Prototype flood house wins Bartlett Materialisation Grant

A collaborative team led by Matthew Butcher from The Bartlett School of Architecture and Rokia Raslan and Jonathon Taylor from The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies have been awarded the 2014 Bartlett Research Materialisation Grant.

The award was given to realize the construction of a new flood-responsive architecture sited in the Thames Estuary. The project titled the ‘Flood House’, proposes a small-scale prototype structure that provides both a practical and poetic investigation into the nature of occupying a seasonally flooded landscape.

The structure will function as part projected future dwelling, part practical laboratory and part 1:1 case study for how certain construction materials operate and perform within the very particular tide environment of the Thames Estuary.

Generated by a unique cross-disciplinary research team from The Bartlett in collaboration with art and architecture curator Jes Fernie, the project aims to use specialist expertise to create a project that is conceived between architecture, environmental research and art practice.

The project is also being supported by Arup Engineers and Smart Planning.