'Enlightening, inspiring, joyful, grounded, informative and inclusive' were just some of the words guests used to encapsulate their time at Working with Earth: Architecture and Landscape earlier this month.

We would like to extend a huge and heartfelt thank-you to everyone who came and took part in Working with Earth: Architecture and Landscape, the inaugural two-day symposium hosted by Tom Stuart-Smith Studio in The Apple House earlier this month. The symposium was an exploration and celebration of the practices, projects and processes and potential of working with earth and brought together a community across architecture and landscape with an unending passion for natural materials. 

Day One featured a range of architectural practitioners: from Dr Murine Kate Dineen on natural pigments and her work with Studio Mumbai, to Edmund Fowles of Feilden Fowles on their projects including the Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum to earth working demonstrations from Iza Thomson and Bee Rowan, and reflections on the global impact of stabilising clay with lime in building, to Paloma Gormley on Material Cultures' recent projects and architect Ben Stuart-Smith on the processes involved in building the event's venue, the Apple House.

After an opening introduction by George Massoud of Material Cultures, Day Two brought together Loretta and Ben Bosence from Local Works on sustainable landscaping, including their collaboration with Sarah Price on her 2023 RHS Chelsea Garden, on which Sarah then gave a designer's perspective among broader insights into how she creates moments of magic in the garden using natural materials. After lunch Tom Massey, Cleve West and Tom Stuart-Smith presented on using recycled materials in their projects, including a number of show gardens, before all the speakers gathered for a panel discussing the potential, processes and practicalities of sourcing and using sustainable and recycled materials.