Speculative Assemblies is an experimental design lab that explores the visual construct in architecture. It is a conceptual investigation—both digital and analogue—into the apparatus of drawing, challenging its boundaries as both an artistic and architectural practice. The lab’s research is neither fixed nor finite; it is an ongoing interrogation of drawing as a medium of inquiry, speculation, and transformation.

Our work questions and redefines the role of drawing, engaging in continuous research, rigorous experimentation, and deep devotion to craft. We investigate the graphic theoria, praxis, and poiesis of architectural verbalization, treating drawing as a generative act rather than a mere representational tool. Speculative Assemblies moves beyond conventional architectural delineation, embracing drawing as a site of exploration—where material, connection, and notion converge into a body of work that reimagines architecture’s visual and conceptual frameworks.

Some drawings emerge as discursive investigations, others as visual records. Some merely hint at architectural subjects, while others refuse to reveal them altogether. Across all, our work opens new frontiers of the imagination, harnessing the unique potential of both analogue and digital methodologies. Here, drawing is not an end but a field of continuous discovery—an evolving language of architectural thought.

B ...is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture, where she is also the Inscriptive Practices and Future Processes Lead.

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