A live project, based in a Leeds suburb, known as Chapeltown. After conducting some research and talking to the locals of the area, it became clear that the youth centre's site had become increasingly restrictive for the users. They longed for a centre for sports and education, helping a troubled area into a brighter future.

'Uncertain States: An Architectural Manual to Revolution in Berlin'

​

As a direct response to the studio brief 'The City Within the City'; an urban strategy driven brief, pushing for small scale interventions across the entirety of a cityscape.

'Uncertain States' finds its roots in Marxist political theory, and is a strategic and logical guide to destabilising an apathetic government. Through the recycling of aircraft, a group of revolutionaries will build impromptu political stages at selected sites across Berlin. 

‘Handcrafts’ comes as a direct response to research conducted throughout the year as a part of the design briefs set out in Studio 23. Using hierarchical analyses outlined earlier in the year, the analyses for the architectural resolution of this project began at understanding who the
potential target audience is in this context and ascertaining a way in which to best celebrate their contributions to the micro-society in Middleham.

In this case, census data provided a key insight as there were a series of families that have been part of the community in Middleham since the census data began. The context of the village is that
all the dwellings are subservient to the castle, and that is no different to the early recordings of these families whose occupations were directly related to the castle at the centre of the village.

Ultimately, Handcrafts provides a walking exhibition that sees the user traverse through the ruins of the castle, through a series of structures that facilitates a sensory exhibition through the history
of the longest standing families in Middleham.

Centred equidistant from prominent seats of power in West London, the Proletarian Theatre harvests data to form the basis for the self governance of theatre employees.

The mingling of mindfulness spaces and democratic spaces allows for the disruption of localised power dynamics. The use of data becomes key in this disruption as through the processing of said data, the building will become the grounds for employee led discussion on the various relevant
topics of the day. This debate is held in a central amphitheatre, serving the same role as the parliaments of ancient Rome - the housing for the spectacle of democracy.

Benjamin Bratton summarises best “sovereignty is defined by the ownership of data, not by geopolitical borders.”

 "Architecture & Ideology: The effect of Stalinist ideology on the Soviet architectural language and culture, after the Congress of Soviet Architects, 1937"

​

As part of a wider study into the connections between politics and architecture - also explored through the design module - Architecture & Ideology allowed me to look into the specifics of how a totalitarian regime would take control over the power art form of architecture. Through a series of denunciations and executions, the regime was able to establish its dominance over ever-growing & revolutionary Soviet Architectural movements

"Architecture & Ideology: Power in Architecture under Enver Hoxha, as represented through Muzeu Historik Kombetar (National History Museum) – Albania 1981"

​

The opening of Albanian borders since the fall of Communism and, more specifically, the opening of the General Directorate of Archives in Tirana, has allowed for a comprehensive investigation into the Albanian architectural sphere under Communism.

Foucauldian power theories, in conjunction with the party architectural doctrine, frame the investigation to metricise and observe how power manifests itself in Albanian architecture. The Muzeu Historik Kombetar employs spatial hierarchy, material selection and complex construction methodologies to exert control over the visitors of the museum. The party manipulates the retelling of Albanian history for a particular narrative that heralds the regime as the leader of the people through their many historical struggles.

The plan, the section and the elevation have been analysed to ascertain the level of architectural manipulation for ideological potency. Ultimately, the fall of the Communist regime in the 1990s has led to a shift in connotations of the Muzeu Historik Kombetar. Both the building itself and the exhibits within are inherently political in their nature and the preceding methodologies assert this understanding.

As such, the museum, can and should be read as a piece of canonical architecture in the Albanian Communist architectural cosmos, and as a key actor in the power dynamics of the country.