It's really starting to get busy in studio this week, with new or developing projects taking off. OxArch's lecture series is well under way in the new term, and we're loving seeing the exhibitions popping up from different undergraduate units.
Unit G's Field Trip Exhibition
At Unit G's Exhibition, all aspects of their trip to Portugal were catalogued. A video, prepared by Olivia Anderson, was shown, alongside photographs, drawings, and site models. The unit focuses on gentrification, and so that lens framed the work around the site, in Marvilla, Lisbon. Their exhibition launch was a great party, with drinks and refreshments.
Unit K's Exhibition
Unit K's Work in Progress Exhibition showcases the students' work on waste and pollution, within the context of their Rotterdam site. A curated space brings together several different streams of thought relating to our environmental impact and consumption.
Student of the Week
Our student of the week is Viviana Roberti. Her self-build project, The Monastiraki Self-Build Project, based in Athens, focuses around woodworking and the links that it can create with the community. She writes:
'As Architect-Activists, this project is an initiative to combine us, the architects, with a group of 5 people from Athens to create a small community which can then, like a domino effect, expand into more and more groups and connect people around the city.In the Monastiraki Self-Build Project, I take one of the activities that I enjoy the most (woodworking) and I share my knowledge with a group of four students with the help of another professional. In a weekly basis, different techniques of structural wood working are taught through making: starting from a small platform and an outdoor workshop, every week we expand this structure to make it become not only an indoor workshop with appropriate lighting, ventilation and equipment, but it also doubles as my house for the three months that the program runs.
This program not only showcases the dynamics of group-work and organisation to create an imposing dwelling in the middle of one of the busiest squares of the Greek capital, but it enables and creates links with nearby businesses. For example, in exchange for food from the restaurants of the square, we provide furniture and any other products that they might require, or after learning certain skills, students of the program can create their own small woodworking businesses.'