Podcast: Regenerative change with Angharad Palmer of Hawkins\Brown

Architect Angharad Palmer has spent much of her career client-side, working for developer Pocket Living when she was named a RIBAJ Rising Star in 2017. In this podcast, in partnership with Origin Doors and Windows, she talks to Eleanor Young about how her childhood growing up in Eryri National Park in Wales influenced her, the impassioned discussions around her family table about regenerative living and working, her decade client-side and her return to architecture at Hawkins\Brown specialising in regenerative and participatory futures.

We join her as she documents her journey of change-making, from imbuing design into every project at Pocket Living to refocusing on community design and big ideas in south London’s Lewisham shopping centre redevelopment for LandSec, turning an out-there idea into a believable solution.

Palmer is at the start of her journey to up the game on regenerative design at Hawkins\Brown, working on strategies to make regeneration an integral part of projects. We ask if she will be sharing best practice. Happily yes! Listen to hear some of her pointers on thinking regeneratively, for example how elements of the design can work in more than one way to bring richness to a project, and dwelling on early briefing stages. Start small, think local and think unique she advises. Below Palmer offers a reading and listening list to get you up to speed.

The podcast also features contributions from the cutting edge of research and practice into regenerative design.  Newcastle University professor of regenerative architecture Ben Bridgens explains how he sees regenerative design emerging with reference to some of his material experiments. And Michael Pawlyn of Exploration Architects, a founder member of Architects Declare and author of Biomimicry in Architecture and Flourish, asks what can be done if we reframed our thinking about design to design as nature and how biomimicry can contribute to regenerative design.

Presented by Eleanor Young, produced by Paul Hirons and Flo Armitage-Hookes, original music by Steffen Addington.

RIBAJ Meets series three is produced in partnership with Origin Doors and Windows

See more on Rising Stars, the profession's talent and how to enter 

Regeneration reading and listening list

• Podcasts: Flourish with Sarah Ichioka and Michael Pawlyn and ReGeneration Rising from the RSA.
• Architect’s Declare’s Regenerative Design Primer and the Arup’s Regenerative Design.
• HOK projects for thought leadership.
• Doughnut Economics Action Lab for downloadable miro boards on community engagement and co-design methods.
• Pioneering organisations in our industry: CIVIC SQUARE, Dark Matter Labs, Material Cultures.
• Other industries and brands for regenerative inspiration: Haeckels, FORDLABS, Finisterre.
• Books: Flourish, Leading by Nature by Giles Hutchins, Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, Designing Regenerative Cultures by Daniel Wahl, Making Futures Work by Phil Balgatas. From the RIBA: Regenerative by Design: Creating living buildings and cities by David Cheshire and Changing the Game: How to be a Sustainable and Regenerative Small Practice by Tara and Lanre Gbolade.
• If you really want to geek out, regenerative courses at the Centre for Alternative Technology.