Whispers from a summer nest — A circular pergola from reclaimed materials

Milan, Italy, 2024

Collaborators: Ornella Iuori (POLIMI), Fulvio Re Cecconi (POLIMI)

The use of sustainable construction materials is crucial for a more sustainable future. Reusing existing materials is at the core of circular construction and is fundamental to our future architecture. As availability-based design leads to a broader notion of materiality, we must explore how to understand different forms, develop connections, and arrange components and spaces.

Just as birds collect materials they find to build their nest — a temporary place that is stable yet ephemeral — we built a structure from given elements. This one-week design-and-build workshop explored the possibilities of reusing building materials. Participants were given a set of components they had to make sense of and later use for their design and, of course, the construction. They first explored the various materials, such as stone or wooden panels, concrete blocks, or timber and steel beams, through material reading and physical sketching exercises. They analysed and discussed their technical and architectural properties and possible modes of connection. The international group identified cultural differences in how to determine value in the existing and how to actually bring the different materials together as they are, ideally with limited alterations.

Then, the students designed a place for the campus, responding to the urgent need for a place to sit, meet, rest and have lunch in the shadow. In a collective effort, they then built a hybrid pergola and group table for students and staff. All parts are designed for disassembly to find a future role in another building scenario. The summer nest pavilion does not only serve as a temporary meeting place on the campus of the Politecnico di Milano. It also demonstrates circularity, vividly indicating the components’ earlier lives and their possible place in a future world of circular construction.