Brands Boito Sarno Architects

Boito Sarno Architects is a London-based practice that champions sustainability, re-use and an ethical approach to building and design. We believe that what is already there is useful and must be the starting point any intervention, within the site but also within the urban context. We conceive design as a repair like kintsugi pottery, which mends breakage with precious lacquer, celebrating the beauty of the reclaimed. 

We are currently working on several residential refurbishments and new built extensions to period properties, as well as an art pavilion in central London. Our portfolio also includes sustainable education and community projects in Czech Republic, Peru and Mozambique,

We recently won a competition for a school in Ghana and are collaborating with an NGO based in Madrid and a Tokyo University to promote the use of biomaterials such as rammed earth and timber. At 2021 Fuorisalonewe we will present Terra!, an installation to raise funds and are preparing to go to Ghana to build the school.

We are active members of the Architects Climate Action Network, advocating ambitious changes to current building regulations to improve energy efficiency and campaigning for the use of low embodied carbon materials such as timber.

We would like to use this platform to advocate for embodied carbon to become a mainstream issue in architecture, interiors and design. As operational carbon reduces, the significance of embodied carbon increases. Embodied impacts include those from material production and transport, construction, maintenance and replacement of components, demolition, and waste.

The differences in CO2 emissions between commonly used materials are staggering: a cubic meter of steel emits 163 times more than a cubic meter of timber. Rammed earth emits 13 times less than concrete.

In the fight against climate change, designers will increasingly need to consider embodied carbon when selecting materials, giving preference to plant based materials and earth.