In-conversation and Model Making Workshop with Emily Speed and Jo Sharples

Coinciding with the exhibition Energy House 2.0: Mishka Henner and Emily Speed presented in partnership with the University of Salford Art Collection and Energy House Labs.

£5, limited £3.5 tickets for students, Castlefield Gallery Associates, and anyone on a low income.

Join us for this exclusive event with exhibiting artist Emily Speed and architect Jo Sharples of Editional Studio, an architecture practice committed to reducing energy use through adapting and retrofitting existing buildings and public spaces.

This hybrid event will start with a tour exploring the Energy House 2.0: Mishka Henner and Emily Speed exhibition with a focused discussion of Speed’s work. Speed and Sharples’ research and expertise will then inform a conversation centred around an architectural model making workshop. Whilst learning tips and techniques for model making participants will have the opportunity to continue learning from and sharing their thoughts with each other through a relaxed and creative making activity – no prior knowledge or skills necessary!

Speed and Sharples have a shared interest in sustainable materials and housing. Speed’s artwork also considers who designs our homes and with what kinds of usage they have in mind compared with how we, our family and friends actually occupy these spaces. In the context of the exhibition this event is an opportunity to consider how multiple demands might shape the way the houses of the future are built.

Jo Sharples is an architect driven by a desire to make buildings of character with as little cost to the planet as possible. She is an accredited Passive House Designer and uses these principles to guide retrofit projects with Editional Studio; taking a ‘less is more’ approach and creatively working with what is already there. For 5 years, Jo led a Masters design studio at the University of Sheffield focusing on retrofit and low-impact materials. In 2022 two of her students won the Architect’s Journal’s ‘Student Sustainability Award’. Prior to founding Editional Studio, Jo worked at the Stirling Prize-winning practice, Caruso St John Architects converting a former steel works into a cookery school in Lille, France. The project was nominated for The Mies van der Rohe Award, the highest architectural accolade in Europe. Jo is a member of the RIBA’s North West Design Review Panel and the Architects’ Journal Awards Judging Panel. She has given talks with MatriArch and UrbanistasNW and continues to push for a more representative industry.

Image: Emily Speed, Floorplans (2025), detail. Photographed by Jules Lister.