Research Lab for Concrete Utopias (RLCU)
Design-Led Research for a Transformative Academic Architectural Praxis
The Research Lab for Concrete Utopias (RLCU) is an emerging research and pedagogical initiative dedicated to developing a transformative academic architectural praxis. Positioned at the intersection of spatial theory, design research and critical pedagogy, the Lab advances a distinct epistemic approach in which design operates as a situated, relational and critically engaged mode of producing knowledge. RLCU does not function as an architectural office; it is an academic environment committed to rethinking how architectural knowledge is generated, taught and enacted.
The Lab examines how architectural practices arise from everyday life, how they are shaped by embodied experience and power relations, and how they can be reconfigured through speculative and material interventions. Drawing on the conceptual triad of #autogestion, #différence and #utopie, RLCU develops spatial propositions that emerge from concrete conditions, collective processes and shared imaginaries. Full-scale experimentation, inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, and reciprocal knowledge exchange form key components of its approach.
RLCU is currently in development as a future international platform for research-led teaching, collaborative inquiry and experimental design praxis. The Lab brings together researchers, educators, students and practitioners who are engaged in exploring new forms of architectural praxis grounded in situated knowledge, critical engagement and material experimentation. Its work investigates how design can produce insights, methods and propositions that respond to contemporary socio-spatial challenges in ways that are analytical, responsible and open to diverse forms of expertise.
Through its research, teaching and project-based collaborations, RLCU seeks to contribute to the development of academic architectural praxis as a field capable of producing knowledge that is plural, reflexive and oriented toward collective futures. The Lab situates itself within contemporary debates on transformative architectural practices while maintaining a clear methodological independence and a commitment to developing rigorous, grounded and forward-oriented design-led inquiry.