There is another way, lots in fact, but one example which shines out R.A.R.A. - the Redundant Architects Recreation Association. This self-defined ‘Studio-Workshop-Brewery’ based in Clapton was set up by two friends interested in discovering other ways of practising architecture. Based in a unit tucked away in an industrial estate, there are desks and a workshop and a kitchen and an outdoor cinema space and even a small mezzanine snug with space for snoozing.
The interesting thing about R.A.R.A is the way that they operate as a practise. Less a company, more a loosely bound collective, the individuals that make up R.A.R.A. come and go as their projects do, contributing what they can and requiring only what they need. Desks are hired out a cheap rate on variable time scales – from one day to months or years. Sometimes individuals are working individually on projects, sometimes together, but knowledge, ideas, resources and support are communal goods are shared at all times.
Sometimes R.A.R.A itself gets a commission. A community group who had taken over an old library in Walthamstow asked R.A.R.A to develop the space on a minimal budget and a short time scale. R.A.R.A. collected a group of willing and capable interns, providing them with somewhere to sleep and food to eat and let them loose on the project. It’s an inspiring model for its symbiosis – interns learn 10 fold what they would learn on a conventional internship and share in an intense and incredible collective experience, and the community gains a well designed project they would be otherwise unable to afford. They are running a series of cinema screenings this month on Tuesdays, which you can find out about on their website. Graduating might not mean office-desk-bound imprisonment after all.
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Georgie Day is a graduate from the University of Wesminster and has previously contributed to the RIBA magazine.
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