Without Precedent

Farming and food production pile up waste like many other industries. It's not just shapeless carrots that nobody seems to want, or pumpkins which passed Halloween, but by-products, like used bags for animal feed or farmers' twine.
This difficult to recycle agricultural waste is now the product and subject of practical, spatial design suggestions by architecture students from Queen's University, Belfast.
Three groups of Masters of Architecture students show the outcomes of their material investigation in PS². They present an alternative approach to architecture- finding the spatial story of a material through intimate scrutiny, trial and application.
The hope is that it leads to a tighter fit between technology, construction processes and spatial experiences, and in turn leads to less waste and more sustainable outcomes.

Interwoven (White Meal Bags)

One body of work looks at large-scale knitting as a legitimate process of constructing space. Rebecca Aitken, Ursula Dickson, Kathryn Dowse, Gavin Gribben, Joanne Marshall use recycled agricultural bags as the wool to the knit, developing their own knotting apparatus. The result is an unorthogonal, almost gothic approach to space-making. Of course the relationship between knitting and architecture is more pertinent than ever as researchers seek to knit carbon-fibre as concrete reinforcement.

Interlocking (Geometric Block)

The second body of work, produced by Andrew Bryce, Ciaran Magee, Mark Thompson, has digitally crafted a module interlocking on two planes, able to create a screen or complete the facade. It’s articulated, permeable and tactile. It can be made from a range of materials but for now the focus and the trials are completed through ceramics. The lesson here is the need to intertwine the digital and the analogue (hand-crafting the pixel) to release new potentials, geometries and physical experiences.

Intertwine (Baler Twine)

The final body of work looks at the ubiquitous Baler Twine. Matthew Lucas, Bria Mongan, Eve Russell and Mark Scott discovers the hidden aesthetic of baler twine, testing its ability to bring us to places as yet inaccessible. Rigorous trials have led to a playful variety of seasonal architectural applications. Where once hands were cut by the thin line of baler twine, comfort is found in its surface and warmth in its depth.

This work arises from the Architecture Masters Studio: Without Precedent, led by Professor Ruth Morrow and Robert Jamison in the School of the Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast.