The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About Central Saint Martins
Location London N1 • Courses BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch • Head of school Jeremy Till • Full-time tutors 0 • Part-time tutors 20 • Students 60 • Staff to student ratio 1:3
Undergraduate
Saamia Makharia
Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio 8 – De-alienating the home
Project Taxonomy of Living
Project description The studio’s research aims to build a more humane understanding of the home, examining the micro- and macro-politics of the domestic space, focusing on health and wellbeing, sustainable development and responsible consumption. The way we work, socialise, and live has changed, with the boundaries between interiors and exteriors becoming more diffused. Using Lubetkin’s Cranbrook Estate as a case study, this project presents an alternative view for this modernist development. Embracing this collapse of boundaries, the remodelling of mid-rise building Harold House interrogates how, within co-housing developments, balance can be achieved between shared and private spheres and supported/independent modes of living, while respecting the architects’ intentions where appropriate. The renovation will focus on creating a shared co-living block centred around three concepts: a shift towards sharing, diffusion of boundaries and architectural agency and empowerment.
Tutor citation Saamia’s project presents an extremely mature reflection on the very meaning of the home, understanding it as a diffuse and flexible space with a minimal structural transformation aimed at empowering people to adapt the space according to their needs. The value of this project also relies on it being a strategy that could be applied to many other council estates across the UK, reinforcing the necessary agency of architecture and putting social, cultural and economic value in the often-neglected and utterly important role of social housing.
Gonzalo Herrero Delicado and Pati Santos
Postgraduate
Tatiana Muringani
Course MArch
Project Clouded Title: On Land Imaginaries and Dwellings
Project description This proposal is centred around an alternative land titling programme that suggests ways of rethinking terms of land occupancy and how to construct ownership by promoting equitable water access. At present, most improved water sources in Harare are borehole hand pumps and so the proposal focuses on a new settlement typology, centred on water rituals and spatial sequencing of the pump. The climate emergency has also increased the need for effective groundwater governance to protect against overexploitation of a diminishing water table. The design also explores regenerative landscaping strategies to provide water-capturing systems to help recharge and maintain the resilience of the water table. The renewed interest in land ownership and shared water rights enhances communal solidarity, tending to protect the desperate and displaced throughout the state.
Tutor citation Tatiana’s work is situated in her home town of Harare in Zimbabwe. Addressing social issues and establishing land rights for informal settlers through water governance, the project develops a new form of land stewardship, giving rights to the underprivileged. Water becomes the binding agent and key design driver. Andreas Lang
