Kenzie Harrison

I practice with a set of values in mind where my work comes from an understanding of local and vernacular layers of knowledge. Artists & architects are essential for translating the needs of people into place, we are here to serve the community. As an architecture student & artist, I use art in practice to reflect social and cultural values of the communities we serve, whilst pushing boundaries of what is possible in the built environment. I recognise the interdependent relationship of the two disciplines which is demonstrated through my research into formed, compelling designs. I focus on using the language of crafting methods as an approach to city-scale design and the material language of their practical instruments in formatting a detailed physical architectural design language. 

My practice lies beyond creating functional spaces but creating environments with a sense of place and identity whilst also protecting existing ones. Acknowledging we are here as condition makers; creating environments for people to flourish, an understanding of the history of place is essential to progressive design. 

My work uses the Art College as a tool of disturbance to regenerate cities. It looks at the potential of sharing creative making spaces with higher education & the wider community to create wider layers of knowledge across a city, layering a city’s permanent community with its predominantly transient student one, with an urban fabric that can revel in its past, present, & future.