For my box of uncertainties project, I began by examining in depth the topic of sustainable building, which is a topic I am very interested in investigating further from my undergraduate studies. Exploration of sustainable building led to big uncertainties being raised, such as what is the future of the traditional brick in construction? As well as questions around the possible role that nature can play in sustainable building developments. The examination of the possibilities nature holds led to my study into coral and the current coral bleaching crisis; investigating how the crisis could be overcome through sustainable building or even if coral could be utilised as a material or design feature in building.
Consequently, my chosen items to place into my box of uncertainties was a BRICK and a piece of CORAL.
Key Points From the Project:
Discovering the work of Neri Oxman really revolutionised my thinking on this project, to thinking of how structures can be grown with nature rather than developed and nature added later to the infrastructure. Prior to discovering how Neri and her team at the MIT Media lab are developing ways to utilise nature’s processes to build, I was really struggling to form ideas as to how the current model of ‘green’ building could be challenged/ changed. I knew that I wanted to make nature more intrinsic to the fabric of buildings, but I wasn’t sure of any possible ways that this could be achieved. But, Neri’s work really opened my eyes and got me excited to explore ways to achieve this harmonious blend of nature and building.
Below I have included my reflective journal for this project which documents all of the decisions I made and why I made them, to result in my outcome.
