Why Materials Matter with Neighbours from Material Matter[s]

Join us at 5pm for food and refreshments

Join us as we kick off a new season of Neighbourhood Trade School as we take time to get up close with and consider the materials that make up our home, streets and neighbourhoods homes, streets and neighbourhoods and using our imaginations to rethink these. In this session, we will be joined by neighbours who are participating in our Material Matters[s] Skills for Transition Learning Journey who will be co-hosting two classes and sharing their perspectives on why materials matter and what they have learnt so far on their journey experimenting with natural bio-based materials.

1). Materials Quest

Materials quest will explore the materials that make up our neighbourhood and investigate the impact of these materials on our local and global ecology. The session will be co-hosted by peers from the Material Matters learning journey who will share their knowledge and examples of the work they have been doing building a straw wall in the Polytunnel at the CIVIC SQUARE studio. This is a great oppertunity to learn about the possibilities of building with natural materials and to touch and feel them. On our way back from the Polytunnel we will head out into the neighbourhood on a mission to notice the materials with make up the environment around us. We will then reflect on what we have learnt and use this to contemplate the material pallet choices for the Neighbourhood Public Square.

2). Corncrete Creation

For this class we will head over to Birmingham Settlement Nature and Wellbeing Centre where Emily from CIVIC SQUARE will lead us through the process to make corncrete; a bio-based material that can be made using a few natural ingredients and a microwave. Together with neighbours who are taking part in Material Matter[s] learning journey, we will learn about how shifting to bio-based materials can help reduce the impact of construction on the planet and have a go at optimising the recipe for corncrete to make the strongest brick possible.

If neither of these classes feel of interest to you but you would love to join us anyway at Midland Sailing Club throughout the evening where there will be a film screening related to the theme of the class playing in the smaller room as well as space to socialise and share and learn from each other.

Material Matter[s] is a Neighbourhood Trade School Skills for Transition learning journey with a working with 25+ people from both locally and nationally alongside Material Cultures to explore the material transition of our homes, streets and neighbourhoods to collectively move towards a low-carbon, regenerative built environment that supports an ecologically safe and socially just planet for all life, both human and the more-than-human.

Six of our peers have agreed to join us to share their knowledge as part of this class:

Roo Dhissou & Fred Hubble
Aks Birmingham based artists and researchers about their experience and learning on Materials Matters so far and how they are making connections between their learnings on material justice to the domains of interest in social, disability, climate and racial justice as well as seasonality in nature
Kez Sleem
Learn from Kez about how he is thinking about applying his learning to the retrofit of his own home and be inspired by his passion to have confidence to have a go.

Laurie Ramsell
Ask Laurie about his interest and experiences working with Living and bio materials through his artistic practice and how he is thinking about materials now through this learning journey.

Nancy Toure

Nancy is a regular attendee of Neighbourhood Trade School and by day is a consultant in renewable energy specialising in Solar Power. Nancy will be here to share why she joined Material Matter[s] and what she is learning from this.
Nidhi Shah

Ask Nidhi about her experiences retrofitting her own home and how her learnings from the Material Matters learning journey may apply to this, as well as her practice working Retrofit Action for Tomorrow (RAFT) around indoor air quality, embodied carbon and designing for reuse in mind.

The Midland Sailing Club site is accessible from the footpath around Edgbaston Reservoir. You can walk or ride your bike, or reach the site via bus route 80, which stops on Icknield Port Road or 82, 87, 89, 11 which stop a short walk away on Dudley Road. We encourage arriving by foot or public transport where possible. If arriving by car, you can park inside the gates at the Icknield Port Road entrance.

Trade School takes place in the main room upstairs. There is a lift up to the Midland Sailing Club, and please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements so we can assist you.

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Neighbourhood Trade School is based on the principle that everyone has something to share and everyone has something to learn. We invite each class host to choose items that they would find useful and delightful to receive in return for their time and experience in sharing a skill, so we invite you to explore which of our host's barter items you would like to bring along with you, if you are able to do so.

Peer's Barter List:

• Nancy is requesting Book recommendations on Sustainability or any unwanted books you may have.
  

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Neighbourhood Trade School is based on the principle that everyone has something to share and everyone has something to learn.

What if we could activate the potential in our homes, streets, libraries, playgrounds, schools and more as places to exchange learning together in a kind, joyful, noble and intergenerational way that is available to all of us?

We invite you to explore how exchanging skills and knowledge of many forms can make our neighbourhoods resilient to the challenges and opportunities we will face together, now and in the future. Discover what you’d love to share or learn more about, as we shape Neighbourhood Trade School together.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Midland Sailing Club, Icknield Port Road, Birmingham, United Kingdom