
2022/23
aryan kaul
marginal gains
This project began with rubble, clay, and a group of volunteer narrowboaters. Collaborating with the Meanwhile Gardens Community Association, Aryan Kaul developed a bottom-up scheme to rehabilitate a collapsing factory through self-build techniques. Drawing on Moroccan rammed-earth practices and digital fabrication, Aryan reimagined structural systems to be both low-tech and precise. His “leaf bricks” reused demolition debris and were shaped using CNC-cut timber forms that doubled as structure and scaffold. Rather than clearing the site, his design worked around existing programs—offices, workshops, rehearsal rooms—so the community could continue using them while construction unfolded. Repair here is gentle, incremental, and socially embedded, reinforcing the site’s identity rather than overwriting it.