Materialscapes
Estelle Jullian
Estelle Jullian is an architect and artist from France, based in Valencia (SP). Charly Blödel is a researcher and interdisciplinary designer from Germany based in Rotterdam (NL). As a research duo they are currently focusing on local 'materialscapes' which explore a next material practice making use of the tools, knowledges and social tissue that connect local crafts(wo)men, researchers, makers, spatial practitioners to their local territory and a contextual, non-extractive spatial practice.
Charly Blödel (DE) is an interdisciplinary designer, currently based in Rotterdam. In her practice, she focuses on the social and ecological implications of spatial practice and production systems, with a particular focus on waste and material culture in the context of the climate crisis. Having previously worked between communication strategies and exhibition design in the cultural field, she now develops spatial and graphic media that support the workshop and performative formats of her work. She currently teaches at the Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam and works as a programme and exhibition producer for Het Nieuwe Instituut, the National Museum for Architecture, Design and Digital Culture in Rotterdam (NL). – www.charlybloedel.com
Estelle Jullian (FR) is an architect, artist and coordinator of cultural projects based in Valencia (SP). Her practice approaches different fields such as architecture, art, ecology and participation. She is interested in the development processes of inclusive tools that can be carried out in workshops, exhibitions, community and educational projects or spatial interventions, where space is understood from a social and cultural perspective. This interest in critical spatial practices, contemporary artistic practices and environmental issues also leads her to investigate the urban and rural space where the material is the point of union with the different scales of reflection. – www.estellejullian.com
'Materialscapes' is a workshop-based research led by Estelle Jullian and Charly Blödel in which participants explore the regional landscape of (waste) materials from building rubble to plant fibre and test their application in building materials for a non-extractive, local spatial practice.
Traditional local construction techniques commonly make use of reet, straw, stone and clay from river beds, cultivated fields, stone quarries and clay pits. Yet today’s 'materialscapes' span urban and rural landscapes where forestry and agricultural byproducts mingle with industrial (waste) materials. This is a landscape where rubble from a demolition site can become the filler material for a rammed earth wall. Or, the discarded stone dust from a stone quarry reveals ideal qualities of a plaster. Or, waste pine needles from the local wood manufacturer can form the base for acoustic fiber panels. 'Materialscapes' reactivates forgotten knowledges of materials and building know-how rooted in the bioregional territory and applies this practice in non-extractive modes of building.
In the workshop, participants explore the next regional network of quarries from waste recycling facilities and farming businesses to local forestry and stone quarries. In collaboration with these material partners, the participants gather the raw resources to test their application in a possible next material palette from pigment glazes, rammed earth walls to clay render and fiber panels.
The workshop has the aim to map a series of site-specific local 'materialscapes' across various contexts of Europe and leave traces of the found local building techniques and material palette in the form of tangible material fragments. The programme builds up on the previous workshop ‘Material Library’ around regenerative modes of construction in the bioregion of Carinthia, Austria, that Estelle Jullian and Charly Blödel realised with Thomas Amann at TU Vienna as part of the LINA fellowship in 2023.