Health. Circularity. Carbon. Provenance.

We craft beautiful buildable spaces from healthy, carefully sourced low impact materials. We are committed to understanding and documenting the full life story of the materials that we specify to minimise negative environmental and social impacts and maximise opportunities for re-use and future disassembly.

Our work promoting local material supply chains, and helping to overcome regulatory barriers to market access for innovative environmentally responsible materials, has enabled us to support local economies and celebrate unique regional provenance and character in our buildings.

Our expertise in material impacts is underpinned by extensive research and in-house modelling tools that enable us to dynamically assess embodied carbon and whole life carbon through every stage of a project to guide decision making and deliver optimised specification solutions.

Material Impacts

James leads our material impact experts and the development of our in-house carbon tools

James Todd

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Informed Material Specification

The Genesis Centre

Timber Pavilion (Offices)

Prefabricated timber framing was site-insulated with recycled newspaper (Warmcell) (for separated stud construction, U = 0.167W/m 2K). This is the super-insulated, lighter-weight, faster response pavilion. The interior finishes are either plaster or, on the interiors of the external walls, birch-faced ply.

The Genesis Centre

Clay Pavilion (Lecture Theatre)

The clay pavilion is constructed from Cellular fired clay blocks - Ziegel blocks from Germany (U = 0.31W/m 2K) which are precise enough to be laid thin-bed and have no mortar in the perpends, though there is some mechanical interlock.

CUE at the Horniman

Designed for disassembly

A radical and innovative construction system was developed for the building, enabling a fast construction time to be achieved, and allowing the structure to be potentially disassembled and reassembled in future.

Architype have been consistently developing a healthy palette of robust, natural materials for many years.

With experience in designing to BREEAM Outstanding and Building Biology Standards we have a deep understanding of approaches to reduce physical, chemical and biological risks and eliminate toxic materials and electro-magnetic radiation to create natural, healthy-living environments that support well-being.

Circularity

The Entopia Building

Kintsugi brings a desk back to life

A high-quality wooden reception desk with a stone surface recovered from the headquarters of Netflix was re-shaped and repaired to fit the new entrance space.

The Entopia Building

Circular lighting

The building gained a BREEAM innovation credit through the contractor ISG who re-used 350 light fittings from another building refurbishment.

Coed-y-Brenin Visitor Centre

Welsh Brettstapel

The brief provided by Natural Resources Wales (formerly FCW) requested that the building should be a showcase for Welsh timber and timber products, using an innovative construction method and Wales' huge stock of low grade, fast growing softwood, Larch and Sitka Spruce.

The Genesis Centre

Straw Pavilion (Seminar Rooms)

Bales of local wheat straw (U = 0.13W/m 2K) were laid in stretcher bond and pinned with hazel rods, then precompressed with straps while the roof was added.

Burry Port Community Primary School

Building with Brettstapel

The Brettstapel system is a great example of the innovative low-carbon approach to design and construction adopted on the project. Brettstapel maximises the performance of low-grade softwood components allowing them to be used structurally whilst providing a natural, toxin-free interior that complements the interal air quality.

Prioritising, enabling, and safeguarding re-use and upcycling over new materials

Our architectural perspective enables dovetailed thinking around regional material sourcing, dynamic re-use opportunities, creative up-cycling avenues, and designing for disassembly to support the circular economies of today and tomorrow.

Whole Life Carbon Assessment

Bicester Eco Business Centre

A blueprint for Zero Carbon

At a time of climate emergency, the centre provides a blueprint for future office builds and easily achieves the RIBA 2030 operational energy target of 55 kWh/m2 with a net final energy consumption (regulated and unregulated) of 2.4kWh/m2, significantly lower than traditional office buildings.

Whole life carbon assessed through the lifecycle of a project - from individual buildings to complex estates.

Whole life carbon assessment presents a complete picture of the combined embodied carbon and operational carbon impact of a building over its full lifecycle.

Combining our expertise in embodied carbon analysis with our understanding of building energy performance enables us to give unique insights to help inform strategic target setting, design decision making and product specification. Our approach can help avoid unintended consequences where energy efficiency measures could have an unacceptably high embodied carbon penalty or vice versa.

Our in-house RICS v2 compliant Building Impact Library tool enables us to model whole life carbon across complex estates with multiple buildings and phases. We can test multiple future scenarios at an estate level to help shape the best trajectory to meet current and emerging carbon targets.

Embodied Carbon Assessment

Harris Academy Sutton

Passivhaus and CLT

A Cross Laminated Timber frame forms the heart of the 10,625m2 school, one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Expert embodied carbon consultancy that drives positive project outcomes.

Embodied carbon assessments measure the climate impact of the material sourcing, construction processes, in-use maintenance and renewal, and end of life decisions. Using in-house software, we are able to dynamically assess the embodied carbon impact of designs, set deliverable evidence based project targets and make suggestions about how materials can be substituted and optimised to reduce overall impact.

Architype have been at the forefront of promoting the growing awareness of the importance of embodied carbon across the industry. Embodied carbon forms one key part of our broader commitment to understanding the impacts of the materials that we specify in terms of environmental impact, health, air quality and social responsibility.

While it is important that embodied carbon is assessed at key project milestones, we believe that a pro-active approach, monitoring and reporting on the impact of design decisions as they are proposed, is the best way to reduce carbon, risk and cost. This approach can also help identify win-win solutions that reduce both cost and carbon - for example through reducing the need for temporary works, the use of self-finishes or reducing overall material usage.

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Performance

Perform+ consultancy

Vision

All vision

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Health & Wellbeing

How can healthy buildings improve our experience and promote health and productivity?

Healthier Buildings

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Climate

How do we put actions into words when it comes to the climate emergency?

Climate Resilience

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Circular Economy

How do we break down barriers to deliver imaginative circular economy solutions?

Transitioning to a Circular Economy

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Natural Materials

How can natural, low-impact materials be effectively integrated into projects?

Innovating with Natural Materials