Are you a climate aware architecture student? Join our Architecture Summer School at CAT and explore how we can do architecture differently, putting sustainability at the heart of your practice.

The Regenerative Futures Summer School at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) Graduate School of the Environment is a four-day long creative design studio that will allow you to explore this fascinating landscape and collaborate with other architecture students.

You will have the opportunity to learn from experts that teach on our Masters in Sustainable Architecture course (ARB Part 2), see first-hand work in progress, and develop ethical design ideas, that might include exploration of the biosphere, rural communities, vulnerable human settlements, natural materials, carbon sequestration, climate adaptation, nature based landscaping/place making and ecological regeneration.

Key Information 

• Duration: five days
• Upcoming dates: Monday 14 – Friday 18 July
• Start and finish times: starts at 4pm and ends at 3.30pm on the last day 
• Fees: £298
• Includes: tuition, all materials, meals
• Accommodation at CAT can be booked separately for an additional £137. There is also a campsite nearby, or alternative accommodation can be found nearby in Machynlleth or Corris. 
• What to bring: Sketchbook, cameras and laptops. Good boots and waterproof clothing is advised
• Terms and Conditions: 
  • You must be 18 years or over to attend our courses. 
  • For full list of terms and conditions click here 

Who is this course aimed at?

This short residential programme is designed to bring together climate engaged undergraduate architecture and built environment students from around the UK to work alongside each other in the beautiful surroundings of the CAT site, to explore your interests and futures, and to learn from each other in an energising, supportive, inclusive workshop.

Doing architecture differently

CAT’s mission is to inspire, inform and enable humanity to respond to the climate and biodiversity emergency. The architecture summer school has sustainability at its heart and follows CAT’s ethos to explore how we can think differently, to challenge the ways we do architecture, to not only reduce our impact but to also contribute to the creation of a sustainable, regenerative, flourishing world.

Situated in the Dyfi Biosphere, 5 miles from Machynlleth, the CAT site has many examples of experimental green buildings designed with sustainable materials, amongst sustainably managed woodlands, organic gardens, and examples of renewable energy.

The UNESCO designated Dyfi Biosphere in Mid Wales is a significant landscape where people actively engage with issues of biodiversity and sustainability. The landscapes in this part of Mid Wales include high peat moorland, lowland farming and forestry as well as wide estuary, sand dunes and beaches, and include wildlife of broadleaved woodland (the Celtic rainforest), coniferous forest, farmland, saltmarsh and a large lowland peat bog; a haven for wildlife.

The summer school will include a full day exploring the region, meeting local people, delving into the natural landscape from the mountains to the sea, seeing and thinking differently about our responsibilities as custodians of culture and place.  From the start you will be asked to work collaboratively to reimagine future scenarios and develop architectural and environmental interventions that are at once healthy and uplifting, address the urgent issues of climate change and biodiversity, and support thriving communities.

The week will include keynote talks on Zero Carbon Britain, systems thinking, participation, collaboration and socially engaged practice, social value in place-based design and frameworks for future thinking.

Together you will develop imaginative responses to your explorations in the Dyfi Biosphere culminating in an exhibition and celebration of your collective endeavours.

Tutors

Dr Carl Meddings

Carl is the Programme Leader for the M.Arch in Sustainable Architecture. He has taught at several architectural schools at all levels from pre-first-year undergrad to final year at masters level and beyond. As an architect and educator, he is passionate about educating architects in our rapidly changing cultural and professional environments.

Zoë Quick

Zoë’s architectural practice, research and teaching move between architecture, art, poetry and performance, with a focus on enacting resilient relationships between archives, communities and ecologies. As a regular lecturer at CAT, she brings a rich experience in leading multi-disciplinary teams in delivering narrative design projects for cultural institutions and landscapes.

Owen Griffith

Owen Griffiths is an artist, workshop leader and facilitator. Using participatory and collaborative processes, his socially engaged practice explores the possibilities of art to create new frameworks, resources and systems. This takes many forms, but includes reclaiming and rethinking events, rituals and spaces of dialogue through creating gardens, co-designing spaces, and making feast, simultaneously exploring themes around climate, landscape, urbanism, social justice and food systems.

Becca Thomas

Becca, Creative Director of Glasgow based New Practice. Particularly experienced at developing robust briefs for clients, and building their knowledge of, and ambition for, design and construction processes Becca takes a thoughtful approach to Architecture.  Through her work in New Practice, she supports complex built projects at a wide range of scales – from pavilions and public realm works, to renovations, creative workspaces, cultural and community buildings and arts hubs.