Architecture
We design architecture that is of the place and for the place; embedded with stories of community endeavour, local industry and material landscapes.
We work with private clients and community groups, all of the profit generated working for the former stays in the company to fund pro-bono work for the latter.
Low carbon materials are non-negotiable, we are more interested in local materials as a catalyst for local industry and inspiration for current and future makers.
→ Loveland Community Building
Penryn, Cornwall
Co-designed with the community, a timber barn complex specified almost entirely with reclaimed material from ReCollective.
Multi-use featuring food processing and packing areas, a kitchen and hall to feed and shelter volunteers - as well as colourful cultural and educational programmes, including seasonal feasts, site-based theatre and skills training for new growers.
→ Goonown Growers Eco-Barn
St Agnes, Cornwall
A community-led, multi-use eco-barn for Goonown Growers market garden.
Design intentions were socialised at feasts and farm tours, bringing together the growers and both their volunteer and customer base, to collectively set out community ambitions for use of the space beyond food production.
The timber frame and cladding are sourced from Red’s forest at the edge of the South West, floor boards and ceiling finishes are reclaimed timber from ReCollective - windows and sky lights are also reclaimed.
An exposed hempcrete wall, funded by Newquay Orchard’s green skills programme, was built through short courses integrated with the construction work, upskilling local people who want to build with natural materials. The barn was built by Social Constructs, with an all female team, offering apprenticeships and short courses to women looking for a path into construction.
→ ColdFrame Brewery @ Innovation Nursery
St Austell, Cornwall
ColdFrame’s new brewery will produce 0 kilometre beer, reflecting the founder’s ethos of producing beer that is ‘of its place’ - an ethos that is perfectly aligned with our designed philosophy.
The building is specified with a large glulam frame, manufactured with South West larch - it is clad with four different timber species to illustrate the abundance of viable construction timber in Cornwall, and ceramic tiles made with earth excavated during groundworks for the building.
The brewery is also off-grid, powered by a large solar array, and integrated with a sophisticated reed bed system which will process naturally, both human effluent and brewing waste.
→ POW Artist Studios
Ealing, London
4 new artist studios within Park Royal Open Workshops, built almost entirely with materials reclaimed by ReCollective from film industry set waste that is produced on the same estate where POW is based.
Bespoke Larsen truss components were prefabricated with reclaimed material, at ReCollective’s facility nearby, to extend the life and utility of hard to reuse timbers.
After a complex planning process shifting from temporary to permeant residential, a new home for Cornwall’s much-celebrated mushroom grower, Phae Raine, and her family to live on the land at The Good Life Farm.
An oak frame home self-built by the family with low-carbon specifications throughout, and fully integrated with off-grid services and energy systems.
→ Expressions of Resilience Pavilions
Shoreditch, London
Conceived by Beyond the Box and Build Hollywood, a programme for young creatives and designers to emerge in East London through a combination of participatory architectural design and cultural programming.
The pavilions were built almost entirely with materials reclaimed by ReCollective, then deconstructed following the cultural programme’s completion and returned to ReCollective to give the materials a third life.
The volunteer hub hosts veg packing, tea drinking, cooking and eating. A crowdfunded total budget of just £5,000 was supplemented with significant effort and generosity from community networks to support a vital project.
The shelter is specified with almost no new materials. Second hand bricks have been donated by Brickfield. Hemp and lime for the infill has been donated by Social Designs. Partitions and bi-fold ‘windows’ are wrapped with leftovers from Loveland’s new polytunnels. The timber is provided by ReCollective, following a massive community effort that saw 15 tonnes of waste timber diverted from the film industry in London to Cornwall.