We will be working with three forms of transformation: an interactive construct, a speculative film and an architectural project that overlaps and influences the space of the city.

Architecture will play a fundamental role in London’s future transformations; it will shape how people interact with and activate space. Intersecting with policy and social systems, transformations can be physical, social, economic, political, cultural and technological. Architectural transformations need to be equitable and adaptable to reflect the city’s diversity and resilience.

London’s architectural landscape is a mirror of political change; political ideologies are etched into its fabric. The Labour Party’s political slogan ‘Change’ is catchy and rhetorical, but how does it relate to the production of space? The relationship between politics and architecture is deeply intertwined: architecture is a reflection of power, ideology, identity and governance.

Architecture can serve as a site of political change. In its current transformations, homogenised, quantified space is a tool for profit, surveillance and control; it looks objective, but hides its ideological and political content. The notion of unlocking public value in city-making is more important than ever. With ongoing privatisation, a focus should be put on public assets, their roles and opportunities as spaces that can be reimagined and repurposed.

We will transform a recent and ongoing transformation in London. Using a construct (a multi-layered digital model), we will identify and select the salient variables, spatial and territorial, that can be changed and tweaked. Acting as a thesis, a film will speculatively edit architectural and city spaces. The construct’s variables and the film’s thesis will then be used to generate a drawn and animated architectural proposal. At the city scale, the final construct will contextualise the architectural proposal and explore its reciprocal relationship with the city.

Can space embrace difference, multiplicity, lived experience and use-value over exchange-value?