The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
In this six-episode series, Hattie and her co-host George Morgan interview changemakers and innovators who are transforming architecture as we know it by designing in ways that respect planetary boundaries. Our six champions will offer inspiration as well as sharing essential knowledge about design in an era of climate emergency.
In episode one of the AJ’s Climate Champions podcast, Maria Smith of Buro Happold explains why she felt she had to leave architecture and retrain as an engineer, and why the way architects think is at the root of the profession’s failure to tackle climate emergency.
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About Maria Smith
After completing her Part 1 in Bath in 2003, Maria spent an Erasmus year in Delft before going on to do her Part 2 and Part 3 at London Met. In 2006, she cofounded architectural practice Studio Weave while still a student. After almost a decade, she moved on to cofound Interrobang, a transdisciplinary practice of Architecture and Engineering within Webb Yates Engineers where her key project was the refurbishment of the iconic Art Deco Hoover Building on the A40 Westway.
As well as working as an architect and engineer Maria is also a Mayor’s Design Advocate, a member of RIBA Council, a Trustee of the Architecture Foundation, co-founder of the provocative Turncoats architecture debates and a member of the steering group of Architects Declare. She was also a co-curator of the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale on Degrowth.
Maria completed a qualification in engineering at the Open University in 2019 and during lockdown in May joined Buro Happold as director of sustainability and physics.
Maria is a vegan and a keen cyclist.
Show notes
Projects and resources mentioned in this episode
Hoover Building (2018) by Interrobang/Webb Yates Engineers
The Grade II*-listed Hoover Building was refurbished into 66 dwellings by inserting a timber structure within the concrete beam and slab building to increase structural capacity while minimising new loads and embodied carbon.
Ecology of Colour (2012) by Studio Weave
Source:Benedict Johnson
Located on an island park in Dartford, the Ecology of Colour is a timber outdoor classroom hand-painted with natural dyes.
Ilford Market (in design) by Interrobang/Webb Yates Engineers
Source:Interrobang
Supported by the GLA’s Good Growth Fund, Ilford Market is a community market with a strong circular economy mandate written into the brief.
- ACAN
- Architects Declare
- C40 Cities
- RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge
- Architecture 2030
- UKGBC
- AECB retrofit course
- The ReUse Atlas by Duncan Baker-Brown
Climate Champions is produced in association with ACAN, the Architects Climate Action Network
Music: Edmilson do Pífano, Forró de dois Amigos. Interpretation: Felipe Tanaka e banda Balaio de Baião