The Some Kind of Nature atelier adopts a posthumanist approach, drawing on the work of Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, Rosi Braidotti, and others. Our foundation lies in feminist posthumanist philosophy. Central to our practice is a response to the escalating climate crisis, which we consider the most pressing challenge facing both the architectural profession and humanity. By embracing a posthumanist framework, we decentre the human subject and emphasise relationality, with particular attention to the biodiversity crisis and the inclusion of more-than-human actors in the design process.

This year, our focus turned to the Bradford Road Gasworks site, formerly home to a gasholder constructed in 1992 and dismantled in the summer of 2024. Gasholders are rapidly disappearing from Manchester and other parts of the UK due to the National Grid’s decommissioning programme, driven by advances in the energy network. Yet the fossil fuels historically stored in these structures—particularly coal gas—remain part of the UK’s energy mix. In 2022, coal gas accounted for over 3.2% of total energy use. Although its use declined in 2023, a slight increase in 2024 renewed concern about the persistence of a resource known to cause freshwater toxicity and intensify global warming.