Nestled on the Victoria Embankment at a junction between river, bridge, railway, and street, the Thames Habitat Frameworks explores a manner of synthesising these disparate elements in a playful scheme that engages participants in a reframing of their relationship to nature within the city.

A material investigation resulted in establishing an architectural language using a porous, biophilic eco-concrete employable both above ground and underwater to create frameworks for the bio-colonisation of plants and wildlife. These work alongside the programme to entice users to view the natural world in central London from a new perspective. The programme consists of an exhibition space and viewing platform, a river garden, and a monitoring station with adjunct laboratory which measures the changing environmental shifts and tests new ways of biomonitoring.

Responding to the circadian rhythm of the site, the proposal shifts with the dynamic conditions, moving up and down with the tides and redirecting the changing light to best serve plant growth. Over time, as the building takes root on the site, growing and re-establishing lost habitats, it offers a counterpoint to our built environment and serves as a testbed for alternative modes of biophilic construction.