Future Matters is a collaborative project by Lúdika, Gísli Hrafn Magnússon and Trípólí Architects.

The project is a research and innovation project exploring building materials in Iceland, where history, culture, and ecology intersect. The project asks how we build in a landscape where materials have shaped society, terrain, and ways of living and how our connection to them has been disrupted. At its core are contemporary challenges: a high carbon footprint, import-dependent systems and a growing distance from local material traditions.

Through Future Matters, the history of Icelandic building materials is traced from settlement to the present day, revealing how material choices have always been intertwined with technical conditions, environmental constraints and societal values. Particular emphasis is placed on local materials and resources and their potential in contemporary construction, where climate impact, circular thinking and cultural identity are woven into a material narrative.

The project is grounded in a mixed methodology in which site visits, interviews, workshops, and environmental analyses meet historical sources and accounts of material experiments undertaken in Iceland. Future Matters does not focus solely on opportunities, but also clearly articulates the barriers to wider use of Icelandic building materials, whether rooted in regulation, lack of knowledge, infrastructure or established attitudes.

The project has received funding from the Icelandic Design Fund and the Student Innovation Fund and was nominated for the Icelandic Presidential Innovation Award. Support from the Student Innovation Fund enabled the participation of two students: Gísli Hrafn Magnússon, and for the duration of summer 2025, Bjarki Þór Wíum Sveinsson.

The ambition of Future Matters is to become a toolkit for change. Rather than prescribing solutions, the project creates a space where research, inspiration and practical pathways to new material practices converge, shaping questions about how we build, from what, and for whom, in the future.