Design Studio 10 Master of Architecture (MArch RIBA Part 2)

Toby Burgess & Arthur Mamou-Mani

Toby Burgess is the director of Toby Burgess Design Ltd. He has previously been design tutor on the Architectural Association’s Design and Make Course and taught the Advanced Digital Design Master’s at London Metropolitan University, with a focus on the funding and delivery of live student projects, designed and fabricated using digital design tools.

Arthur Mamou-Mani is an architect, and director of the award-winning practice Mamou-Mani, specialising in a new kind of digitally designed and fabricated architecture. In 2020 the Architects’ Journal named Mamou-Mani one of its 100 ‘Disruptor’ practices. Alongside his architectural practice, Arthur founded the digital fabrication laboratory FabPub.

Eco-Parametric Architecture: Material-based rituals and economies

Year 1: Guy Carter, Alice Dean, Maximilian Higgs, Jiang-Yin Isabel Liu, Freya Wiltshire, Freya Woolley

Year 2: Matthew Collier, Rada Daleva, Brikena Dunisha, Sean Hamilton, William Kay, Wing Ting Vanessa Keung, Adam Primmer, Julian Raveendran, Ana-Maria Scutari, Falguni Thakkar, Tian Hong Kevin Wong, Ross Wilson

DS10’s focus on sustainability drives its exploration of innovative solutions across various forms. Emphasising circular design principles, such as Re-Use, Reduce, Recycle, and Repurpose, the studio aims to create realistic and efficient buildings contributing to a more sustainable society.

In Brief 01, students were tasked to study and experiment with the geometric, material and structural aspects of eco-pioneers like Buckminster Fuller and indigenous wisdom. Having created their own novel bio-materials, backed by rigorous physical research and prototypes, students used AI and parametric tools to explore fusing their own and other bio-materials with mathematical geometry to create small sacred spaces with a focus on individual rituals in London.

Brief 02 delved into the relationship between Matter and Spirit, questioning how different materials influence emotions and whether spaces can be designed to elevate the spirit. Students expanded on their Brief 01 creations and proposed site-specific spaces in London, transforming the city with uniting rituals for communities.

Utilising modular, autonomous building systems and emphasising closed-loop systems to minimise energy wastage, students renovated and adapted an existing structure into a bio-material based space for intentional communities. Living systems within buildings came to serve multiple purposes from renewable resources to environmental mediation, fostering economic stimulation and community engagement.

Students shared their work on the DS10 blog wewanttolearn.net contributing to the wider design community.

Guest Critics: Blu Affleck, Elizabeth Diakontis, Roberto Lopato