Anna Karlsdóttir & Jan Dobrowolski - This Concrete Nation

The Hearing Architecture podcast, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, presents Again and Again and Again, a mini-series hosted by Hilary Duff. Each week, we will bring you interviews and conversations as we seek better ways to understand, harness and deploy the expertise and knowledge of professionals currently within the design community, at home and abroad. Our guests are all experts on circularity within the building industry and share the aim to display that waste is not an accident but the consequence of decisions made at the design stage. Here is our opportunity. We, as designers, have an opportunity to do better. In this interview, I meet with Ana and Jan of Studio Ludika, an emerging Icelandic based architectural and research practice. Ana is a born and bred Icelander, who teamed with the Polish born, Cario raised Jan, to establish Studio Ludika when living in the UK. After years of practice, the duo shifted their office to Ana’s home city of Reyjakvik, where their studio focuses on research and construction projects concurrently. Their multifaceted work combines research development and undertaking with the aim of introducing a more sustainable and self-sufficient way of building in Iceland, with a focus on alternative bio-based materials I was particularly interested in speaking with Jan and Ana because of the many parallels can be drawn from Iceland as an island nation, to the scenario back at home on our island… Australia. Our island’s similarly feature incredible natural wonders drawing in thousands of tourists. But our lands are also rich in natural assets, deemed ripe for exploitation, extraction and export across the globe. Despite being rich in resources, research to date, suggests that the majority of materials being utilised in the average construction in Iceland, is brought in from abroad. Walking the docks, not too far from the city centre, you can see row after row of shipping container arriving full, and leaving empty. The city is building taller, sprawling further, and is full of grey, thick and solid concrete. Almost 70% of construction in Iceland is concrete based. A wild fact for a country with no local cement industry. In our conversation, Ana and Jan lament that Icelanders we have forgotten how to build self sufficiently, living on an island completely reliant on carbon intensive material imports. Among other things, Ana and Jan comment on how Icelanders used to know how to build with what they had around them. In a country of very little trees for timber, they built within the landscapes. Grassy turf houses that raised and fell back into the earth. They note that at the time, it wasn’t a glorious, but it worked. It kept it’s inhabitants warmed, and safe through icy winters. Now they dream of a day where locals  don’t have to rely on the outside world to provide most things, and where homes don’t have to become hermetic capsules cut off from nature, through layers of synthetic materials with ever more complicated ways of cutting off the inside from the outside. Of a return to architecture which embraces the natural that surrounds it, and where buildings don’t need to exploit, pollute and be dependent. But our conversation is a hopeful one. We discuss how the smallness of Iceland can become a driving force, and an advantage that bigger sprawling societies lack: agility. Ludika is working towards a reality through experimentation, testing, and hopefully eventually through demonstrating with regular construction, that we can build differently to what has become the norm. Can Iceland be a trailbalizer in demonstrating that radical transformation in how we build is possible? If a small island nation can demonstrate this, perhaps the feat for larger nations will no longer be unimaginable…. This has been Again&Again&Again, a mini-series of Hearing Architecture, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, and made possible with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. This episode was recorded during a period of residency with the SIM Icelandic Arts Association,  Thank you so much for listening and thank you to our international guests Ana and Jan of Studio Ludika. Thank you for sharing your story and encouraging us to move towards a society where the buildings we raise, do not contribute to climate breakdown. We look forward to speaking with you again in the future. Our sponsor Brickworks also produces architecture podcasts hosted by Tim Ross. You can find ‘The Art of Living’, ‘Architects Abroad, and ‘The Power of Two’, at brickworks.com.au or your favourite podcast platform. If you’d like to show your support please rate, review, and subscribe to Hearing Architecture in your favourite podcast app. If you want to know more about what the Australian Institute of Architects is doing to support architects and the community please visit architecture.com.au This is a production by the   Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. The miniseries Again&Again&Again is proudly supported by the Alstair Swayne Foundation. The Institute production team was Madelynn Jenkins, and Claudia McCarthy, and the EmAGN production team was Daniel Moore and Hilary Duff. Music by Blue Dot Sessions released under Creative Commons Licencing. This content is brought to you by the Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. This content does not take into account specific circumstances and should not be relied on in that way. This content does not constitute legal, financial, insurance, or other types of advice. You should seek independent verification or advice before relying on this content in circumstances where loss or damage may result. The Institute endeavours to publish content that is accurate at the time it is published, but does not accept responsibility for content that may or will become inaccurate over time.