Architecture and engineering have a history where research and practice go hand in hand, where many great practices have grown as a result of fundamental research and where many research projects arise from groundbreaking design. This is especially true during periods of economic inactivity when recent modes of working are called into question and new modes (sometimes based on rediscovered historical precedent) are established. This can lead to the formation of innovative practices and to the start of academic careers in research and teaching.

Constructing Realities showcases work from the new Postgraduate Certificate Course in Advanced Architectural Research, set up at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, to give students with Masters degrees the opportunity to take their work to a further stage development. The programme is supported by the Economic Challenge Investment Fund. This exhibition organised with the generous support of Arup's Phase 2 Gallery shows how some of the best Masters portfolios and theses contain the seeds of serious design research proposals, and how these might be taken forward to create new types of place, novel interactive building elements and new façade and structural systems.

Curated by Stephen Gage & Ruairi Glynn

Exhibition Design by Nick Westby

Special thanks to Dr. Jennifer Greitschus, curator of Arup’s public exhibitions programme at the Phase 2 Gallery