Post by Olga Ioannou

What happens when architecture students, engineering students, and makers come together to design and build at full scale using regenerative materials? This year's Summer School challenged participants to rethink not only how we build, but who we build for. Working with hempcrete and timber, participants designed, fabricated, and cast a full-scale construction module that creates space for both human habitation and urban biodiversity. Rather than treating the building envelope as a boundary, the project explored it as a shared habitat—supporting birds, insects, mosses, climbing plants, and other species alongside human occupation. From the first sketches to digital models, full-scale prototyping, mixing, casting, and assembly, the project became a true design-build experience. Ideas evolved through making, and making continuously informed design. Beyond the prototype itself, the summer school was about collaboration: bringing together different disciplines, combining computational design with craftsmanship, and demonstrating how regenerative materials can inspire new ways of thinking about architecture. A huge thank you to all students, tutors, colleagues, and partners whose enthusiasm, creativity, and hard work made this possible. Seeing an ambitious idea become reality in such a short time is always inspiring. 🎥 The video captures some of the highlights of this year's journey—we hope you enjoy it! With: Stijn Brancart Jan Jongert Jack O'Hagan Tom Boom George Karvelas Gabriele Mirra and the video magic of Raoul T.. Nicolet Mansveld-Olsthoorn Romy Fischer Anya Baumeister Kuhu Bora Natasza Czajkowska Sabeth Dugdale Khushi Karia @ANNA KOLIOUSI @Carole Lefeuvre @Nataliia Mei Victoria Miarowski Filippa Papageorgiou @Sofiya Zaretskaya @Erdenetuya Zorigtbaatar Yeong C. Laura Kristina Kleine Butron Youjin Lee Nick McDonald Sanjna Raisinghani Elifsu Yumurtacı Viola Zammarchi Lorenzo Ermolli Zanhai H. @LULU JIANG @Monica Alexandra Muñoz Veloza @Leonie Paul Sarah Suarez Anne-Jil Clohse @Lily Kenway @SIYANG TONG And Avie Badham Casper van Tilburg Laura Orfali Soria @Gabriela Ramos @Maria Isabel De La Cruz Luis Pierre Oskam Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft #circularbuiltenvironmenthub #SummerSchool #DesignBuild #Architecture #Engineering #CircularConstruction #RegenerativeMaterials #Hempcrete #TimberConstruction #ComputationalDesign #MaterialInnovation #SustainableArchitecture #Biodiversity #TUDelft

Video Content