Research Architecture: Provocations, Practices, and Propositions is a series of four short publications investigating key areas of research that have emerged out of the Centre for Research Architecture’s (CRA) at Goldsmiths, University of London. This book series highlights the investigative spirit of the Centre by bringing together documents of specific investigations, examples of spatial methods, exemplary research projects, interviews, transcripts of roundtable discussions, collective works, and archival materials. In doing so, the publications foreground the innovative practice-based methodologies and modes of political engagement that have been developed to respond to contemporary urgencies. As such, each of the short books draws together contributions from thinkers and practitioners that have contributed to the development of the CRA’s pedagogical program over the past fifteen years.

Susan Schuppli is an artist-researcher and writer, whose work examines material evidence from war and conflict to environmental disasters and climate change. She holds a PhD and is director of the Centre for Research Architecture and Board Chair of Forensic Architecture. She has published widely and is the author of Material Witness (MIT Press, 2020).

Lorenzo Pezzani is an architect and researcher. In 2015, he completed a PhD in research architecture at Goldsmiths, where he is currently Lecturer and leads the MA studio in forensic architecture. His work deals with the spatial politics and visual cultures of migration with a particular focus on the geography of the ocean.

Riccardo Badano is a researcher and visual practitioner. His work investigates the intersection of environmental issues and border circulations. As Embedded Researcher at Het Nieuwe Instituut he collaborated with Formafantasma and Serpentine Galleries for the exhibition Cambio, for which he edited the catalogue (Walther Koenig Books, 2020).

Tomas Percival is an artist and researcher. His work investigates the nexuses of securitisation, specifically in relation to algorithmic governance, punitive geographies, surveillance, and rights. He holds an MFA in Art from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is currently a PhD candidate and associate lecturer at the Centre for Research Architecture.

Ariadna Serrahima is a graphic designer, editor, and researcher. She cofounded L’Automàtica, a self-organised printing shop and I.F publications, and independent publishing house. Her research focuses on forms of insurgent learning and subversive technologies of communality. She holds a master’s degree in research architecture and is a doctoral candidate in visual cultures at Goldsmiths.

The Centre for Research Architecture (CRA) was founded in 2005 in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. It is organised around practice-led research that investigates the urgent political conditions of our time. Its goal is to provide practitioners with tools for undertaking spatial research and critical analysis into questions of conflict, media, ecology, and human rights. The CRA is home to a unique practice-based PhD, two MA studios, and the Forensic Architecture research agency. CRA is committed to supporting radical and innovative thinking, and promoting access and diversity within academia.

More broadly, Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a public research university. Goldsmiths conducts world-leading research and offers high-quality teaching in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Goldsmiths is a constituent college of the University of London and was founded in 1891. The university aims to offer a transformative experience, generating knowledge and stimulating self-discovery through creative, radical and intellectually rigorous thinking and practice.