At the interface of archaeology and architecture

A summary of the project.

Given the building industry’s need to reduce carbon output by 80% to meet UK target by 2050, the understanding of strategies (and failures) of past societies regarding their built environment can help to stimulate the development of new buildings and materials for a sustainable future. The “Building (Ancient) Lives” project will analyse archaeological evidence for pre- and proto-historic structures in an innovative dialogue with modern sustainable architecture. The methodology was developed from Dr Romankiewicz’s particular skill sets and knowledge in both disciplines. The explicitly architectural and ecological perspective will include but also reach beyond conventional archaeological studies.

In collaboration with academic colleagues, architects, structural engineers, artists, policy makers and local communities the project does not seek to endorse direct parallels from prehistoric times – not everybody would want to live in a roundhouse – but to explore constants through time in:

• materials and their resourcing,
• structural and physical performances of buildings,
• formation and affirmation of households and communities via the medium of domestic architecture.