Material Cultures is a not-for-profit design and research organisation working at the intersection of natural materials, low embodied carbon construction and construction technology. Our mission is to work towards a bio-regional construction industry which is integrated into regenerative and socially just land and building systems. We argue for the reintegration of architecture and agriculture, understanding buildings as irrevocably linked to landscapes of extraction. Bio-based materials are low in embodied carbon and offer an alternative to the globally sourced, carbon-intensive, socially destructive materials commonly used in the construction industry. We challenge the systems, technologies, processes, supply chains, regulations and materials that make up the construction industry with the aim of transforming the way we build.
Our practice works across different scales developing materials and prototypical buildings to look strategically at the adaptation of the landscapes and supply chains from which they emerge. We design buildings working to integrate bio-based materials and minimally processed minerals into efficient construction systems. Alongside this we carry out strategic research into how these ideas can be applied at scale and how they relate to a broader move towards regenerative land management practices. We run our own construction skills programme, MAKE, alongside research and teaching at the Architectural Association, Central St Martins in London and the ETH in Zurich.
