D/02

BARBICAN

Oskar Kazmanli-Liffen and Rennie Liffen

Studio Description

No talking, no running and definitely no touching.
That’s what I was told. In here it’s another world,
Check yourself in the glass, feel the weight
Adrift in the labyrinth of objects
The room and the city

At 52 hertz we’ll be ok
My fortress in the Metropolis
The world at our feet
Across that polished threshold

Although I’ve never been inside
I’ll see you in the museum of our minds

Studio D02 will develop intimate and idiosyncratic projects that explore the spatial and human dimensions of architectural composition. We will engage with the experiential and phenomenological implications of an architecture of both ‘individual’ and ‘community’. The studio project will be sited at the Barbican in London and students will imbue an imaginary immediate context with spatial and experiential profile. The studio thematically focuses on ‘archive and collection’ as a foundation for programmatic intervention and seeks to understand the compositional opportunity of combined effective storage and public accessibility. Each student will form the functional and experiential brief for the architecture of a small building acting as a Barbican outpost of an iconic cultural institution or character. Students will be directed to a series of contemporary architectural references and be encouraged to embrace a reductive and legible architectural language.

The studio promotes sensitivity and humility in architectural thought and process, but also seeks opportunities within projects to explore empowerment and social equality. Context provides this opportunity and is perceived as something beyond the physical, where narrative and imagination are the surveyors of the intricate detail of fictitious places and characterful locations, creating a unique, provocative and shared setting for projects.

Studio Outcomes

Students will explore a truly iterative design process in conjunction with studio leaders, technical tutors and collaborators where abstract (orthographic) drawing, descriptive writing and physical model-making are the central activities. A disciplined and methodical approach which uses drawing and writing incrementally and values and exhibits every ‘trace’ of the process as the ‘archaeology of the mind’. Through these modes of working the studio will explore a singular architectural composition that includes spatial experience, environment, landscape, tectonic and material qualities. Final outcomes will be restricted to specific and consistent communication tools with a focus on the representation of ‘atmosphere’ and ‘construction’. Students will be expected to produce significant and sophisticated drawings and models throughout the semester, communicating their intentions with clarity and passion.

Studio Leader

OSKAR KAZMANLI-LIFFEN is an Architect with Edition Office and a Creative Practitioner at The University of Melbourne who is originally from London. With experience in award winning practices, Oskar has also co-led studios across the masters and undergraduate degrees at RMIT and MSD. Through teaching and practice his interests lie in a close understanding of site, diagrammatic and compositional clarity and the experiential qualities of object and space.

RENNIE LIFFEN is a British Architect from London who has practiced in Europe and Australia. Rennie was involved in design studio teaching for many years in the UK and has been living, working and teaching in Melbourne since 2005. Rennie established Masters’ Design Studio 2 over a decade ago and this will be his twenty-third version of the studio and the twelfth in collaboration with Oskar Kazmanli-Liffen. Rennie’s teaching was recognized in 2022 with an ABP Teaching Excellence Award.

Readings & References

www.studio2.world

• ILA BEKA & LOUISE LEMOINE – Film – ‘Barbicania’
• JULIEN TEMPLE – Film – London: The Modern Babylon
• THE SERPENTINE PAVILIONS – Architecture
• SOPHIE CALLE – Art + Writing
• ORHAN PAMUK – Curation + Writing
• PIERRE LEGUILLON – Art + Writing
• PETER ZUMTHOR – Architecture and Theory
• JUHANI PALLASMAA – Writing and Theory
• TADAO ANDO – Design Process
• ATELIER BOW-BOW – Architecture + Graphics
• LAB-LAB FOR ARCHITECTURE – Theory + Graphics

ABPL90438 Design Studio D is an Early start subject. An in-person Studio Presentation Day event will be held in the Hercus Theatre (L05), David Caro Building from 1pm-2pm on Tuesday 16th July followed by one-hour Q&A Session with Studio Leaders and Subject Coordinators in the MSD building. The Studio Ballot will be held online at the beginning of O-week, opening from 3pm Tuesday 16th July and closing at 3pm Wednesday 17th July. The outcome of Studio Allocation will be announced on Canvas before the end of Friday 19th July. There will be subject preparatory online work to be completed during this period before the semester commencement.

Schedule:
Monday 3:15pm-6:15pm in MSD 238
&
Thursday 3:15pm-6:15pm in MSD 238

Contact Handbook