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Designed collaboratively by students and academics from the UK, Japan, and Italy, collectively called the DELIGHT Structures or Dismountable Elemental LIGHtweight Tessellated Structures Group, in collaboration with Hawkins\Brown Architects, the joints of the pavilion were developed and fabricated in Japan, then shipped to Loughborough for exhibition, demonstrating the practicality of its low-mass construction.
The Seaweed Pavilion emerged from an international summer school hosted by Loughborough University, bringing together students from the UK and Japan. The design challenge asked students to propose a low‑carbon, low‑weight and low‑cost structure that could be shipped internationally and deployed to reactivate urban spaces in London and Tokyo.
The final structure combines a low‑weight timber reciprocal grid with bespoke, computationally designed joints 3D‑printed from seaweed‑based PLA. The material strategy extends throughout the pavilion: seaweed‑based concrete foundations eliminate the need for ground anchoring; perforated seaweed panels provide a breathable, shaded envelope; and the entire structure is designed for disassembly, reuse, and composting.
Seaweed was selected for its rapid growth, wide availability, and lack of competition for arable land. While currently used primarily in insulation products, its structural applications remain largely unexplored. By integrating seaweed into foundations, joints and envelope, the project foregrounds embodied carbon at a time when the built environment accounts for approximately 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr Matyas Gutai, Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Façade Engineering at Loughborough University, said: “The Seaweed Pavilion 02 interweaves three considerations about the built environment: enabling communities to reactivate public spaces through accessible, self-buildable installations; using low-carbon materials to minimize emissions from such interventions; and advancing architectural knowledge of biomaterials to reduce embodied carbon.
“This second pavilion in our seaweed series marks a key milestone, progressing from the tensegrity structures of our previous installation towards seaweed concrete, seaweed-based 3D printing for structural applications, and seaweed panels for building envelopes. Through the extension of our DELIGHT Group collaboration to include Hawkins\Brown, we are excited to bring this research into closer dialogue with industry for more direct real-world impact.”
Hawkins\Brown architects, in collaboration with the international DELIGHT research group, will be installing a low‑carbon pavilion in their Clerkenwell studio - constructed from timber and seaweed biomaterials - and an accompanying exhibition for this year’s London Festival of Architecture.
The exhibition “Belonging through Reactivating Urban Realms: Low-Carbon Pavilions” explores the potential of temporary architecture as a powerful medium for experimentation, research, and public engagement. At its centre is the lightweight, demountable pavilion that shows how low‑cost, low‑weight and low‑carbon systems can be deployed to reactivate urban realms, while significantly reducing embodied carbon.
The exhibition launches with a symposium on the evening of June 1 – a series of expert presentations followed by an open panel discussion – which seeks to broaden dialogue around pavilions as tools for experimentation, critical enquiry, community engagement and belonging.
Belonging through Reactivating Urban Realms: Low-Carbon Pavilions runs from June 1-26 at Hawkins\Brown, 30 Clerkenwell Road, EC1M 5PG Tickets to the symposium on June 1 are available here.