Bartlett Research Conversations: Nikoletta Karastathi

Sympoietic Eco-Plexis: A post-digital approach towards ecologically-crafted textile architecture

Speaker: Nikoletta Karastathi
Supervisors: Prof Marjan Colletti and Prof Bob Sheil
Guest panellist: Dr Guan Lee UCL

Abstract

The uncritical use of digital tools in architecture has prioritised and segregated form over its materiality. Yet, there has been a shift in the past decade towards a post-digital approach where materiality, craft, ecology, and sociocultural interdependencies have started to become key aspects of the design process. The research will examine how we can re-translate and construct parallels from craft processes and theories to cultivate current digital design methodologies. The exploration will use textiles as a theoretical metaphor and construction method, working with hybrid processes of craft and computation to establish new ecologically crafted architectural cultures. The architect becomes an ‘architect weaver’ re-coding current architectural practices through material choices, pattern creation, computation, and fabrication methods. 

About The Bartlett Research Conversations

The Bartlett School of Architecture’s Research Conversations seminars comprise work-in-progress and upgrade presentations by students undertaking the Architectural Design MPhil/PhD and Architectural and Urban History and Theory MPhil/PhD. All current UCL staff and students are welcome to attend.

Held regularly throughout the academic year, the seminars are attended by the programme directors, Professor Jonathan Hill and Professor Sophia Psarra, PhD Coordinators, Dr. Nina Vollenbröker and Dr Sophie Read, and other PhD supervisors.

Image: Woven anamnesis. By Nikoletta Karastathi 2021