Matthew Crabbe

Matt is an idealist and thinks that group skills are underpriced in architecture school, often in favour of a competitive attitude to design, that has its endgame in an intractable and environmentally unfriendly building sector. At NBL he values the chance to collaborate with a huge variety of like-minded and inspirational people on projects which present a more hopeful vision for our shared built environment. His big wish is to inspire and empower NBL’ers to realise these visions in their own critical and collective spatial practice. Originally from the UK, Matt has been based in Berlin since 2011 and joined Natural Building Lab as a teaching and research associate in April 2018. He is part of the team responsible for teaching-related projects at NBL while working on his PhD dissertation.

crabbe@tu-berlin.de
Full CV (PDF)

• Feb 2025 / Submission of Doctoral Thesis “Change Now, Architecture Later – a practice-based exploration of the controversies between university, profession and society that underlie becoming an architect in Climate Breakdown”
• Since 2024 / Member Architektenkammer Berlin
• Since 2023 / Lehrbeauftragter, Burg Giebichenstein, Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle “Aspekte der Nachhaltigkeit beim Bauen”
• Since 2022 / Member of non-profit organisation Haus Döschnitz e.V.
• Since 2021 / Co-founder and Managing Director NBL Studio gGmbH with Eike
  Roswag-Klinge & Nina Pawlick
• Since April 2018 / Natural Building Lab, constructive design & climate adaptive architecture, Prof. Eike Roswag-Klinge, TU Berlin: Teaching & Research Associate
• 2016 – 2019 / Project Architect, ZRS Architekten, Berlin
• 2014 – 2016 / M.Sc Architektur, TU Berlin
• 2011 – 2016 / Student Assistant, ZRS Architekten, Berlin

Selected Publications

(2025) Crabbe, M. ‘Change Now, Architecture Later: a practice-based exploration of the controversies between university, profession and society that underlie becoming an architect in Climate Breakdown’, To be published: TU Berlin Open Access, PhD Technical University Berlin

(2025) Crabbe, M. ‘Becoming Architects: a Drama in Three Acts’, To be published in: Field, Special Issue: Architecture is Climate, University of Sheffield [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.field-journal.org/issues/ (Accessed: 30 January 2025).

(2025) Crabbe, M. and Pawlicki, N. ‘Everyday Architect? — Integrating Transformative Agendas between University and Early Practice’. To be published in: Charrette, no. 10(1)-Productive Disruptive, 2023 aae conference [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/2054-6718 (Accessed: 30 January 2025).

(2022) Crabbe, M., Pawlicki, N., Jansen, S., and Roswag-Klinge, E. ‘On Reflection: Learning, Meaning and Identity in the Design Studio’. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078, no. 1 (1 September 2022): 012060. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012060.

(2022) Jansen, S., Pawlicki, N., Crabbe, M., and Roswag-Klinge, E. ‘Real-World Laboratories in the Building Sector – Strategies for Transformation and Leap Innovations’. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078, no. 1 (1 September 2022): 012109. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012109.

(2021) Crabbe, M. ‘Practicing Reflection as a Design Studio Collective’. CA²RE / CA²RE+ Hamburg. Conference for Artistic and Architectural Research – Book of Proceedings, 2021. https://doi.org/10.34712/142.18.