Feilden Clegg Bradley Studio window installation in their London Studio, with an accompanying website, aims to demystify the term for the person in the street. 

From politicians to pop stars, multi-nationals to start-ups, everyone seems to have a roadmap, a plan or a route to Net Zero Carbon. Some are aiming for carbon neutrality. Others say they will be carbon negative. Everyone is talking targets, committing to dates, amounts, plotting their progress on graphs or with pie charts, but 64% of UK citizens don’t know what it means. 

The installation and website have been created by FCBStudios and Thomas.Matthews for the London Festival of Architecture, giving insight into ‘What is Net Zero Carbon?‘ and providing links to resources and ideas for deeper understanding and engagement.

If the general public, the average person on the street, don’t understand what Net Zero Carbon actually means, or how we even achieve it, how can they make informed choices which have an impact on their own carbon footprint?

The colourful installation takes the audience through the journey of understanding; from why the planet is heating up, what we are aiming towards, and how collectively we can reduce our impact on the planet. A 3D light installation draws the passer-by in, made up of hundreds of suspended laser-cut icons which represent the delicate balancing act of reducing what we emit and removing what greenhouse gasses are already in the atmosphere.

If we can all begin to understand that every action we do, every lifestyle choice, every item we buy, eat, use, discard, has the potential to emit carbon, and that this is what is causing global warming, then perhaps we can all act to change our behaviours.

The icons are cut from left-over panels of acrylic and timber and the remaining cut sheet ‘waste’ has been used alongside panels (also remnants) with etched information. The left-over acrylic waste boards – with their negative ‘holes’ in the forms of cars, factories and food waste etc – are layered up, creating shadows and reflections across the window, taking the audience on a narrative journey of understanding and action, but also hinting at the things we need to cut out and demonstrating the size and complexity of Net Zero Carbon, which many just find too overwhelming to begin to tackle.

The installation has been created using only offcuts and remnants from the FCBStudios model-making workshop and all waste was reused and deployed in the window displays.

‘What is Net Zero Carbon’ is never going to be answered in one go. But this piece has been created to draw people in, and inspire them to make positive changes that not only bring down emissions but improve health, wellbeing and have financial savings. Importantly, the installation is accompanied by a website with a wealth of further links to resources and ideas for deeper understanding and practical action.