by Caitrina Cody

Why design a completely new building if you can simply re-imagine an existing one? London-based architect and author Marion Baeli is passionate about sustainable design and brimming with ideas on how to make architectural practices more responsible. It’s not too late to act now for future generations, she explains—and here’s why.

In the wake of a global tsunami of construction and development over the last 50 years, it’s easy to see old, out-dated buildings as eyesores—obsolete dinosaurs to be removed in favour of more contemporary spaces. Buildings that look modern, are more energy-efficient, that bring in light and appeal to today’s aesthetic.

But for London-based architect Marion Baeli, there is beauty and purpose in the buildings of the past—and potential that should be investigated and uncovered before any decision is made to demolish. She explains that with more conversations happening around embodied carbon, many architects are now focusing on making the most out of the old rather than defaulting to demolition. 

“I believe sustainability is now becoming an inherent part of the design process, rather than an add-on. Architects have had to almost ‘re-learn’ how to design better buildings. Designers now need to understand building physics in much more detail, as well as understanding the impact their buildings can have on the wider environment, so they can design more responsibly.

“This focus on retaining and redeveloping existing buildings with locked embodied carbon rather than demolishing and building brand-new is a recent ‘trend’. I was surprised to hear recently that a developer has stopped working on new buildings and will solely work on existing structures from now onwards.”

Marion is a partner with PDP London, an architecture, urban and interior design practice with an international portfolio and offices in London, Bath, Madrid and Hong Kong. “I have designed and delivered many large-scale, complex projects and I have experience across the whole spectrum of housing, from super-prime to affordable, as well as experience of significant office projects. I’ve worked on both heritage and new build schemes which involve the re-imagining and refurbishing of sites for new uses, alongside the creation of new places.”

Across her work and experience, Marion has remained dedicated to sustainable design, low carbon architecture and, in particular, the principles of Passivhaus—a performance-based set of design criteria for very low energy buildings, which promotes the creation of spaces that use around 90% less energy than the UK standard.

“My passion for sustainable design led me to retrain and undertake a Masters degree in sustainable architecture at UEL [University of East London], which ultimately led to me becoming an expert in Passivhaus and starting to deliver sustainable projects for the practice.

“We have certainly grown our expertise of large and complex projects, but also adapted to the imperative of a more responsible architecture and upskilled our abilities to deliver an architecture based on science and building physics—something that was not embedded in anyone’s practice 18 years ago. Our work has become more and more interesting as we refined our design and delivery skills. In turn, this has fed back into the knowledge base, allowing our approach to sustainability to flourish and inform each of the projects we work on.”

As a long-term board member of Passivhaus Trust and a member of the NLA Expert Panel on Net Zero (a group of industry professionals that advises New London Architecture [NLA] on activity and research priorities), Marion is well placed to bring her sustainable, responsible architectural vision to life, while balancing her practice commitments.

“The two positions are absolutely complementary, with the NLA Expert Panel offering an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with other experts in the field, keeping abreast of everyone’s thoughts and sharing exemplary projects from across the industry, which feeds back into the work we do as a practice. It also affords an opportunity to lobby in a way that is not possible in practice.”

Amongst her inspirations she names Tokyo-based architect Kengo Kuma. “I’ve always been inspired by his outstanding design skills but also by his call for an ‘architecture of relations’, respecting surroundings instead of dominating (an approach we cherish at PDP London as well, in a totally different context). His architecture is resolutely contemporary yet clearly inspired and remarkably responsible."

An influence on Marion’s love for re-using and re-imagining has been Paris-based Lacaton and Vassal, two Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning, sustainably-minded partners working in Paris. “Their inspiration is fundamentally contextual, reusing the existing and refusing demolition, preferring to renew the legacy of modernism. But my favourite project of theirs has to be the Maison du Cap Ferret, entirely built amongst the trees.”

For Marion, sustainable design practices are a fundamental part of the climate emergency response. “Thirty percent of UK carbon emissions come from the use of our buildings, so we have a huge responsibility to act as an industry to help address this pressing and existential issue. I firmly believe that we all need to re-learn how to build differently so we can offer better buildings that do not emit CO₂ for future generations.”

Her dream project? Naturally it involves Passivhaus. “A large Passivhaus retrofit building project made of natural materials and laid out in a way that it can be used for different building uses. The flexibility created can allow future users to change the use of the spaces without significant remodelling… a naturally ‘reversible architecture’.

Marion would like her legacy to be one of delivering responsible buildings that do not imperil future generations and the way they live in the world. “We are running out of time to avoid a climate collapse but it is not yet too late to act; we have to focus all our efforts on providing a decent future for generations to come.”

PDPLondon.com
Marion Baeli / LinkedIn
@archima