How does one build with care towards the planet's resources? How can architecture check its consumption of the planet’s resources? How can it make sure it does minimal harm? How can architects reduce waste? These questions have plagued the practice of architecture for decades. In reaction to this have been the alternative voices that question and rethink excess consumption within the industry. One among the many voices advocating for a world where we look more carefully at the costs of construction in the industry is the Arles-based design research program, Atelier Luma.

Located within the Parc des Ateliers campus, the program was established in 2016 by LUMA Arles with the intention of exploring the potential of natural, non-extractivist and renewable resources—such as agricultural co-products, algae, and industrial waste—in design and architecture. The program’s activities are centred in the Camargue bioregion, the unruly marshes between the city of Arles and the Mediterranean Sea. As Jan Boelen, artistic director of Atelier LUMA explains, "We began [the project] by mapping the territory of Arles and the Camargue, identifying layers of resources and imagining ways they could be reassembled or reconfigured to contribute to its adaptation to changing environmental and social conditions. This initial anchoring in a specific environmental and social space has come to shape our practices into bioregional ones, no matter where we are working." Context and the inevitability of change shape all the work that the program has undertaken thus far, with a diverse team of designers, engineers, scientists, and experts from the fields of culture, craftsmanship, humanities, and social sciences and innovation.

The design program's research in circular construction and bio-based materials inform the new workspaces for the atelier. Located in an abandoned railway building, Lot 8 (the official title for the adaptive reuse project) is emblematic of the core philosophies driving the research and design practice, thinking with the local conditions and positively responding to the environmental and socioeconomic challenges of different territories through a multidisciplinary design approach.

The act of building bears responsibility not just to its present users but to the future of our planet. Until recently, construction was thought of as purely extractive, taking from the Earth and building upon it. It does not need to be emphasised that in the world of excess we live in today, our acts require radical rethinking. Conscious design means rethinking our relationship to our natural resources, and is not just about performance metrics and green certifications. In this vein, discourse has shifted to questions of reuse and regeneration, of circular design and giving new life to objects; from dust to mortar and ashes to bricks. Speaking on Atelier LUMA’s impact, Hoffman states, "It functions not solely as a catalyst for sustainable infrastructure, but as a producer of knowledge…While remaining rooted in Arles and the Camargue, we have begun applying [the research] methodology to territories in other regions and countries. As we enter a new chapter, our experience of this rich and varied territory will inform the way we weave ties between the local environment, culture, and heritage elsewhere in the world and thus impact its future.”

The campus in which LUMA Arles is based, the Parc des Ateliers was a 19^thcentury railway wasteland covering 27 acres. Several industrial buildings were transformed into exhibition spaces and artist residencies when the LUMA Arles project was launched in 2013. Watching over these vestiges of industry on the site is the luminous arts centre, called The Tower, designed by Frank Gehry as part of LUMA Arles. A landscaped garden, park and pond designed by Bas Smets completes the activities offered in the precinct. As Maja Hoffman, founder of the cultural centre sees it; the place creates a unique environment, blending architecture, art, nature, and design.

Work on different sites within the 27 acre campus has been ongoing for the last 10 years. Of these, one of the former railway buildings now houses Atelier LUMA and its activities. The result of a three-year pilot and experimental project in which the design program worked closely with local communities, Lot 8 was conceived in collaboration with BC architects & studies, an architecture studio based in Belgium and Assemble, a London-based practice. Residency programs were conducted, which allowed the different team to gain a deeper understanding of the territory in order to develop different approaches. These programs, built around a sense of sharing and conviviality were not restricted to the design for Lot 8. Described as a ‘building for uncertainties’, the major design approach hinged upon radical choices, favouring bioregional materials, and collaborating with local craftsmen.

Several workshops and training sessions were conducted over the course of Lot 8’s construction on the materials and techniques developed. These focused on traditional construction methods and learning from everyone included in the design process. “A space of possibilities”, as Boelen calls it, the program for the renovated industrial workshop includes a resource centre, production hub, research labs and various public spaces such as The Agora, which will host temporary exhibitions and events open to the public. The layout for the complex is conceived to be a collaborative space, for learning, unlearning, and discovering new possibilities. As Boelen puts it, “It is a building that is never finished, instead perpetually transforming through new discoveries, encounters, and stories,” marking the building itself as an ongoing prototype for sustainable construction.

Sunflower fibres, salt crystals, algae and waste earth are just some of the unconventional materials that make up the design of the new laboratories and production spaces for the atelier. According to LUMA, 20 of the materials it has been prototyping have been used in the refurbishment process. Not only is the project the result of years of research, it represents a new way of thinking about the regeneration of disused industrial architecture. Based in a precinct that advocates for the co-habitation of nature and design, the use of bio-based and waste materials underscores the idea of care towards the natural environment through architecture. While the program required specific functions like labs and production spaces, provision was also made for future “unknown activities”, designed almost like a living grid. The prototype is meant to adapt, and grow with the changing needs of the people who will use it.

The design retains the original external windows and door openings, while the massing instinctively gave rise to three distinct zones. Other alterations to the existing shell of Le Magasin Électrique included the introduction of skylights to improve natural light and ventilation within the spaces. The roof tiles of the former workshop were retained, but insulated to improve energy performance. Damaged tiles were crushed to be used for the façade coating or in the terrazzo flooring.

External walls are made of rammed earth and rice husk insulation while timber as a structural material was used for the speed of construction, robustness, and adaptability. Of the various unexpected materials one will find within the building are salt crystal door handles, algae bathroom tiles, bioplastic plug sockets and acoustic panels made of sunflower fibres. Wastewater recycling for the building also employs algal matter, which is then repurposed in the irrigation of the studio's garden. Each of these prototypes was developed to meet a specific need.

The building, which rises almost organically, like something born from nature exemplifies an alternate way of thinking about construction and conscious consumption. Each of the experimental elements, from the algae to the sunflowers, are employed within the design in such a refined manner, that one would have to look twice to understand where each element comes from. The entire construction for La Magasin Electrique feels like an alchemical reaction, producing gold from waste.