Natural materials advocate driving research in UK quarries and modular stone systems combined with practice and teaching
Architect, Allies and Morrison; Associate Lecturer at Ravensbourne University. Part 2: 2018, Part 3: 2022
“I believe in radical optimism as a form of activism,” says Giulliana Giorgi, a proponent of using low-carbon, natural materials.
“Young architects inherit a context of climate emergency, biodiversity loss and social uncertainty. My response is not resignation, but rather an insistence that we can dictate the future we want. For me, that future is regenerative: a future in which human and environmental health are inextricably linked.”
Giorgi combines a one-day per week teaching position with four days per week at Allies and Morrison, where she has curated exhibitions, events and guides on natural materials as part of the office's Climate Change Group. She is a driving force in the development of Stonut, a precast structural stone system that adapts precast concrete technology to stone. The aim of the project is to prototype a modular system that integrates structure, glazing and insulation.
She is also researching the use of local stone in British construction, having won a scholarship from the RIBA Scott Brownrigg Award for Sustainable Development this year. The project, due to launch on a public platform in November, will involve the creation of a freely accessible interactive map of all UK quarries and aims to position stone as a viable low-carbon structural alternative.
Giorgi, who describes herself as “a bit material obsessed,” recently took an online course on healthy materials and toxicology and is enthusiastically taking part in hands-on construction workshops.
“It's a shame that we as architects and designers have lost some of our agency in being able to actually work with the material at the source,” she says.
The jury was impressed by the breadth of their commitment and research collaborations, particularly the map of the quarry. “It creates a resource that can help others use stone on a larger scale,” Ricardo Moreira said.
Eleanor Young, meanwhile, praised Stonut as a “systematization of what looks like a craft” with the potential to make stone a scalable construction technique.
What existing problem would you most like to address?
I want to address the urgent need for healthier, low-carbon buildings through the use of locally sourced natural materials. My studies have shown that sustainability and human health are inextricably linked. My goal is to find ways to integrate building with natural materials on a large scale, responding to both our increasing housing pressures and the well-being of our planet.
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