Studio 2

Studio brief

The Image of Place

In his 1962 film La Jetée, Chris Marker constructed a haunting, dream-like future through a sequence of stills shot on 35mm film. The lingering black and white images were pieced together to evoke fragmented experience and partial memories, where the viewer is invited to imagine the events between the discontinuous frames.

Film

Through workshops in the first semester, you'll develop and adapt skills in filmmaking and photography to construct spatial sequences in the spirit of Marker and other filmmakers with similar styles. These short films will be the foundation of your design thesis, offering an image of place capturing and celebrating the restless complexity of the city, and specifically in your area of study.

You will continue to revisit these themes and techniques throughout the year, not only as a means of investigation but also as a tool for design and as a medium to present work. Moving or sequenced images can well convey spatial intervention where temporality, void and proximity are as important as the static and singular viewpoint in architectural representation we're familiar with today.

Location

We will begin the year with a joint event with our diploma unit and research group Cass Cities, who will share the excellent research carried out by staff and students around the Old Kent Road in south-east London. Their investigative study, which continues to grow from last year, reveals many special finds and exposes the super-diverse nature of this rapidly changing part of London. Drawing on the work and with their assistance, we will establish a specific area of study in proximity to the Old Kent Road where your projects will take place. In return your films will contribute to the accumulative body of material examining this area and we will maintain a working relationship with Cass Cities as they continue to explore this location.

Theme

The theme for your study is domestic space and its relationship to the city, which we will begin to discuss from the outset. We have invited professionals engaged in this field to lead seminar groups to debate the subject. During the course of the year, you'll develop a series of architectural designs that respond to and critique this theme.

You're encouraged to consider prefabrication as a method of construction early in the design process. Offering many benefits, this type of construction provides the opportunity to work directly and collaboratively with skilled professional makers, as well introducing phasing and time to building processes and the transformation of the city.