Project II: Atelier Grafton

Each semester we choose a city or a specific, context and theme of exploration. The theme and context is intended as a collective framework where personal approaches and different ways of working can be possible.

We encourage students to develop inventive solutions where architecture provides for the well being and dignity of each citizen and for this fragile planet. We see the studio as a space for learning, sharing, experimenting and dreaming collectively.

As architects we can imagine new worlds. Architecture can absorb the past while imagining a future. Architecture is an optimistic profession, capable of communicating a positive narrative for the future.

The aim of the course is to deepen the discussion about architecture in its wider meaning, to learn from the past in order to critically understand the present and imagine a future.
We are interested in going beyond the visual, emphasising the role of architecture in the choreography of daily life.
We work at different scales, from the scale of the territory to the scale of the details, addressing diverse topics: geology, morphology, culture, space, atmosphere, materiality, construction techniques and economy and society.
Our objective is to help the student with his or her academic journey as well as to understand of the role and meaning of our profession as architects.

We encourage students to experiment with ways of working, to approach a project in an intuitive way and to develop a personal understanding.
We see the atelier as a laboratory for learning, a space to research discovery and creativity.
 

We work in small groups as well as in a unified Atelier where ideas are exchanged and shared. We work with specialist contributors through the medium of small seminars and lectures order to deepen the understanding of the themes addressed during the course.