Projection débat : The building envelope reconsidered - the Cork House

Screening and discussion with Oliver Wilton, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London

Oliver Wilton is Professor of Architecture and Environmental Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL). Between 2016 and 2019, he designed Cork House with architects Matthew Barnett Howland and Dido Milne, in partnership with the engineering consultancy Arup and the University of Bath, amongst others. The house is the culmination of a lengthy prototyping process, culminating in a demonstrator that is currently lived in. Its envelope consists largely of a stereotomic assembly of hand-carried blocks of expanded cork. Among the technologies employed, a five-axis cnc mill machined each block. It is this process that enabled dry assembly by interlocking, without the need for any binder or mechanical fastenings.

The project has received widespread attention through publications in professional and academic journals, as well as videos. Notably, it has won several awards from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), claimed the Stephen Lawrence Prize and was named among the six finalists for the Stirling Prize, the highest honour in British architecture. The article ‘Cork Construction Kit’, in which Oliver Wilton and Matthew Barnett Howland outline the research conducted into the construction system, was awarded the RIBA President’s Award for Research.

The event will take the form of a screening followed by a discussion, during which Oliver Wilton will present the project before engaging with the audience and answering their questions.

Organised with the support of the UGA’s LabEx Architectures, this session is primarily aimed at architecture students, whilst being open to the wider UGA community, subject to availability.
To register, please contact: labex-architectures-contactuniv-grenoble-alpes.fr (labex-architectures-contact[at]univ-grenoble-alpes[dot]fr)