In Nature's Pursuit of Belonging

In Nature’s Pursuit of Belonging proposes an ecological community library and cultural centre within the existing Proposition Building in Bethnal Green. The project responds to the area’s rich South Asian cultural history, particularly the South Asian communities that have shaped the identity of East London through generations of migration, collective memory, storytelling, and social gathering. Rather than creating a conventional library, the proposal reimagines the building as a living archive that supports learning, performance, workshops, oral histories, ecological education, and communal interaction.

The project imagines a speculative future in which the Proposition Building has remained partially abandoned over time, gradually becoming reclaimed by vegetation, rainwater, and ecological growth. Cracked concrete, exposed infrastructure, moss, and climbing plants are treated not as signs of decay, but as opportunities for regeneration and coexistence between architecture and nature.

A key aspect of the proposal is the adaptation of South Asian and Islamic environmental systems to London’s climate. Stepwells are reinterpreted as rainwater collection and flood management landscapes, while courtyards and jali-inspired facades create sheltered communal environments that mediate light, airflow, and planting growth. Existing concrete slabs on site are drilled, crushed, and recast into new architectural fragments and artificial ruins, embedding material memory directly into the project.

Through adaptive reuse, ecological restoration, and culturally responsive design, the proposal explores how architecture can create belonging not only for people, but also for the environmental systems increasingly excluded from urban life.