Y1 Unit 5

from Architecture: University of Greenwich School of Design, Show 2021

by University of Greenwich School of Design

Contents Introduction to the School of Design

BA (HONS) ARCHITECTURE YEAR 1

Y1 UNIT 5: Architecture as a Political Activist

NAOMI GIBSON + BALVEER MANKIA

Students: Mohammad Baig, Sarah Bennett, Anastasia Bucur, Anna Budjakova, Sintia Hossain, Ayman Kara-Bernou, Zeinab Lamah, Tarique Madigan, Beryl Needham, Izuchukwu (Izu) Odoemene, Paulina Palacios Zuniga, Shah (Sami) Rahman, Rattan Kaur Saggu, Hafsa Uddin, Livia Verejan, Syeda (Zaidi) Zahra.

With thanks to our guest critics: Susanne Isa, Sayan Skandarajah and Dan Slavinsky.

THIS YEAR Unit 5 concerned itself with the human experience of space and the intertwining of architecture and politics.

Following work by students in the first term, we wanted to continue designing from the position and sensations of the body. This meant designing in a way that foregrounds the experiences of the users who move through and occupy buildings, creating moments that can be immersive, emotive, dramatic and poetic. Unit 5 pursued the making of architecture that is full of feeling. We asked: what are the possibilities of tactile spaces, textures that you feel against your arms and under your fingers and feet? What about architecture that takes us over with its sounds and smells? That first makes us claustrophobic then throws us out into the world? What, to use an idea explored by 19th Century Art Historian Heinrich Wölfflin, about the way we read and respond to architecture empathically?

Students designed buildings for political movements of their choosing, creating places that provide a home for the movement as well as spaces for educating and engaging with the public about the history, aims and activities of the movement. The buildings themselves became activists, looking to reach out to and involve the public, to communicate in a multisensory way each movements’ reason for being. Students chose movements they found inspirational or have a personal connection to. Political movements included Black Lives Matter, the Suffragettes and feminist movements, the Malala Fund, Extinction Rebellion, the Theosophical Society, Refugee rights, Disability rights and LGBTQ+ activism. Projects drew upon existing building and spatial typologies such as youth clubs, community kitchens and gardens, markets, therapy rooms, meditation spaces, galleries, performance venues and nightclubs.

Our site this year was in Deptford, SE London, on a plot a few steps away from Deptford High Street. As a result of the pandemic, students investigated the site remotely, delving into its rich social history and contemporary cultural profile, creating projects that responded to Deptford’s particular character and the communities that call it home.