Magna Parens Materia: Hybrid Stone and Timber Mid-Rise Building

Over the last century, architects have been driven by market conditions to build with the highest possible combination of CO2-heavy materials, including steel and reinforced concrete frames filled with glass, aluminum, and fired clay bricks. This studio speculates on the potential of turning the construction industry from one that emits a significant amount of CO2 to one that sequesters it. By designing in stone (a partial substitute for reinforced concrete and steel) and timber (a heavy carbon sequestrator), we explore the feasibility of lowering the carbon footprint of new mid-rise buildings. At the same time, while our studio followed a hybrid approach employing stone and timber, we recognize the necessity of designs that may include other mixes of (potentially carbon-intensive) materials.

The studio begins with a crash course in stone’s material properties—structural, tactile, textual, financial, and carbon cost—and, thanks to “source to product” suppliers and specialists, we continue by touring quarries, stonemasons’ workshops across Belgium and the UK, and buildings in London (where student projects are set, in the Earl’s Court development of the London framework plan). This studio aims to recalibrate practice for real-world applicability, engage with building technology, sustainability, and codes, and establish a reciprocity between technical and conceptual aspects.

Magna Parens Materia: Hybrid Stone and Timber Mid-Rise Building is a studio report from the Spring 2024 option studio Magna Parens Materia jointly taught by Hanif Kara and Amin Taha at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Series design by Zak Jensen and Laura Grey
Report design by Robin Albrecht

Softcover, 246 pages, 17 x 24.5 cm