Dan Pope

Sustainability Award winner 

Architecture student, Bartlett School of Architecture

‘I'm so happy to have been awarded the sustainability prize. I really wanted the project to showcase what can be done using the excessive waste earth material that leaves our cities every day. I am continuing the research on the Earthen Blanket retrofit which brings new clay systems back to historic London Brick architecture. I love the project, I love the material and I’m excited to carry on this work. I'm working with fantastic professors I have met from my time at The Bartlett and we are currently looking for funding, sponsorship and an industry partner to drive it forward.’

Project description

This project explores how the use of London clay can transition into contemporary construction. Augmenting traditional brick extrusion techniques and adopting emerging processes of additive manufacturing technology with clay, a series of interventions aims to heighten the sensuous and tactile relationship between the body and the materials of our built environment. The project critiques the flow of London clay from city to landfill as a waste product of civil engineering and basement excavations. It proposes an alternative use for building a new housing type and a retrofit strategy for existing stock. A tailored ‘earthen blanket’ is proposed to insulate brick homes. It honours the material’s heritage, maintains vapour permeability and can be adopted en masse to upgrade the UK’s draughty housing.

Tutor citation

"This project aims to address, in an imaginative, original and practical way, several critical problems that currently surround sustainable practices in our construction industry, directing its research to one material that London identifies with the most: London clay. This is an extremely relevant, inventive and thought-provoking project that asks us to consider a new streetscape for London that is sculptural, tactile and driven." Ana Monrabal-Cook

All about Dan

• University: 
  
  

Bartlett School of Architecture

• Course:
  
  

MArch

• Unit:
  
  

PG16: A Stationary Body

• Project:
  
  

The Earthen Land Registry