Matter of Time
My work explores architecture as a collaboration between human and non-human systems, with a particular focus on material ecologies and temporal change. Through speculative and technically grounded design, I investigate how architecture can emerge from the conditions already present within a site rather than being imposed upon it.
My final thesis, Matter of Time, is situated on Pomona Island in Manchester and asks how human and non-human design collaboration might reveal shared potentials within contaminated urban landscapes. The proposal draws on rammed earth sourced directly from Manchester construction sites, biogas generated from the site’s own organic waste streams, and a phytoremediation landscape that doubles as the building’s primary ventilation infrastructure, with its air-filtering capacity improving as remediation matures.
One of the project’s most unexpected interventions was the integration of a “Dog Poo Power” energy system, where organic waste collected from the park is processed through anaerobic digesters to generate biogas for heating. Alongside this, nesting voids, solitary bee apertures, and sacrificial wall layers designed for moss and lichen colonisation are embedded directly within the architectural fabric, treating biodiversity as a material and organisational principle.
The project achieves a net embodied carbon figure of –36.2 kg CO₂eq/m² against a UK industry average of 600-800, achieved through the elimination of structural steel and the use of alternative natural materials. Contamination surveys, methane off-gassing data, and informal desire lines across the island were treated as design instruction, shaping both the building’s position and programme.
I am interested in working within practices that engage seriously with material honesty, environmental performance, and the complexities of difficult sites. This year has strengthened my ability to carry a research-driven architectural position from initial concept through to detailed technical resolution, balancing speculative thinking with buildability, environmental accountability, and spatial experience.
