︎
ab__
Ideas and questions that are informing our work:

What is a social architect? Does it matter for society what architects value? Should architecture be more DIY? Or should it not? Should we reduce the formality of architecture? Why is it easier for the architect to point out what they don't like rather than what they like? The architects is human, then shouldn't we promote our values and culture? 'I don't eat meat, because I acknowledge the fact that I do not have the courage to kill the animal myself'. Can we associate vegetarianism with vernacular or DIY architecture? Do we value something more if we produced it ourselves? What is the root meaning of the word 'architect'?

Do we do social architecture to contribute or to fulfill our own ego? Do we want to be seen as someone who has contributed or we just want to contribute? Can you argue for objective ethics in architecture? Should we even think about stuff like this? How does achieving carbon neutrality work? How much of this is actually possible to hold ourselves accountable for? How much quality of life is enough? How much of ourselves do we owe to the profession? What are your political beliefs? 

How do we change the architecture firm?? Is it realistic to say that we can change something as architects, given the economic climate we are in? Who's funding your idea? Why are they funding it? What's in it for them? Should we sit in this simple coffee shop and talk about how we change governance? What is the firm? What do we mean by 'the firm'? What do you know when you get out of university if you still depend on the guidance of older architects? What would it be like to work and live in an environment where people don't keep tabs on each other? Is economic conditions what oppresses people from collaborating? How can we change competition to collaboration? Do you think we need to establish more objective parameters to achieve a quality in architecture? To what extent can we apply the model of the game theory? Is it impossible to eliminate competition? Should architecture have more of an 'open source' strategy to improve collaboration and interdisciplinarity? WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF THERE WAS A WINNER WORKSHOP AT EACH EASA? Does public health start with architecture? Is the social architect the one who thinks about public health? Do you miss out if you don't prioritize your values? Does the lack of regulations put extra pressure on the architect? But does it increase their freedom? Did architecture become such a speculative thing that it can only be seen as a commodity? Do you have the professional responsibility of convincing people what is quality architecture? Ego of the architect out of the door! To what degree does responsibility comes with freedom?Should the architect really be an artist? Shouldn't they create the canvas? WHEN IS THE FINAL FORM OF THE PROJECT ACHIEVED? Architect is a creator of space? or facilitator of luxury goods?

Is architecture socially engaged or does society engage with the architecture?Are constraints a help? WOULD YOU DESIGN YOUR OWN HOUSE OR WOULD YOU RATHER REIMAGINE AN EXISTING ONE? Ideally, you don't get to hate your past projects, but is it ok to start disliking them in time? Are architectural experiments moral?All architecture leaks. What worlds are you reproducing? Are you aware of how you pay attention? Is this influenced by your environment? WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO GROWS. How do you position yourself within the profession? DO WE LEARN HOW TO SEE BY DRAWING?

What was it like growing up in your area? A shift of mentality gets you out of the system? Does the school system teach us unhealthy competition? How do we stop sprawl? Why do we need the activists and the platforms that function on voluntary basis? If there is no fast gain then there may be no development - How do we pave the way for new building models? By collective living? Are housing cooperatives a good solution? Community of shared work? Communities of knowledge? Communities of experiences?

How often should we get feedback during a process? Documentation in programming presents information as editable chunks that compose a larger one. CAN WE LEARN FROM PROGRAMMING? What are the tribes in firms? How hard is it to get in the circle of professionals? Is there true collaboration between the architectural firms? How do you communicate when you collaborate? Is true collaboration an array of experiences?In what scales do we find tribalism? How much should your professors influence you?  How much can we narrow down the complexity of the architect's job? Why is there a bridge between formality and professionalism?

Our projects are framed as a series of questions rooting deeper through focused thematic research areas, where we attempt to provide possible responses, with the knowledge that there will always be many more. Through an international distributed practice, different contexts will tend toward varied responses, and learning from these different projects will lead to a richer and more complex understanding of what is possible.  

These themes and rooted questions have appeared in different ways - some emerging over years of practice and others coming out of recent conversations between friends, strangers and with current students.


Organisational Projects︎

What if we rethought architectural delivery as part and parcel of the spaces we create? What if the methodology designed labour and relational structures first before physical ones?  Can you work with decentralised clients, rather than individual clients? How can we work in a way that reorients power dynamics? 
What if the economy of the city was thoughts of as part of the ecosystem when designing a space? What if the RIBA plan was redesigned to overcome assumptions of the petrochemical era? How do the architectures of language impact our structure of thought? How might we rethink the key documents and conceptual tools designers use to manage their work?

Links here to longer articles/specific thinking/essays
introduce what DAO is.

Link to longer DAO text
Link for people to sign up for DAO role play workshop
What if community wealth funds paid for the public provision of architecture as a service? How might projects be intiated beyond a central client? How can financial decisions be built into a plan of work?
Practices who have pioneered open source architecture have faced challenges building contributors. These systems only truly work when they build a multitude of different groups are working and arent reserved for one practice. They develop a shared benefit. What if architectural knowledge was open source? How do we share knowledge?

Social Projects︎

What are is the architecture of a new welfare state, and how can designers actively expand the welfare state to create a more equitable society. [National Food Service]
What if we created a national food service to end inequality through social space?
What are is the architecture of a new welfare state, and how can designers actively expand the welfare state to create a more equitable society.
What if the 15%  of unregistered land was made into a new decentralised commons? How can we avoid extractive practices?

EASA
Annetta’s Trust led by Assemble
What would an education be if it were completely decentralised and run on mutual aid, had no age boundaries? How do we grow collective structures for common-ing (and collective joy) within education? What kind of education ?
How do we design and build processes that care for and strengthen marginalised communities? What if architects built spaces and systems for refugees to find sanctuary whilst seeking asylum? Create systems that protect and create wealth for those who are most vulnerable? [City of Sanctuary]

Live project info!

Environmental projects︎

Rework the practice of architecture in response to climate catastrophe.
Rework the practice of architecture in response to climate catastrophe.

Rework the practice of architecture in response to climate catastrophe.



Social architecture became the major focus of the profession?Social architecture became the major focus of the profession?