Unit 4 considers contemporary material histories with a focus on the timber industry in Scotland. Through research and drawings, students have investigated material selection as a holistic process that taking into account an understanding of Timber’s whole lifecycle, the effect that farming timber has on its particular ecosystem, the people involved in its processing, etc.

The project is sited in the ruinous backland of a block that connects the body of Leith to the Links. Working with two local charities as clients, students developed briefs that focused on the occupation of common land for growing food and the reuse of surplus food to benefit those who struggle with food insecurity.

The projects that have developed aim to consolidate and support the existing ruined buildings, the neighbourhood and community. There was a particular interest in investigating threshold spaces and degrees of conditioned space, allowing for communal gathering in a covid/post covid setting.