DS 25

Tutors

Alessandro Ayuso

a.ayuso@westminster.ac.uk

Alessandro Ayuso is a designer, author and teacher. His studio-based practice focuses on the intersection of representation, architecture, and the body. His research is the subject of his book, Experiments with Body Agent Architecture: The 586-year-old Spiritello in Il Regno Digitale, published by UCL Press.

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Mary Konstantopoulou

m.konstantopoulou@westminster.ac.uk

Mary Konstantopoulou is an architectural designer and illustrator. Her work explores the theme of humans’ relationships with environments and culture, and invites a questioning of architecture's role in sustainability and myth-making. She currently works with Jan Kattein Architects on community engagement and meanwhile projects.

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Guest Critics

Lauriane Hewes
Laura Kershaw (Emrys)
Akmaral Khassen (Squire and Partners)
Constance Lau
Stefano Perretti (Ryder Architecture)
Sylwia Poltorak (Lobster Enterprises)
Nat Reading (AK Patterson)
Era Savvides (Urban Radicals)
Jacob Spence (MICA Architects Ltd)
Alexandros Tzortzis de Paz (Foster + Partners)
Chuxiao Wang (ACME Architects)
Jamie Whelan (Jamie Whelan Studio)

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Thanks

Bourne Architects, Bourne Management & Building, and The Harris Partnership.

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This year DS25 explored architectural issues revolving around (human and non-human) bodies and ecologies by envisioning future scenarios. Donna Haraway’s notion of Speculative Fabulations, or narratives imagining daring and productive futures, provided inspiration as we embarked on design projects. With its history in manufacturing, its burgeoning arts communities, and its position on the shore of the Thames, Woolwich presented a setting full of both perplexing problems and fascinating potential. We started the year by creating hybrid protagonists. These 'Body Monsters' provided situated points of view and provoked ideas about speculative narratives and architectural concepts. Each student looked at Woolwich through their Body Monster's eyes via urban drifts, storyboards, animations, and mappings. Synthesizing ideas from the extreme scales of the body and the city, we then designed architectural fragments we called Ecological Enabler Elements in our individual sites in Woolwich. In the second semester, we expanded our initial ideas and the architectural seed of the Ecological Enabler Elements into building designs. The results were adventurous visions augmenting Woolwich.

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