Sharné Bloem - regenerative design professional

Sharné Bloem -

regenerative design professional

Sharné Bloem, currently the sustainability consultant at Afrimat Hemp and founder of Team Mahali, is a qualified architect whose formal educational journey has taken her far and wide. Her most recent educational qualification is as a master’s graduate from the Urban Future Studio, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and the Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, focusing on green architecture, energy efficiency and experimentation.

Sharné Bloem Gareth Griffiths

Sharné has worked for some dynamic international architectural practices on various exciting international projects, including SOM, Rolfe Judd, PRP and C7 architects. “It was only recently that my journey within resilient architecture became more prominent. I initiated and championed Team Mahali in 2017 for the 2019 Solar Decathlon Africa competition in Morocco. Our design was awarded second place in architecture and a netpositive carbon house design,” she adds.

Team Mahali refers to a multidisciplinary group of professionals passionate about shaping sustainable and inclusive African cities.

“Mahali One project was built in the Green Energy Park, an Urban Living Lab in Benguerir, Morocco. Born from the biomimicry idea of a tree, the overarching roof structure protects the main structure. It creates a passive cooling element of shading, the flexible solar PV panels over, generate energy, whilst rainwater is harvested into a central water feature to connect place and function of the courtyard typology. The bioclimatic architecture elements catch the desert breeze whilst hiding the open spaces from the direct rays of the hot desert sun by managing the retractable external screens and window boxes.

“A playful, colourful, crocheted plastic panel cladding covered the main structures, tying into the circularity of upcycled materials,” she explains.

“On our return from Morocco, this dynamic transdisciplinary team wanted to change the world, and we took part in more competitions and formed a design collective working on various projects,” she adds.

Indeed, the Mahali Hub won the My Clean Green House (MCGH) in 2020, a competition hosted by the City of Cape Town and Green Building Council of SA to bring more awareness to carbon neutrality.

The MCGH hub 2020 was built on a limited budget and tight timelines, and the celebration of simple upcycled materials and aesthetics resulted in a functional and comfortable indoor-outdoor space.

Central is a courtyard with edible vertical gardens. The slatted envelope also acted as a vessel designed to react against the demanding winds and heat conditions in Cape Town.

“The materials used enforced a circular attitude to design and all upcycled materials were connected to the shipping industry in Cape Town, our harbour city”, she explains.

Other projects they have done covered modular design in residential and educational spaces. One of her favourite award-winning social justice projects is an ongoing collaboration with stakeholders and funders to design and install off-grid Smart Labs made from upcycled building materials to mitigate tech poverty in rural schools in South Africa.

However, a recent project has caught the public's attention. Covered in the September edition of TO BUILD, the renovated and expanded commercial and residential building at 84 Harrington Street, Cape Town, has ticked the right sustainability boxes. Feted as the tallest hemp building in the world, 84 Harrington seems to be on an upward trajectory in terms of public awareness and recognition.

“In the flow of carbon neutrality and net-positive ambition, my intrigue with hempcrete started around 2017. I was fascinated by how a building material can not just be carbon neutral but has the

“We are all still learning and experimenting with regenerative architectural principles. The best way to get involved with this exciting process is to be curious, ask questions, and be open to experimentation; if formal learning is the way you want to go, the world is your oyster. Be selective. More and more educational institutions are embracing the complexities of reaching regenerative design. Hand-pick them,” Sharné says.

Intrigued by visions of mud walls, straw containing binder, and recycled bottles sticking out of walls, we asked Sharné if regenerative architecture be made to look “more conventional”?

“Regenerative architecture is not just confined to a handful of progressive folk building a house from recycled plastic bottles. Buildings can be living and consciously designed to improve our lives. I think all the projects mentioned here exemplify how great they can be,“ she comments.

Progress on design and construction using hemp materials can be followed on social media Instagram @teammahali, @wolfandwolfarchitects, and @afrimathemp

capacity to be carbon negative, and I knew this was something I wanted to explore more.

“At the beginning of 2021, I joined forces with Wolf + Wolf Architects and Afrimat Hemp to understand this phenomenal building material much better by focusing on developing a hempcrete block building system. This also allowed me to experiment and learn hands-on by being part of some pioneering projects such as 84 Harrington street, Cape Town, the highest building in the world where this emerging natural material was used,” Sharné adds.

About the regenerative architecture game What is regenerative architecture?

Where sustainable architecture is “doing better than business as usual”. Some might say that regenerative architecture is the pathway beyond sustainability. Regenerative architecture is the practice of engaging the natural world as the medium for and generator of architecture. It responds to and utilizes the living and natural systems on a site that become the “building blocks” of the architecture. Regenerative architecture has two focuses; it is an architecture that focuses on conservation and performance through a focused reduction of the environmental impacts of a building.

For Sharné, regenerative architecture and design follows some simple principles. • Be open to the natural world guiding your design process and aspire to realise net positive benefits in material use and move towards long-term circularity. • If you make decisions around building materials, let it be guided by what is locally available, something you can upcycle and reuse, or a material that could be net positive such as hempcrete. • Above all, let your designs improve the air we breathe.