Design Studio 22 Master of Architecture (MArch RIBA Part 2)

Nasser Golzari & Yara Sharif

Nasser Golzari and Yara Sharif are award-winning architects and academics with an interest in design as a means to create resilient communities. Combining research with design, their work runs parallel between their architectural practice, NG Architects, their research team, PART, and their Design Studio, DS22, at the University of Westminster. Golzari and Sharif have won a number of prestigious awards including the 2013 Agha Khan Award, 2014 Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction, and 2013 & 2016 RIBA President’s Award for Research.

The way they run the studio is very similar to how they run the practice, with a combination of design, drawings, testing and making.

A Foot on the Earth, A Hand in the Sky: Healing The Scarred Landscape

Year 1: Janka Docs, Alya Hazinedaroglu, Rona Hoxha, Clara Popescu, Mohammed Rafsan Raja

Year 2: Petra Boreta, Ella Cohen, Simran Dehal, Loujayne Hadaya, Nylda Hamchaoui, Nicholas Hasbani, Bahrah Mustafa, Aya Nasr, Riane Oukili, Adrian-Calin Paul, Aikaterini Pechynaki, Blessing Sulaiman, Amelia Terry, Saba Torabi, Gulmeyrem Yaman

This year, DS22 looked at the wounded landscape of the margins and the edges to expose overlooked stories. n such a context that is often shaped by power and greed, we employed architecture and drawings as tools to rewrite and heal the landscape.

Neighbourhood as a Home, Home as a Neighbourhood became a form of resilient collective that the studio designed. It formed the basis and our tool to challenge capitalist and colonial greed that extract resources and exploit the land. With a foot on the earth and a hand in the sky, the students reimagined and dreamt of new utopian collectives to heal the scarred landscape. Collectives were nature, home and neighbourhood, all intertwined.

The exploitation of land, resources and the ecosystem is deeply rooted in colonial agendas. Material extraction of resources, which are being transported from one territory and accumulated in another, is an act of such greed that continue to shape our world and often subjugate the weak, leaving them and their land scarred. The impact of this is manifested through displacement, climate change and the socioeconomic crisis.

While we thought of means to challenge these forces of power and the commodification of land, we want to look at ecology, landscape and climate change through the lens of communities who are forced to change their priorities and practices to respond to climate emergency. The interventions of the studio are a combination between real and fictional. All are seeking innovative architecture that promotes resilience, coexistence and care. Care for the environment, the landscape, individual species, as well as one another.

@ds22westmin

Guest Critics: Alessandro Ayuso, Estera Baldeta, Angela Brady (Brady Mallalieu Architects), Andrew Carr (Brady Mallalieu Architects), Minerva Fadel, Maria Kramer, Mary Konstantopoulou, Anna Rennison (Weston Williamson Architects), Shahed Saleem, Ben Stringer, Adriana Useche (NG Architects), Adriana Useche (NG Architects)

Special Thanks: Andrew Carr (Brady Mallalieu Architects) for his valuable input and ongoing support for the students throughout the year.