BA Architecture Course Leader, Luis Diaz recently gave a public lecture based on his research at Oslo School of Architecture. Luis began by outlining some theoretical strands concerning the relationship between human practices (routines, rituals, acts, performances) and spatial forms (the organisation of the solids and voids of architecture).
This was followed by an in-depth case study of Alexandra Road (1878) by Neave Brown outlining the reciprocal relationship between these two arenas highlighting the play of free will within the constraints of built architectural forms. Then by an overview of a current research project into the history of arrival sequences in British housing. A roller coaster ride through housing examples ranging from the Georgian terrace through to pre- and post-war housing and up to contemporary housing aims to provide an alternative to history of housing as a compliment to the common typological approaches (terrace, tenement, tower, slab, courtyard block, etc.).
Before coming to Brighton Luis trained as an architect at the New York Institute of Technology and attended the Berlage Institute (Amsterdam) in its founding year. He taught at the New York Institute of Technology and co-founded the Brooklyn Architects Collective before pursuing further research study at the Bartlett (UCL), The London School of Economics and the University of Brighton. During this journey he has studied with Robert Slutzky, Henri Ciriani, Herman Hertzberger, Adrian Forty and Richard Sennett.