Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2024
18 June to 18 August, Main Galleries - Burlington House
FCBStudios has been selected to exhibit in the Architecture room at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024.
The theme of "spaces for making," has been set by this year's curators Assemble RA, with the intention of focusing and reflecting on making as a process. Our submission takes the form of a block press, of the kind used to create stablilised soil blocks.
Materials sourced from the ground
Similar technology has played a pivotal role in the success of several of our international projects, offering an affordable, low-carbon construction method.
At Ankarafa field station, a research facility for Bristol Zoo, deep in the heart of Madagascar's Ankarafa forest, the primary structural material was sourced from the ground. Using win spoil from the foundations, earth is compressed to form an Interlocking Stabilised Soil Block (ISSB). The advantages of this process, in such are remote and fragile ecology are two fold. Using materials from site - timber and soil - very little needs to be brought to site, and the impact on the environment, in terms of waste and carbon emissions is of course very low.
This innovative method does not require mortar and the strength is achieved through the brick’s profile and interlocking nature. The bricks are sun dried and so do not need to use timber to be fired in a kiln. This block press is similar to the one used on site for the construction of the field station - due to complete this summer.