AEOLIAN

“SHAPED BY THE WIND”

MArch - AADRL THESIS PROJECT

Architectural Association, London

PROJECT TEAM

Selim Helse

Ilya Katliarski

Pawin Wattanachaiyingcharoen

Yun Lu

STUDIO MASTER

Dr. Theodore Spyropoulos

STUDIO ASSISTANTS

Octavian Mihai Gheorghiu

Hanjun Kim

Apostolos Despotidis

David Greene

PROJECT YEAR

2022-2023

The research undertaken by the year’s studio under the guidance of Dr. Theodore Spyropoulos emphasises aspects of the elemental and how natural phenomena can be utilised as a form of technology and to devise strategies of a performative architecture as a response to global challenges in a planetary scale. Sustaining life is the key motivation behind this brief. Students are to research, explore, and experiment with natural phenomena to develop techniques for generating materials and architecture depending on the on-site conditions and material contingencies. The harmonious relationship between architecture and nature is a key feature in this brief in an attempt to establish agendas for sustainable living. Architecture in this instance serves as an environmental machine. The elemental approach of this research challenges what architecture can be. How materials are devised? How energy can be harnessed? And How life can be sustained?

The research addresses the process of desertification by utilising the desert’s onsite materiality and investigating its material contingency. The elemental aspect of sand is explored as form of technology, by investigating the possibilities of material transformation of sand into glass under high temperature.