The ALICE HOUSE series originate from the research projects ‘protostructure’ and the concepts of ‘adapted scaffolding’, including a PhD (Agathe Mignon, 2013–2018), several teaching formats, and diverse case studies in large-group design and build processes. It consists of a series of building-size installations, parallel cultural and scientific events, framed by exhibitions and publications.
The HOUSE series hypothesizes the capacity of large groups to design and build together larger installation artefacts as co-authors. The hypothesis presupposes the principle of ‘protostruc-ture’, in its conceptual and physical form, to federate design and construction processes and allow for a ‘negotiation of the space of social difference’ (Richard Sennett, Together, 2012).The HOUSE projects proof the agency of both indivi-duals and groups, to concretize through deliberation complex ideas and spatial design in view of architectural projects responding to given or emerging functions.
HOUSE 1 (Dietz, ALICE studio, EPFL campus, 2016) authored by 227 indiviuals, was nominated for the prestigeous international Swiss Design Award and was winner in the category research.