The Building Construction Lab (BCL) interrogates the entire cycle of design production, from material sourcing to labor ethics—which challenges the unequal social and economic constructions of labor—to think critically and consciously. Through the accelerated rate of consumption and production, architecture’s relationship with our environment has become increasingly complex. The expenditure of materials, the extraction of natural resources, the deployment of building systems, and their associated labor economies, are intrinsically weighted with issues of ethics and ecological ramifications. Hyper industrialized materials, dictated by modes of standardization, have become ubiquitous and unquestioned. A comprehensive understanding of a material—its embodied energy, transportation cost, material form, geometric limitations, structural capacity, and manufacturing processes—can influence the development of a design, allowing for its materialization to inform its conception. In addition, it allows for more thoughtful and disciplined use of scarce and energy-intensive materials, both natural and synthetic. Through this lens, computation, fabrication, and material systems can be reconsidered. In the Building Construction Lab, we reframe automation and digital fabrication in connection to labor economies and materials in relation to their life cycle, attempting to synthesize a pursuit for ecological mindfulness with an ambition to act equitably.