CRUNCH: Imminent Energies

Blackouts in Southern Europe and nuclear plans in Northern Europe have reignited divisive debates on energy. This event examines how the urgency to find “ultimate” solutions shapes architectural thinking and practice. 

Our contemporary condition has been described as a ‘poly-crisis’ – multiple threats that are both immediate and looming. But what does ‘imminence’ mean in energy debates? Can architecture provide strategic answers to energy uncertainty? If architectural futures appear gloomy for much of the world, how can design become empowering rather than apocalyptic? Is there space for slowness and care amid urgency? And what can we learn from movements whose centuries of resistance demonstrate paths to repair? 

Julia Barfield brings experience from sustainable innovation, while Iain Macdonald offers perspectives from nuclear facility design and MIT research. Ele Carpenter contributes insights from curating nuclear culture and deep geological repositories. Chaired by The Bartlett’s Luke Olsen. 

Together, the speakers explore architecture’s material and imaginative role in energy transitions, questioning whether our imminent future demands radical transformation or careful evolution. 

This event is part of the flagship CRUNCH Series at The Bartlett School of Architecture. 

Speaker biographies 

Julia Barfield is Managing Director of Marks Barfield Architects, a practice with over 30 years’ experience in sustainable design. She is a leading advocate for regenerative and circular design, committed to tackling the construction industry’s climate impact and inspiring both colleagues and clients to act. With decades of experience on design review panels, she now serves as an external examiner at universities, encouraging future architects to design with innovation, integrity and environmental responsibility.

Iain Macdonald is Principal and Future Energy Systems Development Lead at HKS. His practice combines architecture, science and technology to confront climate change and technological inequality. He has designed and delivered large-scale, innovative projects shaped by emerging energy technologies. Iain is also Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Nuclear Science & Engineering Department, contributing to research on nuclear infrastructure and energy systems. He was previously Professor at ArtEZ University in Arnhem and Head of the School of Architecture at Nottingham Trent University. 

Ele Carpenter Professor of Interdisciplinary Art & Culture at Umeå School of Architecture and Director of the UmArts Research Centre in partnership with Bildmuseet, Sweden. She is a curator, writer and researcher with over 25 years’ experience in museums, artist-run spaces and academia. Her research investigates nuclear culture and aesthetics through commissioning, exhibitions and writing. She edited The Nuclear Culture Source Book (Black Dog Publishing, 2016) and has curated major exhibitions including Perpetual Uncertainty (2016–18) and Splitting the Atom (2020). 

Luke Olsen is an architect and Associate Professor (Teaching) at The Bartlett School of Architecture. His work focuses on nuclear energy, regenerative design and minimum-energy structures. He has designed award-winning projects including the King’s Cross Gasholders with Wilkinson Eyre Architects and the world’s largest Paper House series in Greenwich. He led In(visible) Energy, an installation at the Barcelona Pavilion visualising lifetime energy consumption and nuclear zero-carbon potential. Luke founded and is Programme Director for the pioneering Engineering and Architectural Design MEng at The Bartlett, the first degree globally to integrate architecture, civil engineering and building services. 

Image: In(Visible) Energy – an installation by Luke Olsen and MEng colleagues, illustrating energy consumption in one lifetime at the Barcelona Pavilion. Photograph by Flavio Coddou