Reconnecting with nature

To celebrate our new book - Cullinan Studio in the 21st Century - which is OUT TODAY, Roddy Langmuir reflects on our progressive vision for society and the natural world, and discusses architecture’s role in combating climate change.

“About 18 months ago, many of us in the Cullinan studio felt the need to stand back a little and ask ourselves why we were working as architects? What was the larger context beyond the design problems we faced each day? We’d been carrying on, furiously chasing deadlines, heads down, doing what we do… but there was electricity in the air, storm clouds gathering. Professions have a tendency to self-reference and behave with a bubble mentality, whereas new ideas often ignite on the margins of fields of study where they rub up against different disciplines and frames of reference. It was feeling as if the profession of architecture needed to open its horizons and embrace the biggest issues for the built environment – climate change, biodiversity loss, and imagining the transformative possibilities of new infrastructure. In the world beyond ours, you could sense a change was beginning to take place, or at least an acknowledgement that things had to change.

“Many individuals and organisations, including our own architectural practice, had beaten at the doors of climate change for over 50 years with little measurable impact. But these doors were beginning to be taken down by a popular uprising that was penetrating right at the heart of big business. And our children were refusing to see climate change as a problem too large and too complex to be tackled; insisting on action and choosing to work with ethical businesses that were aligned with their world view….”

Read the full piece on Lund Humphries’ blog.

Cullinan Studio in the 21st Century, written by Hugh Pearman, can be purchased here.

Watch this space for details on the launch event.