Addressing Environmental Degradation: The Beyond Zero exhibition comes to UVA
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From April 16 - 24, 2026, the UVA School of Architecture will host a selection of works from the recent international exhibition Beyond Zero: Nordic Architecture on the Road Towards Renewed Practices. The exhibition was co-designed by current Assistant Professor of Architecture and Virginia Architecture Fellow Tuomas Siitonen (with Johannes Nieminen / Kombo Office) and was originally designed to conclude the "Nordic Carbon Neutral Bauhaus" — a one and a half years project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment Finland.
The exhibition debuted at the Form/Design Center in Malmö, Sweden, from November 2024 to January 2025. Together with the 17 projects originally presented in the exhibition, an online publication, forms a snapshot of Nordic architecture on the road towards renewed practices. Here, we share an excerpt from the exhibition publication and select featured projects.
Introduction
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The Beyond Zero exhibition addresses the most urgent and significant topic for architecture today: environmental degradation. Architecture, along with other creative fields, holds immense power to drive the systemic transformation necessitated by this crisis. It can inspire, provoke, question and make tangible the radical changes at hand. Through the exhibition and publication, the curators (Iines Karkulahti, Anssi Lauttia, Charlotte Nyholm and Meri Wiikinkoski) hope to challenge and inspire the reader to rethink what architecture is – and what it must become – in the pursuit of a truly sustainable future.
Beyond Zero dives into how architecture's environmental impacts arise and where its potential for improving environmental conditions lie — focusing on the processes through which the built environment is produced. The exhibition addresses these processes from six different perspectives, presented by the curators:
01. From Pioneering to Mainstreaming
Sustainability can no longer be reserved for specialty projects or pilots but must be central to all of our everyday architecture. We need strategies that target the majority of all construction to make an impact. This means integrating sustainable practices into construction on an industrial scale.
More about Beyond Zero: From Pioneering to Mainstreaming
02. Architecture is a Material Practice
Architecture creates physical objects – some of humanity's largest works. These objects embody abstract meanings and values, but at their core, they are deeply material. The impacts of construction extend far beyond the building site itself, reaching the places where the materials are sourced and processed, as well as the people whose hands shape them.
The greatest shift must occur in our attitudes towards materials already in human use. There’s no longer space for disposability. Harnessing the existing but unused building stock as a resource – urban mining – is a way to step away from architecture’s extractivist practices.
More about Beyond Zero: Architecture is a Material Practice
03. New Life for a Building
Recognizing the materiality of architecture requires acknowledging that we can no longer produce objects at the same rate as now. The circular economy is often understood as the recycling and reuse of materials, but a much more important goal is extending the lifespan of buildings and materials we already have. Thus, the most sustainable building is one that is kept in use and loved.
More about Beyond Zero: New Life for a Building
04. Enough is Enough
Compared to new construction, repair and renovation are generally more sustainable as they require less raw materials. However, current repair and renovation practices need to be overhauled. Of all the construction and demolition waste generated by the construction sector in Finland, a whopping 85% is caused by renovation and demolition and only 15% by new construction (Source: Finish Ministry of Environment). Some of the ways in which we treat our existing building stock produce substantial amounts of waste.
More about Beyond Zero: Enough is Enough
05. No Hoax
Intentional as well as unintended greenwashing runs rampant in all parts of our society and the construction sector is no exception. False or exaggerated claims of sustainability set the entire field back, as they blur our understanding of the scale of impact of various actions and cast doubt on all sustainability efforts. To achieve maximum impact and be able to reliably communicate it, decisions taken in construction projects must be grounded in the best available scientific knowledge. To ensure efforts can be traced, replicated and shared, both the impacts and the processes used to achieve them need to be carefully documented and reported.
More about Beyond Zero: No Hoax
06. Sustainability is Stagnation
Sustainability (by definition) is stagnation, sustaining current conditions and practices. As the year is coming to an end, 2024 is well on the track of being the first year on record when the global average temperature surpasses the 1.5-degree Celsius increase (Source: Copernicus Climate Change Service). Six out of nine other so-called planetary boundaries of safe operating space have also been breached including, for example, biochemical flows and freshwater change. Mere sustainability is no longer enough; we must shift towards actions that actively improve the state of the environment – we must be regenerative.
More about Beyond Zero: Sustainability is Stagnation
Select Projects
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Resource Rows
Lendager
Denmark 2019
As a material practice, the impacts of construction extend far beyond the building site itself. With no room left for disposability, we must make the most out of the materials already in human use. Lendager's Resource Rows harnesses material through urban mining.
More about Resource Rows
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Narva Art Residency
Estonia
We must ask ourselves: “What is enough?” Narva Art Residency is being renovated bit by bit by the occupants of the residence, appreciating the aesthetic of the in-between phase of this slow process. How do our attitudes toward existing structures, materials, and communities change when we prioritize minimal intervention over novelty?
More about Narva Art Residency
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Jarðsetning
Bogadóttir
Iceland 2021
To understand architecture’s environmental impacts and its potential, we must focus on the processes through which the built environment is produced. Jarðsetning, a poetic documentation of demolition, by architect Anna María Bogadóttir, shows how documentation can shed light on challenges and perspectives, which we haven’t yet considered.
More about Jarðsetning
On View
Beyond Zero: Nordic Architecture on the Road Towards Renewed Practices
April 16 - 24, 2026
Campbell Hall 101A
Opening Event, Thursday April 16 at noon.
More about this Exhibition on display at UVA School of Architecture
Exhibition Team
Curators:
Iines Karkulahti, Anssi Lauttia, Charlotte Nyholm, Meri Wiikinkoski (Noon Architects & Vapaa Collective)
Exhibition Architects:
Johannes Nieminen, Tuomas Siitonen (Kombo Office)
Commissioned by:
The Nordic Council of Ministers, The Ministry of the Environment (Finland), The Ministry of Education and Culture, Boverket and Form/Design Center.
