GROWTH.

Sammanfattning

GROWTH. reconsiders the notion of growth in architecture, not as a process of continuous expansion, but as a cyclical condition of emergence, stabilization, decay, and regeneration observed in natural ecosystems. Positioned between regenerative agriculture, computational design, and material-driven architectural practice, the thesis investigates how the growth cycles of biotic materials can become a primary driver of architectural decision-making. The research emerges from the increasing urgency surrounding material scarcity, embodied carbon, biodiversity loss, and the extractive logic of contemporary construction. Rather than beginning with predefined building forms and sourcing materials afterwards, GROWTH. proposes a bottom-up design methodology in which architecture is shaped by the quantities, growth rates, harvest cycles, and regenerative potential of locally cultivated resources. Straw, hemp, and spruce are explored as representative material systems due to their presence within agricultural and forestry cycles and their potential application in contemporary construction. The methodology combines literature review, industry interviews, computational simulation, material prototyping, and architectural design. Through custom Python scripts and Grasshopper workflows, growth data is translated into material quantities and subsequently into architectural elements. The resulting framework, Growth Site Specific Possibilities (GSSP), evaluates the relationship between land use, biodiversity, crop rotation, forestry management, and architectural development over time. The framework is tested through a case study of Mossagården, an ecological farm in Skåne, Sweden, where phased interventions are proposed based on the availability of locally grown resources. Alongside the computational investigation, the thesis develops and evaluates a load-bearing straw bale wall prototype informed by vernacular construction techniques and contemporary material research. The prototype becomes a means of testing how material scarcity, structural requirements, and construction logic influence architectural form and spatial organization. The findings demonstrate that placing plant growth cycles at the center of the design process fundamentally alters architectural planning, construction sequencing, and material selection. The resulting architecture evolves through time, adapting to ecological rhythms rather than imposing fixed timelines upon them. In this way, GROWTH. argues for a renewed relationship between architecture, agriculture, and landscape, where buildings are understood as temporary configurations within longer regenerative cycles. Rather than seeking certainty, the project embraces complexity, uncertainty, and adaptation, proposing an architectural practice that grows with the resources available to it and remains embedded within the ecological systems from which it emerges.