OOC DTP student Ana Gatóo has been awarded a Design Exchange Partnership grant from the AHRC, the Design Museum and KTP to design flexible spaces with engineered timber and digital tools for affordable housing in London.
The project is in collaboration with Prof Michael Ramage, the director of the Centre for Natural Material Innovation and Ron Bakker, founding partner of PLP Architecture. The project, which grows from Ms Gatóo’s PhD, explores how engineered timber can improve the way we live through the design of sustainable, adaptable and flexible interiors for future living.
Engineered timber is the most ecological of the major construction materials and can act as a carbon sink in our urban centres. After the pandemic, flexibility of interior spaces has become crucial with social, economic, and environmental benefits.
With mass customization, the growth of digital factories for timber products, and the possibilities of open-source designs, interior walls can come alive as sustainable, affordable and creative.
The project will be part of the Future Observatory programme at the Design Museum in London.
