Themes

Scholarship focusing on improving building performance and resilience in the face of the climate emergency. These outputs often overlap with research into material cultures, fostering holistic alternative approaches to construction.

Building performance scholarship is also closely linked to the climate-facing development of the environment & technology curriculum at the School.

Initially, climate was one of three strands that were used to categorise PPS group scholarship. As the climate emergency has become central to the School's work and research ethos, almost all scholarship touches climate in some way. Integrating climate with the remaining research themes has allowed for a more focused selection of relevant scholarship.

Research into how we design and manage our environment, focusing on accessibility, inclusivity, and resilience.

Research into architectural history and theory, with a focus on decolonial, non-canon and intersectional learning. This reflects the School's wider academic ethos and current efforts to update the curriculum.

Scholarship fostering an inclusive environment in the School, the profession, and beyond. Work advocating for equal access to education and the industry, as well as vitally important protests and educational work in the continuing fight for rights and recognition for all.

Research into climate-focused material approaches in construction, aimed at improving building performance and reducing embodied carbon in the built environment. Recent work includes the student-led BESCA website, which builds on an expanding Arts Tower materials library to provide material and retrofit resources.

Work centred on development of the School's participatory approach to learning, which has seen projects with a wide reach outside the academic environment conducted over many years. Central to this work are the School's pioneering Live Projects, which take place every year as part of the MArch course. An archive of these can be found on the SAL Liveness Charter website.

Development of an integrated teaching approach, as well as efforts to create a forward-looking curriculum centred on the climate emergency and decolonial learning. Pedagogy research includes many resources designed to help students further their learning, skills, and to make the most out of their time at university.

Work focused on researching and facilitating placemaking, often using participatory methods. Much of this work has taken place around Castlegate in Sheffield with the School's pioneering urban room, Live Works, which has delivered a succession of succesful projects aimed at widening the School's impact beyond the profession.