Bradley Fletcher

Year 2 MArch

CLIMAMORPHIC

Metamorphosis on the River Spean
Roybridge, River Spean, Scotland

Shifting climate patterns, intensive aquaculture and anthropogenic river works have pushed the River Spean’s ecology to a tipping point. Freshwater pearl mussel and Atlantic salmon, once abundant, now struggle to migrate past the redundant Roybridge Weir. Historically central to the textile industry, the barrier now disrupts the symbiotic life cycle in which mussel larvae hitch rides on salmon gills.

CLIMAMORPHIC reimagines the weir as living infrastructure that grows like the mussels it protects. Generative algorithms borrow the bivalve’s incremental shell bands and clustering logic to produce a family of adaptive modules that attach to the existing weir concrete columns. Its morphology responds seasonally to ecological rhythms, influenced by fluctuations in temperature, water volume, and food availability.

Bio-receptive surfaces invite new mussel colonies while a submerged channel restores river continuity for fish migration. Above the water, a seasonal mussel restaurant serves dishes aligned with breeding cycles, turning ecological health into cuisine. A sea-silk laboratory spins discarded byssus threads into golden textiles, reviving a near-lost Highland craft.

Cast on-site from local aggregates and crushed mussel shells, salvaged from the seasonal restaurant’s waste, the structure evolves in phases, slowly accreting over decades. Its form graphing riverine and mussel seasonal vitality. Offering a new model for architecture that is climate-responsive, ecologically rooted, and socially regenerative.