(re)Grown: Sowing a Bio-based Material Culture was a two-week long exhibition and panel talk which took place as part of the Architecture Fringe festival in 2023.

To combat the climate crisis it is imperative that the construction industry transitions towards a cleaner, more sustainable and circular future, with actions required at both the national, local and individual level. In practice this means decarbonising society by; rapidly shifting our reliance upon fossil fuels towards cleaner renewable energy sources; significantly reducing our collective energy demand; changing our building practices to focus on renewable bio-based material construction methods and materials; retrofitting our existing building stock to meet future energy use targets, both operational and embodied; and develop effective models of circular material and resource use.

In collaboration with Material Cultures, we presented a library of sustainable material innovations from Scotland and beyond, alongside the (re)installation of their ‘Homegrown’ exhibition from the Building Centre in London. Three films produced by Material Cultures were also displayed and sought to “reimagine how we use land at a local, regional and national scale, offering the chance for economic and social renewal, and refiguring how we live.”

The exhibition and material display explored the possibilities of a more environmentally equitable future – one that veers away from prevailing carbon-heavy industry models and towards a regenerative and bio-regional material economy. We asked the audience to critically reassess their relationship with the built environment by engaging with our landscapes and its materials holistically.

(re)Grown was the first of an evolving series of public exhibition and climate engagement projects which urge the construction industry to develop holistic strategies for sustainable intervention and rapidly adopt a de-carbonised, bio-based and circular material culture.