Artist in Residence: Natasha Reid, Studio 1, The Albert

From now on we'll be featuring Albert residents on the blog as the project develops, first up is artist and architect Natasha Reid...  

Natasha works between the worlds of architecture and art, having trained and practiced in the architectural profession for a decade whilst also developing independent, socially-engaged visual arts projects. Her investigations are located at the junction of the disciplines, blurring the boundaries of art, architecture and critical practice. www.natashareid.co.uk

Natasha studied architecture at Cambridge University and gained a Distinction for her Post-graduate studies at London Metropolitan University. She has worked at acclaimed and award-winning architecture practices in London, most recently at Stirling-Prize nominated DSDHA. She has concurrently exhibited experimental visual arts projects in collaboration with a variety of organizations including the Refugee Council/Platforma, Platform-7, London Festival of Architecture and the Littoral Arts Trust. Rooted in research about contemporary urban and social concerns, these projects interpret existing conditions to create new site-specific spatial interpretations responding to them. 

Themes of urban transformation, migration, home and belonging, refuge and sanctuary are key ideas which underpin Natasha’s investigations. The projects are highly innovative, often activating disused spaces or crafting waste material, which is transformed and blended with light, space and performance to create unexpected, engaging and delightful interventions. 

Current projects include the design and construction of her conceptual proposal, The Embassy for Refugees, as a pavilion on the South Bank in June 2013. Natasha is integrating creative workshops with refugee children, to explore the idea of sanctuary and refuge. The Embassy will be part of the annual Celebrating Sanctuary festival and will hold a programme of talks by experts in their fields, providing an anchor and central hub for the festival.

Other projects include AfterParty, where discarded material from the Olympic stadium was transformed to evoke the breaking dawn to symbolize the Legacy of the Games (October 2012) and Scar Tissue,  a sculpture considering the effect of conflict exhibited at the disused Waterloo International Eurostar Terminal for Remembrance Day (November 2012). 

Her theoretical work has been published, including her research and proposals for a slum settlement in India, featured in the book Learning from Delhi.  She has presented her concepts for The Embassy for Refugees, as part of the Design Diplomacy programme, alongside prestigious British architects Sir Terry Farrell and Tony Fretton for the International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 in collaboration with the British Council.

Natasha is highly experienced in developing viable and imaginative architectural projects. Whilst at DSDHA, she designed and developed exemplar housing schemes in Fitzrovia and Westminster including an aspirational social housing project renovating and extending an existing warehouse building, a contemporary yet sensitive development reinterpreting the historic fabric of the Charlotte Street Conservation Area and a new-build 300-unit luxury apartment scheme, all featured in the New London Architecture housing exhibition in 2012.  She has also delivered exhibitions, installations, pavilions, events in the public realm. 

Natasha is an on-going contributor to the project team at the Merz Barn, former home of Dada artist Kurt Schwitters, carrying out workshops, seminars and architectural proposals to develop the project and historic cultural site in Ambleside. She is also a guest critic at the architecture departments of London Metropolitan University and the Royal College of Art. Currently, Natasha is undertaking her residency at The Albert, responding to the rapid regeneration of the urban landscape around through drawing, photography and experimental installation pieces.