a new beginning _ that starts with a sad story

Why am I researching rammed earth, and why now? Materials have always been a focus for me since joining the design profession. In college, I was immersed in theory, sociology, and psychology of digital and physical space, but I never addressed the physical materials that composed the space; hence, in my past works, they were represented as nondescript containers and white boxes. Upon entering the design profession, I soon realized how the same sociology and psychology I applied to objects and human interaction can be applied to the materials used within the space we create. Thus, my fascination for detailing and understanding material composition began.

My views were forever altered in December of 2023 when I read a news article about Australia banning engineered stone for its harmful silica content and its impact on the health of trades workers who install and manufacture the associated products. This news came as a wake-up call as we were using a facade product on projects that was an engineered stone product. I will speak more on this topic as I am still working to understand the nuances of material science and testing. This was a major wake-up call for me to begin to investigate the materials we were using in our buildings and led me to the question: how did we get here? Why do so many of the materials we use have Proposition 65 Warnings or some kind of proprietary binding agent that cannot be disclosed but is known to cause cancer?

This was the catalyst behind the restart of Studio Ambiguous as I felt it was time, after 5 years in the profession, to simultaneously perform a post-mortem on our thoughts from 2016-2018 while embracing the ambiguous fuzz and pushing forth this new facet of research. Over the coming months I will be using the internet again as the abyss in which to informally categorize my thoughts, processes and future steps. Thus, the next chapter of our slow manifesto begins.

Cheers