AJ Climate Champions

Episode 22. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. New year, new horizons: Climate Champions is going abroad in search of fresh approaches to ecological architecture. This week we continue talking to French architect and natural materials expert Dominique Gauzin-Müller, who explains why hybrid use of materials is the way forward. We also speak to French structural engineer and ACAN member Frédéric Bourgeon about France’s new embodied carbon regulations. For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Episode 21. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. New year, new horizons: Climate Champions is going abroad in search of fresh approaches to ecological architecture. This week we talk to French architect and natural materials expert Dominique Gauzin-Müller about France’s growing ‘frugal’ architecture movement. She also shares with us research in ‘poured earth’ which she sees as an alternative to concrete. For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Episode 20. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. As 2021 crawls to a close, Hattie Hartman converses with Design Museum chief curator Justin McGuirk about the exhibition Waste Age: What Can Design Do, on show until 22 February. And if you’re still wondering how your practice can tackle the climate emergency, Architects Declare steering group member Kat Scott reveals AD’s long-awaited Practice Guide, packed with tips for every practice – large or small – no matter where you are on your sustainability journey. For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Episode 19. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. This week we continue our focus on reuse with a step-by-step approach to tagging the components of an existing building so that they can be dismantled and reused, just like Lego blocks. Hoolahan explains how she collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to develop an open source, design-led approach to material passports for retrofit, an initiative that won her this year’s AJ100 Sustainability Champion award. For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Episode 18. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. Architect and academic Duncan Baker-Brown shares the latest developments in material reuse, including his proposal for a pavilion at Glyndebourne Opera, sourced from materials on the Glyndebourne estate and the surrounding Sussex weald. For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Episode 17. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. In this episode, we speak to Glasgow City Council architect Paola Pasino about her work with Danish architect Jan Gehl to create the framework for much that is happening in Glasgow today. Our second guest is ACAN’s Evelyn Choy, who talks to us about the exhibitions, events and social media storm the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) is hosting during COP26. Hattie Hartman highlights the key built environment reports launched for the international climate conference.  For show notes to this episode, go to www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Ep 16. Continuing its focus on the international climate conference, AJ Climate Champions speaks to Becca Thomas of New Practice about activating a site just outside the COP26 secure zone as a destination for protesters, and Stephen O’Malley of Civic Engineers about redesigning the public realm of Glasgow city centre for active travel and resiliency. For show notes to this episode and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.

The new RIBA president discusses his advocacy role at COP26, and the chair of the institute’s Sustainable Futures Group explains revisions to the 2030 Climate Challenge targets. As COP26 in Glasgow approaches in early November, AJ Climate Champions puts the spotlight on the RIBA’s recently released Built for the Environment report, a global call for governments to harness the built environment’s role in tackling climate change. Allford shares his ambitions for a House of Architecture at 66 Portland Place and insights on how his almost 500-strong practice, AHMM, delivers sustainable design. Hattie Hartman also speaks with Gary Clark about the current workstreams of the RIBA's Sustainable Futures Group. For show notes, go to https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/podcasts

Ep 14. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. Architect Sarah Featherstone and planner Jennifer Ross, both members of the all-female VeloCity team, describe their 21st-century strategy for the English countryside: less cars, more bikes and new housing in village clusters linked to rail stations. Ross explains why we desperately need a joined-up approach to spatial planning that focuses on villages clustered within a 7-mile radius to lure people out of their cars and onto bicycles and footpaths, and Featherstone reveals early proposals for Blenheim Estate which include Passivhaus housing and reinstated cycleways to facilitate school runs. For show notes to this episode and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.

Ep 13. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman. In our continuing series on landscape and the biodiversity crisis, we speak to rewilding pioneer Isabella Tree of the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, hailed as ‘one of the most exciting wildlife conservation projects in the UK.’ The conservationist and author explains why the proposed Buck Farm development – which goes before Horsham District Council this week – epitomises the current controversy between the upcoming Environment Bill and the government’s intended planning reforms. For show notes to this episode and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.