Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Duncan is a part-time Principal Lecturer and Climate Literacy Champion based at the University of Brighton. He is a qualified Chartered RIBA Architect who has practised, researched, and taught around issues of sustainable design, the Circular Economy and closed-loop systems for over 25 years. He has worked on projects as diverse as 'The Greenwich Millennium Village' in London with Ralph Erskine, the RIBA’s ‘House of the Future’, and more recently the multi-award-winning New Country House & Estate Master Plan in Hadlow Down East Sussex. Author of ‘The Re-Use Atlas: a designer’s guide towards a circular economy’ published by RIBA, he is perhaps best known for a series of thought-provoking ‘house’ projects testing issues of sustainable design and resource management including 'The House that Kevin Built’ in 2008 and ‘The Brighton Waste House’ in 2014.
Duncan is currently the Principal Investigator for two separate Interreg research programmes. One considers the viability of local waste flows to be processed into insulation for the social housing sector. The other, in partnership with Rotor DC of Brussels tests ideas associated with deconstructing late 20th Century/ early 21st Century buildings and re-constructing them. He lectures widely on issues relating to sustainable development and the circular economy in the design and construction industries. In December 2018 Duncan delivered a keynote address ‘Designers can save Planet Earth’ at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College. He is the curator of the annual ‘Waste Zone’ at FutureBuild; a three-day symposium and exhibition focusing on discussing many of the most pressing issues presenting the emerging concept of Circular Cities, involving over 50 invited speakers including Prof. Walter Stahel, Prof. Michael Braungart, Clare Ollerenshaw (LWARB), Gillie Hobbs (BRE), Dr. Zoe Laughlin (Inst.of Making) and David Benjamin of New York’s ‘The Living’.
Duncan’s research tests the viability of a number of practices and materials, recognising the potential of discarded “waste” as a valuable resource in the future of construction, as well as live projects as valuable teaching aides. Through his projects he fosters community development and regeneration, working with apprentice builders and students, informing young people of all ages as to their role in sustainable living. Duncan creates examples of community practice that, through the use of innovative techniques such as ‘resource mapping’ can redefine what local materials are and match them with local skills and trades.
Duncan has taught at both undergraduate and post-graduate level since 1994, recently running an undergraduate design studio at the School of Architecture & Design, as well as coordinating undergraduate Technology & Professional Practices modules. His research practice informs his teaching, and vice versa. Duncan recently coordinated the design and construction of the multi-award-winning Brighton Waste House with over 360 undergraduate students, volunteers, and apprentices. As well as being a successful ‘live project’ and pedagogic tool, it is also Europe’s first permanent building made of waste material and the host of a number of funded on-going research projects.
Supervisory Interests
Duncan supervises and examines at PhD level and is available for supervision on topics that consider practices of sustainable design and closed loop systems at a variety of scales from investigations into waste and other sustainable material flows, one-off ‘live’ building projects, to testing strategies for Circular Cities & regions. His research tests the viability of a number of practices and materials, recognising the potential of discarded “waste” as a valuable resource in the future of construction, as well as live projects as valuable teaching aides. Through his collaborative projects he fosters community development and regeneration, working with apprentice builders and students, informing young people of all ages as to their role in sustainable living. He creates examples of community practice that, through the use of innovative techniques such as ‘resource mapping’ and co-design can redefine what local materials and circular systems are, and match them with local skills and trades.
Key Words: Circular Economy, Circular Cities, Sustainable Design, Closed-loop systems, Sustainable Architecture, Sustainable Materials, Re-Use, Reduce
Education/Academic qualification
RIBA Part III Professional Qualifications, Royal Institute of British Architects
Award Date: 11 Nov 1997
Master, Diploma in Architecture
1 Oct 1990 → 7 Jun 1992
Award Date: 5 Jun 1992
Bachelor, Science in Architecture, Polytechnic of North London
25 Sept 1985 → 6 Jun 1988
Award Date: 19 Feb 1986
External positions
Governance Board, UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard
11 Nov 2022 → …
RIBA Headquarters Retrofit Project Sustainability Champion, Royal Institute of British Architects
1 Aug 2022 → …
Co-Chair RIBA Climate Action Expert Advisory Group, Royal Institute of British Architects
14 Jul 2022 → …
Brighton & Hove City Council, Circular Economy Oversight Board, Brighton & Hove City Council
7 Jun 2022 → …
RIBA National Council
14 Jul 2021 → …
UK Architects Declare Steering Group
7 Jul 2021 → …
Member, South Downs National Park, Design Review Panel
2 Feb 2014 → …
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 2 Finished
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FCRBE: Facilitating the circulation of reclaimed building elements in Northwestern Europe
Baker-Brown, D., Gant, N., Woodard, R., Gilbert, L. & Roberts, A.
1/01/19 → 30/09/23
Project: EU / International
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SB&WRC: Interreg Sustainable Bio & Waste Resources for Construction
Gant, N., Baker-Brown, D. & Woodard, R.
1/08/17 → 31/10/19
Project: Grant
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The Magic of Mycelium
Baker-Brown, D., 1 Mar 2024, (Accepted/In press) Materials: An environmental primer. Hartman, H. & Jack Williams, J. (eds.). London: RIBA Publishing, p. 158-165 7 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBN › Chapter › peer-review
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The Pedagogies of Re-Use: The International School of Re-Construction
Baker-Brown, D. (ed.) & Brooker, G. (ed.), 6 Jun 2024, Routledge. 256 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book - authored › peer-review
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The Re-Use Atlas Second Edition: A designer's guide towards a circular economy
Baker-Brown, D., 1 Jul 2024, 2 ed. London, UK: RIBA Publishing. 262 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book - authored › peer-review
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We all know that re-use in the construction sector is a big deal, we just need to remember how to do it.
Baker-Brown, D., 1 Feb 2024, (Accepted/In press) Rethinking Waste through Design in a World that is Already Full. Crocker, R. (ed.). IntellectResearch output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBN › Chapter › peer-review
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Building Blocks to Transform the Built Environment: A manifesto for the next UK government
Baker-Brown, D., 23 Nov 2023, 20 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report › peer-review
Open AccessFile
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Invitation to speak to Chair of House of Lords Select Committee for Environment and Climate Change
Duncan Baker-Brown (Presenter)
25 Oct 2023Activity: External talk or presentation › Invited talk
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RE-USE IS A BIG DEAL: Employing closed-loop systems to the built environment
Duncan Baker-Brown (Presenter)
20 Sept 2023Activity: External talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Climate Literacy in the Construction Sector
Duncan Baker-Brown (Participant)
5 Jul 2023Activity: Events › Event
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