Ecologies of Stewardship

University of Bath, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Idea projektu

The project is situated on a disused urban infill site at the threshold between Le Havre’s industrial waterfront and a proposed National Park. It emerges as a civic institution designed to support ecological regeneration without compromising protected land. Rooted in a philosophy of repair and continuity, the design reinstates historical dockside structures while introducing new volumes through a low-impact strategy of adaptive reuse.

Rather than erase what remains, the project retains and retrofits existing buildings of cultural and architectural value, embedding heritage into a new civic framework. It seeks to demonstrate how architecture can catalyse systemic environmental and social change by fostering stewardship, knowledge exchange, and circular construction practices.

At its core, the project proposes a replicable model for public architecture that is responsive, resilient, and regenerative—bridging industrial legacy and ecological future.

Popis projektu

The architectural solution extends across a layered civic campus that integrates retrofitted heritage structures with carefully inserted new volumes. Material Stewardship extends beyond sustainability and carbon reduction: it embodies a tectonic ethic of care, where construction methods, material histories, and future adaptability are prioritised. With the creation of the National Park, a large inventory of existing buildings will be dismantled rather than demolished, upcycling common materials like brick and steel. Constructed from reclaimed steel and cut brick panels, the building embeds the origins of the National Park into its very fabric, serving as a physical archive of transition and continuity. This reparative reuse honours the site’s past by carefully disassembling, cataloguing, and recontextualising materials, creating a tangible link between memory, present use, and future potential.

A strong emphasis is placed on continuity and context, with new forms deliberately rising above and dipping below adjacent rooftops to assert a distinct civic identity while respecting the existing urban grain.

Internally, the design rejects siloed professional environments by introducing shared mezzanines and suspended glazed bridges that connect public and professional areas, fostering dialogue, transparency, and shared spaces for shared learning, and public visibility to optimise stewardship of the land.



The project is anchored by a hybrid botanical-research garden and a modular fluvial garden, both designed to evolve over time and to support scientific inquiry, public participation, and ecological literacy. These adaptive landscapes create a living civic framework that enables co-authorship, stewardship, and climate-responsive growth over decades.

Technické informace

The project employs a circular construction strategy, utilising 100% recycled steel for the primary structural frame, achieving a 72% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to conventional builds. Steel components are sourced from dismantled industrial structures and assembled with bolted end-plate connections, enabling future disassembly, maintenance, and flexibility. Brick façades are constructed using cut-out panels from reclaimed materials, preserving varied textures, colours, and bonds, resulting in a 94% CO2 emissions reduction compared to traditional brick wall systems.

Circulation spaces double as social and collaborative zones, supported by mezzanine walkways that span across large atria and serve as key movement and interaction points. Accessibility is fully integrated with two suspended glazed bridges connecting the public and professional wings of the building, fostering transparency, interaction, and moments of shared experience. Positioned on the first and fourth floors, they offer varied spatial routes and elevated views into the gardens and interior spaces. Their placement is carefully calibrated to ensure inclusive access, with gentle 1:20 ramps enabling wheelchair-friendly circulation.

The landscape design employs modular segments and phased development, encouraging long-term public engagement and environmental education. The Fluvial Garden is a linear civic landscape that begins as a low-intervention wildflower meadow, restoring biodiversity and reclaiming underused land for public use. Designed as modular segments that adapt to the urban fabric, it integrates play, ecology, events, and community gardening to encourage ongoing public participation and stewardship. Evolving over 50 years, it becomes a resilient green corridor between the city and the National Park, supporting environmental literacy, sustainable lifestyles, and shared responsibility through a flexible, adaptive design.

Together, the architectural, ecological, and social strategies proposed in this project demonstrate a replicable model for sustainable urban regeneration rooted in stewardship, adaptability, and contextual continuity.

Dokumentace

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