Design Studio 15 Master of Architecture (MArch RIBA Part 2)

Sean Griffiths & Matteo Sarno

Sean Griffiths practices as an architect, artist and academic. He was a founder member of the art architecture practice, FAT, and now practices as Modern Architect.

Matteo Sarno is a practicing architect with Matteo Sarno Architecture and a member of the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN).

DS15: The Institute of Public Luxury

Yr1: Radhika Chintaluri, Jueda Coku, Olivia Dmonte, Dominic Ensor, Alejandro Haidoulis Ocampos, Anna Kaminska, Paul Knight, Grace McLelland, Imene Aida Merzougui, Aleyna Pekshen, Lucy Stevenson, Emma Wilkinson

Yr2: Szofia Bohoszlovec, Dominic Crump, Anna Essouissi Coulton, Natalie Gardener, Jay Patel, Freya Wooley

Working in teams of three, students developed architectural designs and programmes for an Institute of Public Luxury, situated on the site of Wormwood Scrubs Prison, west London. The project involved the retrofitting of the existing prison infrastructure alongside the insertion of new structures and uses.

The proposal was grounded in the understanding that the climate crisis cannot be resolved within the framework of capitalism, with its cycles of extraction, production and pollution. The Institute of Public Luxury was conceived as part of a post-revolutionary society in which public luxury is prioritised over individual accumulation. With this in mind, students undertook research into political theory, anthropology and climate science to establish a strong theoretical and material foundation for their work.

Students employed a range of creative methodologies to develop their proposals, including: chance operations; the invention of alphabets and notation systems; and explorations in drawing, painting and making. These processes led to the creation of architectural components that together articulated a new aesthetic for a transformed society. Reflecting the collective ethos of the project, these elements were developed collaboratively – students exchanged and reworked each other’s pieces, creating a shared visual and conceptual language that was deployed across individual designs.

The Institute was interpreted in a variety of ways: as a site for festivals; a community of pirates and hackers; an institute comprising temples to the body that offered spaces for sport, bathing and interpersonal connection; a centre for the cultivation of mind and body through food; a radical arts institute; and a feminist utopia. While each student focused on distinct elements, the projects were developed collaboratively within teams, maintaining a balance between individual authorship and collective vision.

Guest Critics: Alessandro Ayuso, Peter Baldwin (Loughborough University), Eddie Blake (Studio Weave), Corinna Dean, Dusan Decermic, Richard Difford, Riccardo Fregoni, Nikolina Georgieva (Eric Parry Architects), Maja Kurantowicz, Alicia Pivaro (LSA), Emily Posey (Eric Parry Architects), Kester Rattenbury (LSA), Alessandro Toti, Victoria Watson, Camilla Wilkinson