Newspaper: Studio Waste

STUDIO

WASTE Sheffield School of Architecture

2022

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STUDIO WASTE 03 04 06 08 09

Foreword Mapping Explorations Material Enquiry Site : Gleadless Site : Beighton

WASTE THEMES 10 16 Studio Waste is one of 13 diverse M.Arch studios at the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, each containing 5th and 6th year students, and running for one academic year. Studios encompass a range of humanities, technical and management modules and encourage students to pursue their own critical agendas. For more information on the work of the School please visit https://exhibitions.ssoa.uk/.

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Retrofitting Design for Disassembly Reuse of Building Materials Use of Waste Streams in Construction The Growing Alternative: Mycelium Composite Insulation Waste Based Programme Low Embodied Carbon Design Circular Design Waste & Social Design Papermaking

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It’s June and all across Sheffield skips are brimming with everything from roofing battens, slates and plasterboard, to pipework, toilets and bicycles. Streets are lined with wheelie bins and parks overflowing with the debris that comes with hot weather. Architecture schools across the country clear out old models, unclaimed scraps of cardboard and mouldy mugs to make space for exhibitions. Brexit, Covid, global conflicts and other factors combine to push up the cost of building materials, and soaring energy costs are forcing a choice to ‘eat or heat’ in one of the world’s richest countries.

In this context we have tried to examine what architecture can do, being part of an industry that is responsible for significant carbon emissions and extractive practices.

Starting with Jeremey Till’s quote “All architecture is but waste in transit” (a note taken by Till during a lecture

by Peter Guthrie) the studio has explored the concept of waste (and value) through a series of lenses. These include the idea of buildings as repositories of materials, catalogued for reuse through material passports; to the memories and stories associated with building fragments and the transferal of meaning. Starting with individual mapping exercises around waste flows in the city and

experimental material testing, studio

members developed their individual

approaches to the issue of waste.

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Photo : Jilbert Ebrahimi • unsplash.com

The studio worked in an interdisciplinary way, bringing in artists, engineers, landscape architects and policy experts to bring a variety of perspectives on the topic, as well as visiting recent award winning retrofit projects at a variety of scales.

Projects explore approaches to contaminated land, housing retrofit and densification, and a variety of approaches to the idea of waste including design for disassembly, retrofit using biomaterials, and the direct reuse of materials arising from demolition.

The ten projects offer a mix of thoughtful and often joyous interventions that are also carefully researched, both technically and programmatically, responding to the sites in the city. We hope that you enjoy the range of work shown here.

“The next generation of lead Architects will surely be challenged, by a host of social and scientific drivers, to make creative re-use of the 20th century building stock, and many of these projects do exactly that.”

- Steve Atkinson, Built Engineers

Mark Parsons Tutor, Studio Waste Sheffield School of Architecture

STUDIO MANIFESTO >>>>

LIFE CYCLE APPROACH We design with the building's whole life cycle in mind, from raw material to reuse.

WASTE IS IN OUR CONTROL We look to nature for inspiration and acknowledge that waste is a valuable resource.

REGENERATIVE DESIGN We acknowledge that what we build is part of nature and our buildings must regenerate ecosystems.

HEALTHY CITIES FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES We believe environmental sustainability can support and create economic and social resilience.

DESIGN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS We intend to make architecture more accessible by demystifying the construction process.

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MAPPING EXPLORATIONS As a studio we have been exploring and mapping material flows and the production of waste, and the systems and processes that create waste and their impact. Across different themes and scales we have mapped different types of waste globally and in Sheffield. We have investigated what materials flow in and out of these systems, where they come from and where they go.

“Rethinking the dominant practices relating to waste and the use of primary resources is crucial to addressing the environmental challenges that society faces. It’s great to see the Studio Waste projects embedding such approaches within communities, and rejecting a siloed approach to tackling these grand problems.”

-Dr. Ben Purvis, University of Sheffield

Above: Solar PV Waste Madeleine Hill We often only think about the benefits of renewable technologies without much thought to the embodied carbon and waste produced.

We are going to have a solar waste crisis in the next decade as many solar panels comes to the end of their short 25 year lifespans. Solar PV waste and its end-of-life management has been explored in order to understand the waste implications and to determine what can be recycled. There are currently no regulations or adequate systems in place to deal with this solar panel waste.

Left: Student End of Term Waste En Huey Low Every year, tons of household items are discarded when students move out of their student houses at the end of term. The mapping shows how these items could be handled properly by students instead of dumping them into skips in Sheffield. By extending these items’ lifespans through recycling and reusing, a significant amount of waste being sent to landfill could be reduced.

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Above: Waste Water Anna Moroney The Sheffield waste water flow map highlights the energy consumption and usage of the lost waste stream of water that is often discarded as a form of waste.

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“We have a responsibility as designers to re-imagine a future where waste is both minimised and seen as a new rich and exciting resource.”

- James Todd, Architype Top: Bedding Set Enquiry En Huey Low By further interrogating one of the common student household items - the bedding sets, it highlights how one person’s waste can be another person/ animal’s resource.

Below: Packaging Waste Dominic Wong Mapping our consumer packaging waste in Sheffield showed that while basic recycling schemes are in place, the wide variety of packaging types and the lack of clear recycling direction often provides little incentive to properly put these wastes back into the system.

Above: E- Waste Megan Thacker-Brooks & Rachael Cowan Researching and mapping electronic waste revealed multiple intersecting social and environmental issues. The constant cycle of consumption and disposal can be primarily traced to low repairability and planned obsolesence leading to exponential waste stream growth.

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MATERIAL ENQUIRY Fly Tipped Rammed Earth Kallum Lightfoot Top: Salvaged waste filled with contaminated soil

Demolition Waste Andzela Petreikyte Top: Memory collage

Chair Deconstruction Louis Carrow

Initial research used collage of physical materials from demolition waste to explore the memory of these fragmented materials. Inspired by artists such as Seth Clark who also looked at deteriorating architecture, this experiment challenged the lack of care for our materials. These materials were used to create physical and digital collages which later on inspired the method of working but also the design proposal of reusing demolition waste as a new material.

SKIP HUNTING ACTIVITY Right : Studio members salvaging waste at skips around Sheffield for material testing.

“I really enjoyed exploring the city looking for waste. It got me to meet very nice people from various backgrounds who were curious about what their waste could be used for.”

- Colombine Vaillaud 6

“ The most valuable lessons come from forcing ourselves out of our comfort zones and getting hands on with experimenting with waste” - Dominic Wong

Top: Salvaged chair parts from 8 old broken chairs

In collaboration with another student, Louis put together a reclaimed chair from collage of parts from 8 old broken chairs, using plastic bottles to join each piece in a way that can be easily disassembled for reuse.

A material experiment using contaminated earth collected from heavily fly-tipped areas to form rammed earth samples.

The samples were formed using fly-tipped items and contained varying levels of shredded waste aggregate.

Marble From Plastic Dominic Wong Top: Christmas display made from melted plastic bottle caps Bottom : HDPE sign Left : Tile made from melted plastic bottle caps

Tiles with marble-like texture upcycled from multi-coloured bottle caps with a panini press and a laser cutter.

Recycling signs are engraved into the tiles to ensure they can be properly recycled at the end of their lives.

Phone Disassembly Megan Thacker- Brooks & Rachael Cowan

Coffee Waste Clay En Huey Low

Top : Disassembled phone parts

Below: Samples made from air drying clay & clay made from used coffee grounds

Like electronic items many contemporary building methods are reliant on the use of adhesives over bolted connections, decreasing the possibility of reuse and disassembly of a building.

Coffee grounds that are sent to the landfill will damage the surrounding soil because of its acidity. They are explored as an alternative of clay and binding agent for future building materials.

Food Waste Tiles Madeleine Hill Below: Tiles made from cornstarch, sand, water, waste materials & food waste

Cornstarch is used as the binder, replacing the need to use a cement-based binder. Madeleine also created natural dyes from food such as using beetroot and spinach to give colour to the tiles.

Waste Water Anna Moroney Top: Waste water samples Bottom: Waste paper making waste water dehydration

Combining art and science through a playful display of waste water samples, the samples are dehydrated to extract solutes that could be used as pigments in Anna’s drawing as a way to describe varying level of pollution. The hidden pollutants emphasise the damage we are doing to the natural resource inconspicuous to the public.

Dental Stone Tiles Shubael Idowu Top: Extracted natural dye Bottom: Gypsum tile

Samples of gypsum tiles were created from waste dental stone.

Different properties like drying time and color were achieved by adding natural paint made from fallen leaves and avocado peels.

The experimental tests showed that waste which may be seen as from “unusual” processes can be a useful material elsewhere.

Mycelium Colombine Vaillaud Right: Growing mycelium with crate substrate

Mycelium is the root part of fungi. Used as a binder, it becomes a versatile construction material: it can be used as hard insulation, acoustic and non-load bearing structures.

Mycelium therefore reduces the construction industry’s reliance on traditional materials. As it feeds from agricultural waste and is compostable, it allows a zerowaste circular economy.

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SITE 01: SHIRE BROOK NATURE RESERVE,

BEIGHTON

Between Woodhouse and Hackenthorpe, just before the Shire Brook reaches Beighton Marsh, lies Shire Brook nature reserve, a large area of marshland, woodland and grassy meadow. The local nature reserve was established on the former Beighton landfill site when it closed in 1999.

Today the 100 hectare site, partially on Sheffield’s green belt, is used by cyclists and walkers.

Since the historically industrial

brownfield site was redeveloped wildlife has returned and water voles, skylarks and buzzards can be seen there. The reserve also contains Wickfield Plantation, one of the few coppiced oak woodlands remaining in Sheffield.

At the centre of the reserve is a former factory last used as an informal recycling centre.

There is also a household waste recycling centre at the East of the site and remnants of the former waterworks to the West.

Above, Middle & Right : Photos of Beighton site Below: Beighton site plan with student projects’ locations indicated

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SITE 02:

GLEADLESS VALLEY ESTATE

Gleadless Valley is an iconic 1960s housing estate located to the south west of Sheffield City centre; it’s iconic character can be attributed to the rich mix of distinct housing typologies which sit upon a dramatic sloped topography.

issues such as fly tipping and poor building conditions; a number also reflected an uncomfortable tension between new and long term tenants that contribute to a hostile community atmosphere.

The valley has been at the development attention of the Following the construction, council for almost a decade, with the estate was considered a multiple consultations happening pioneering architectural example over the past 5 years with little of modern housing and tourists to no action. This has created a flocked to the valley to take tours real sense of consultation fatigue of the model estate known as and community anxiety due to ‘Little Switzerland’. the ambiguous statements and constant changing of hands.

The original design of the valley provides a base with much There are lots of opportunity to be celebrated. The unique for the repair of buildings and character of the place owing to investment in new supporting the typography and the proximity spaces due to the low density to the woodland. However, site. residents highlighted present day

Top Right & Middle: Photos of Gleadless site Below: Gleadless site plan with student projects’ locations indicated

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RETROFITTING “Constructing, and then demolishing buildings, accounts for approximately 60% of the total waste generated in the UK.” -James Todd, Architype

Student Project: Gleadless Unplugged Megan Thacker- Brooks & Rachael Cowan This projects seeks to densify Gleadless Valley: through the repair of existing housing and the introduction of infill residential sites, which in turn will increase the population of Gleadless to support new community infrastructure in the form of a literary hub in the woodland. Starting from an initial enquiry into electronic waste systems and related issues of planned obsolescence and design for disassembly or degradation; the project agenda to improve social housing in Gleadless and provide a local literary complex,

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Increase population to sustain public amenities and in turn create more active communities

Creates an opportunity to diversify flat typology to cater for different people

has been supported by a research journey that looked at themes of digital deprivation in Sheffield, and how to safeguard the role of the community library and librarian in a technologically fast paced society. Both the approaches to housing new and retrofi t longwithin Improve quality of existing stock atbuild the New build densification fills in expanses of same time and saves from demolition open space the scheme have prioritised the use of low embodied carbon materials and Valley material reAn argument for densification in Gleadless The large areas of unused lawn and under occupied buildings suggest that the estate benefit use. from densification, which in turn will help to create a sufficient population to sustain important community amenities. Densification will occur in the form of retrofitting existing buildings and low impact new build construction in the unoccupied green space.

Right: Densification collage Below: Project master plan

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Retrofitted pebbledash technical section

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Above: Sectional perspective Below: Initial collage of site Bottom: Exterior view

Student Project: Revitalising Gleadless Valley Madeleine Hill The project explores how Gleadless Valley in Sheffield can be revitalised through sensitive densification and low-carbon retrofitting of post-war social housing, with specific focus as to how commensality and reducing food waste can bring the community together to provide a sustainable future for the neighbourhood. The programme consists of retrofitting the existing housing, the creation of new housing to densify the site and to incorporate shared communal facilities such as a kitchen and eating spaces. A new food hub with a café and cooking class space will become the central focus to Gleadless Valley. To design towards circularity, the waste materials from the retrofit are reused in the scheme.

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“The Studio Waste projects all seek to breath new life into existing structures and materials in different and imaginative ways - whether that is through retrofitting buildings, landscapes sensitively stitching the proposals into the subtle web of existing relationships that form place, habitat and community.”

-James Todd, Architype

STUDIO VISIT: YORKTON WORKSHOP

Yorkton Workshop demonstrates a lowcarbon retrofit approach. In 2020, Cassion Castle Architects were commissioned to refurbish and adapt a dilapidated Victorian building and a small warehouse in Hackney into new studio and exhibition spaces.

The domestic-scale Victorian building was transformed into meeting spaces and the newer open plan warehouse structure was adapted into a studio and workshop.

Student Project: Waste Community Centre Kallum Lightfoot The prominent existing buildings, such as the terrace shops and the John o’gaunt pub, were retained and lightly retrofitted to restore the positive community memories of the space.

The smaller existing buildings were used as a source of materials to be re-used for the retrofit and new-builds. All on-site materials were re-used, ensuring that there was no material waste.

Above: Bird’s eyes view of site Below: Sectional rendering

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Student Project: Re-Imagining Gleadless Valley Andzela Petreikyte Gleadless Valley, a once celebrated housing development where three neighbourhoods surround a woodland, sits across the hills of Sheffield. More recently it has become an area of lost value and an unwanted place to live.

This project challenges the current provisions for residents of Gleadless and sets itself on a site with an existing housing block next to an unused pub. Challenging the definition of ‘waste’, the project uses demolition waste and low carbon materials in both reuse of existing buildings and new proposals. The housing is retrofitted to suit a wider range of households. Wider aims tackle social issues such as loneliness through the focus on creative arts, as a way to bring people together. New proposals include community spaces where art is used as a way to engage both residents and wider members of the community.

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Top: Sectional perspective Bottom: Facade sketch

Student Project: Sands Close Social Housing Regeneration Gleadless Valley, Sheffield Dominic Wong This alternative proposal for the regeneration of Sands Close one of the least desirable neighbourhoods to live in the Gleadless Valley social housing estate - aims to reduce construction waste by retaining the existing maisonette structures, diversifying unit types and retrofitting them with a new layer of thermal envelope, including new winter gardens for each unit usable all year round.

By introducing two new rows of terraced housing units with upperlevel terraces, a semi-enclosed landscape park is created to replace unused green space and to help residents rebuild a strong sense of belonging and intergenerational community spirit. Various construction and landscape design details are put in place to preserve the picturesque DNA of Gleadless Valley and its connection to nature.

Towards central landscape

Lift & Aerial Walkway Access

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Primarily for Senior Residents / Downsizers 1

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1500mm Wheelchair turning circle & Wheelchair Storage Space

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Levelled Accessible Shower w/ Sliding Door

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Kitchen as 'social threshold' - passive interaction with neighbours

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Winter Garden w/ uninterrupted panoramic views into the valley

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Lift access directly from new road connection slope / step access minimised

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“European construction is moving from a linear to a circular economy, where construction products are durable, repairable, recyclable, and easier to remanufacture. It’s great to see the Sheffield students exploring creative ways to embrace this transformation.”

-Philippe Moseley, European Commission

Towards Bus Stop

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Existing Walls New Walls

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Top: Overview of scheme Middle: Initial collage of site Bottom: Retrofitted plans

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DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLY The construction industry is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials and less than a third of building materials are recycled or reused. This linear cycle of resource extraction and consumption is no longer sustainable - a new, less wasteful, circular system must be adopted.

Design for disassembly is the design of buildings to facilitate their dismantlement at the end of the building’s life.

This design consideration allows

for the recovery of the building’s components and materials to be reused in a future construction project. Moving towards a cradle to cradle construction approach, embracing disassembly, our material deposits would be concentrated in cities. Urban mining presents the opportunity of reusing the city’s materials rather than extracting new materials from the landscape.

STUDIO VISIT: WATERLOO CITY FARM

Feilden Fowles architect’s selfbuilt studio is described as a low tech approach to construction.

Pin jointed connections, standard sheet dimensions and very simple carpentry allowed the studio to be self-built and easily demountable, which was an opportunity for the studio to ‘learn from the process of building’.

Student Project :The Retreat, Shire Brook Valley En Huey Low The hospitality industry is always known for generating a significant amount of waste each year. In line with the studio’s manifesto of waste, this eco resort approaches the design through exploration of Student Project: The School of Disassembly modularity and spatial flexibility using materials made from resort’s Louis Carrow waste and reclaimed materials. The timber exo-frame structures echo The existing factory is retrofitted with natural materials - pin-jointed Shirebrook Valley’s rich industrial history and allow programmes to timber posts and stacked cork blocks can all be disassembled and be ‘injected’ into it depending on the needs of the resort. reused or returned to the earth to biodegrade at the end of the building’s life.

Opposite: Showroom Above: Photo of model

Top: View from top floor Middle: Column detail Bottom: Component diagram

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REUSE OF BUILDING MATERIALS ‘Urban mining is the process of recovering and reusing a city’s materials’. As our sources of raw materials transition from rural areas towards our cities, the urban landscape must change.

Typically, our extraction sites, like scars on the natural landscape, are in open spaces where raw materials can be stored and distributed around the globe. We can increasingly look to our cities as a new source of salvaged materials.

As a studio, we have collectively investigated Sheffield’s material flows at a range of scales from domestic, to institutional, and neighbourhood to city and region.

We started by each choosing one of these scales, beginning to investigate what materials flow in and out of these systems, where they come from and where they go. As individuals or in pairs we have each investigated different types of waste.

Above : Revitalising Gleadless Valley Madeleine Hill This project focuses on retrofitting post-war social housing which promotes the re-use of existing buildings rather than demolishing and rebuilding. Building elements and material waste from the retrofit are reused within the scheme, for example, construction waste is transformed into bricks for use as cladding. This greatly reduces the embodied carbon within the project whilst also engaging with the architectural legacy of the neighbourhood.

“Reuse of materials that are perceived to be waste is a powerful way to tackle the climate emergency.

Construction materials are typically energy intensive and reuse displaces the need for new materials, reducing resource extraction and the embodied emissions associated with extracting and manufacturing new materials. Reuse is a key principle in our Regenerate tool that looks at circular economy design more widely, Below : Waste Community Centre Kallum Lightfoot and answers ‘how circular is your building?”

All on-site waste items from the existing building demolition in this - Dr.Danielle Tingley, University of Sheffield, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering

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community centre in Gleadless Valley were re-used in various aspects of the building, such as garage doors for the community centre façade.

USE OF WASTE STREAMS IN CONSTRUCTION Waste is a term defined by our actions, a concept that devalues matter and describes it as obsolete. ‘Becoming waste is a phase in the life of a thing, not the end of it.’ 1

As a studio we have been exploring the production of waste, the systems and processes that create it and it’s impact. Across themes and scales we have mapped the flows of materials in and out of Sheffield, exploring how waste can inform our individual projects and reveal connections between them.

“To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things - products, packaging, and systems - from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist.”

- McDonough & Braungart in Cradle to Cradle (2002) Top Right: Flexible spaces with mycelium panels Right Middle: Mycelium brick sample Right: Sectional rendering Below: Waste timber mapping Bottom: Sectional drawing of guest pod

Student Project: The Retreat En Huey Low

Student Project: Southmere’s New Civic Centre, Thamesmead Colombine Vaillaud “There is no waste in nature.”

Colombine’s project was designed around a circular economy. Just as mycelium is nature’s recycler, the circular economy of the scheme is centered around mycelium.

With a mycelium warehouse at its center, it feeds from the agricultural waste from the allotments on the roof. The warehouse then provides mycelium partitions for the site, insulation panels for the social housings in Thamesmead and mycelium bricks for temporary structure. After use, the panels are biodegradable and can be used as compost. This warehouse can feed from broken objects and waste materials and encourages repair, using mycelium’s binding properties.

The guest units made of straw bale SIPs are prefabricated and assembled off site. The envelopes are then cladded with corrugated panels made of hemp fibre from the outer coating of hemp stalks combined with resin taken from agricultural waste.

Besides, there are other building materials made from waste introduced into the project such as newspaper wood, cork panels and reclaimed slates. Roof overhangs are supported by reclaimed telegraph poles. This is to showcase the resort ethos of using waste as resource and circular material economy.

1. Architectural Review. 2021. Waste - Architectural Review.

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THE ‘GROWING’ ALTERNATIVE : MYCELIUM COMPOSITE INSULATION WHAT IS IT ABOUT? As part of the assignment , the Year 5 studio members decided to evaluate the feasibility of Mycelium as a lowimpact alternative to traditional insulation materials & identifies the possibilities around Sheffield at which mycelium and its various substrates could be sourced and manufactured into insulation panels for retrofit projects.

WHAT IS MYCELIUM? Mycelium is the root structure of a fungus.

This root structure grows into extensive networks in the soil beneath forests and fields.

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WHAT IS MYCELIUM COMPOSITE INSULATION? This new type of insulation material provides a bio-based alternative to conventional fossilbased materials like mineral wool and polystyrene foam.

To make an insulation panel, Mycelium needs a ‘substrate’ to grow into a fibrous structure called Mycelium-composite, with Mycelium essentially being the binder. There is a wide variety of agricultural by-products and other wastes that we can use for the substrate. Mycelium insulation does not require intense industrial processing and has potential of being self-made.

BIO-BASED INSULATION Commonly after demolition, most conventional insulation cannot be taken apart to be reused due to bonding of different materials and they do not degrade in nature. However, by installing mycelium panels in the proposed systems, design for disassembly can be achieved and the panels are sorted to be disposed to land with poor soil for soil enrichment.

Mycelium panels will decompose when in contact to the ground in approximately 6 weeks!

FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCTION IN SHEFFIELD? Above : Local substrate source mapping in Sheffield

We have found straw and flour to be most suitable in terms of local production. Approximately 6kg straw and 1kg flour is used in making 1sqm of mycelium insulation panels. Studies have shown that there is an availability for 5% of straw sold off the farm to be used in construction as well as low-grade flour from flour mills. This opens up speculative possibilities for decentralised production to supply the social housing needs. This emerging industry could also provide job opportunities.

WASTE BASED PROGRAMME

WASTE COMMUNITY CENTRE Kallum Lightfoot Youth centre waste playground render.

“How can a community turn their waste into a resource for social benefit?”

A community centre in Gleadless Valley focused on the re-use of waste items as a resource to benefit the local residents. The centre provides much needed social and meeting spaces for the local community whilst also providing opportunities for employment and skills training. The local community brings their household waste items that would typically be fly-tipped to learn how to fix them, craft new items, or process them for their materials in the communal workshops.

All restored and newly made items such as chairs, fridges, bicycles, etc., can be freely exchanged for waste items. Local waste is seen as a resource that can be used to benefit all members of the community. Furthermore, social spaces are provided to help create new support networks and meeting spaces give the community members a voice to enact change within their social housing estate that has been neglected by Sheffield City Council.

Top: Exterior sketch Right: Initial concept sketch on cardboard

STUDIO VISIT: HUB 67 Located in Hackney Wick London, Hub 67 is a community centre built with recycled material from London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The facade and chandelier in the main space are designed and constructed with the local community - to build a sense of ownership and allowing the building to fit well into the local context. For instance, metal frame cabins from the Olympics are reused and put together with new facade.

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LOW EMBODIED CARBON DESIGN Contributing to 25-40% of global carbon emissions, the construction industry has huge potential when it comes to battling the climate crisis 1.

Today, the construction industry accounts for around 50% of global steel production and building construction consumes 3 billion tonnes of raw materials annually.

Despite extracting such quantities of valuable minerals, metals and organic material, the construction industry sends the vast majority to landfill 1. In the UK, 32% of total landfill waste comes from the construction and demolition of buildings and over one tenth of material sent to building sites goes straight to landfill without even being used 2.

Student Project: Woodhouse Community Farm, Shire Brook Valley, Sheffield Shubael Idowu (She/ Her)

as reduced embodied carbon building materials, rain screens, shading and for heat storage and insulation.

To reduce the waste produced by the activities on the site, this project creates a circular system where very little can go to waste.

Things considered waste from the food production processes are returned to the farm as feed or fertilizer or to the cafe to make delicious food.

The building showcases low impact materiality using timber, earth, and reclaimed brick.

“Sustainable architecture will not look like modernism with louvres and solar panels. Mostly, in countries like the UK it The building makes careful will look like existing buildings given deep retrofits wherever use of waste materials such as possible with low-carbon materials. But where new buildings crushed waste bricks, stone and are needed [they] will have their own architectural expression.” concrete as pavement. Locally sourced timber for shingles and - Barnabas Calder, 2020 logs as well as cob are also used

The project uses the Shire Brook Valley woodlands as the major source of timber. Over time, coppicing brings about coppiced woodlands ensuring reduced carbon emissions and a constant timber source. Approaches from the woodland and another from a productive landscape engage users with food production and tell the story of the building’s materiality.

Top: Exterior rendering Top left: Facade study model Left: Site plan

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1. World Economic Forum, 2016.

2. Binding, 2021.

Above: Sectional cut on plan Bottom Right: Material elevation drawings

“Waste streams have been re-used and recycled, and renewable materials embraced, to create a sustainable and regenerative material palette that connects the projects intimately to their context.”

- James Todd, Architype Student Project: The Waste Water Harness Hub, Shire Brook Valley, Sheffield Anna Moroney This project was prompted by the discovery of the huge quantities of water wasted by each person and the failing, hidden, energy intensive processes used to purify our water currently.

This project proposes a sustainable alternative to waste water treatment that aims to challenge the public perception of waste through exposure, education, and exploration.

A landscape retrofit, the scheme spreads across the area of the former sewage works into a number of small scale circular timber structures.

Buildings are connected via a network of above ground pipes redefining existing routes as wayfinding tools, and structures designed to create habitats for humans, animals, and plants.

The hub will use all rainwater, recycle all grey water and purify all waste water using natural productive processes: a system that creates value from waste.

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CIRCULAR DESIGN In a circular economy, the overall building system is carefully designed to eliminate waste and to ensure that the buildings are in use as long as possible. In this section, these projects showcase how waste produced by the buildings are properly taken care of and integrated into the design with Narrative meaningful drawing depicting the causes of fly tipping within Gleadless Valley. value so that they never reach the landfill.

“As design for disassembly and the principles of the circular economy become widely established, the overall impact of new material extraction and waste disposal on the environment will decrease and a new landscape of re-used and re-generative materials will be created - helping us all to better understand and re-evaluate our deep connection with the underlying ecological systems that support us.”

- James Todd, Architype

Above: Circular building program : community use & waste re-use by Kallum Lightfoot Circular building program: community use and waste re-use.

(Above) Site context line drawing. (Below) Site axonometric line drawing.

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Above: Circular operation process diagram of an eco-resort by En Huey Low

Right: Gleadless Unplugged Megan Thacker- Brooks & Rachael Cowan The clay rich soil excavated for the hub can be used for the rammed earth walling, demolition waste from the residential retrofit can be incorporated into new features such as reclaimed brick flooring and new terrazzo flooring. Furthermore, the felled trees can be taken to a local saw mill in the outskirts of Sheffield and transformed into usable materials.

Right: Woodhouse Community Farm, Shire Brook Valley, Sheffield Shubael Idowu (She/ Her) Waste from the production process of soy sauce used in other parts of the farm program (animal farm and cafe) to achieve zero waste.

Below: Southmere’s New Civic Centre, Thamesmead Colombine Vaillaud Agricultural waste from the allotment used as substrate to build mycelium insulation panel that serve the building and the surrounding neighbourhood.

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WASTE & SOCIAL DESIGN Across the two sites in Sheffield (Gleadless and Beighton) a number of social issues arising from the poor management of waste streams were identified and tackled through the student projects. Fly tipping, poor building conditions; and uncomfortable tensions between new and long term tenants contributed to a hostile community atmosphere in Gleadless. In Beighton, the poorly managed former landfill site leaching toxic gasses into the soil, water and atmosphere caused social tensions as well as environmental concerns.

Projects tackled issues such as abandoned community assets in disrepair, rising house prices and inaccessible areas of the nature reserve.

Although much of the projects’ focus is invariably about materials used and the need to value the embodied carbon of existing structures, the cultural and social elements of waste form an important element of each programme.

In many cases, the new programmes not only reduce waste and address the scarcity of resources, but provide opportunities for social connections and skill sharing.

For example projects examine commensality, bringing people together around food; combine co-housing strategies with affordable housing provision; and use discarded items as raw material for new craft, making and enterprise.

PA R T C : M A N AG E M E N T PR AC T I CE A N D L AW M A N I F E STO

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Ford

Drain

Improve quality of existing housing stock at the same time and saves from demolition

New build densification fills in long expanses of open space

An argument for densification in Gleadless Valley The large areas of unused lawn and under occupied buildings suggest that the estate benefit from densification, which in turn will help to create a sufficient population to sustain important community amenities. Densification will occur in the form of retrofitting existing buildings and low impact new build construction in the unoccupied green space.

In some cases early explorations of material flows led to sitespecific programmes. An initial exploration into e-waste, for example, led to an investigation

Existing

Ford

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Existing

Proposed (layout changes)

3 bed 81m2

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Proposed

Rather thanProposed replacement or of Existing digital exclusion and lack Proposed of (layout changes) (Vertical extension) access to hardware and wifi; total renewal of problematic in turn resulting in a brief that buildings, the stories linked to included both housing retrofit places and materials and are valued. Recognisable elements and new types of library space. of Gleadless Private arewinter gardens= retained 360 m2 Core area = 32 m2 External Walkway = 34 m2 Private winter gardens= 360 m2 Core area = 32 m2 External Walkway = 34 m2 enhanced, recognising The slow remediation of the and Model at 1:100 exploring vertical extension of the maisonette typology Model at 1:100 exploring vertical extension of the maisonette typology landscape, which has either those parts that are iconic but Assessing the feasibility of densification been poisoned by human activity, problematic in use, and reAssessing the feasibility of densification We used the maisonette blocks to first assess the feasibility of how many homes we couldthe add to an existing block via means extension layout reconfiguraWe used maisonette blocks to first assess of thevertical feasibility of howand many homes we or exists as a binary of mown interpreting them to bring back a At an present thisblock blockviacontains 83 bedroom flats, which are undersized for the couldtion. add to existing means of vertical extension and layout reconfiguraamount of people who would be there. flats, We have speculated that thefornumber tion. At present this block contains 8 3living bedroom which are undersized the of sense of pride. grass or dense woodland, is rehomes could who be doubled by living converting the existing 3 bed homes intonumber a mix of amount of people would be there. We have speculated that the ofmore desirable and spacious bed and studio flats. We havehomes also added additional homes could be doubled by 2converting the existing 3 bed into aan mix of more4 stuimagined as a place for people dio flats and 4 2 bed homes on top of the providing private external desirable and 2: spacious 2 bed and studio flats.

We existing, have alsowhilst added an additional 4 stuPhase Ground works.

Land survey, earth relocation, bispace form of a winter dio flats andin4the 2 bed homes on topgarden. of the existing, whilst providing private external remediation, landscaping-water work network and bridges. and other species to benefit from. An argument for densification space in the form of a winter garden.

The creation of new biodiverse in Gleadless Valley (above) resources, with a phased Megan Thacker- Brooks & approach and a long-term view, Rachael Cowan explore how contaminants can In Gleadless, the large areas of be broken down, or materials unused lawn and under occupied utilised and in re-used place. buildings suggest that the estate Drain

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Creates an opportunity to diversify flat typology to cater for different people

3 bed 81m2

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3 bed 81m2 (Retain layout)

2 3 bed 81m 2 bed(Retain 81m2 layout)

2 bed 81m2

2 bed 81m2

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2 2 bed 2 81m bed 96m2 (Accessible)

2 bed Guest 96m2 (Accessible) studios 45m2

Cou

Cou

Studio 45m2

Studio 45m2

of

of

Guest studios 45m2

Ponds

rse

rse

Ponds

Proposed (Vertical extension)

Drain

Scale 1:1000

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Student projects explored the concept of waste from not only a technical and environmental perspective but also understood the social aspect of waste - what Approximate spacial area is considered waste and why? requirements

Project Phasing Diagram

Increase population to sustain public amenities and in turn create more active communities

Mill

Mill

e

Rac

e

Rac Ponds

Ponds

Shire Brook

Shire Brook

Ponds

Ponds

Course of Mill Race

Course of Mill Race

Carr Forge Dam

Carr Forge Dam

Phase 1: On site community engagement, consultation establishing pro and cons of existing site.

Ford

Ford

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Cou

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rse

rse

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of

of

Mill

Mill

e Rac

e Rac Ponds

Ponds

Shire Brook

Shire Brook

Ponds

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Course of Mill Race

Course of Mill Race

Carr Forge Dam

Carr Forge Dam

Phase 3: Visitor centre retrofit and revival.

Figure 106 Project Phasing Diagram.

Source: Author's own (2022).

Project Phasing Diagram Anna Moroney

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Phase 4: Waste water system construction. Use of existing sewer works foundations.

Students explore the real world contractual implications of their projects taking place - in the case of Gleadless sites, the careful balance of densification, retrofit and accommodation of existing tenants; at Beighton, habitats & breeding seasons and contaminated land.

87

will benefit from densification, which in turn will help to create a sufficient population to sustain important community amenities.

Rachael and Meg’s project proposes that densification will occur in the form of retrofitting existing buildings and low impact new build construction in the unoccupied green space.

present day ected an une to a hostile

Above: Social issues of waste diagram by Megan Thacker- Brooks & Rachael Cowan

PAPER MAKING

Dominic Wong

Megan & Rachael

Anna Moroney

“Access to 121 Eyre Street gave the studio the opportunity to collaborate with Studio in Process and Studio Polpo. It was exciting for the group to be given a chance to activate a vacant space. Waste paper making allowed us to learn skills that taught us how to make new out of old.”

- Anna Moroney’s Manifesto

Shubael Idowu

Louis Carrow

Andzela Petreikyte

Above: Mixed media illustrations by students on paper made from waste paper.

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STUDIO WASTE TUTOR Mark Parsons SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL VISITING GUESTS Dr Danielle Densley Tingley, University of Sheffield Dr Ben Purvis, University of Sheffield Philippe Moseley, EU DG Grow Anna Santomauro, Arts Catalyst Anna Holder, Studio Polpo/ UAL Steve Atkinson, Built Engineers Hannah Beard, Urban Wilderness James Todd, Architype DOCUMENT DESIGNED, COMPILED AND EDITED BY

by Louis Carrow, En Huey Low and Madeleine Hill with funding from Sheffield School of Architecture.

Photo : Studio group • Mark Parsons

Different lenses of waste? “ How waste can be used in a multitude of different ways not only for construction and recycling but for social activities and interactions. Overall, the studio has made me aware that waste should not be a thing, it is just part of a materials life-cycle and it can be a very valuable resource.”

“ The need of taking a holistic and collaborative approach on all the different but ultimately interconnected issues that we face (i.e. waste, climate change, ageing population etc.) ”

“ The project has been extremely inspiring in how far you can take the theme of waste in a design project. It helped me recognise how restrictive the current industry is in our recycling of materials and trying to be as low impact a possible.”

“ We have pointed out the financial savings a deep retrofit could bring to the council and how a retrofit approach could create greater stability for the existing community in Gleadless.”

Kallum Lightfoot

Dominic Wong

Andzela Petreikyte

Megan & Rachael

Studio Waste Team (MArch Students Year 5 & Year 6)

Andzela Petreikyte

Anna Moroney

Colombine Vaillaud

Dominic Wong

En Huey Low

Kallum Lightfoot

Louis Carrow

Madeleine Hill

Megan Thacker-Brooks

Rachael Cowan

Shubael Idowu

Studio Waste

instagram • @andzelapetreikyte email • andzelapetreikyte@gmail.com

instagram • @ryen.arch email • en.huey@hotmail.com

instagram • @meg.tb email • meg.thacker@hotmail.com

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instagram • @annamoroney_design email • annamoroney95@gmail.com

instagram • @kajali.architecture email • kjlightfoot1@gmail.com

instagram • @recowan1 email • rachaelcowan1@gmail.com

instagram • @colombine.arch email • colombinevaillaud@gmail.com

instagram • @carrowarch email • louiscarrow@gmail.com

instagram • @shubaelidowu email • idshubby@gmail.com

instagram • @dominichcwong email • dominichcwong@gmail.com

instagram • @maddiehill_art email • maddiehill1@icloud.com

instagram • @studio.waste.ssoa