Making a Student-Led Regenerative and Bio-based Materials Library within BA Architecture programme

This poster will visually communicate a new and in-progress materials library, created by BA Architecture students, which develops and shares knowledge of experimental ecological building materials, technologies and processes. Material libraries, comprised of handleable samples of building materials and 1:1 scale architectural details, have served as a useful tool in supporting ‘material literacy’ and processes of ‘learning through making’. The materials library being developed within LJMU BA Architecture has two specific areas of focus:1) Collecting and demonstrating regenerative and bio-based materials. Students have collected and produced material samples from research into innovative ecological architectural projects. They have created products and prototypes which combine straw, clay, paper pulp, cork and/or timber. These are experimental materials and technologies within the architectural industry, and the library presents an opportunity for students to gain knowledge at the forefront of contemporary ecological architecture, equipping them with skills needed to make courageous design decisions in response to the climate crisis. 2) Alignment with community-based prototyping projects. The material library builds on externally funded activities and research within the Community Prototyping Cluster in LSACI. It is being developed concurrently with an LJMU SHAPE Innovation fellowship to co-design a regenerative retrofit demonstrator with Home baked Community Land Trust in Anfield. The material library advances the LJMU value of community care, being both informed by and feeding into community-based design-research collaborations within the LCR. The aim of this poster display is to share outcomes from the first phase of the material library development and begin conversations with academic staff, students, and librarians about how it might develop. Bio-based Materials Library SATH 2026 Poster-FINAL.pdf Only LJMU staff and students have access to this resource.