Developed within Diploma 7 at the Architectural Association and led by Unit Masters Kenneth Fraser and Simon Beams, the project formed part of a wider pedagogical exploration into mobility, infrastructure and cultural exchange.

In December 2008, twelve students from the Architectural Association travelled to Lalibela, Ethiopia, carrying a self-contained mobile cinema: a projector, generator and a luminous ‘sock’ constructed from tent poles, netting and projection membranes. Designed as a lightweight, transportable structure, it enabled the rapid installation of an open-air cinema in the remote town renowned for its UNESCO-listed rock-hewn churches.

Responding to a locally expressed wish for a cinema, shared through our UK–Ethiopia charity partnership, the arrival of the equipment – unfolding from a van into a glowing, worm-like form – sparked a five-night film festival beneath the night sky. Audiences of all ages gathered each evening, and for many it marked a rare opportunity to experience collective film screening within their own town. The project subsequently informed the students’ thesis work.

Nine months later, four members of the group restaged the installation at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane as part of the London Design Festival. The U-Block market hall housed the reassembled ‘sock’, accompanied by six translucent screens presenting material on Lalibela and Link Ethiopia. The opening attracted over 400 guests, with Ethiopian coffee traditionally roasted and served alongside popcorn. Addresses were given by Architectural Association Director Brett Steele and Link Ethiopia Director Belayneh Shewaye, followed the next day by a public screening of Black Gold, a documentary on fair-trade coffee.

Students: Andrew Tam, Elaine Yiling Wong, George Woodrow, Helen Evans, Imogen Long, James Mathieson, Jean-François C. Lemay, Johnny Gao, Magnea Gudmundsdottir, Sanaa Shaikh, Soo Jin and Will Paul

Drawings and photos by the Students

Graduating in 2007 in the Architectural Association Diploma Unit 7 led by Kenneth Fraser and Simon Beames, Julia King and Asif Khan developed an award-winning collaborative project based in the Mae Sot refugee camp on the Thai–Burma border housing 50,000 Burmese, half of them children. In contrast to the conventionally individual and speculative AA Diploma model, they chose to work together to design and construct a full-scale prototype for refugee housing. Their approach combined design ambition with direct action — even commissioning and capturing their own aerial photograph of the camp to establish a critical visual record for the project. Balancing construction on site with the demands of the academic calendar, the project culminated in an extensive operative drawing mapping the entire process, clarifying responsibilities and acknowledging the many collaborators involved.

Julia and Asif collaborated with the local people to develop sustainable family shelters. A study of potential building systems produced a prototype refugee hut, with material tests and the development of new tools carried out by local carpenters. The project, whose benefits may eventually spread to other Thai border refugee camps, was subsequently awarded follow-up funding by the British Council.

The work set the trajectory for two distinct yet equally expansive practices. Julia King has since pursued infrastructure-led research in collaboration with NGOs in India, developing sanitation systems, incremental housing strategies and resource-based micro-economies. Asif Khan’s practice operates between architecture, art and installation, producing experimental structures and internationally recognised public projects.

Drawing & Photos by J. King , A. Khan

Projects By Toby Westwood, Makan Johal, Jack Whitehead

This book published in 2025 records the design research created by fourth year Architectural Association students exploring building ‘pieces’ by making prototypes at full scale. The pieces in this collection are from the teaching sessions 2022- 2023 and were based on Richard Roger’s Partnership (now RSHP) connection details with an aim to understand, redesign and reverse engineer them. The focus is on learning about technical design by examining detailed case studies, finding drawings and specifications of exemplar pieces and developing critical analysis to explain the material selection, tools, context and functionality of each. The work concludes with the construction of full-scale, reverse-engineered prototypes. The pieces are re-contextualised by the students into new designs through examining: material change, optimisation, extending function, new digital and re-found traditional fabrication techniques.