Materials Buffet at the Roundtable

There is a creative explosion of work taking place in architecture and design schools, exploring materials such as clay and earth, mycelium, engineered timber, bio-based polymers and algae. With a better understanding of the social, environmental and economic sustainability of any given material – alongside its technical properties – we should reimagine responsible and creative material use.

In this event, Dr Will McLean will discuss a small 'buffet' of contemporary construction materials at the Urban Radicals Roundtable. The event is open to all, but most likely to be of interest to students, practising architects and anyone into materials and buffets.

Who is Dr Will McLean?
Dr Will McLean is Reader in Regenerative Structures & Materials at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster. McLean writes about architecture, technology and Construction History and he has co-authored six books with colleague Pete Silver including Air Structures (Laurence King 2015) and Environmental Design Sourcebook (RIBA Publishing 2021). His most recent co-authored publication is entitled Sustainable and Regenerative Materials and for Architecture and will be published in 2025 by Laurence King. McLean was a co-editor of Construction History: International Journal of the Construction History Society (2016-2021). Between 2005 and 2010 McLean wrote a column for Architectural Design (AD) entitled McLean's Nuggets, which appeared in over 30 issues of the magazine. In 2008 he established the architectural imprint Bibliotheque McLean, publishing new titles including Quik Build: Adam Kalkin's ABC of Container Architecture (2008). Sabbioneta: Cryptic City by James Madge (2011) and Building with Air by Dante Bini (2014).

This event was a collaboration between Urban Radicals and University of Westmintser.