Tom Ashurst

This thesis aims to find a connection between craft and performance. How can craft become a performance?

Modern construction no longer relies so heavily on local material resources. Timber being the focus of this thesis. It’s being looked upon as a renewable material that could replace the high emissions materials such as steel. However, timber is of course not instantly renewable. It takes time to grow and mature to suitable harvesting size, and currently forests are disappearing quicker than they are appearing. Therefore, timber is not entirely sustainable unless we slow down and use only what we have, not reaching out across the globe and importing for convenience. How can architecture be designed alongside the cycle of a tree? A naturally slow architecture.

Glasgow was an industrial revolution powerhouse. The city exporting skilled work people, and material. Explosive expansion of industry required extraction from nature to power and grow itself further and as it grew, mass production became a necessity which began the downturn of traditional building techniques and materials.

Timber and skill go hand in hand. This project also aims to encourage the continuation of the passage of traditional timber construction knowledge by creating a programme that requires continual renewal, just like a forest cycle through the life and death of its tree’s.

This theme of continual renewal lends itself to a temporary architecture. Assembly and disassembly.

Glasgow’s is constantly changing yet the buildings were designed with permanence in mind. Designing in an ephemeral way could reduce the number of redundant buildings that have outlived their purpose.

Overall, this thesis aims to explore how to utilise locally resourced timber, providing a programme that facilitates both craft and performance to make a spectacle of construction and inspire the city of Glasgow to build using sustainable materials and give the public an insight to timber craftsmanship.