Samuel Field Y4
The Next Rotation
Can the way we build be shaped by local mixed-species forests, allowing architecture to grow with the material cycles of Britain’s next woodland rotation?
British forests are at a crossroads. Monoculture plantations must shift towards diverse, climate-resilient woodland to combat climate change, disease and ecological vulnerability. While the UK can grow this resource, it underuses domestic timber, relying on imports for over 80% of construction supply. Roudham, within Thetford’s Public Forest Estate, becomes a test site for the Next Rotation: an ecologically rich, mixed-species woodland shaped by new material practices and public forest infrastructure. A phased building grows with the forest across one 70-year cycle, becoming a built record of the changing woodland. It imagines a slow forest grown architecture, shaped by the climatic, ecological, and material realities of Britain’s next rotation.
Year 4 Bartlett Medal Winner
Year 4 Architectural Design Prize Winner
Design Realisation Prize: Innovation in Detail Prize Winner
