Experimental Fellow Summer Islam of Material Cultures and Matthias Ballestrem, member of the Experimental Advisory Board, co-authored “Wetland Prototypes: Testing the Potential of Paludi-Based Materials,” for Dimensions. Journal of Architectural Knowledge. The article details the findings from the 2023 Experimental Fellowship project Constructive Land Berlin/Brandenburg, undertaken in partnership with Bauhaus Earth.

As Fellows, Summer Islam, George Massoud, and Paloma Gormley investigated how rewetted peatlands in Brandenburg could supply regional, bio-based building materials. They developed 1:1 prototypes of building fragments from paludiculture crops – plants grown on wet peatlands, such as reed – demonstrating how these materials can replace high-carbon alternatives.

The article concludes that material knowledge cannot come from laboratory data alone. The hands-on work of building and testing prototypes is necessary for bringing regenerative wetland materials into mainstream construction.