Matthew Crabbe

Matt has been an architect and researcher at Natural Building Lab since 2018. His 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,” examines how architecture graduates navigate the conflicting expectations placed on them by academia, the profession, and society in the face of the climate crisis.

An idealist at heart, Matt believes that collaboration and group skills are undervalued in architecture education, often overshadowed by a competitive design culture that reinforces an environmentally unsustainable industry. At NBL, he thrives on working with a diverse and inspiring network of like-minded individuals to develop projects that envision a more sustainable and socially responsible built environment. His mission is to empower and inspire NBL’ers to translate these ideas into their own critical and collective spatial practices that drive meaningful change.

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.