations that have been making strides to address culture change at all points within the profession, starting in school.

The following is Part II of the three-part series looking at the need to redesign the culture of architecture.

  • Part I defined culture and explored recent events that bring to light the increasing need for cultural change at the industry level.
  • Part II looks deeper at the history of organizations working to change the profession’s culture for over a decade.
  • Part III looks at how to intentionally create a values-based teaching and learning culture.

Studio Culture in Architecture Schools

In their design for the Abedian School of Architecture in QLD, Australia, Crab Studio sought to rethink the traditional bounds of architecture’s pedagogical spaces. 

Cultural change became a focus of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) in the late 1990s. It was made official by forming the first AIAS Studio Culture Task Force in 2000. The task force was created in response to unhealthy culture within architecture schools and a particular event where a student lost their life in a vehicular accident after leaving the studio with little sleep. Findings from the first task force were published in the 2002 report, The Redesign of Studio Culture.

That report opened conversations between the AIAS and the National Architecture Accreditation Board (NAAB) to add a Studio Culture Policy as one of their conditions for accreditation in 2004. However, a subsequent report in 2008 found that many things have stayed the same within studio culture with their publication, Toward an Evolution of Studio Culture.

I had the opportunity to sit down with 2007-2008, AIAS President and Vice Presidents on Season One of my podcast, Practice Disrupted, to talk with Andrew Caruso and Anthony Vankey, respectively, on their perspective of how Studio Culture translates into practice. Unsurprisingly some of the areas of concern that they address remain unchanged.

The subsequent report by the AIAS Advocacy Advisory Group, Studio Culture: Stories and Interpretations, published in 2016, raised questions about the lack of enforcement of school culture policies. Most students were unaware that a Studio Culture document/policy existed at their school, and the same individuals surveyed expressed a desire to have greater collaboration between students and faculty on conversations around studio culture.

In 2020 the AIAS redefined Studio Culture as a Learning & Teaching Culture to expand the conversation of culture to that of the students, teachers, and administrators. The subsequent AIAS Model Learning & Teaching Culture Policy is top of mind of the current 22-23 AIAS President, Cooper Moore, who notes that “The future of Learning and Teaching Culture needs to be student-led since students are the ones living it, although no culture can be truly healthy without input from all parties involved. The AIAS is committed to leading an inclusive and collaborative effort among allied organizations in the coming year to address the current environment and build a healthier and more positive culture for future architects and faculty alike.”

Separately, in a grassroots initiative. Alvin Zhu, a current M Arch student at UNSW Sydney, launched a docu-series called “Critiquing Architecture School” to bring to light the student perspective in University and bring about positive change on a broader scale.

Studio Culture in Practice

Alexander House (AH) is the home of Alexander &CO., (where their 24-person team actually works!). The purpose-built live/work set up aiming to challenge preconceptions of home, land, family and work. Conceived as a design laboratory, the space rethinks studio culture by supporting a diversity of uses including working environments for both collaboration, meeting and solo time. 

The architectural labor movement, particularly unionization, is relatively new. However, there have been two previously successful union attempts in the US. The first was in 1933 with the Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT), and the second was in 1934 with the formation of the Architectural Guild of America. By the 1950s, FAECT was defunct, and the Architectural Guild of America evolved to support engineers and construction workers, though, despite the name, architects were not included. Later, In the 1970s there was a failed bid by SOM’s San Francisco office to unionize.

Then, in 2013 the Architecture Lobby was launched to demystify architecture’s labor conditions, especially illegal and humane practices, and value its workers as much more than starving artists. Most recently, coming out of the SHOP Architects’ bid for a union, Architectural Workers United (AWU) was launched.

AWU is today affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) union. It is “a collaborative project with the goal of building on the tremendous inherent value the profession offers the industry, but is not recognized nor rewarded for.” The AWU has a full-time employee working on their behalf and coordinating several efforts.

I had the opportunity to sit down with AWU’s Andrew Daley and assistant professor at Rhode Island School of Design, Jess Meyers, to have an open conversation about the Architecture Labor Movement last year, including questions about misconceptions and benefits from unionization within the profession.

Late last year, efforts from AWU resulted in Bernheimer Architecture creating the Industry’s only Private-Sector Union, hoping “to prompt changes to industry-wide problems like long hours and low pay.”

Outside of the Union conversations, there’s been an uptick in the industry’s interest in mental health and burnout. In 2021 Monograph launched its State of Burnout in Architecture survey, stating that the Coronavirus pandemic didn’t cause burnout for architects but made it worse for 90% of its 225 respondents. In 2022, following their article “We Need a Safe Place to Address Our Mental Health,” the authors are working together to coordinate an effort similar to LAP, or the Lawyer’s Assistance Program, in an attempt to help those within the industry who struggle with anything from anxiety, burnout, depression, to substance abuse.

Redesigning Culture Going Forward

Steven Holl Architects‘ Nanjing Museum of Art and Architecture explores shifting viewpoints, an apt metaphor for the multi-perspectival type of rethinking the industry requires. 

Firms are currently operating in an employee marketplace. 86% of respondents in the February 2023 AIA Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reported that recruiting architecture staff continues to be an issue at their firm, with 62% saying it is a significant issue.

This has led many individuals to discuss the need to fill the architecture pipeline, but ACSA’s most recent survey on Budget and Enrollment Survey Results shows a continuous growth in applications and corresponding faculty load. The greater question we need to ask is, are we truly experiencing a labor shortage, or do we find ourselves in a position where we are struggling to keep those who we already have in the pipeline?

The best way forward is to chart a new path and understand that organizational culture within a business is a strategic advantage to attracting and retaining talent. In Part III of the series on evolving culture, we look at the importance and history behind Petter Drucker’s famous saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” As well as some tactics that architecture firms can implement to have meaningful conversations with their employees on creating a culture that supports their individual needs and creates high-performing teams.

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter.

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A climate-tech finance platform for the agricultural industry
CategoriesSustainable News

A climate-tech finance platform for the agricultural industry

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to the World Bank, agriculture currently generates 19–29 per cent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a figure that is set to rise further as other sectors reduce their emissions. This makes agriculture a major part of the climate problem. Regenerative soil management practices could help reduce emissions, and help farms become more resilient, but many farmers cannot qualify for the loans needed to switch. But now, European fintech HeavyFinance aims to help them.

The startup connects farmers with investors, providing financing and loan schemes for farms and projects in the sustainable agriculture space. The company’s platform scores farmers’ borrowing capabilities, facilitates transactions, and administers each loan throughout its life. Around half of their portfolio is currently used to finance sustainable agriculture, with a focus on conservation tillage practices such as no-till farming.

No-till farming, which uses a direct drill to plant crops instead of heavy machinery, is a particularly important part of increasing the sustainability and resilience of agriculture. It lowers emissions by reducing the use of diesel-powered machinery, and leaves soils undisturbed, reducing erosion. As less nutrients leach out of the soils, they require less fertiliser and retain more carbon.

The company recently raised €3 million in a seed funding round led by VC firm Practica Capital. When announcing the funding, Laimonas Noreika, Founder of HeavyFinance, explained that, “Tackling climate change must be a united effort … Food growth plays a vital part in the climate battle as a prominent global issue, and connecting investors with farmers and agricultural specialists through our finance platform can help accelerate the adoption of regenerative soil management practices to reduce carbon emissions output throughout Europe.”

Recent sustainable financing innovations spotted by Sprinwise include neobanks that promote growth in new areas, and the provision of carbon insurance to encourage investment in carbon capture technology.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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Creative Collaboration: When Architecture Meets High Fashion
CategoriesArchitecture

Creative Collaboration: When Architecture Meets High Fashion

By Zarkon Group,

The winners of this year’s A+Product Awards have been announced. Stay tuned for the year’s edition of the A+Product Awards ebook in the coming months.

Boundaries are intended to be pushed in the realm of design, and the incomparable creative synergy between fashion and architecture has proven to be an irresistible force. Over the years, this fusion of disciplines has given rise to many breathtaking collaborations that challenge the status quo as designers and architects join forces to create spaces that are as inspiring as they are functional.

Delving into the art of this creative alchemy, this article explores some of the most iconic partnerships in the world of design, each of which has birthed a masterpiece that is both an ode to their respective fields and a testament to the power of collaboration.

REM Koolhaus, OMA x Prada

Prada Los Angeles Epicenter by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, Los Angeles, CA Photograph provided by OMA

While some collaborations are one-offs, undoubtedly adding to their allure, others become long-term relationships. Many deeper partnerships between fashion designers and architects are born of a mutually explored aesthetic or shared understanding of values and goals. In the case of Prada and OMA, their ongoing saga is indeed one for the ages.

Rem Koolhaas, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect and founder of the multi-disciplinary firm the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has long been known for his innovation and daring vision. When he joined forces with Miuccia Prada, the matriarch of the eponymous Italian fashion house, the result was a series of architectural marvels, such as Seoul’s Transformer project and the Prada Epicenter in New York.

Prada Los Angeles Epicenter, by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, Los Angeles, CA Photograph by OMA

This collaboration extended beyond bricks and mortar, as OMA and the AMO think tank began to redefine the very nature of the catwalk at Prada’s shows. The convergence of Koolhaas’s avant-garde design sensibilities and Prada’s penchant for bold self-expression has given rise to spaces and experiences that are as breathtaking as they are groundbreaking.

Lina Ghotmeh x Hermès

Like the early days of Prada and Koolhaas, the collaboration between French luxury goods manufacturer Hermès and Franco-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh appears to be the beginning of a harmonious and hopefully long-established relationship. Having worked together previously to create stunning window displays for the brand, Ghotmeh has now been appointed for Hermès’ latest and largest architectural project to date.

Precise Acts – Hermès Workshops, France by Lina Ghotmeh Architecture. Render courtesy of Lina Ghotmeh Architecture.

Exemplifying the poetic marriage of craftsmanship and design that exists between the two design companies, Ghotmeh’s studio, Lina Ghotmeh Architecture, was chosen to design the new Hermès Leather Workshops, resulting in what looks to be a stunning space that seamlessly blends with the surrounding landscape while respecting the surrounding environment.

The all-brick construction, punctuated by large bay windows, bathes the space in natural light and evokes the precision and craftsmanship that have become synonymous with the Hermès brand. This poetic merging of form, function and broader ecological impact demonstrates the overlapping priorities across both industries.

Samuel Ross, SR_A x Acqua di Parma

Many collaborations between fashion designers and architects are grounded in retail design. Samuel Ross, founder of the streetwear label A-Cold-Wall* and design studio SR_A, has harnessed alternative skills to create new designs for the instantly recognizable Acqua di Parma bottles. While not technically an architect, Samuel is a creative polymath whose portfolio of work is deeply rooted in the semiotics and aesthetics of architecture.

His collaboration with the century-old Italian perfume house resulted in a reimagining of their iconic Colonia bottle. Drawing inspiration from the architecture of Milan and London, Ross’s designs featured a scaffolding-like window frame, a nod to the two cities’ post-WWII architectural dialogue. The result is a captivating reinterpretation that has bridged history and modernity in a way that celebrates both equally.

Marco Costanzi Architects x Fendi

Fendi HQ by Marco Costanzi Architects, Rome, Italy Photograph by Andrea Jemolo

While retail design is often the catalyst for cross-discipline collaboration in recent years, there has been a marked increase in fashion brands entering the realm of hospitality design — notably Fendi. The Italian luxury fashion house found an architectural soulmate in Marco Costanzi Architects when they embarked on a journey to reimagine their flagship store in Rome.

Fendi HQ by Marco Costanzi Architects, Rome, Italy Photograph by Andrea Jemolo

Located in the historic Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the store’s interior design is an ode to Fendi’s rich heritage while showcasing the forward-thinking ethos of Marco Costanzi Architects. The result is a sumptuous blend of materials, textures, and colors that pay tribute to both the brand’s history and the building’s architectural significance.

Above the store sits the Fendi Private Suites. Each suite is a celebration of the classic Fendi aesthetic – rich, neutral colors, crisp lines and hardwood floors. Walls are paneled in grey, polished wood and inset with Karl Lagerfeld’s black and white photos of Rome’s fountains, an ideal backdrop that brings out the subtle playfulness of custom Fendi Casa furniture. The building, store and suites are a haven for design and architecture enthusiasts.

Issey Miyake x David Chipperfield x Toshiko Mori x Frank Gehry and more

Reality Lab. Issey Miyake by TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA DESIGN, Tokyo, Japan Photograph by Masaya Yoshimura

Of the many fashion designers who have impacted architecture and interior design, the late Issey Miyake was the pinnacle. He was often referred to as a center of contemporary design culture and found a way to combine space and showcase into one unified experience by using his showrooms to further present his design thinking to the world. The iconic mastermind worked with a broad cross-section of architects to create unique, captivating environments. Over the years, their showrooms became a textbook example of retail design becoming an extension of a fashion brand’s vision and identity.

Issey Miyake Marunouchi by TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA DESIGN, Tokyo, Japan Photograph by Masaya Yoshimura

From as early as 1976 and his collaboration with a young Shiro Kuramata on the From First building in Aoyama, Japan, Miyake worked with many notable architects, providing younger or less experienced architects a global platform on which to showcase their talents.

David Chipperfield and Kenneth Armstrong designed his London showroom in 1985 with the architects using natural materials to evoke the spirit of Japanese architecture. Miyake then worked with Toshiko Mori on his first freestanding showroom at 77th Street and Madison Avenue in New York. Mori also designed a New York location for Pleats Please in 1998; another New York showroom for Miyake on 79th Street was finished in 2005.

Issey Miyake London by TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA DESIGN, London, UK Photograph by Masaya Yoshimura

Later, Miyake would enlist the skills of people like Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Ito Masaru Design Project and, of course, long-time friends Frank Gehry and Gordon Kipping. Together, they brought the iconic Issey Miyake Tribeca store to life. The store’s interior is a harmonious blend of Kipping’s urban sensibilities and Miyake’s signature folds, creating a space that is both a tribute to New York City’s architectural heritage and a glimpse into the future of design. With its dynamic, origami-inspired aesthetic, the store serves as a reminder of the potential unleashed when fashion and architecture intertwine.

With each collaboration, the importance of creative exploration and pushing boundaries is evident. By merging their respective disciplines, designers and architects can break new ground, challenge conventions, and redefine our understanding of design and style. The results of these partnerships are spaces that are not only functional but equally inspiring and transformative, demonstrating the limitless possibilities that arise from interdisciplinary collaboration.

The winners of this year’s A+Product Awards have been announced. Stay tuned for the year’s edition of the A+Product Awards ebook in the coming months.



Reference

Is This the Most Beautiful Architecture School Project Ever Designed?
CategoriesArchitecture

Is This the Most Beautiful Architecture School Project Ever Designed?

By Zarkon Group,

“Artisanal” is a word one hears a lot these days, especially in Brooklyn. Consumers are getting tired of the same old same old and long for one-of-a-kind products, preferably those made by hand. Artisans themselves are looking to escape a mainstream workforce where workers rarely get to take ownership over their own projects.

When she was an architecture student, Joanne Chen seized on this trend in an imaginative manner, designing a factory where master craftsmen could work alongside one another. Her drawings are the kind that would be perfect for Architizer’s inaugural Vision Awards, a competition that gives talented creators — including architectural photographers, filmmakers, visualizers, drawers, model-makers and more — a chance to showcase their work. With categories for students and professionals, the awards recognize emerging and established talent.

Pre-launch Registration is open today — sign up for the Vision Awards to be the first to receive updates and begin preparing your entries:

Register for the Vision Awards

In Chen’s vision, artisans would not only ply their trades but would also have access to recreational and educational facilities. It is a unique facility designed for those who wish to find enjoyment in their work.

“The project raises a critique on the contemporary view of work as compensatory toil rather than fulfillment and pleasure,” said Chen. “The building adopts an interwoven spatial language, interspersing production spaces with gardens and waterscapes to create a multi-orientational experience while preserving the building’s sense of transparency.”

The proposal places the factory on the picturesque banks of the river Thames in London and includes workshops for stained-glass-makers, weavers, furniture designers and more. Courtyards featuring pensive lily ponds are laced throughout the scheme. Although this is a workplace, beauty is integrated into the functional spaces. Decorative doorways connect rooms with stunning glazed ceilings, and walls are lined with wallpaper featuring intricate vegetal motifs.

“The ornate design is a reaction against the minimalist Scandinavian design that is ubiquitous in today’s homes thanks to furniture manufacturers like Ikea,” explained Chen.

Readers might be surprised to learn that disenchantment with mass production is nothing new. In Victorian England, members of the Arts and Crafts movement called for an integration of the arts with everyday life.

They privileged the handmade over the factory-made and wrote treatises that romanticized the medieval guilds of centuries past, an age in which the products of daily life were built by master craftsmen who honed their skills over a lifetime.

One of the most interesting figures of the Arts and Crafts movement was the writer, textile designer and socialist thinker William Morris (1834–1896). In essays like “Art and Life,” Morris outlined his proposal to transform society in a way that would eliminate drudgery.

His dream was a world in which work was a sphere of life where people could feel independent, creative and fulfilled. “The true secret of happiness,” he once wrote, “lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”

Morris’s idealism was a major inspiration for Chen, whose factory is modeled on design principles set down in one of Morris’s texts. Like Morris, Chen wishes to reimagine the factory as a space for joy and exploration, rather than mere industrial efficiency. Many of the details of her proposal — including the striking wallpaper designs — are inspired by Morris’s own sketches and textile designs.

In terms of architectural inspirations, the project possesses a resemblance to Carlo Scarpa’s Brion Cemetery, a moving project defined by pristine concrete forms and reflecting pools.

Chen’s project was completed as part of her Masters program at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. She worked in collaboration with the architect Niall McLaughlin as well as Michiko Sumi and Yeoryia Manolopoulou.

Architizer’s Vision Awards seeks to honor theoretical works that, like Chen’s imaginative drawing, might never result in a built project, but deserve recognition for the inspiration they spark. From fantastical renderings to intricate drawings, conceptual works tell powerful stories about architecture and form a creative catalyst for the profession:

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All images courtesy of Bartlett School of Architecture

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