AJ Climate Champions

ACAN founding member Sara Edmonds on ramping up domestic retrofit

Episode 29. We speak to architect and ACAN (Architects Climate Action Network) steering group coordinator Sara Edmonds who is jumpstarting widespread conversations around domestic retrofit.

Reaching beyond the bounds of architecture, Studio seARCH co-founder and Passivhaus designer Sara Edmonds is engaged in inclusive conversations across the domestic retrofit space from the political to the practical, establishing ties with the New Economics Foundation and Insulate Britain.  

In this wide-ranging discussion, Sara describes what it will take to kickstart greater uptake of domestic retrofit in London and beyond: from DIY upskilling to empower householders to ensure that existing heating systems operate at maximum efficiency to lessons from Ireland’s national retrofitting scheme launched in February.

John Christophers on his zero carbon home, which generates a 40% energy surplus

Episode 28. Architect John Christophers shares lessons from a decade of monitoring his own home which generates 40 per cent more energy than it uses. We continue our focus on building performance and explore what one can glean from monitoring a small project.

In 2013, John retrofitted and extended a two-up two-down Victorian terraced house in Birmingham’s Balsall Heath neighbourhood, adding Passivhaus levels of insulation and triple-glazing to the existing house. The extension features unfired load-bearing clay bricks and compacted earth floors, as well a monopitch roof that incorporates both PV and solar thermal.

Lessons from AHMM’s Stirling Prize-winning Burntwood School building performance study

Episode 27. We continue our focus on building performance; AHMM sustainability lead Craig Robertson shares important lessons from a building performance study of 2015 Stirling Prize-winning Burntwood School in southwest London. It is still much too rare for architects – and clients – to transparently share post-occupancy data, especially when it flags up a significant performance gap, so kudos to AHMM for sharing this study with us.

In the case of Burntwood School, heating loads were nine times the design prediction, while electricity loads were four times as much. Shocking as this may sound, it is not unusual. Craig explains why and what we need to do about it. A key premise of the study was to investigate the relationship between energy performance and indoor environmental quality. These must be looked at in tandem. Our conversation with Craig reveals, in practice, the many building performance issues we discussed in our last episode with Judit Kimpian.

Judit Kimpian on why building performance studies are crucial for net zero

Episode 26. A year after publication, Judit Kimpian and Hattie Hartman revisit key messages from the book they co-authored with Sofie Pelsmakers. Judit explains why building performance studies de-risk the construction process and help ensure that what was designed actually gets built and operates as intended. She explains why it is so important to stay with a project during a one-to-three-year ‘landing’ period after completion, to ensure proper commissioning, monitor both energy and indoor environmental quality, and talk to occupants.

Plus, you can WIN a copy of Energy|People|Buildings by J. Kimpian, H. Hartman and S. Pelsmakers (RIBA Publishing 2021). We have three copies to give away – details here.

AKT II’s Hanif Kara on CLT virtue signalling, concrete innovations and Bloomberg’s embodied carbon

Episode 25. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. In this episode, we hear from structural engineer Hanif Kara who is working with leading architects on projects across the globe for ambitious clients with resources to deliver sustainable outcomes, including Google, Apple and British Land. Recent projects include Grafton’s Stirling-Prize winning Town House in Kingston, Grafton’s Marshall Building at the LSE, Foster + Partners' Bloomberg building and the new Google headquarters currently on site at King’s Cross with Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick.

In contrast with most of our guests so far, Hanif is not a Climate Champion from way back, but we’re delighted to have him on the pod because he is at the forefront of what is being delivered on the ground now and his design-led approach is pushing best practice. In this episode, he advocates reverse-engineering as a forensic method that utilises complex computational methods to retrofit and extending existing buildings.

Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum on why the climate crisis is not a north-south problem

Episode 24. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. In this episode, Soane Medal (2021) winner Tabassum describes her approach as distilling the essence of vernacular buildings into contemporary architecture

Working on the front line of climate change in the Ganges delta, Tabassum is developing flat pack bamboo homes to bolster marginal communities devastated by seasonal flooding.  ‘How relevant are we as a profession if we just cater our services to one per cent of the people?’, she asks.

Tabassum was recently short-listed in the London School of Economics’ competition for an academic building at 35 Lincoln’s Inn Fields as part of a team led John McAslan + Partners with Tod Williams/Billie Tsien Architects.

For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Philippe Madec on combining sustainable development with Frampton’s critical regionalism

Episode 23. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. In this episode, we continue our focus on France, speaking to one of the country’s leading practitioners of ecological architecture. Over four decades, Philippe Madec has combined practice, teaching and writing. He has built extensively across France: housing, public buildings, and many urban design and masterplanning projects which feature abundant green spaces. He also explains why he is no longer interested in Passivhaus.

For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

How France is pioneering contemporary architecture built from straw, hemp and thatch

Episode 22. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. New year, new horizons: Climate Champions is going abroad in search of fresh approaches to ecological architecture. This week we continue talking to French architect and natural materials expert Dominique Gauzin-Müller, who explains why hybrid use of materials is the way forward. We also speak to French structural engineer and ACAN member Frédéric Bourgeon about France’s new embodied carbon regulations.

For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Why France is increasingly building with bio-renewable materials – with Dominique Gauzin-Müller

Episode 21. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. New year, new horizons: Climate Champions is going abroad in search of fresh approaches to ecological architecture. This week we talk to French architect and natural materials expert Dominique Gauzin-Müller about France’s growing ‘frugal’ architecture movement. She also shares with us research in ‘poured earth’ which she sees as an alternative to concrete.

For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Justin McGuirk on the Design Museum’s Waste Age exhibition and Kat Scott on the Architects Declare Practice Guide

Episode 20. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. As 2021 crawls to a close, Hattie Hartman converses with Design Museum chief curator Justin McGuirk about the exhibition Waste Age: What Can Design Do, on show until 22 February. And if you’re still wondering how your practice can tackle the climate emergency, Architects Declare steering group member Kat Scott reveals AD’s long-awaited Practice Guide, packed with tips for every practice – large or small – no matter where you are on your sustainability journey.

For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts