Jordan Panayi, Part II Architectural Assistant at Groupwork, explores how structural stone and timber can replace carbon-intensive construction systems, drawing on the practice’s experience of designing and delivering buildings with natural materials.

Rethinking the ingredients of architecture

For Groupwork, sustainable architecture is not primarily a question of appearance, but of how buildings are assembled and the materials used to construct them. Jordan Panayi began by questioning the ethical responsibilities of architects, arguing that environmental performance and fire safety must sit alongside the traditional principles of structural integrity, function and beauty.

He described the practice’s approach to assessing materials according to their embodied carbon, using a colour-coded system developed with the University of Bath to inform specification decisions. Rather than relying on heavily processed materials to achieve an architectural image, Groupwork seeks to reduce buildings to their essential components.

Natural stone is key to this approach. Panayi demonstrated how minimally processed stone can be used structurally, rather than as a decorative finish, drawing on projects including Caroline Place, 15 Clerkenwell Close and the Finchley Road development in London. He also presented the practice’s ongoing experiments with post-tensioned stone, stone floor plates and hybrid stone and timber construction.

Looking ahead, Panayi highlighted a proposed building at Osmond Road, where the practice is seeking to combine low-carbon construction with material passports to facilitate future reuse. The ambition, he argued, is to move construction away from being a major contributor to carbon emissions towards becoming an industry capable of storing carbon through the materials it uses