SENIHA KOCA-EMIR

I have recently graduated from Kingston University where I completed my Masters in Architecture (MArch) with a Distinction, and where I also previously completed my Bachelors Degree in Architecture with a 2:1.

Over the years I have had experience volunteering as an architectural assistant at Article 25, working on healthcare and education buildings in vulnerable areas around the world. I have also spent a substantial amount of time working as an administrator, and later a project manager, in a school located on an underprivileged housing estate. My daily experiences in this context and social interactions with those in the neighbourhood have sparked my passion for community architecture and interest in social housing.

My final year thesis project saw me delving into the realm of community architecture in an integrated social prescription campus for a site in Walworth; poverty stricken, yet on the cusp of another London regeneration scheme. Alongside my thesis project, my dissertation explored the rise and fall of postwar social housing estates; critiqued the social cleansing and demolition of such estates; explored the vilification of estates while their physical contexts experienced gentrification; and finally attempted to validate the worth of housing estates under threat.

Alongside my architectural journey, I enjoy practicing photography. I explore landscape, architectural and spatial photography as well as photographing people in a space, their interactions and their overall choreography within a space. I also enjoy creating images by performing in front of a camera.

I also immerse myself in delicate and ritualistic drawings such as mandalas and often create pieces as gifts or as commissions. Practicing the art of mandalas has led me to embark on a new art form of 'tezhip' - an intricate style of Ottoman/Persian painting.