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The educational core of the First Year Studio is based on the exploration of ideas and projects in the forms of writing, designing and debating. This year the First Year Studio undertook the task of exposing students to an extensive learning of subjects that are the foundations of the discipline of architecture. We started the year with an introduction to canonical projects and texts, eventually transitioning towards six speculative design briefs that investigated architectural elements, developed spaces and situations, and constructed devices in specific contexts.
These six different briefs were the catalysts for each studio and prompted the students to work on a variety of scenarios that included: an investigation of the ordinary that embraced vernacular elements of London’s fabric through photographs, reworking them through a series of plans defined by ordinary and extra-ordinary spatial characteristics; a construction of different readings that were argued from the architect’s and client’s points of view and utilised a variety of sources, from popular culture to different architectural scenarios; a focus on particular spaces and situations looking at specific institutions and their rituals, ultimately questioning how to reinvent the system, which resulted in a collective urban theory; a group of architectural scientists moved into the street to collect materials and situations, recording architectural devices and written manifestos that were used to remix the samples into alternative streetscapes; the masters of insertions went into the city searching for a location to host an event; a making of a space that was counter balanced by negotiations with clients, neighbours and audiences that made the projects real installations; and students-archivists explored the preservation and erasure of Robin Hood Gardens by documenting the existing and constructing highly crafted devices for alternative visual narratives.
Throughout the year, the studio shifted from a workshop, to a laboratory, to a room in which multiple discussions, thoughts and explorations have formed distinct students and portfolios.
Workshops
Yheu-Shen Chua
James Chung
Christopher Dyvik
Gabriella Gama
Sarah Huelin
Thomas Jensen
Kasang Kajang
Magnus Larsson
Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu
Heather Lyons
Bruno Malusa
Alexey Marfin
Marlie Mul
John Naylor
Yuko Odaira
Noriko Okaku
Stefano Rabolli Pansera
Marie-Louiese Raue
May Safwat
Shintaro Tsuruoka
Jeroen van Ameijde
Rahul Vishwakarma
Charlie Corry Wright
HaenSuk Yi
Special thanks to our contributors and speakers
Charles Arsène-Henry
Sue Barr
Giles Bruce
Barbara Campbell-Lange
Brendon Carlin
Javier Castañón
Mollie Claypool
Diego Cortez
Brian Eno
Joris Fach
Julika Gittner
Grab Thai Street Kitchen
Eugene Han
Alex Hurst
Korey Kromm
Zak Kyes
Jon Lopez
Scrap Marshall
Esther Mclaughlin
Joel Newman
John O’Mara
Christopher Pierce
Collette Sheddick
Brett Steele
Jorgen Tandberg
Thomas Weaver
Finn Williams
Franz Xaver Baier
Ariella Yedgar
And to all our critics and guests