(Ra)dical (Re)alims
Design Research Lab
Design Framework
RaRe begins with a worldview: architecture does not exist in isolation. It is entangled with the spatial, social, ecological and economic systems shaping our world.
We believe architectural practice must engage with these wider relationships to redistribute agency and value toward more just, adaptive and regenerative futures. Our five missions — Circular Futures, Caring Places, Radical Heritage, Ecological Stewardship and Better Housing — focus this worldview on areas where we believe transformation is both necessary and possible.
The RaRe Design Framework provides a shared way of thinking and acting across these missions. The framework translates our values into a structured approach to design as a systemic, time-based and value-driven practice. It expands architecture’s field of attention — connecting space and material decisions to the people, resources, systems and forms of value they affect.
At the framework’s foundation are four interrelated design considerations: space, value, agency and time. Together, they encourage us to look beyond what is being designed to consider the relationships it creates, the forms of value at stake, who or what has the capacity to shape change, and how these conditions might evolve over time.
These considerations are explored through RaRe’s four modes of knowing, which expand how we understand a situation. Design principles establish the dispositions that guide this inquiry, while methods provide the practical means to investigate, map, imagine and test different possibilities.
This process generates interventions: spatial, strategic, material, organisational or narrative propositions designed to reshape existing relationships and open up new possibilities. Their success is ultimately understood through impact; the forms of change they enable and the extent to which they advance the missions that initiated the inquiry.
The framework is not a linear process. It is iterative, relational and multi-scalar: moving between ways of seeing, thinking and acting, and using what we learn through intervention to continually reshape our understanding of the problem and what might be possible.
Four Modes of
Architectural Knowing
Architectural knowledge has traditionally focused on the understanding and production of space through form, organization, and performance. While this remains fundamental, it is no longer sufficient for addressing the systemic conditions shaping the built environment. RaRe responds through four modes of architectural knowing.
RaRe begins by questioning the foundations upon which architecture knowledge is constructed
Rare in Practice
Applied Value
RaRe Design Lab is a critical design practice that uniquely fuses academic teaching, design research, and spatial practice.
RaRe works across disciplines, sectors, and geographies to develop projects that are both locally grounded and globally aware.
We structure our work to translate values into action: building capability through learning, generating insight through research & innovation), and delivering spatial and systemic change through design practice. This three-part approach allows us to engage at different stages, from expanding understanding to testing ideas and implementing solutions. We work with companies, universities and institutions to navigate complexity, reframe challenges, unlock new opportunities and design for long-term change.
We shift from designing discrete products for humans to shaping systems that serve our planet
01 Rare Learning & Education
We offer configurable learning programmes that teach students, educators and organisations how to design with and across time, systems and value. We embrace a modular learning approach configurable in themes, formats and timeframes.
Learning across time, systems and value to design for long-term change.
Learning across time, systems and value to design for long-term change
02 Rare Research & Innovation
We approach research as an active, design-led process, moving between analysis and experimentation to understand how spatial, social and organisational systems interact across time. By working across multiple scales and time horizons, we translate complexity into clear insights, strategic direction and testable propositions. We investigate systems, surface hidden constraints, and test future possibilities to inform better decisions and unlock new forms of value.
03 Rare Design & Implementation