Submission by studio 8FOLD.
Being a good ancestor
Practice
1. Does the practice have a clearly stated purpose aligned with the planetary emergency? We are looking for a bold ambition here, and a practice culture which recognises the need for long-term thinking. For example, a strong mission, a theory of change, or a sustainability roadmap.
By 2050 an additional 2.1 billion people will need water, food, shelter, sanitation, education, and more.
What does this world look like? How dense can we go? What about the rural lands that support our cities? How do we do this whilst going beyond protecting- and begin regenerating the planet?
Disruptive technologies are transforming the way we inhabit the world and lead our lives, and design must engage. We believe starting with infrastructure at a neighbourhood-scale can expand to a planetary shift, where we shift from living on a planet to living with our planet.
Design is the art of synthesis across all disciplines, and with the right strategy has the ability to tackle our challenges of tomorrow.
“A problem cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created it” Einstein. Studio 8FOLD is driven to innovate, and create meaningful change through design and strategy.
2. Does the practice have a clear succession plan, which passes on ownership and protects the values and legacy of those who built and contributed to the practice? For example is the practice an employee owned trust.
No.
3. Does the practice share research and knowledge for the benefit of society and the wider world? For example, you regularly carry out post occupancy evaluation and share information with others.
Founded by two South Africans, and both part of the founding cohort of the London School of Architecture, it is a core belief to ‘walk the earth’ and work between academia & practice.
We have been teaching the design/build unit at University of Nottingham for over five years, and working together with the Thusanang Trust (local NGO) we have completed three Early Childhood Development centres in rural regions of Limpopo, South Africa. This project bridges between academia, construction, and the cross-pollination of cultures. Each year we visit the previous build to analyse what has worked and where lessons are to be learnt, sharing this knowledge with everyone involved.
The practice has also been involved in putting forward innovative ideas in tackling waste through invited exhibitions and competitions, from proposing a decentralised data-collecting waste system across London boroughs, to a competition for a centre designed to mine a landfill in Germany.
Project
1. Does the practice advocate for long-term thinking at the outset of projects? Do you initiate projects with long-term thinking and challenge the client on design life? Also, can the practice demonstrate that this approach has worked – with a shorter or longer design life, or an innovative approach to financing or payback period?
Part of the story behind 8FOLD is an approach to ‘make the problem bigger’, to zoom out, to think well beyond the realms of the now.
Each project kicks off with a workshop, bringing the client and their greatest aspirations and deepest fears into the process from the onset. The long-term plan and client’s understanding of what does ‘sustainability’ mean to them is always discussed, especially with a close consideration of the related budget.
For projects where the ambition is greater than the budget, we discuss the benefit of future proofing the design today, through passive systems (stacked ventilation, served/service systems thinking) or active systems (such as easy fitting of ASHPs, solar panels, etc.); for larger builds we consider designing the structure for ‘long life / loose fit’ for where change is inevitable, and we can reduce waste and consider the reuse of design elements in the future.
2. Do your projects take account of the future climate and the need for resilience? For example, do the projects demonstrate flexibility, design for adaptation, design for disassembly, non-deterministic solutions, or demountable structures.
Each project will have its own unique constraints, and careful consideration needs to be given to which ‘resilient’ approach will be best suited.
We hosted an exhibition ‘WASTELINE’ as part of the Brompton Design Week’s brief of ‘Material Consequences’, where a garbologist we invited pointed out that a soda can made of aluminium is highly durable, lightweight container, unbelievably energy-intensive container that can take 200-500 years to degrade in a landfill, all for a 5 minute refreshment.
Most recently we have started to move materials between our project sites, supplying the discarded material from one site as the finishes in another – we have done this with floor boards, tiles, and even built in speakers.
At a larger scale, working as advisory board members to Education Africa Social Architecture, we are investigating and figuring out how to scale, low maintenance, regenerative early education centres (ECDs) in South Africa.
3. Do the majority of your projects go beyond mitigating negatives and towards optimising positives? For example, are they meeting or exceeding the RIBA 2030 Challenge.
Yes. We are not paper architects, we have several building sites on the go right now, and the reality and challenge of trying to minimise waste and maximise reuse is something we are actively working on, together with both our clients and contractors. Incredibly, most of the solutions in achieving this are win-wins, saving on cost, on new material and on landfill – working towards saving the planet.
Each and every one of our briefs will look at the operational energy, embodied carbon, potable water use, and health & wellbeing. The opportunities and emphasis on each of these varies of course, depending of course on the existing constraints.
The 8FOLD philosophy is going beyond the confines of the, challenging ourselves – what more we can achieve? How do we create something that achieves the client’s brief but also the current agenda at hand: regenerating the planet?
Co-evolving with nature
Practice
1. Does the practice use biophilia within the office or regularly host meetings and retreats in natural settings? For example do you have extensive planting within the office or rely on natural patterns and imagery for stress relief or quiet areas.
We are strong advocates of biophilia. We have improved upon our average of 1.25 plants per sqm in our studio since last time!
In several projects in the past, such as an office refurbishment in Holborn for a sustainability consulting firm SYSTEMIQ, there was a considerable ‘plant budget’ set aside for the fitout. This was supported by a workshop we conducted with a cross section of firm, where ‘coffee, meeting rooms and plants’ were the three key priorities!
More recently we have encouraged clients to invite landscape designers and architects early into the design process, to create a habitat where architecture becomes the backdrop to nature, often leading to far more interesting results.
2. Can the practice share examples where it has considered nature in decision making? For example by having a nature proxy to encourage eco-centric decision making, using natural systems as inspiration for the company structure, recognising the seasonal nature of people’s capacity and workload or celebrating equinoxes and solstices together.
This year we have worked with Wildheart on putting together a vision for what would form the basis for a brief of rewilding the Isle of Wight. The basis of this work started with the rich ecology, the UNESCO biosphere, working closely with The Common Space and Wildheart to map out nature as the priority and key design constraint in all considerations.
Last year we worked on a masterplan for a vacant site rural site in Scotland with a small Loch, for several cabins and sports & leisure facilities, all of which are proposed to not only leverage- and integrate with- existing site qualities, but elevate them and propose how the various existing habitats will be expanded and regenerated. The ecological and environmental constraints, including a habitats use map of various badger, otter, and red squirrel locations, were all fundamental drivers of the proposed masterplan for the site.
3. Is the practice supporting nature locally and nationally? For example, does the practice support local gardens, gardeners, planting programmes, rewilding programmes or advocate for changes in legislation to protect nature.
On a local scale, our studio is based at LJ Works where the space between the two main buildings offers a mix of local fruit and vegetable growing. It was previously vacant council-owned land before being transformed into the Loughborough Farm in 2013, where residents could grow food, now still run locally as a community garden, where all members of LJ Works are invited to help with garden work. The structures house workshops, a co-working space, and food-and-drink-based social enterprises like Old Spike Roastery and Planted. The Platform Cafe across the road cook with the food grown on these premises, which is where the studio frequents – enjoying both local flavours and supporting this project.
On a larger scale, the project in Scotland previously mentioned, a team is consulting on a proposed woodland plan, looking to remediate and replant several hundred acres of vacant land.
Project
1. Can the practice demonstrate projects which strive to match the performance of a mature ecosystem? As a minimum this would mean achieving biodiversity net gain.
As previously mentioned, the project in progress in Scotland is focused on exactly this.
2. Is the practice working on material stewardship? For example, evidence could be shown through repeated use of low carbon materials, extensive material libraries and research or publications supporting responsible use of materials and elimination of waste.
We discussed this recently in the studio, and would like to start recording the amount of material we are mitigating from going to landfill. Being in a position where we are on site with four different projects, there is an incredible opportunity to hone in on the narrative that “one person’s waste is another person’s product”. We have saved tiles, timber, lights, speakers and even have a rooflight set aside which was wrongly ordered which we are planning to design into another project soon to go to site.
3. Do the majority of projects demonstrate the use of biologically-inspired approaches such as Bioregionalism, Biophilia, Biomimicry, Ecomimicry (also referred to as Ecosystems Thinking, Industrial Ecology or Industrial Symbiosis) or BioTRIZ?
No.
Creating a just space for people
Practice
1. Does the practice have a progressive EDI policy and can you evidence many forms of diversity, which are welcomed and acknowledged, within the practice?
Yes, we believe we are progressive in our EDI, evidenced through our team, collaborators, and clients. Our first member of the team was an architect who was the primary carer for her children in the household, who wanted to continue work as an architect but required highly flexible working hours and wanted to be involved in meaningful projects.
Our studio is based at LJ Works, which is a community-driven institution, where tenants have to be involved in local ‘give-back’ focused projects, and be embedded in the Loughborough community.
2. Does the practice operate a no overtime culture, meet the living wage consistently, and stipulate a fair salary ratio between staff of all levels?
Absolutely. We offer balanced hours and accommodate staff diverse needs where possible in terms of flexibility of hours and days.
3. Does the practice support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
Through our commitment to the ECD Centres in Limpopo with the Thusanang Trust we raise funds for solar panels, water tanks, children’s books, planting, and sponsor our time on site in support of the build. Both directors were also recently appointed to the Education Africa board as advisors, working closely on delivering the ECDs in South Africa and helping raise funds and plan future builds.
Furthermore our involvement here at LJ Works as previously mentioned, encourages us to assist and get involved in several community based projects and events.
We also are a monthly contributor to Shelter, supporting those who are struggling with homelessness.
4. Does the practice publicly refuse to work with certain clients, suppliers or organisations on ethical grounds?
We would certainly refuse to work with a client that does not align with our ethical standings or core values. We have also fired a client before who, upon working with, clearly did not have the same ethical standings as ourselves – and we could not stand by it, we rather let the project go (despite it being a great brief!). We have fired a client before who was disregarding the heritage of the building and the due processes to deliver a sound project.
Project
1. Do the projects demonstrate deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users? For example, is there evidence that your project engagement goes beyond consultation towards co-design?
We are a process-focused practice, where we engage without a pre-determined outcome. A deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users is fundamental to our design approach.
We worked together with Architekturbuero Lindstedt on a project in Nettlestedt called ‘Dorf im Dorf’ (Village within a Village), proposing an intergenerational co-living project, deeply embedded in a small town community. We had community-wide workshops and presentations, along with smaller focus-groups, looking at exactly what ‘co-living’ and ‘intergenerational’ really meant to them, and understanding both long-term views, budgetary constraints, and greatest concerns. One outcome was a request for a training session on how to do co-living, explaining how the community garden and workshop should be used and engaged with.
Various iterations of the design were presented and shared with not only the client but the whole community, which was crucial in making sure it was accepted by the community, and suited future users.
2. Do your projects create connected and resilient places which positively contribute to their neighbourhoods and allow equality of access? For example, do your projects create economic opportunity, retain value locally and generate social value?
ECD Centres in South Africa, Dorf im Dorf, Jorejick House, Smart Recycing Factory, Ukuaji, Kaira Looro Women’s House, are amongst many projects that focus primarily on exactly these outcomes. Social value is created by the long term thinking that accompany these projects, which are driven by a ground-up design process.
3. Do the majority of your projects promote equity in society, and consider all people, not only the building inhabitants? For example, do your projects show due regard for workers within the supply chain and take active steps to avoid modern slavery?
We believe in an equitable world. To do this we need to think beyond our own immediate spheres or work. In accordance with the RIBA Code of Professional Conduct, we look to comply with applicable legislation, notably the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Our in-house methods prioritise the welfare of all workers, including those in our supply chain
We will raise awareness of Modern Slavery issues, and exercise skill and care to ensure our supply chains are free of Modern Slavery, treat our supply chains fairly, and report any abusive labour practices to the appropriate authorities immediately. Additionally, we adhere to the CIOB report on UK construction and Modern Slavery, embracing recommendations to change the narrative, lead, train, act with fairness, map risks, investigate, declare, collaborate, evolve, and protect. We are looking to engage with the Supply Chain School to develop our processes, stamping out Slavery within our supply chain.