Joana Rafael is an architect practitioner and Postdoctoral Researcher, specializing in ecological concerns related to pollution and contamination, both indoors and in urban planning. Her research explores the intersections of architecture and urbanism with human geography, environmental studies, and power dynamics, encompassing contemporary culture, media studies, art, and technology. She investigates the materiality and limits of physical infrastructures in relation to Earth's systems and the reciprocal relationships between humans and nature, with a particular focus on radiologically contaminated environments. Joana has taught Contextual Studies and Contemporary Culture-related courses at institutions including ESAP in Porto, ISCE Douro in Penafiel, Central Saint Martins in London, and the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury. She is a member of CEGOT (Center for Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning) and CEAA (Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo), and a co-founder of REFINERY BOARD. Joana holds a Master of Architecture and Urban Cultures from Metropolis, Barcelona, as well as a Master of Research Architecture and a PhD in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London. She also earned a Healthier Materials and Sustainable Building Specialization certificate from Parsons School of Design, The New School. In addition to her academic pursuits, Joana is a certified farmer.
A Letter to the Zoologists
article commissioned and published in Innocence, San Rocco magazine, no I
In June 2005, The Guardian published an article by Will Alsop entitled "Flight of fancy" to announce a lecture part of the Doubt, Delight and Change, a retrospective exhibition of Cedric Price`s work. Tracing his influence and lines of thought through the experience as a collaborator in his office, Aslop professed Price to be interested in nature and, among a wealth of praiseful descriptions argued that the London Zoo`s Northern (Snowdon) Aviary was designed for a community of birds and the idea was that once the community was established, it would be possible to remove the netting.
Taking the word of the coworker into account, questioning its potential and drawing a eulogy upon it, A Letter to the Zoologists advocates the coherence of such an idea within efforts to preserve zoological species, and methods to perpetuate zoological facilities. The argument is sustained both by the attempt to engage with animal territorial behaviour and with architectural standard procedures, with the wish to trigger a dialogical space for the best of the birds housed, the zoological and the work of the architect.
