BEYOND EXTRACTION
Updated: Oct 2
TOWARDS AN ECO-FEMINIST ARCHITECTURE
Critical Essay · Practice Manifesto · 2025
An exploration of ecofeminist principles might reshape architectural practice through care, collaboration, ecological stewardship and resistance to extractive systems.
The speculative practice model is an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, research, film and art to address social and ecological challenges. The focus of the practice is centred on a collaborative way of working, seeking to design community-driven initiatives, installations, temporary structures, and deliver research publications, films, community workshops, talks and ongoing conversations within specific communities.
This proposal aims to provide a platform to develop these core values and systems of exchange, generating new ideas and enhancing knowledge through this process. An integral part of working in this way is delivering projects through collaboration with specific clients. In this mode of practice, it means designing for and with under-represented groups and women. This will involve working with different communities and stakeholders, public sector clients such as local councils, community-focused organisations, NGOs and art institutions. As the types of projects taken on would include designing temporary structures, installations and small-scale interventions, the procurement routes would mainly rely on crowdfunding, support from local authorities and NGOs, as well as maintaining a collaborative and interdisciplinary basis throughout.
Architecture must address the social inequalities inextricably linked to climate breakdown. Ecofeminism, conceived by Françoise d’Eaubonne, significantly influences my practice. It inherently recognises the entanglement of gender, climate and social justice. I recognise that climate breakdown disproportionately harms women, especially Black women and those from Indigenous communities. My research practice will strive to empower marginalised communities by creating spaces that are inclusive, equitable and sensitive to local needs. By fostering collaboration with these communities, I hope to incentivise design strategies that both address ecological issues and promote social justice.
There are various spatial, environmental, racial and economic justice aims for the practice model. These include resisting systems of extraction through promoting a language of resistance and embracing a circular economy and a regenerative approach through the lens of ecofeminism. Other core values of the practice include enhancing and protecting social and ecological well-being and inspiring conversations that enhance ecological stewardship through connecting people to their environment and thus to the wider community.
More broadly, my practice acknowledges architecture’s role in the violent extraction of natural resources alongside the marginalisation of workers and Indigenous populations. The future of architecture must resist these extractive systems and embrace a regenerative approach. This means adopting sustainable materials, reducing carbon emissions and fostering systems that enhance both ecological and social well-being.
The methodology embraces the principles of the circular economy, as outlined in the ReSOLVE framework. This includes rethinking how we design and build and ensuring that materials can be reused, repurposed and recycled to minimise waste and reduce the embodied carbon of construction. The aim is to cultivate regenerative ecosystems through architecture, designing buildings that work with natural systems rather than against them. This will not only mitigate the impact of construction on the environment but also promote sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Furthermore, the practice prioritises using sustainable, locally sourced materials and low-impact construction methods, ensuring that buildings contribute positively to their ecosystems. I seek to inherently challenge the imperial rhetoric of the use and abandonment of colonised land, seeking to promote a language of resistance in acknowledging the agency within the Indigenous creative lifeblood woven through these communities.
As we move into an era of climate breakdown and ecological crisis, architecture must undergo a profound transformation in methodology and ethos. Historically, architecture has been complicit in the extractive processes that have devastated our ecosystems and exacerbated social inequalities. The foundations of modern architectural practice have contributed to the exploitation of natural resources, carbon-intensive construction and the monopolisation of land for political and economic gain. As we face the reality of the climate emergency, architecture must move away from these maxims of growth and exploitation, adopting regenerative, sustainable and ethically grounded practice.
PRACTICE OF CARE
Architecture must address the social inequalities inextricably linked to climate breakdown. Recognising that climate breakdown disproportionately harms women, especially Black women and those from Indigenous communities, is crucial. My research practice will strive to empower marginalised communities by creating spaces that are inclusive, equitable and sensitive to local needs. This provides the main dimension of care that my practice is seeking to embody both in a professional and legal capacity. Here, I frame these duties of care within ecological, economic and social capacities and consider how these relate to the architect’s responsibility towards clients, users, construction professionals, broader society and the design team throughout the development and procurement process.
Land speculation, resource extraction and greenwashing are all part of a larger imperialist framework that treats land as a tool for financial gain, often at the expense of ecological health and social equity. The framework of my practice will challenge this notion by prioritising designs that restore and regenerate the land, particularly in areas that have suffered from historical exploitation. Legally and professionally, the architect is obligated to consider environmental impact, striving to meet or exceed standards for sustainability and resource efficiency. This duty includes careful material selection, waste reduction, carbon footprint minimisation and adopting circular economy principles.
While the Approved Documents include accessibility requirements, for example for people with disabilities, they rarely delve into the specific needs of women, such as safety, comfort in public spaces, or facilities for caregiving roles like breastfeeding or childcare. To address the lack of gender frameworks in UK Building Regulations, a concerted effort involving research, policy reform and advocacy is needed.
Collaboration between government, industry professionals and community advocates will be key in driving this change. Within my practice, I would pioneer forums with architects, planners, policymakers and community groups to highlight the gaps in current regulations and discuss the benefits of gender-inclusive design. In addition, my practice would seek to commission research that explores how building design impacts women differently. For instance, research can focus on safety in public spaces, equitable access to sanitation, or the design of facilities supporting caregiving roles.
THE ARCHITECT AS FACILITATOR
In the proposed practice model, the architect’s role is fundamentally collaborative, prioritising interdisciplinary teamwork and engagement with under-represented communities and stakeholders. The architect acts as both a creative director and a facilitator, coordinating efforts among design team members, consultants, construction teams and clients. This collaborative approach is intended to align with the practice’s values of social and ecological responsibility, aiming to produce sustainable, community-centred design outcomes that resist extractive systems and promote regenerative practices.
Within the design team, the architect leads concept development, aligning input from a variety of disciplines such as architecture, research, film and art. The architect is the principal guide of the design process, acting as the primary mediator to ensure synchronisation between the different disciplines.
The architect will also work closely with various consultants in this process, most likely structural engineers, environmental specialists and sustainability experts. Their role here is to maintain a shared focus on ecological stewardship and regenerative practices, ensuring close collaboration to incorporate sustainable materials, reduce carbon emissions and drive a circular, ecofeminist-informed approach aligned with the practice’s commitment to systemic and social agency.
The role of the architect in relation to the client is one of mutual understanding, patience and friendship. In this mode of practice, fostering a genuine human connection with the client is central to the ethos of inclusivity and sensitivity when working alongside under-represented groups and women.
Therefore, hierarchy is abolished as the client is actively incorporated into the design process, and it is the architect’s job to ensure the client engages and can take ownership of the project. This fosters transparency and encourages a continuous dialogue between the architect, the client and the wider design team, ensuring effective communication throughout the process. By centring the client relationship around under-represented groups and fostering community involvement, the architect aims to build trust and co-create solutions that genuinely serve the stakeholders involved.
The wider design team consists of professionals from diverse disciplines, for example, artists, researchers, engineers, filmmakers, environmental consultants and community engagement specialists. The main purposes of their roles include collaboration, creative exploration and bringing diverse perspectives to the practice’s initiatives. Interdisciplinary collaboration is a key element in the practice framework, whereby team members contribute expertise in areas such as film, art and research to address systemic challenges through creative and non-linear methods. Their work supports the practice’s ethos of addressing challenges through multiple lenses.
The design team engages directly with under-represented groups, women and other stakeholders to understand local needs and aspirations as part of the wider initiative to engage the community. Researchers and architectural designers can facilitate workshops, talks and ongoing conversations to co-create solutions that are relevant, inclusive and empowering. Alongside this, the design team will generate innovative ideas for installations, temporary structures, research publications and participatory events, using storytelling, visuals and data to communicate systemic issues and inspire action. Designers and researchers can collaborate to produce research and advocacy materials that highlight systemic inequities and propose actionable solutions, supported by broader knowledge-sharing through publications, films or art installations.
SELECTED REFERENCES
d’Eaubonne, F. (1974). Le féminisme ou la mort. P. Horay.
Carson, R. (1962). Silent Spring. Penguin Books.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015). Growth Within: A Circular Economy Vision for a Competitive Europe.
GenderCC (2021). The Gender Assessment and Monitoring of Adaptation and Mitigation (GAMMA) Methodology.
Architects Climate Action Network (2024). Circular Economy Design Guide.
LETI (2020). Climate Emergency Design Guide.
RIBA (2019). Sustainable Outcomes Guide