Historically a site of extraction and only recently incorporated into the city, Easterhouse sits on Glasgow’s periphery as a relic of the city’s mid-20th century attitude to growth and sprawl. Bordered on one side by the M8 motorway and on the other side an environmentally crucial wetland ecosystem, this project explores how blurring the thresholds between these stratified territories can foster a new relationship between local residents and the environment while reconnecting to the rest of Glasgow. It has been developed through the lens of ‘carbon form’, a theoretical framework which – as opposed to prioritising energy efficiency as the end goal of architectural sustainability – understands buildings holistically within a number of systems rang-ing from spatial configurations to material choices, all of which have further-reaching and often less tangible impacts on sustainability than simple measures of energy use can reveal.

Through the ‘post-carbon form’ framework, environmental sustainability and integration take precedence. These structures are built from materials reclaimed from demolition sites in the city centre, reversing the historic trend of extracting raw material from the city’s hinterlands and creating a (currently absent) materi-al connection to the city.

The structures and masterplan explore the different ways architecture can interact with landscape: some structures sink in to become part of the earth, while others perch on top, minimising the environmental im-pact. Throughout the scheme, the users’ interaction with the landscape is explored and enhanced through views and physical connections.