A new beginning.
Forum Research Office is a tentative title for this practice. However, it does have a few core ideas that will remain consistent and essentially drive the practice moving forward.
First of all, FRO is
a practice ground where design and research meet in service of dialogue and free speech.
My name is Victoria Lee. I am starting this office to serve two purposes at the moment: 1) to document my own architecture/design research work in university, and 2) to begin an experiment in bridging architecture and design with the democratization of knowledge, with the particular goal of establishing platforms where ideas can be exchanged openly and inclusively.
In my final year of undergraduate study, I am focusing on the political and social dimensions of architecture. I believe that the built environment should serve as spaces where access to information, resources, and decision-making is shared.
There are some ground rules that I want to establish for this practice (and I might come back to this post to grow this list). They will serve as important reminders to approach the work ethically and responsibly.
To avoid the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI). While the convenience of it is tempting, it goes against the office's core idea of democratizing knowledge, as AI technologies are often developed and used with high surveillance on creators' work, unethical reuse or reshuffling of their work, and have a devastating impact on the environment due to the cooling demand from their operation. We lose the humanness in our work as it is not born from our intellect and ideas. I have turned to writing tools such as Grammarly and the Purdue Writing Lab instead, as I begin my slow departure from AI usage. I am not a strong writer, and I find these tools extremely helpful, as they allow me to avoid relying on generative AI that restricts my original thinking.
To share the work in some form or another. This is important as the motivation behind the office is to engage in dialogue with others. The work and research should not be tucked away in the comforts of our laptops and personal journals, but presented in ways such as, but not limited to, exhibitions, presentations, essays, etc. We can only grow our knowledge through collaboration with others.
To think critically about word and image choice in the work. Words and imagery are powerful, hence they should be handled with care. This is a micro-way to combat misinformation, beginning with our own work of publishing truthful and respectful material.
For now, I envision this blog primarily as a space for practicing my own writing, developing curricula (most likely in the form of reading lists) to pursue various interests, and documenting things I find interesting through posts and reblogs. In the future, I plan to expand the practice into further grounds, such as a website and, hopefully, a physical office space.
—V
