As the annual SterlingOSB Zero/RIBAJ competition celebrated its 10th anniversary, the 2025 competition entitled Powers of Ten, challenged architects to explore the principles of scale. Entrants were unrestricted by building standards and were free to play with the concept of scale and design a structure from competition sponsor West Fraser’s SterlingOSB Zero.
This year’s competition winner, Kashdan-Brown Architects, imagined a 1:10 scale model reconstruction of the 140-metre-high missing spire of Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire.
Here Julian Kashdan-Brown talks about his winning entry and what SterlingOSB Zero provides architects.
Q. What inspired your design for the competition?
The brief this year was very much about scale, and scale is an interesting thing looking back into the past at some enormous edifices. Of course, with the economy with which we must build today, it’s impossible to build to the kind of scale common previously. I was interested in trying to produce a piece at a small scale; but which evoked the idea of the grand scale of buildings of the past. That’s what eventually inspired the idea to recreate the fallen part of Malmesbury Abbey which is, of course, ten times the size of the OSB version that we designed ourselves.
Q. What are some of the common challenges you face in meeting sustainability targets?
It is increasingly difficult to meet sustainability targets today. To begin with, it was about the nature of the material that you were specifying and how that material might be produced; and how much energy is consumed in doing that. Now it’s about whole life cycle costings as well. It is, therefore, important to consider every aspect of the material. In the case of SterlingOSB Zero, it’s not just the timber that is within; it’s the way in which it is bonded together; and the sources from which those come and the degree of transportation involved. We need to consider all these points now when we specify materials for buildings.
Q. How has designing with SterlingOSB Zero informed your view as a material regarding its versatility and aesthetic?
With SterlingOSB Zero, I probably have more experience of it than many architects might have as I teach architecture and engineering students at the University of Bath. One or two of the projects, particularly the first project they are involved in, is often centred around building something with a certain number of materials. One of these is OSB. I have seen these group projects come to fruition over the last decade and I’ve seen many students master the workability of OSB and the ways in which they might be able to join the board with other materials as well. I think that’s informed my understanding of the degree of accuracy that you can achieve with the material and the way it’s cut, and the way it’s bonded to other materials as well. It’s been particularly helpful for me.
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