Originally developed under the title “ECOLOCKS” at the Bartlett School of Architecture (RC4), this project is presented here as “AUTOBLOX” to reflect its systemic, platform-oriented evolution.
Architecture Must Confront Crisis at Scale
Ecolocks emerges at the intersection of two urgent global challenges: the intensifying housing crisis and mounting plastic pollution. As urban populations grow faster than infrastructure, especially in cities like London, millions face displacement and precarity. Simultaneously, plastic waste (once a symbol of convenience) now threatens ecological collapse. Architecture must respond not with isolated gestures, but with scalable systems that turn crisis into opportunity.
Rewriting Environmental Guilt into Collective Agency
The project proposes a policy-backed framework where polluting industries can offset environmental damage not through superficial greenwashing, but through genuine co-investment in housing futures. This is not charity; it is structured reciprocity. Governments, corporations, and communities collaborate to redirect waste into value, forging a civic economy built on responsibility, equity, and regeneration.
Reinventing Industry with Modular Plastic Intelligence
Recycled HDPE is reshaped into serialized, interlocking building blocks using injection molding, offering high structural precision and low fabrication cost. These modules form a new architectural language: discrete, repeatable, yet spatially rich. By embedding architectural logic directly into matter, the system simplifies manufacturing while enabling large-scale housing production without relying on conventional materials.
