The four main headings of the Construction Ecology approach (Context, Materials, Processes and Experiences) are really subjects that we should be considering as part of a design project anyway, but the benefit is that they ask you to consider each in detail.
Throughout the field trip, one of the things that was most obvious to me was the stark contrast between 2 situations that were treading on each others toes: the refined, crisp, concrete and glass towers that were being built across the street from the old, neglected, traditional timber dwellings. Each situation could be summed up by by a descriptor that included 2 or 3 building materials and the images they evoke.
Glass curtain wall. Rusty corrugated iron.
Cladding system. Rotten timber.
In beginning to create my Construction Ecologies map I wanted to explore the site materials in a physical way, so I began to create a materials sample board. Though obviously still work in progress, the aim is to explore not just the materials within the site as we found them, but how they might be used or manipulated – in accordance with my scenario – to help inform my final design response.
Infrastructures of Autonomy 