A Post-Carbon Pedagogy

This project envisions a future school of architecture on Cockatoo Island, where bio-based experimentation, and making are central to its pedagogy. Moving beyond extractive contemporary approaches, students engage in low-tech, low-carbon construction that prioritises material origins and life cycles, addressing the ecological necessity for a post-carbon future. Imagining the deindustrialised island as a productive landscape, fields of hemp, wheat, eucalyptus and reed become building materials which tie architecture to the agriculture from which it is grown. This immersive pedagogy demands an intimate understanding with the landscapes that sustain its materials, pointing to a radical, viable and urgent future of non-extractive, post-carbon design practices.

Render Image – View of Powerhouse Exhibition Hall and Dining Hall undergoing thatch roof replacement

Render Image – View of School’s Drydock Workshops

Ground Floor Plan

Site Section

Island Site Plan