Making with Paulownia: A Physical Method for Integrating Sustainability with Ontological Tectonic Theory.

There is an opportunity within architecture to design, transparently communicate and create buildings which are responsive to social needs and ecological pressures. Yet, current methods of sustainable design do not fully authentically utilise low embodied energy materials or construction methods. Instead, the discipline adapts existing materials used, design processes, construction techniques, or, tries to represent sustainability through the addition of PV panels, greenery and other symbols of sustainability. This kind of design is both immaterial and atectonic – without truly showing the construction materials and its practical use. In response to this, this research looks into how to design with a practical use of material through tectonic theory, construction communication and a phenomenological method.

The main theoretical framework in ontological tectonic theory, Object-Oriented Ontology, phenomenology and making define a criteria for achieving explicit and sustainable construction systems. This research suggests that designers can gain an understanding of a material sensibility by problem solving through ontological physical making. This process can be evaluated for integrating both pragmatics and ideals into a design compared to more abstract design methods.

Object-Oriented Ontology and phenomenology argue an empathetic quality when engaging with a thing in itself which extends the consideration to the environment􏰁 Keeping a material’s inherent attributes􏰀 presenting them􏰀 not manipulating the material past recognition and reflecting human processes back to the occupants of the space - all have pragmatic parallels. In this context, pragmatics in construction detailing is both an aesthetics and ethical choice. Practical aesthetics defined by Gottfried Semper in 1803 has led to an ontological tectonic framework that steers architects away from the spectacle and towards Martin Heidegger’s definition of art being the ability to show a material’s innerness􏰁 In authentically investigating what is sustainable, pragmatic and how to convey these motivations to a detail, then when applied broadly to the form, this ensures the architecture has all of the considerations throughout.

This work applies the listed principles of robust design experimentation through making using a sustainable material. Through an analysis of sustainable principles, this thesis found Paulownia wood as a net positive material when it is grown and used in building. When grown on a diversified agro-forestry dairy farm it is able to store significant quantities of nitrogen and carbon to give a multitude of ecological benefits. Additionally, despite normative construction barriers due to Paulownia’s nailless construction requirement􏰀 where its interlocking join requirement facilitates sustainable and ontological tectonic criteria.