29.06.2023 Growing a Home, Future Observatory Podcast with Summer Islam
Listen on the podcast player above, or on the Future Observatory website here
20.06.2023 MC Lab Workshops
Material Cultures Lab has launched a series of accessible building skills workshops exploring natural and low-embodied carbon materials: clay and lime. More information on our Autumn ‘23 workshops here
20.03.2023 Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre
Read the feature about the Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre in the Architect's Journal here
02.03.2023 Reviews for Homegrown - Building a Post-Carbon Future
The reviews are in! The Homegrown exhibition at the Building Centre has been reviewed by the Architect's Journal, Drawing Matter and the RIBA Journal
28.02.2023 Monocle on Design Podcast
Listen to Paloma Gormley and George Massoud in conversation with Lilian Fawcett on the Monocle on Design podcast here
14.02.2023 Material Matters Podcast
Summer Islam was featured on Material Matters with Grant Gibson - listen here
09.01.2023 MC Lab Workshops
Material Cultures Lab has launched a series of accessible building skills workshops exploring natural and low-embodied carbon materials including lime, hemp, straw and earth. More information on our Spring/Summer ‘23 workshops here
04.01.2023 Oxford Real Farming Conference 2023
Material Cultures are presenting at the Oxford Real Farming Conference on January 6th 2023.
23.12.2022 Grand Design Magazine
Material Reform has been featured as one of the top 10 architecture & design books of 2022 - read the full piece here
01.12.2022 Design Week
Material Cultures have been featured in an article about sustainable approaches to exhibition design - read the full piece here
17.11.2022 Production Studies: Production Pedagogies
Summer Islam will be joining a panel discussion at Central Saint Martins with guest speakers Sérgio Ferro and Charlotte Malterre Barthes, hosted by the TF/TK Project and the Spatial Practices department
16.11.2022 The Fifth Estate newspaper
Our Phoenix Housing project has been featured in The Fifth Estate - read all about it here
16.11.2022 The London School of Architecture
Paloma Gormley and George Massoud will be leading a postgraduate think tank at The London School of Architecture this academic year
15.11.2022 The AJ Small Projects Sustainability webinar
Summer Islam will be presenting the AJ Small Projects nominated project Block House at a webinar chaired by the AJ’s Sustainability Editor Hattie Hartman looking at the importance of environmental and social sustainability in the success of projects realised on a smaller budget - watch it here
10.11.2022 Book Launch
Thank you to all those that joined us for the launch of our book Material Reform: Building for a Post-Carbon Future, co-authored with Amica Dall - order your copy here
03.11.2022 KoozArch
Teaching partners Merve Anil and George Massoud, director of Material Cultures, have been interviewed by KoozArch about their pedagogical practice in the context of their diploma unit at the Architectural Association - read more about it here
27.10.2022 Lethaby Gallery, Kings Cross
Forest School: Constructive Land (Material Cultures × MArch Unit 3, CSM)
Constructive Land is being exhibited at the Lethaby Gallery on Granary Square from October 27th until November 11th
03.10.2022 Material Reform
Our book Material Reform: Building for a Post-Carbon Future, co-authored with Amica Dall, is out now - order your copy here
13.07.2022 Metropolis Magazine
Flat House and Block House have been featured in Metropolis magazine's article, The Future is Hempcrete - read all about it here
09.07.2022 Constructive Disobedience Conference, Germany
Summer Islam will be presenting Constructive Land, our research project as recipients of the SOM Foundation's 2021 European Research Prize fellowship, at the Constructive Disobedience conference (15th-16th September) at TU Braunschweig, Germany
25.06.2022 Material Reform
Our book Material Reform, featuring a visual essay by Jess Gough (pictured above), is due to be released in October 2022, is now available for pre-order!
17.05.2022 Wheelwright Prize
Summer Islam, founding director of Material Cultures, is a finalist for the 2022 Wheelwright Prize alongside Marina Otero, Curry J. Hackett and Feifei Zhou.
12.04.2022 The 27th Biennial of Design, Ljubljana
Projects by Material Cultures will be featured in the BIO27 Super Vernaculars - Design for a Regenerative Future at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The exhibition opens on the 26th May 2022 and will be running until 29th September 2022. Save the date!
11.04.2022 The RIBA Journal
One of our directors, Paloma Gormley, has been featured as one of the journal's Future Winners - the full article can be found in The RIBA Journal's April 2022 print edition or online here
29.03.2022 Negroni Talks #33
One of our directors, Summer Islam, featured as a panellist on the Talking Shop! Insulation event - listen to the event on the Negroni Talks podcast here
24.03.2022 AJ Small Projects 2022
We are pleased to announce our project with Studio Abroad, Block House, has been shortlisted for the 2022 AJ Small Projects Awards and is now featured in the AJ projects library
25.02.2022 British Pavilion 2023
Our proposal with Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Material Reform, was one of five projects shortlisted for the British Pavilion exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
27.03.2022 Scaffold Podcast
One of our directors, Paloma Gormley, has been interviewed by Matthew Blunderfield for episode 60 of Scaffold produced by the Architecture Foundation - listen to the podcast here
18.02.2022 RIBA South West Awards 2022
We are pleased to announce our project with Studio Abroad, Block House, has been shortlisted for the 2022 RIBA South West Awards
19.01.2022 SOM European Research Prize
Our directors Summer Islam and Paloma Gormley have been awarded the 2021 European Research Prize by the SOM foundation in partnership with the Spatial Practises Department at the UAL, and Forestry England, for their project Constructive Land
15.10.2021 House of Annetta, Spitalfields
Carbon Copies exhibition (Material Cultures × MArch Unit 3)
Carbon Copies is being exhibited at the House of Annetta on Princelet Street from the 15th to the 30th of October - the publication is available to buy here
10.09.2021 Phoenix Project Design Festival
From the 10th-12th of September 2021 Material Cultures will be presenting their housing scheme to the public during the Phoenix Project Design Festival in East Sussex - we look forward to seeing you there!
18.08.2021 Central Saint Martins, Kings Cross
Carbon copies Exhibition (Material Cultures × MArch Unit 3)
Carbon copies interrogates this narrative by re-imagining iconic residential typologies using a low embodied energy palette. It explores bio-based construction materials that remain part of the decay life cycle, such as hemp, cork, and earth, as well as modes of construction where building parts return to the ground at the end of their life cycle.
10.10.2020 ETH Zurich Seminar Week
New Material Developments, What is Next?
Summer Islam and Paloma Gormley (Material Culture), alongside Marlise Blaser (Elementwerk Istighofen) and Katharina Lehmann (Blumer Lehman Holzbau) joined Studio Caruso at ETH Zurich, to discuss the future of construction materials - the seminar can be viewed here
10.10.2020 Building Centre
MASS Design and Arup on Material Provenance and the Climate Crisis.
Paloma Gormley and Summer Islam of Material Cultures, and Cécile Faraud, C40 were invited to join Kelly Alvarez Doran OAA of MASS Design Group and Richard Boyd MEng CEng MICE of Arup to discuss the relationships between material provenance, embodied energy, and immediate actions the building industry can take to address the Climate Crisis in a lecture at the Building Centre
05.08.2020 Building a New Rural
In partnership with Grizedale Arts we will be running a summer school amongst the lakeland hills led by Paloma Gormley and Summer Islam of Material Cultures and Takeshi Hayatsu
2023 Hemp: Key element of a decentralised biobased economy, Oxford Real Farming Conference
2022 Constructive Land, Constructive Disobedience Conference, Germany
2022 Materials for a Post Carbon-Built Environment, Aarhus School of Architecture
2022 Forest Talks, Central St Martins (UAL)
2022 Material Change, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
2022 Social and Material Sustainability: Research as Design, Maeda ICI Centre, Tokyo
2022 Build: From high to low tech, Conference, Porto
2022 Material Change, London Metropolitan University
2022 The Radical Talks, Aarhus School of Architecture
2022 Material Change, SAUL University of Limerick
2022 Future Observatory Symposium, The Design Museum
2021 Constructing Ecosystems, KU Leuven
2021 Circular Biobased Construction launch, YNY Lep
2021 Material Cultures × SSAW Collective, Margent Farm
2021 Urban Cycles, HafenCity Universität Hamburg
2021 Circular, Healthy and Biophilic Solutions, Waste Build 21
2021 Summer Local Energy Hubs Conference, BEIS
2021 Non-Extractive Architecture, VAC Foundation
2021 Low Tech, Studio Tom Emerson, ETH Zurich
2021 Low Tech, RIBA, Royal Institute of British Architects
2021 Sustainable Spatial Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL
2021 Critical Regionalism, Bartlett, University College London
2021 Making Buildings Lecture: Flat House, Bartlett, UCL
2021 SSoA Climate Emergency Talk, Sheffield University
2020 What is Next? Studio Adam Caruso, ETH Zurich
2020 International Hemp Construction Symposium, I.H.B.A.
2020 Returning to The Future, Centre for Alternative Technology
2020 The Fundamentals, Central Saint Martins, UAL
2020 Innovation Lectures, London Metropolitan University
2020 Low Carbon Construction CPD, Jamie Fobert Architects
2020 Research at the edge of Nature and Technology, Fourth Door Research
2020 Material Provenance and the Climate Crisis, The Building Centre
2019 Low Tech Material, ARUP
2019 Material Cultures in Practice, Unit 8, London Metropolitan University
2019 Making in Practice, The Building Centre
2018 In Conversation with Jane Hall, Architectural Association
2017 Aino Aalto, Royal Academy
2016 The Psychology of Spaces, Architectural Association
16.11.2022 The Fifth Estate newspaper
Our Phoenix Housing project has been featured in The Fifth Estate - read all about it here
16.11.2022 The London School of Architecture
Paloma Gormley and George Massoud will be leading a postgraduate think tank at The London School of Architecture this academic year
15.11.2022 The AJ Small Projects Sustainability webinar
Summer Islam will be presenting the AJ Small Projects nominated project Block House at a webinar chaired by the AJ’s Sustainability Editor Hattie Hartman looking at the importance of environmental and social sustainability in the success of projects realised on a smaller budget - register for the event here
10.11.2022 Book Launch
Thank you to all those that joined us for the launch of our book Material Reform: Building for a Post-Carbon Future, co-authored with Amica Dall - order your copy here
03.11.2022 KoozArch
Teaching partners Merve Anil and George Massoud, director of Material Cultures, have been interviewed by KoozArch about their pedagogical practice in the context of their diploma unit at the Architectural Association - read more about it here
27.10.2022 Lethaby Gallery, Kings Cross
Forest School: Constructive Land (Material Cultures × MArch Unit 3, CSM)
Constructive Land is being exhibited at the Lethaby Gallery on Granary Square from October 27th until November 11th
03.10.2022 Material Reform
Our book Material Reform: Building for a Post-Carbon Future, co-authored with Amica Dall, is out now - order your copy here
13.07.2022 Metropolis Magazine
Flat House and Block House have been featured in Metropolis magazine's article, The Future is Hempcrete - read all about it here
09.07.2022 Constructive Disobedience Conference, Germany
Summer Islam will be presenting Constructive Land, our research project as recipients of the SOM Foundation's 2021 European Research Prize fellowship, at the Constructive Disobedience conference (15th-16th September) at TU Braunschweig, Germany
25.06.2022 Material Reform
Our book Material Reform, featuring a visual essay by Jess Gough (pictured above), is due to be released in October 2022, is now available for pre-order!
17.05.2022 Wheelwright Prize
Summer Islam, founding director of Material Cultures, is a finalist for the 2022 Wheelwright Prize alongside Marina Otero, Curry J. Hackett and Feifei Zhou.
12.04.2022 The 27th Biennial of Design, Ljubljana
Projects by Material Cultures will be featured in the BIO27 Super Vernaculars - Design for a Regenerative Future at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The exhibition opens on the 26th May 2022 and will be running until 29th September 2022. Save the date!
11.04.2022 The RIBA Journal
One of our directors, Paloma Gormley, has been featured as one of the journal's Future Winners - the full article can be found in The RIBA Journal's April 2022 print edition or online here
29.03.2022 Negroni Talks #33
One of our directors, Summer Islam, featured as a panellist on the Talking Shop! Insulation event - listen to the event on the Negroni Talks podcast here
24.03.2022 AJ Small Projects 2022
We are pleased to announce our project with Studio Abroad, Block House, has been shortlisted for the 2022 AJ Small Projects Awards and is now featured in the AJ projects library
25.02.2022 British Pavilion 2023
Our proposal with Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Material Reform, was one of five projects shortlisted for the British Pavilion exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
27.03.2022 Scaffold Podcast
One of our directors, Paloma Gormley, has been interviewed by Matthew Blunderfield for episode 60 of Scaffold produced by the Architecture Foundation - listen to the podcast here
18.02.2022 RIBA South West Awards 2022
We are pleased to announce our project with Studio Abroad, Block House, has been shortlisted for the 2022 RIBA South West Awards
19.01.2022 SOM European Research Prize
Our directors Summer Islam and Paloma Gormley have been awarded the 2021 European Research Prize by the SOM foundation in partnership with the Spatial Practises Department at the UAL, and Forestry England, for their project Constructive Land
15.10.2021 House of Annetta, Spitalfields
Carbon Copies exhibition (Material Cultures × MArch Unit 3)
Carbon Copies is being exhibited at the House of Annetta on Princelet Street from the 15th to the 30th of October - the publication is available to buy here
10.09.2021 Phoenix Project Design Festival
From the 10th-12th of September 2021 Material Cultures will be presenting their housing scheme to the public during the Phoenix Project Design Festival in East Sussex - we look forward to seeing you there!
18.08.2021 Central Saint Martins, Kings Cross
Carbon copies Exhibition (Material Cultures × MArch Unit 3)
Carbon copies interrogates this narrative by re-imagining iconic residential typologies using a low embodied energy palette. It explores bio-based construction materials that remain part of the decay life cycle, such as hemp, cork, and earth, as well as modes of construction where building parts return to the ground at the end of their life cycle.
10.10.2020 ETH Zurich Seminar Week
New Material Developments, What is Next?
Summer Islam and Paloma Gormley (Material Culture), alongside Marlise Blaser (Elementwerk Istighofen) and Katharina Lehmann (Blumer Lehman Holzbau) joined Studio Caruso at ETH Zurich, to discuss the future of construction materials - the seminar can be viewed here
10.10.2020 Building Centre
MASS Design and Arup on Material Provenance and the Climate Crisis.
Paloma Gormley and Summer Islam of Material Cultures, and Cécile Faraud, C40 were invited to join Kelly Alvarez Doran OAA of MASS Design Group and Richard Boyd MEng CEng MICE of Arup to discuss the relationships between material provenance, embodied energy, and immediate actions the building industry can take to address the Climate Crisis in a lecture at the Building Centre
05.08.2020 Building a New Rural
In partnership with Grizedale Arts we will be running a summer school amongst the lakeland hills led by Paloma Gormley and Summer Islam of Material Cultures and Takeshi Hayatsu
Selected Talks
2022 Constructive Land, Constructive Disobedience Conference, Germany
2022 Materials for a Post Carbon-Built Environment, Aarhus School of Architecture
2022 Forest Talks, Central St Martins (UAL)
2022 Material Change, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
2022 Social and Material Sustainability: Research as Design, Maeda ICI Centre, Tokyo
2022 Build: From high to low tech, Conference, Porto
2022 Material Change, London Metropolitan University
2022 The Radical Talks, Aarhus School of Architecture
2022 Material Change, SAUL University of Limerick
2022 Future Observatory Symposium, The Design Museum
2021 Constructing Ecosystems, KU Leuven
2021 Circular Biobased Construction launch, YNY Lep
2021 Material Cultures × SSAW Collective, Margent Farm
2021 Urban Cycles, HafenCity Universität Hamburg
2021 Circular, Healthy and Biophilic Solutions, Waste Build 21
2021 Summer Local Energy Hubs Conference, BEIS
2021 Non-Extractive Architecture, VAC Foundation
2021 Low Tech, Studio Tom Emerson, ETH Zurich
2021 Low Tech, RIBA, Royal Institute of British Architects
2021 Sustainable Spatial Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL
2021 Critical Regionalism, Bartlett, University College London
2021 Making Buildings Lecture: Flat House, Bartlett, UCL
2021 SSoA Climate Emergency Talk, Sheffield University
2020 What is Next? Studio Adam Caruso, ETH Zurich
2020 International Hemp Construction Symposium, I.H.B.A.
2020 Returning to The Future, Centre for Alternative Technology
2020 The Fundamentals, Central Saint Martins, UAL
2020 Innovation Lectures, London Metropolitan University
2020 Low Carbon Construction CPD, Jamie Fobert Architects
2020 Research at the edge of Nature and Technology, Fourth Door Research
2020 Material Provenance and the Climate Crisis, The Building Centre
2019 Low Tech Material, ARUP
2019 Material Cultures in Practice, Unit 8, London Metropolitan University
2019 Making in Practice, The Building Centre
2018 In Conversation with Jane Hall, Architectural Association
2017 Aino Aalto, Royal Academy
2016 The Psychology of Spaces, Architectural Association