Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include clarifying comments from Matthew Howland.
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Cork House designer Matthew Barnett Howland recently had some thoughts concerning this year's Stirling Prize winner. According to BD, the finalist "was speaking at the Stirling Prize party after Mikhail Riches' Goldsmith Street council housing...was named the winner...for being Passivhaus-compliant..."
According to BD, Howland's primary gripe was the observed dismissal of embodied carbon by regulators. "I can see that [Goldsmith Street’s] social aspects are probably more important but where’s the conversation about whole life carbon, about lifecycles? Wake up! Why aren’t we talking openly about this stuff?" he said, reports BD.
But, it appears, according to Howland, that these comments have been skewed, misrepresented, and taken out of context. After the publication of the BD article Howland stepped into the comments section to provide some background:
"The intentions behind my comments made during an informal end-of-the-night conversation have been twisted to make a headline. I have been misrepresented and misquoted out of context, and I’m certain that this is not the best way to generate a constructive debate.
Above all else, in no way would I wish to detract from the many achievements of Mikhail Riches and Cathy Hawley at Goldsmith Street, which is a fantastic project on many levels and well-deserving of The RIBA Stirling Prize 2019. As an aside, my father designed a huge amount of housing during his career at Birmingham City Council, so I have nothing but the greatest respect for what Mikhail Riches have done in this very different era. I sincerely hope that their scheme has the much-needed impact that it deserves, and spreads the broader message regarding the importance of high-quality, low operational energy social housing which is particularly timely.
The Passivhaus approach can and does make a valuable contribution to carbon reduction by delivering homes with low operational carbon. It does not in itself guarantee low whole life carbon but can contribute to this. Any comments I unwittingly made regarding embodied carbon in general were not aimed at design decisions made on specific projects, which I know are the result of careful consideration of many complex factors.
In general, the broader adoption of a whole life carbon approach in architecture, design and construction is overdue and would bring with it significant carbon reduction benefits. This is something recognised by the past winners of the Stirling Prize in their Architects Declare statement that commits them to 'Include ... whole life carbon modelling ... as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.'
Matthew Barnett Howland
This year's Stirling contenders were, in the words of RIBA president Alan Jones, "arguably the most sustainable shortlist ever." While Howland advocates for the introduction of embodied carbon into discussions of sustainability, Passivhaus and regulators may find themselves looking further into the potential fruits of such an implementation.
5 Comments
Related: On the very BD article in which he was quoted to be complaining, Matthew Howland commented:
"The intentions behind my comments made during an informal end-of-the-night conversation have been twisted to make a headline. I have been misrepresented and misquoted out of context, and I’m certain that this is not the best way to generate a constructive debate.
Above all else, in no way would I wish to detract from the many achievements of Mikhail Riches and Cathy Hawley at Goldsmith Street, which is a fantastic project on many levels and well-deserving of The RIBA Stirling Prize 2019. As an aside, my father designed a huge amount of housing during his career at Birmingham City Council, so I have nothing but the greatest respect for what Mikhail Riches have done in this very different era. I sincerely hope that their scheme has the much-needed impact that it deserves, and spreads the broader message regarding the importance of high-quality, low operational energy social housing which is particularly timely.
The Passivhaus approach can and does make a valuable contribution to carbon reduction by delivering homes with low operational carbon. It does not in itself guarantee low whole life carbon but can contribute to this. Any comments I unwittingly made regarding embodied carbon in general were not aimed at design decisions made on specific projects, which I know are the result of careful consideration of many complex factors.
In general, the broader adoption of a whole life carbon approach in architecture, design and construction is overdue and would bring with it significant carbon reduction benefits. This is something recognised by the past winners of the Stirling Prize in their Architects Declare statement https://www.architectsdeclare.... that commits them to 'Include ... whole life carbon modelling ... as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.'
Matthew Barnett Howland"
Thank you for pointing this out Donna!
Seems like he's a class act, which is refreshing.
Aw, Sean, that's excellent that you updated the article!
I think both projects are wonderful. But in awarding prizes I tend to think the more people the building will directly impact positively, the better. I recently served on an awards jury for which the single family homes were all incredibly good pieces of architecture but ultimately the larger projects were more important in affecting people's daily lives.
I think single family homes are best, in architecture, at being testing grounds. The big idea of whole life carbon responsibility that the Cork House exhibits is an important topic, and the Cork House brings the discussion into the light. That's valuable, and could be enormously influential as the idea scales up!
On a more personal, poetic terms, the notion of an entire building made from one material is absolutely enchanting - and I think single family homes are excellent projects to explore that kind of idea.
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