RIBA’s seventh talk in the Architecture Anew series will host an in-person conversation with architects Waugh Thistleton and architectural historian Barnabas Calder about the relationship between architecture and energy resources past, present and future.
Through his recent book Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency, Calder charts the intertwining trajectories of energy and architectural histories, outlining how the availability and types of energy resources have always shaped the ways in which we built our world. If architecture has always adapted to new materials, the most efficient sources of energy and technological innovations, how will today’s architects evolve in response to our current state of climate emergency coupled with limited resources? Leading the way through setting an example is the London-based architecture office Waugh Thistleton. The practice is completely committed to low carbon construction, and has become internationally renowned for its extensive research and built work using timber construction.