The production of most of our current building materials requires large amounts of energy and produces unsustainable levels of carbon emissions. What are the emerging alternatives? What are the new materials that are being researched and tested?

More importantly, what impact do they have on the tectonics of our buildings. What are the structural constraints and opportunities, and what does that mean for the types of architecture and spaces we create with them?

Following an introduction into the history of new materials and their effect on the development of structural engineering and architecture, groups of students will research new materials and material strategies, the associated construction and building techniques that are emerging and their impact on structure and architecture. Small design examples should be used to highlight the potential.

We intend to collect the research produced, over time building up a compendium of new materials, and the associated approaches to structural design, tectonics and architectural space.

There will be an oral examination at the end of the seminar, combined with the submission of a set of presentation slides that outline the work, design examples and conclusions. We collect and publish these submissions on our website and expect them to be of an adequate standard. This is to include clear references of other research work, good quality graphics and a clear legible structure to the document.