Building Identities
Agenda
Diploma 13 investigates how space and architecture mediate between politics, our material environments and identities. We understand architecture as the concrete expression of power; weaponized by nations and corporations but also subverted by communities as tools of resilience and emancipation. It is instrumental in the creation of our identities, whether these are national, racial, gender or other.
The studio’s ambition is dual in nature. First, our projects investigate the spatial means through which social, environmental and land injustices come to be. Second, we explore ways in which architects can repurpose and infiltrate spaces to subvert their logic, imagining alternative ways of being and becoming.
Merve is an architect, researcher and educator. She is a Research Associate at the CLIMAVORE x Jameel project at the Royal College of Art, leading research into Istanbul's wetlands and the climate crisis. Merve's background is in research and urban policy, having previously developed Local Plans and Design Codes for Local Authorities as a Public Practice Associate. She has also worked as an Architect at AHMM (London) and OMA (Rotterdam).
George is an architect, educator and cultural worker. He is director at Material Cultures, a design and research practice based in London. He is also founding member of POA, a community platform.
