Our expertise spans across multiple geographies and disciplines. We bring with us our diverse array of research and studies funded by forward-thinking companies and top academic institutions.
CONTESTED GROUNDS: Interventions, Spectacles and Temporality in the Public Realm
AA Diploma Electives Seminar, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Term 1 2022
This seminar examines the relationship between ‘spectacle’ and the changing natures of ‘public space’ in the age of digital media, ecological crises, and civic uprising. Through a series of case studies, the course will track how the notion of ‘spectacle’ has transformed the nature of public spaces over time; from spaces for spectacle entertainments of Early Rome, to the commodification of architecture in late-nineteenth-century France, to the glorified Royal processions of early-century British Empire, to temporary structures for the religious celebrations in ancient and contemporary Asia, to the organized political opposition movements of our times.
Image Credit: HawkinsBrown’s LGBT+ Architects Float at 2019 Pride parade.
The Education Of An Architect
Publication, Co-editor (Kyriaki Kasabalis), University of Virginia School of Architecture, ORO Editions, Forthcoming 2021
From Boardroom, To Living Room… Now What? Designing for the workplace of the future.
Article, Author (Darius Woo and Kyriaki Kasabalis), Cambridge University Land Society Magazine, 2020
The design of the workplaces is, in many ways, simply a direct manifestation of how people operate. As such, offices have evolved over time as a response to socio-economics, cultural conditions and technological advancements. The sudden shift to remote working, triggered by the Covid-19 crisis, has brought forward a new set of considerations that requires us to, yet again, re-think the future of work. Moving forward, are we going to see a more decentralized, neighborhood-focused model of office development? When we do finally make changes to the workplace, can we do it in a way to help make our cities more inclusive and livable?Price Me If You Can. Estimating The Brand Premium Of A Superstar Architect.
Research Paper, Author (Darius Woo), University of Cambridge, Forthcoming 2020
In the same way that Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson can be counted on to generate box office numbers, the ‘superstars’ in architecture can be equally relied upon when it comes to propelling the transaction price and sale volume of their building projects. Our paper aims to utilize the dynamic hedonic pricing method to establish the specific correlation of an architect’s celebrity status and stardom to the effective return of residential property investments.
Urban Grids: Handbook For Regular City Design
Publication, Contributor (Kyriaki Kasabalis), ORO Editions, 2019
Kyriaki Kasabalis is the author of Chapter 2.1 ‘Founding the Gridded City’, in which the historical foundation of the grid city is investigated and examined through a series of essays and case studies.
The foundation for this publication emphasises the value of open forms for city design, a publication that specifically insists that the grid has the unique capacity to absorb and channel urban transformation flexibly and productively. Urban Grids analyses cities and urban projects that utilise the grid as the main structural device for allowing rational development, and goes further to propose speculative design projects capable of suggesting new urban paradigms drawn from the grid as a design tool.