Sebastian Maher — Build Back Beta

Graduation year — 2021

Email — Sebastian.Maher@the-LSA.org

Instagram — @sebmaher

Tutors — Matthew Whittaker & Luke Lupton

Location — Leonard Street, Shoreditch, Hackney

Size — 50,000sqm

Objective —

Build Back Beta is a 100 year vision for London in a new climate age, which is focused on delivering urban resilience and architectural flexibility within a prototypical development on a classic urban block.

Motivation —

The challenges presented by the global crises we face collectively, present a unique opportunity to embed resilience and flexibility into the urban fabric. Our current development models are becoming obsolete as more of our cities are threatened by a changing climate. London is at increasing risk from flooding and heatwaves, placing further pressure on an already overwhelmed infrastructure and property market. Cities require a new method of development which embeds future thinking into its fabric.

Strategy — 

Built on five key principles ranging in scale in both time and space it aims to:

• Recognise and allow humans to thrive in the entangled world we live in
• Respond to the complexity of cities and the ever-changing development of technology and climate
• Relate to the human scale and to harness the underlying structures that have formed cities
• Stimulate, excite and intrigue the senses, and
• Allow adjustment as people and the planet change over time.

Impact —

By embedding resilience and flexibility into the urban fabric at every scale from ‘Planet to Plinth’, our cities will allow humans to thrive in the new climate age, while regenerating our relationship with the world around us.