Brandon Clifford goes back in time to capture the mindset of our original architects and how they influence today's architects.

The contemporary building industry is addicted to new materials in an era that necessitates smarter practices. The concrete industry alone accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions with alarmingly little attention paid to the inevitable obsolescence of that material. These buildings are destined for the landfill with concrete occupying the vast majority of that mass.

The Cannibal's Cookbook mines solutions from an ancient practice known as cyclopean masonry - a practice that intelligently consumes the rubble of building stock to provide new structures. This book contextualizes these practices, deciphers the mysteries embedded in their cryptic geometries, and provides a series of recipes that can be adapted, automated, and applied today. Is the key to recycling our building materials locked inside the cryptic cyclopean masonry walls suspected of being built by primordial giants?

The Cannibal's Cookbook challenges the inappropriate practices surrounding concrete by learning from the myths and legends of architectural cannibalism.


Brandon Clifford is the director and co-founder of Matter Design and an associate professor at MIT. He studied at Georgia Tech '06 and Princeton '11 for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture. Brandon has been awarded a number of prizes, namely a TED Fellowship, the SOM Prize, and an American Academy in Rome Prize. 

Brandon Clifford goes back in time to capture the mindset of our original architects and how they influence today's architects.

The contemporary building industry is addicted to new materials in an era that necessitates smarter practices. The concrete industry alone accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions with alarmingly little attention paid to the inevitable obsolescence of that material. These buildings are destined for the landfill with concrete occupying the vast majority of that mass.

The Cannibal's Cookbook mines solutions from an ancient practice known as cyclopean masonry - a practice that intelligently consumes the rubble of building stock to provide new structures. This book contextualizes these practices, deciphers the mysteries embedded in their cryptic geometries, and provides a series of recipes that can be adapted, automated, and applied today. Is the key to recycling our building materials locked inside the cryptic cyclopean masonry walls suspected of being built by primordial giants?

The Cannibal's Cookbook challenges the inappropriate practices surrounding concrete by learning from the myths and legends of architectural cannibalism.


Brandon Clifford is the director and co-founder of Matter Design and an associate professor at MIT. He studied at Georgia Tech '06 and Princeton '11 for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture. Brandon has been awarded a number of prizes, namely a TED Fellowship, the SOM Prize, and an American Academy in Rome Prize.