Hackney Village

Hackney Village is an online, publicly accessible network of local sustainable businesses in Hackney displayed via our interactive Map of Local Building Culture. The map is complimented by a directory of local businesses as well as interviews with key individuals and business owners.

Increasingly, the architect’s role is as an ‘expert in the local,’ capable of making judgements about the consumption of resources and the environmental and social impact of materials. As such, architects are uniquely placed to connect consumers with sustainable networks of materials and circular supply chains.

The British-Indian environmentalist and architect, Laurie Baker, instructed his students that the ideal house in the ideal village should be built using materials and labour sourced from within a five-mile radius. Hackney Village situates Baker’s rule in the context of a densely populated borough, distinguished by the challenges of the urban, import-oriented construction industry.

With our architecture studio on Bodney Road at the centre and treating Hackney Central as the ‘village’ surrounding it, Mooradian Studio has compiled a live map of local businesses and resources that support our day-to-day practice as Hackney-based architects with an ethos of sustainable living.
The businesses that we map reflect our agenda as a design studio embedded in Hackney, mindful of the circular economy. By building relationships between local suppliers and fabricators, we hope to facilitate lasting networks and develop a shared knowledge and approach to the circular economy.

Only by taking responsibility for the materials that we use in our buildings can we begin to build sustainably. Hackney Village is a small step to empower consumers to build consciously. Only by furnishing people with the tools to choose materials responsibly, understanding their impact, can be truly develop a sustainable urban building culture.