Air, Architecture + Other Climates

[50.0°to 61.0° N : United Kingdom] : Carbon Transitions- 2020/21
John Cook, Ben Pollock + Laura Nica

Hannah Pinsent

Fashioning the Waste Climate

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of our annual global carbon emissions and is having a devastating effect on our environment. The lifecycle of clothing from cradle to grave is a highly resource and energy intensive process, with materials and global movements significantly contributing to the embodied carbon and resulting GHG emissions at each stage. Additionally, the UK’s built environment is responsible for 40% of national GHG emissions. Therefore, with many retail centres struggling to remain open due the gradual switch to a more virtual lifestyle heightened by the global pandemic, can the empty ‘carbon form’ and shell of retail be explored to reuse in our climatic context?

The research and resulting project explores this through the context of the Market Gate Shopping Centre and the empty retail shell of Debenhams in Great Yarmouth. Acting as a prototype for other town centres, the proposal looks to fashion a material focused circular economy and to revitalise high streets with light industry that is focused on climate adaptation of urban environments.