Proto-architectural Regenerative Material Models

This exhibition includes four material studies that sit somewhere between architectural fragments and sculptural objects. Without scale, spatial purpose, or weathering responsibilities, the objects focus attention instead on ‘what if?’ regenerative material combinatorial possibilities. The artefacts were constructed from traditional recipes for earth and fiber construction that were hand-mixed and manually compacted into custom-made wooden formworks. Each object includes an element of earth construction combined with other natural materials including hempcrete, wood, and thatch.

Building on analogies between earth construction and culinary processes, the exhibition includes ‘recipes’ for each object—ingredients and mixes based on established specifications for mass, light, framed, or rammed earth. Constructed with care from modest, heterogeneous materials, the objects revalue natural material systems such as earth and straw, which are readily available and sensorially rich but have largely been supplanted by high carbon, homogenous materials dependent on global supply chains.

Lisa Moffitt is an Assistant Professor in Architecture and Associate Director of Graduate Programs at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She is spending her sabbatical year 2024-2025 as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Edinburgh / Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA). Lisa’s research explores models as both physical artefacts and mental ideals. Her work asks how models of environmental processes and material systems—ranging from airflow to firespread to regenerative material assembles—enable trans-scalar design engagement while also suggesting ideals and aspirations for our collective future amidst the climate crisis.