Julia Barfield explains how Marks Barfield Architects has built on its entrepreneurial activist roots to redirect its energies towards becoming a regenerative practice.
‘For us design is a powerful tool for good, both social and environmental. At its best it improves the quality of people’s lives and lifts their spirits while drawing on a minimum of the earth’s limited resources.’ David Marks and Julia Barfield
When David and I and other AA students squatted a number of derelict houses – and a pub – in Stockwell, I could never have guessed that I would still be here 47 years later. It was where we met. We were active locally from the beginning – helping establish Larkhall Park through the Larkhall Park Action group in the late ’70s – drawing up an alternative plan following local consultation and getting funding for a café and changing rooms building; supporting our neighbouring Adventure Playground when Lambeth wanted to close it by protesting at the Town Hall and, more recently, initiating housing development on Lambeth-owned sites (they had forgotten about) on the edge of the park to increase funding for the park.
As a practice we have always seen our purpose and responsibility, as being wider than for a single client, but to wider society and the environment – always design led and values driven. Indeed, we didn’t always wait for a client. The aspect of our entrepreneurial project – the London Eye – that I am most proud of is the fact that we ensured, as part of the permanent planning permission, that 1% of ticket sales went to the local South Bank community in perpetuity – amounting to many millions by now.
However, now, with the urgency and terrifying reality of the planetary emergency we need to lazer focus on the most effective response.
At MBA we have created a strategy for change that re directs our energies beyond sustainability to become a regenerative practice.
We have reinforced our architectural guiding principles of: radical decarbonisation; radical sufficiency & efficiency; prioritising retrofit over demolition; radical reuse & circularity and mining the Anthropocene – based on circular principles to minimise waste.
Our Climate Action Group is increasing our carbon literacy; getting the tools to measure it; researching new materials and bio materials; creating a materials and climate library and training in Passivhaus and EnerPHit.
We have a project that will be built entirely out of reused material for the adventure playground mentioned at the beginning of this piece -now OASIS Children’s Venture, Nature Garden, near to where this photo was taken.
We are also involved with two climate-related projects – a tidal power lagoon in west Somerset and a vertical farm initiative.
But is it enough?
The harsh reality is that we need to build less as an industry and ask ourselves the question personally: as tipping points are reached are we prepared to stand by and watch the planet burn?
Julia Barfield
London SW8
Source: Architecture Today