Fiona's research lies at the interface between the history of architecture and the history of science with particular interest in the history of environmental design and its fundamental relevance to cultural studies of sound and the history of ideas. Fiona's approach draws strongly on archive work, field work, iconography, and the reception of musical and architectural ideas. It utilises the solid structures of architecture and material culture to identify and explore the intangible aspects of ideas and interdisciplinary interactions.
Fiona has recently published a new book, Pistols in St Paul’s: Science, Music, and Architecture in the Twentieth Century(Manchester University Press) which investigates musical and architectural experiments in the twentieth century, exploring the concept of building as instrument, and examining how ideas in music and science became manifest within architectural design.
Carolina joined the Department of Architecture earlier in October, moving from Manchester School of Architecture where she taught adaptive re-use to postgraduate M.Arch. Continuitystudents and completing her research project (ZeroMargate, UKRI\AHRC Design Exchange Partneships, 2023) on coastal communities and their adaptation to the green transition and climate emergency through activating local built and intangible cultural heritage in the SouthEastern town of Margate. She is a member of the Future Observatory, the Design Museum's national research programme for the green transition. Her research interests lie at the intersection of lived experience, inclusive sensory environments, wayfinding and navigation and participatory design-by-making practices.
Carolina began this Term with teaching fabrication to the Year 2 Architecture Tripos students and will contribute to the new MDes course as it develops, continuing with the new Year 1 Architecture and Design Tripos fabrication classes next Term. Her research plans include creating an exciting new cohort of doctoral researchers on spatial design with neurodiverse people in movement, continuing her research work on sensory navigation and inclusive spaces.