Pantopia engages in conversations with institutions and multidisciplinary experts whose practice or field of research are embedded in architectural and spatial thinking. Our contributors have discussed a wide range of notions ranging from environmental violence, digital media production and crisis models. They have been instrumental in developing Pantopia’s pedagogical frameworks by challenging us to constantly rethink how we create and present our work.

ALAN WARBURTON

Alan Warburton is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the use of software in contem­porary culture. His hybrid practice feeds insight from commercial work in post-pro­duction studios into experimental arts practice, where he explores themes includ­ing digital labour, gender and representa­tion, often using computer-generated images. Alan recently exhibited at Somerset House and his online video essays Goodbye Uncanny Valley and Spectacle, Speculation, Spam have been widely shared among a new generation of students, artists and curators keen to reflect on the critical po­tential of CGI.

SAMANEH MOAFI

At Forensic Architecture, Samaneh oversees the Centre for Contemporary Nature. Her research is focused on developing new evidentiary techniques for environmental violence. She holds a PhD from The Archi¬tectural Association (AA), and a BA and MA in Architecture from the University of Technology, Sydney. Samaneh’s PhD thesis examined struggle and resistance from the home, with a focus on gender and class relations in Iran.

PEER ILLNER

Peer Illner is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Excellence Cluster The Formation of Normative Orders in Frankfurt. His research interests include catastrophes and crises, political economy, disaster capitalism, and 20th century urbanism, art and architec¬ture. His first monograph “Disaster in Crisis” is forthcoming by Pluto Press.

RAUL AVILLA ROYO

Raül Avilla-Royo studied architecture in ETSAB Barcelona, AAM Mendrisio and the AA. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London researching the role of architects in urban transformation framed by social movements and collective practices, and tutor at the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design “Projective Cities” at the Architectural Association. He is member of Arquitectos de Cabecera, a Barcelona-based collective that understands architecture pedagogy as tool for social transformation.

CRISTINA GAMBOA MASDEVALL

Cristina Gamboa is a chartered architect and teacher. She studied at ETSAB, and University of Stuttgart. Cristina is co-founder of Lacol, a cooperative of architects established in Barcelona. Lacol’s practice embrace Architecture, Urbanism, Housing policies and Participatory processes, blurring the limits of disciplines to define a cross-sectional and participative approach. Their activity is based on a horizontal system of labor, acting alongside society with the motivation and challenge to achieve a transition towards sustainability in the broadest way possible: political, social, economic and environmental.

RAMON BLOOMBERG

A writer and a filmmaker, he explores the military drone operations over the FATA re­gions of Pakistan in 2015 and puts forward a theory of sovereign power in light of net­worked technical systems. Recent work has forked some of those findings to analyse deployment of facial recognition systems and other remote sensing techniques. He also examines the cycles of causation in the development of networked sensors, and the impact of networked sensor deploy­ment on the political status of individual human beings.

HRABRINA NIKOLOVA

Hrabrina Nikolova is a creative environmental designer with an interdisciplinary approach to dissecting and targeting complex urban areas. Her ongoing research aims to expand the methods through which architectural practices can improve living conditions, bring social and environmental equality, and challenge institutional and governmental bodies to act on the current climatic crisis. She is currently working for Max Fordham as a sustainability consultant developing bespoke sustainability  visions and key performance indicators for high profile clients and local authorities. Hrabrina's skills in holistic strategic planning has been at the forefront of climate-conscious architectural design. She was involved in international projects in Brazil, Costa Rica and India, transferring knowledge and skills in favor of segregated communities and climate-devastated areas. Hrabrina has numerous contributions towards the changing architectural academic curriculum pushing for environmental design and sustainable architecture to become the new norm.

NICHOLAS MATERTON

Nick Masterton completed undergraduate studies at the Bartlett School of Architecture and went on to work at Wilkinson Eyre Architects.  He resumed his studies at the Architectural Association in the Unknown Fields division where he examined contemporary forms of digital labour through the alienated workforce of the Amazon mechanical turk. His fifth year work focused on the nascent energy utopias of the battery powered revolution, promulgated by serial tech entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, and subverted by the reality of industrial lithium extraction on the salt flats of Bolivia.  After graduating from the AA he became a researcher at Forensic Architecture, specialising in photogrammetry and the application of geospatial tools.  He has worked on numerous human rights investigations including examination of chemical weapons attacks in Syria in collaboration with the New York Times, and more recently, coordinating a reconstruction of the killing of Mark Duggan in collaboration with the Guardian.

FRANC CAMPS-FEBRER

Franc Camps-Febrer is a physicist, designer and researcher, working at the intersection of design, software and analytic storytelling. He produces tools for visual investigation, interactive documentary pieces and other digital experiences. He currently works with a wide variety of institutions and clients, in fields spanning from activism and art to cybersecurity. He is based and develops his practice at the NEWINC, New Museum in New York, holds a MSc in Neuroscience by the City University of New York and a PDip in Experience Design by the Royal College of Art in London.

OCTAVE PERRAULT

Octave Perrault is an architect. He co-founded the collective åyr who produced exhibitions about domesticity after the internet between 2014 and 2018. He co-curated the Cruising Pavilion exhibition series in 2018-19 about gay sex and architecture. He is the lead consultant of DPA-X, the R&D department of Dominique Perrault Architecture. Octave Perrault graduated from the Architectural Association in 2013 and received a Master in Sociology from Goldsmiths College in 2015.

ARIADNA BARTHE

Ariadna is an architect and photographer from Barcelona.

For the past ten years Ariadna has been evolving between a wide range of disciplines, such has interior design, art direction, architecture and education.

First trained as an interior designer in Barcelona, she then moved to London to gain her degree in architecture from the AA School.

She has worked for Foster and Partners for three years, on large scale projects such as the Musée de la Normadie and the New Mexico International Airport.

In 2017, Ariadna co-founded TOIT, a creative consultancy based in Barcelona.

ETIENNE GILLY

Etienne is a French architect who graduated from the AA School with Honours in 2017.

He is currently working at l’AUC in Paris, and is a frequent guest lecturer at the AA School.

His work focuses on large scale strategic planning, mostly within the EU territory.

In 2018 he was a guest contributors at the Eurolab, where he helped shape a new communication strategy for the EU.