Narratives of Change

Over the past three years this studio has looked at how we need to Un-learn the way we do things today, then, how we understand a different way of thinking about world structures in Degrowth. We now continue these themes through Narratives of Change. What might an ecologically routed mode of practice look like?  What tools and techniques might it deploy to rethink our energy future?

We begin with storytelling as a way to talk about these difficult and complex themes, and to visualise them. We will focus on architecture’s intrinsic co-existence with narrative and reinterpreting the role of the architect not simply to build, but to empower and entice the wider community, through clear, easy to interpret narratives, imagery and mapping.

Seeing visual and spatial imagery, of projects looking into the future, can make us re-think what we take for granted - questioning the impact on your everyday life. Provoking more thought and making us question our own surroundings, reconsidering the impact of ideas and making familiar surroundings more problematic and imagining a similar function with different power structures -  ‘Worlding alternative futures’.

We started by looking at three towns, Blyth, North and South Shields and Hartlepool and worked together to imagine new futures for them. The final projects are a continuation of this work and are interdependent on each other, powerfully imagining a thriving future energy coast.

Studio tutors: Professor Prue Chiles and Dr Polly Gould