This year the unit will make innovative proposals for public buildings, landscapes, monuments and interventions that have a direct relationship with the current global climate emergency. Given the situation that the world is currently in, there is little time to wait, and the construction industry has had a major part to play in the deterioration of the natural world. Architects now have a duty to prevent further damage and in doing so the paradigm of what we understand to be modern architecture will have to shift.

Projects will be based in Merthyr Tydfil, a town with a rich industrial past and one that was home to some of the greatest ironworks in the world. The ruins of which can still be seen to this day over a hundred years since they were in operation. With city status on the horizon and an ambitious 15-year master-plan aimed at delivering welcoming and uplifting spaces, how can Merthyr develop appropriately and sustainably without forgetting its rich industrial heritage?

The physicality of architecture underpins the interests of the unit; how buildings are constructed, and from what materials has never before been more important. Students will be encouraged consider material selection and appropriateness of structure and develop this relationship in an iterative and tectonic way demonstrating new ways of looking at the physical qualities of a building and how form is found.