Environmental Architecture (MA)

Head of Programme, Environmental Architecture – Godofredo Enes Pereira

The MA Environmental Architecture program aims to constitute a new field of knowledge production and practice, concerned with the design of alternative forms of co-dependence between life forms and Earth systems.

In 2021/22 we started a new studio, the RS3 “Alentejo Research Unit” proposing a long-term investigation on the environmental impacts of intensive agriculture in Alentejo, Portugal. This was also the final year of the RS2 “Orang-orang and the Hutan” and its continuous work with activists, scholars, artists and local communities in Kalimantan. In 2022/23 we started two new studios, the RS4 "Anemoi: Transforming property, livelihoods, and aesthetics'', guided by the belief that wind is not merely a force to be harnessed, but a catalyst for architectural innovation, and RS5 "5, 0, 1000 rivers: de-linking/waters/subsistence", investigating the relationships between water systems, globalised food production, and struggles for autonomy. Together with the theoretical and conceptual influences of our seminar and roundtable units, “Metabolic Rifts” and “Critical Future Scenarios”, we have tried to provide frameworks of collective work and thinking for autonomous and independent work to emerge.

As each year progresses, it is always incredible to see the emergence of rigorous but also unexpected modes of architectural engagement with the world. From plant-communication systems and water-management devices, to air and fire architectures, simulations of the worldview of bees, strategies for resisting the advances of plantation monoculture or explorations of acoustic ecologies, each project on display showcases a deep understanding of singular ethico-aesthetic modes of existence.

I would like to thank our students for the amazing work they’ve developed, as well as all the guests that made time to join us for critical perspectives and advice. It is with immense admiration for the intelligence and creativity on display, that I invite you to engage with the research, visions and imaginations presented by our students.

Programme Team

Godofredo Enes Pereira, Christina Leigh Geros, Jon Goodbun, Georgia White, Joao Ruivo, Avi Varma, George Ridgway, Elena Luciano Suastegui, Antonio del Giudice and Patricia Forbes.

Image: “The Simpang Seed Army”, RS2, Yuqin Tian, Xinyu Ding, Paul Bröker