Federica Zambeletti | As I sit down to write this editorial, it’s a misty grey day in a surprisingly temperate Berlin (where have the freezing winter days of our childhoods gone?) I’ll admit that it’s quite the challenge to attempt to break down what has been a complex yet riveting year of conversations and partnerships, which have taken us on a tour around our planet. Through the greyness, I am comforted by the fact that Shumi will now be landing in her hometown of Kolkata, instantly hit by the frenetic energy of the Indian metropolis; US correspondent Valerio Franzone might be dancing the New York hustle in the tangible twinkle of that city, while studio manager Anna Mazzon — our rock, our life support — has been holding down the homefront and getting some well-deserved rest in Italy. The first thing I am grateful for is the incredible miracles we manage to achieve with such a small team. In the snowy fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, magic might be enacted by waving a wand or cooking up a potion, but at Kooz this takes place due to the relentless energy, unwavering commitment and continuous conversations — between Google meetings, endless emails, Slack chats — and the occasional “professional” gossip, keeping Kooz juicy and on moral point.

To review this trip around the sun, we could start with number one on our to-do list, which mirrors the way we left 2023: namely, the ambition of growing KoozArch’s family of thinkers and practitioners to ensure the nurturing of a more inclusive and generous architectural dialogue. A year on, our hearts could not be warmer in terms of how the Kooz family has grown and the meaningful conversations and alliances we have cultivated, both through our editorial agenda as well as with specific partners. Starting from our editorial programme — following our mission to bridge between people, perspectives and practices — you might have noticed that this past year we switched from the format of the formal interview to that of the generous conversation. This shift came as a natural outcome of our desire to not only create meaningful and timely editorial content but also fostering alliances and establishing connections between individuals who share affinities and whose divergent perspectives can nurture new ground. We’ve been delighted to support and platform emerging researchers and practitioners like Omar Mohamed Gorashi and secret poster club at Columbia GSAPP; Miriam Hillawi Abraham; Marie Louise Richardson; equally delightful are the many forays beyond traditional spatial practice, including artists like Bouchra Khalili, Agustina Woodgate, Taloi Havini ,Amer Kanngeiser and Mere Nailatikau and many other wonderful things.

At a time of war, genocide, ecocide and the extreme machinations of spatial politics, we stand in solidarity with realities as the Tbilisi Architecture Biennale and Architects for Gaza as well as with practitioners like Samia Henni and Malkit Shoshan. Tbilisi holds a special place in our hearts, as a Biennial which wears its heart on its sleeve — a space where the restless interrogations of spatial practitioners and researchers was not muted or censured by the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine as well as Georgia’s tricky political situation. Rather, under the title of Correct Mistakes and the leadership of Tinatin Gurgenidze and Otar Nemsadze, that event did not shy away from unveiling the highly politicised energy geographies of Georgia and their dramatic environmental and social consequences — as well as confronting head first the weaponisation of nature and the cultivated landscape in Ukraine. From Ukraine to Palestine and in particular to Khuza’a, it’s important for us to ensure that stories and realities of land, labour and loss, both uniquely difficult and all too common — such as those shared by Amir Qudaih, from a farm in Gaza — are hosted, shared and heard. We are grateful to Malkit Shoshan for sharing with us the project Border Ecologies and the Gaza Strip and for trusting Koozarch with the voice of the Qudaih family.

Across the globe, millions marched in solidarity with the Palestinian people demanding a stop to the ongoing genocide and it was disheartening, to say the least, to see the measures taken by Columbia GSAPP against student protests who campaigned against the oppression of free speech in support of Palestenian liberation. Once again, we were glad to offer our space to the anonymous members of the secret poster club to share their project what is a school and discuss the dissonance faced between a university which engages in decolonisation discourses but which then fails to enact these raising the question of the student’s education as an entirely theoretical endeavour.

As we continue to work towards ensuring that our content becomes more and more accessible, next year we will be releasing our own podcast series, titled Space Between, the forthcoming podcast builds on our belief that conversations, bridging across different spheres, can extend our ability to imagine better futures. Anchored in thinking about space — how it is produced, designed and occupied — these discussions seek to build knowledge, find commonalities, and inspire actions in the real world. We hope that you stay tuned. And maybe on this note, I’ll hand over to Shumi

In particular, it has been a great pleasure to reinvigorate our Column section: the tender reveals of James Taylor Foster’s Gutted, the uncanny delight conjured by Jing Liu’s semi-fictional para-places in Rear View and the hilarious but heartbreaking confessionals of Lev Bratishenko’s Dear T-Shirt series. As an editor, it’s such a treat to work with architectural writers on these short, hopefully poignant columns, offering a fairly free patch of ground in which to plant and grow what takes their fancy: we plant seeds and see what blooms.

Perhaps above all, the editorship of Koozarch allows our interlocutors (as well as ourselves) a modicum of freedom, as we make our editorial decisions without the pressure of commercial or directive boards. With this comes a certain precarity; we depend exclusively on the support of carefully selected partnerships and your kind selves. However, we value our editorial freedom above all else, as it allows us the opportunity to build trust — with our writers, interlocutors, contributors, supporters and most of all with you — our readers. The opportunity to build this trust with you has been a genuine source of pride, and I remain extremely grateful to all who make it possible for Koozarch to operate with integrity.

Bios

Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and digital curator whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2015 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Prior to dedicating her full attention to KoozArch, Federica collaborated with the architecture studio and non-profit agency for change UNA/UNLESS working on numerous cultural projects and the research of "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.

Shumi Bose is chief editor at KoozArch. She is an educator, curator and editor in the field of architecture and architectural history. Shumi is a Senior Lecturer in architectural history at Central Saint Martins and also teaches at the Royal College of Art, the Architectural Association and the School of Architecture at Syracuse University in London. She has curated widely, including exhibitions at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 2020 she founded Holdspace, a digital platform for extracurricular discussions in architectural education, and currently serves as trustee for the Architecture Foundation.

Credits

Featured image: 'Aujourd'hui est un fauve. Demain verra son bond,' by Tanguy Pitavy, from the exhibition 'Deseos Compulsivos', Porto, 2023. Photo: Dinis Santos/ Galeria Municipal do Porto.

as published in Promiscuous pedagogies: doing interdisciplinarity with Marina Otero Verzier and Shannon Mattern