Constructed Ecologies: Materials, Performance, People
Architecture and Design Research Theme
Overview
Our research investigates the environmental performance of materials, buildings and spaces, allied to global imperatives for ecological and social sustainability. We explore emerging technologies and methods of evaluation to create architectural designs, urban environments, and products that benefit environmental and human health. We are also developing and enhancing additional options for renewable materials in ways that are efficient, economic, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible.
Find out more about how you can Partner with us or Study with us.
Impact and Engagement
To this end, we are exploring advanced fabrication processes and detailed simulations. We are researching critical issues of building and product performance, and developing our understanding of the relationship between materials, design processes, and human health. Our work in the field of advanced timber systems and technologies is well-known and globally respected. We explore issues of structural design and manufacturing in close collaboration with industry and the architectural and design professions. Our research evidences the development of new timber products, processes, and design methods, advancing knowledge and creating sustainable future forest-based products. Alongside this, we are exploring new materials and processes, especially in the area of biofabrication, utilising biological growth processes to develop materials such as SCOBY and mycelium for products and architecture.
More broadly, our investigations into material ecologies focus on the relationships between people, materials, and nature. Our researchers are investigating issues of life-cycle thinking, material recycling, and design for disassembly. Our location allows for unique opportunities to explore the connections between habitats, agriculture, and wild spaces, to investigate the therapeutic possibilities of landscape, and explore issues of co-designing with local industries. Our researchers’ work in prototyping combinations of architecture and agriculture is benefiting communities in Vietnam.
Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood (CSAW)
CSAW works to foster the use of wood as a quality and environmentally sustainable material within the built environment with a focus on collaborative relationships between industry partners and active researchers within CSAW and the discipline of Architecture and Design.
The Centre is located within the discipline of Architecture and Design and comprises a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers and wood products industry practitioners who are supported by a state-of-the-art research laboratory and testing facilities.
