Explore urban context and belonging with architect Jayden Ali

‘We see the city as a place of multiple stories, scenes and actors – a theatre that mediates our relationship as citizens between one another and place,' says architect Jayden Ali. Heading JA Projects since 2015, Ali has been working at the intersection of architecture, urban strategy, art and performance through a wealth of multi-disciplinary projects ranging from community and education commissions to film and curating. This way of looking at architecture, through an analysis of society, cultural power, ownership and expression, is a constant in the young studio's work. 

Ali also teaches a senior lecturer at Central Saint Martins, where he co-leads the MArch Architecture (RIBA II) course, which helps fuel his research based approach. ‘We are interested in the ‘constructed works’ of the world (both material and immaterial) and their dialogue with society. And so, from small fleeting events to large permanent buildings and even larger urban strategies, we deliver projects that intervene both socially as well as spatially. All our work is considered research,' he explains. 

Blending a social and performative component with a physical, built one is a key way of approaching design problems for Ali. The goal is to deliver ‘resilient and sustainable interventions that empower people and make a positive contribution to the environment and surrounding context.' His work reflects that, defined by a focus on the more subtle, often intangible things that are there but perhaps harder to define or quantify – human experience, the idea of belonging, insights, shifts in society and power struggles are common themes in many of his projects. 

One of his latest creations, a triptych of films, explores all of the above. It's about a ‘new aesthetic of celebratory resistance,' he explains. The first, for the Royal Academy, was an exploration of the idea of home in the two dominant cultures of Bethnal Green in London: white-English and Islamic-Bangladeshis. The second, was a reflection on the murder of George Floyd and ‘the UK’s transatlantic relationship to America and it’s idols.' The third (a collaboration with art director Lotty Sanna), is still a work in progress and touches on notions of migration and womanhood in Marseille. 

‘With these three films, the "project" is The City and these performative works are used to develop a definition of contemporary Western Black architecture – an architecture that conveys the power, beauty and alienation of the Black experience?' asks Ali. 

In more ‘conventional' architecture work, JA Projects is behind a whole school masterplan for a local authority primary school for children with behavioural difficulties – Cherry Trees. It was a phased development that came out of a comprehensive study of the users' needs, from the children to their families and the broader local school community. Ali considers it a breakthrough project for the studio and one that helped found the practice. 

Pineapple Island, an alternative and immersive after school play provision that questions the merits of traditional learning spaces, was also part of the project. It allowed pupils to use the space as they wish, with open ended outcomes, making it their own. 

This idea of ownership and belonging makes a frequent appearance in Ali's work. He is keen to highlight its role and power in the creation of architecture. ‘We think developing a sense of true belonging has the capacity to be the single most transformative contribution to the life of our cities,' he says. ‘Currently this is not the case and the built landscape is, for the most part, shackled by historicism, hegemonic, wasteful, elitist, short-termist and anonymous [forces]. If architecture, as a collective discipline, is to be meaningful within our new cultural era of inclusion it must radically revise its contribution to match the dynamism and relevance of other artistic pursuits. We want people to say ‘This is my home. I am not an outsider here. I belong here'.'

INFORMATION

ja-projects.com