Dr Sarah Riviere
Senior Lecturer, Architecture BA(Hons)
An architect, teacher and architectural researcher specialising in the design of residential and social space, I joined Falmouth University in August 2023 as a Senior Lecturer in the Architecture team. I hold a PhD in Architectural Design from the Bartlett UCL, a PGCHE in Higher Education pedagogy and practice, and I supervise PhDs in our postgraduate program.
I am a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA UK) and registered as an architect at the Architects Registration Board (ARB UK) and the Berliner Architektenkammer (AK-Berlin, DE). I taught architectural design and architectural history at the Technical University in Berlin at both Bachelors and Masters level and, in parallel, my Berlin office (2004 – 2023) combined socially responsible architecture with ecological generosity, designing architecture for the needs and wishes of local people, the wider environment, and for flexible long-term future use.
In 2021 I initiated the Dream – Play – Challenge Project in Berlin, and co-hosted the Future of Residential Living symposium at the Nordic Embassies as part of the WIA-Berlin Festival. In 2023 I co-published "The Dream – Play – Challenge Project. Facing up to the Crisis in Residential Living," (Wiltrud Simbürger and Sarah Riviere [Eds.], 2023), and in 2024 and 2025 ran a series of internation workshops entitled Dream – Play – Challenge. Working Towards A Comprehensive Practice of Sustainable Architecture.
My ongoing design practice includes developing architecture through stop-motion animation. My recent film "Cooperative Dwelling at 835 Kings Road" uses architectural historical narrative to actively counter the failure of so many ambitious cooperative housing projects, and focusses on the cooperative enterprise set up at 835 Kings Road, West Hollywood in the 1920s.
Research & Knowledge Exchange projects | Falmouth University
External Links
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) | Falmouth University |
| 2023 | PhD in Architectural Design | University College London (The Bartlett) |
| 1999 | RIBA Part III Certificate in Professional Practice & Management in Architecture | University College London (The Bartlett) |
| 1998 | Diploma in Architecture: RIBA Part II | The Bartlett, University College London |
| 1994 | RIBA Part I BA(Hons) Architecture | University of Westminster |
| 1987 | BA(Hons) Physics | Oxford University (Trinity) |
Research Interests
Research interests and expertise
- Experimental architectural design, specifically the design of socio-political space
- Architectural research by design
- Architecture and conflict
- Critical spatial practice and ethical practice in architecture
- Feminist architectural activism and intersectionality
- Residential architecture and housing
- Architectural history from below
- 20th century Californian modernism
Research topics
- Architectural design
- Architectural research through design
- Architectural History and Theory
Areas of teaching
- Architectural Design
- Architectural History and Theory
- Research through Design
- Speculative Research & Design Practice
Policy engagement within Cornwall
Engagement with organisations which contribute to the development of educational, cultural or socio-economic policies in Cornwall
- Cornwall National Landscape
- Cornwall AONB Trust
Professional Engagement
Independent professional practice
My Berlin architecture office, Sarah Riviere Architect completed a prize winning new-build project in Berlin-Kreuzberg. This project brings one of the largest inhabitable green walls - 200 square metres in size - to Berlin. The new residential building with twelve apartments and a ground floor café, also includes eight flats with box-balconies where residents can stand within their own vertical garden above the street. In this project the challenge lay in integrating the latest green "living wall" technology into an urban façade with 8 balconies and 20 windows. Here ecological design and construction, urban planning for the neighbourhood, sustainable structural engineering and fire protection were successfully brought together in one design.
The building was selected for the BDA Prize 2021, and for exhibition at "DA! Architecture in und aus Berlin" organised by the Berlin Chamber of Architects. This project is included in the best-practice Catalogue for Sustainability in Architecture by the Department of Climate and Environmental Protection of the City of Munich.
Social, community and cultural engagement
Co-initiator of the Berlin-wide WIA-Berlin 2021 Architecture Festival , working towards increased parity in the architectural profession in Germany.
Initiator & Organiser of the Dream – Play – Challenge Project. Through a series of public events from 2021 onwards, Dream – Play – Challenge develops an innovative intersectional method that challenges participants to enable the idealism of their dreams through the creativity of play. It deliberately distinguishes itself from the conventional traditions of academic conferences & symposia where information and expertise are simply and efficiently passed on. Instead Dream – Play – Challenge sets up a different form of creative exchange initiating change in the way we design and construct the future built environment within which our communities can thrive.
Engagement with professional associations and societies
- Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA UK)
- Registered as an architect at the Architects Registration Board (ARB UK)
- Registered as an architect at the Berliner Architektenkammer (AK-Berlin, DE)
