In this episode of But Why? A Design Podcast, Eugene and Stirling are joined by Renae Tapley, Studio Director of Foolscap Perth Studio and founder of Future Materials.
Renae shares the thinking behind Future Materials, a self-initiated platform built to promote low-carbon, circular and bio-based materials for the built environment.
Our conversation touches on industry’s reliance on newness, questions the value we overlook in what already exists, and highlights the role designers play in influencing supply chains, behaviours and long-term outcomes.
This episode is a reminder that specifiers hold power in specification and every decision carries consequences. It also opens up a different way of thinking about buildings - as banks of future value.
The conversation explores:
The idea of a ‘materials narrative’ and designing with context, locality and story.
Resource recovery over demolition and reframing ‘waste’ as value.
Barriers to change including cost, risk, regulation and industry inertia.
Tensions between certification systems, storytelling and genuine impact.
Designing for disassembly and the importance of construction methodology.
Buildings as material banks, including material passports and digital twins.
The importance of shifting from extraction to participation with the natural world.
We hope you enjoy.
Keep questioning, keep exploring, and most importantly… keep asking, But Why?
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