AA alumni Wing Nga Tam and Zhuo Chen have been awarded the RIBA Research Fund 2024 for their research proposal titled Right to Repair: Reforming Towards Collective Maintenance and Care in Social Housing.

The research challenges the decay of London’s Boundary Estate as a typical outcome of viewing buildings as one-off transactions. It explores how integrating building-as-process principles into the mainstream building industry can enhance UK housing stock and local economies, and investigates how current provider-customer housing repair and retrofitting approaches can be reformed by involving the community in new roles and practices.

In addition to the year-long engagement with the residents and local community, the research builds on the author’s respective AA Diploma projects (2023) – Caretakers; Stones Against Diamonds and A Tale of Two Panels – which share common themes of care, maintenance and community involvement in architecture.

Click here to read more about the winning entries and the RIBA Research Fund.