Atomic

This studio begins with a proposition that all the activities we might want to undertake in leading a good and productive life could be understood, separated from their default arrangements (hence the Atomic bit) reconfigured, and then experimentally rehoused in new and beneficial ways.

One set of benefits might be social in that better arrangements of the things we do can frame different ways of relating to others. Another set of benefits might be material and environmental and provide a contribution to the goal of building effective post-carbon cities. A third group of benefits may be disciplinary, to the extent that programmatic innovations require corresponding formal innovations to be architecturally satisfactory.

This thinking might apply to different domains (work, regions, institutions, production, consumption), but Atomic will be concerned with residential and supporting local activities. Many social forces are prompting a change in residential environments. Affordability, zero-carbon, aging populations, migrant populations, alternative identities and family structures are just a few examples. Rethinking how housing and community facilities are configured will be an important part of responding to all these challenges.

This studio will investigate the emerging ‘build-to-rent’ residential model, which promises high quality buildings for a specific group of residents. The studio will proceed with a series of exercises, including developing specific client ‘personas’, then cataloging, atomising and renegotiating and recombining their spatial needs. These exercises will be accompanied by a single individual project running through the semester to propose a plausible, beautiful and evocatively described building.

2023 Semester 1

Lower Pool

Mon 6-9pm

Thurs 12-3pm