Acts Against Collapse, 2020
MArch, Central Saint Martins

Acts Against Collapse is a research project which examines the existing material, cultural, social and economics of the 10 regions of the United Kingdom. Unit 3 will continue to focus on sustainable design and construction detailing, collaborating with Material Cultures to build a body of research and design which contributes constructively to the dialogue around design and material use in the context of the climate crisis. 

A RESEARCH MURMURATION: Over the first weeks of Unit 3 we are going to be harnessing the power of our many brains to create a reservoir of collectively held knowledge - to be drawn from now and throughout the rest of the course.  Through exploratory research each individual will endeavour to become a specialist in a specific area of the discourse within the field of sustainability and ecology of the built environment.  We have attempted to map out the territory into subjects and themes but this is by no means comprehensive or conclusive. We have laid these out on the one drive so that each of you can pick a subject that resonates with you or that ties into your own project. We are looking for an even spread across the different clusters with 4 people per group. The subjects/clusters are fixed but if you would like to propose a different theme within your cluster then let us know. We very much encouraged to find your own routes into and around the subject, read reviews and journals, be critical, seek out indigenous knowledge and non-academic sources.

PROCESSIG OUR THINKING: For every text you read pull out around 5 key quotes and write a max 100 word summary of your texts.  For non-text based sources find other ways of recording and distilling your research.  These will become a shared resource, helping us all to navigate, share and access each other’s knowledge.  At the beginning of the summer term you will be meeting in your research clusters to discuss your subject and themes, interrogate the interconnections, support each other’s learning, unpick the things that are difficult to understand and critically reflect on what you have read.  From these conversations over the course of a week together you will define eight design process actions that correlate to each of the RIBA design stages 0-7.  Each one is something that you believe design professionals should be integrating into their practice.  Each proposal will be represented through a diagram (example below) and a 30 word text.