An Architecture of Cultivation
How can biological growth cultivate a new architecture of making, regeneration, and exchange?
Within the railway arches of Mayfield, this project explores a new process of architectural making through knitting, mycelium cultivation, and collective participation. Large knitted forms are produced within the arches before mycelium is introduced, gradually growing into and through the fabric to create lightweight bio-based installations. These living structures are suspended, exhibited, tested, dismantled, and regrown over time, transforming the arches into spaces of continual experimentation and exchange.
The proposal brings together makers, researchers, local residents, artists, and visitors through workshops, exhibitions, and collaborative knitting events, allowing the process of creation to remain visible and shared. Rather than presenting architecture as a fixed object, the project embraces growth, adaptation, and iteration as central to the design process.
Positioned within Mayfield, an area historically shaped by industry and manufacturing, the scheme reconnects the site with traditions of making whilst proposing a more regenerative future for construction and material production. Ultimately, the project asks whether biological growth and collective making could contribute towards an entirely new style of architecture rooted in cultivation rather than construction.
