Speculative Assemblies: From Pine Needles to Pressed Coffee
Selected Project
Speculative Assemblies: From Pine Needles to Pressed Coffee
Top row, left to right: Daphne Stams, Dylan Jozkow, Mikhala Gibson, Simon Martignago (Student Associate)
Centre: Madison Bolyea, Keegan Metheringham, Mu Qu Jennifer Liu (Student Associate) Jeremie Lafleche
Bottom row: Emma Monfette (Student Associate) Theo Jemtrud, Vincent Tourangeau, Jerry Hacker, Architect OAA
Project Summary
The planet is literally and figuratively on fire. Across Canada, wildfires are burning land at a record pace, destroying more than 4% of our forests in a single year alone (NRC, 2023). Meanwhile, in January 2025 NASA released a composite image showing global surface air temperatures 1.47° C above pre-industrial levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change considers 1.5° C a critical warming threshold, with potentially dire consequences for humans and ecosystems.
Compounding these issues, plastic production has skyrocketed over the last 75 years, increasing from 2 million tonnes to 450 million tonnes annually, with the construction industry the second largest consumer behind packaging (Our World in Data, 2025). Derived from petrochemical byprodcuts, the manufacturing of these supposed “wonder” materials presents toxic exposures at every stage—from extraction to eventual disposal. Designed molecule by molecule, plastics do not degrade (possibly ever). The result is an emerging epidemic of microplastics, which have been found in our blood, in brain tumours, and even in the placentas of newborn babies.
To take meaningful action toward a post-carbon, post-plastic, non-toxic future, the time for significant change in how we design and build is now. Speculative Assemblies imagines a regenerative resource revolution, with building assemblies freed of the toxic materials, methods, and exploitative global supply chains that are wreaking havoc with human and planetary health.
Fundamentally, it asks whether buildings can:
- Be designed for disassembly and biodegradation;
- Be plastic- and toxin-free; and
- Use locally based regenerative resources that return themselves to the earth, thereby rejuvenating environments and enhancing human health and regional biodiversity.
