Reimagining Design: Jane Hutton and Ruth Mandl on Material and Labor Flows

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Each spring semester, the UVA School of Architecture hosts the much-anticipated Michael Owen Jones (MOJ) Lecture. This tradition, named in honor of Michael Owen Jones (BS Arch ’85), has been supported for 32 years by his family and friends, with each new cohort of architecture students curating the program. This year, the lecture took on an exciting new dimension through a collaboration with the Thaler Endowment, named for Myles H. Thaler (LArch, '73), a member of the first graduating class of the school’s Landscape Architecture department. For the first time, architecture and landscape architecture students co-organized the event, amplifying its scope and impact. Their goal was to bring together leading voices in both fields who challenge traditional design practices and inspire innovative thinking about sustainability.

With a focus on responsible building practices and adaptive reuse, the MOJxThaler committee invited two distinguished speakers: Jane Mah Hutton, Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo and author of Reciprocal Landscapes: Stories of Material Movements, and Ruth Mandl, Principal at CO Adaptive. Their lecture, Adaptive Futures: Reclaiming Labor and Material Flows, explored the processes of making and maintaining design constructions—from material sourcing to labor movements.

A Conversation on Material and Labor Flows

In her presentation, Mandl emphasized CO Adaptive's approach to architecture, focusing on the process of building rather than just the final product. She highlighted the importance of reframing architecture as an ongoing system of practices, including deconstruction, material reuse, and long-term resiliency. She addressed the negative impacts of treating architecture as a finished object, such as waste and environmental harm, advocating for a more sustainable and regenerative future through the reuse of existing buildings and locally sourced materials.

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Mandl underscored CO Adaptive's commitment to minimal material intervention, reusing existing elements whenever possible. She also shared insights into their work with salvaged timber, like the longleaf pine, used for an adaptive reuse theater project, stressing the value of preserving materials for their historical significance and to "stitch the urban environment with the forest," said Mandl.

To conclude, Mandl urged architects to embrace a shift in practice, where the focus is on repair, adaptation, and creative reuse to ensure that buildings can endure and thrive for generations, reducing reliance on new resources and promoting local community benefits through green jobs. 

“Working with existing building fabric means that our hand is lighter, more subtle, and sometimes less immediately visible. And I think on a very fundamental level, it means an exercise in shedding our ego.”

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As Ruth Mandl shared her perspective on adapting and reusing existing structures, Jane Hutton took the conversation a step further by tracing the movement of materials and their social and ecological implications. She reflected on her journey toward landscape architecture, rooted in her undergraduate biology work in eastern Panama, where she engaged with a community using forest plants for sustainable building. Her experience with the community, which faced land encroachment, led her to explore ecology’s connection to people and land. This sparked her interest in landscape architecture, especially as it relates to urban ecology and materiality. She found herself questioning the disconnection between materials in design and their broader ecological and labor histories.

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Hutton recounted her work at Harvard GSD, where she explored how products often seen as disconnected—like building materials—are in fact intertwined with people, places, and histories. A pivotal moment came through her research for the exhibition Erratics: A Genealogy of Rock Landscape that she curated at the GSD, where she investigated how landscapes and climate change are reflected in the materials we use. This led to her book, Reciprocal Landscapes, tracing materials in New York’s public spaces back to their origins, uncovering labor histories tied to resource extraction.

Hutton is now focused on understanding regional material relationships, particularly in southern Ontario, where the ongoing urbanization is intimately linked to the land's past ecosystems. She emphasizes how the commodification of land materials—such as beaver-managed waterways and pine forests—shapes the present, reinforcing colonial histories and modern construction practices. Hutton challenges the way we think about land ownership and the extraction of materials, urging a deeper reflection on the ongoing consequences of these histories.

"How do we honor existing materials in their past extractions, and what kind of material practices support communities that care for land?"

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Throughout their UVA visit, Hutton and Mandl engaged deeply with students, visiting studios and sharing conversation over meals. Their presence sparked dynamic conversations, reinforcing the lecture’s theme of sustainability as not just a technical challenge but a cultural and ethical one.

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(l-r) Jane Hutton, Alex Daley, Joyce Fong, and Ruth Mandl (left). Courtesy of Alex Daley. Jane Hutton visits the LAR 7020 studio taught by Brad Cantrell and Leena Cho. Photo: Leena Cho.

The success of this year’s event was a testament to the dedication of the MOJxThaler committee. Led by Shiza Chaudhary (MArch ‘25) and Alex Daley (MArch + MLA ‘25), with Samya Ahmed (BSArch ‘26), Missy Barro (MArch ‘25), Joyce Fong (MLA ‘25), and Olivia Haas (BSArch ‘26), the team spent over six months carefully shaping the event’s vision. Their thoughtful approach ensured that the lecture was not only intellectually engaging but also meaningful in fostering dialogue across disciplines.

Reflecting on the event, Chaudhary remarked: "As designers and educators, both Ruth and Jane are giving back to their fields in deeply inspirational ways. Ruth’s insight that ‘respect’—for what we already have, for what this planet provides—is a guiding principle in both design and life resonated with me. Jane has reframed my thinking about the history of demolition and its impact."

Beyond the insights gained from the speakers, the student organizers found the collaborative process deeply rewarding. Daley reflected on the camaraderie built through months of planning: "Getting to collaborate with and learn from a range of students from the A-School was so fulfilling. Everyone on our team felt ownership over the event." For Ahmed, "The best part of being on the MOJxThaler committee was collaborating with a dedicated group of students. It was so rewarding to see our ideas come to life and hear everyone's thoughts and questions afterward." 

Through the MOJxThaler collaboration, the lecture not only honored its legacy but also expanded its impact, inspiring students to think more deeply about the connections between materials, labor, and sustainability in architecture and landscape architecture.