The research group’s activities revolve around four main research lines:
1. Analysis of architecture of Modern Movement from the viewpoint of architectural design and its cultural significance: critical analysis of architectural works and design competitions in the 20th century in Europe, with an emphasis on the Nordic context. Some examples of this research line are the studies on cultural sustainability in Alvar Aalto’s work and the 1932 Enso-Gutzeit competition in Finland, or the analysis of Mies van der Rohe’s brick houses and the Weissenhofsiedlung project in Germany, Reima Pietilä’s work as a pioneer of design-based research and the imprints of Nordic architecture on the 20th century architecture in Spain. This research line is applied in teaching in the courses Seminar in Architecture and Theory of Architecture at Bachelor’s level and the course Contemporary Nordic Architecture at Master’s level.
2. Design strategies, theory and critique of contemporary architecture (public buildings and housing). Some examples of this research line are the research done on the collectivization of domestic space, housing norms and conventions, typologies of sharedness in housing, the Exit School of Architecture project, the publication Casas Internacional/Houses in Finland, or the analysis of Helsinki Central Library Oodi as an example of architecture dealing simultaneously with autonomy and engagement. This research line is applied in teaching in the courses Architectural Design VI, Innovative Strategies in Architectural Design and Experimental Architectural Design at Master’s level. One doctoral researcher is analysing the connections between domesticity, home improvement and the architect’s agency within this research line.
3. Architecture to generate (or release from) social bonds: The implications of architecture and the built environment in the feeling of loneliness, in the objective state of social isolation and in solitude as a sought-after state of being. Some examples of this research line are the projects Societal, LOBE, SocialBlock and AIsola, funded by the Research Council of Finland and resulting into the books Loneliness and the Built Environment and Arquitectura de la soledad, or the article on architectural research methods to investigate social isolation. One doctoral researcher is studying the architectural typologies of solitude within this research line.
4. Critical pedagogy of architectural theory and design (the architectural project). Some examples of this research line are the studies on the transformation and pedagogy of architectural design studios and the design and pedagogy of the project of public buildings, or the article on empathy and architectural education. This research line is applied in all the courses taught by the research group’s members. One doctoral researcher is studying the possibilities of non-formal education in architecture within this research line.
The four research lines are intertwined and converge in some projects like the Business-Finland-funded VOF project (2, 3, 4) in collaboration with Aalto University in Helsinki and the Royal College of Art in London, or the SHE project (1, 2, 3, 4) in collaboration with Arquitecturas Afectivas, the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM) and Grupo Tangente.