About
Forms of Living is a research and design practice founded in 2019 by architects and researchers Lola Lozano Lara and Elena Palacios Carral. Based in London, the practice engages with existing structures and explores the relationship between built form and use, with a particular focus on the political role of architectural design. They work from the principle of developing material strategies of minimal intervention that can produce transformative social and spatial effects.
Their approach is tested through the design of systems, furniture, exhibitions, and buildings, as well as through teaching, drawing, and writing. Grounded in history, feminist theory, and postcolonial thought, their work draws directly on the research developed through their doctoral studies.
In 2023, Forms of Living curated and designed Portraits of a Practice, an exhibition at the Architectural Association’s main gallery (October–December). They are now developing a toolkit for the exhibition to travel within the UK and internationally. Ongoing projects include the refurbishment of a home in Walthamstow and the design of an art gallery in Mexico City.
Teaching and writing are integral to their practice. Together, they have led design studios at universities across the UK for over a decade and teach at the University of Cambridge and the Architectural Association in London. Collectively, they bring over twelve years of practice experience, having worked on projects ranging from furniture to large-scale housing and cultural developments for public and private clients in the UK and abroad. Before founding Forms of Living, they contributed to practices in London and Mexico City.
Directors
Dr. Elena Palacios Carral
AA Dipl, MA, PhD
Elena is co-director of Forms of Living. Her PhD introduced the term studioification of the home to describe the merging of domestic life with intellectual work under precarious conditions. She has also researched the work of architects MJ Long and Ruth Rivera Marín. Elena teaches at the Architectural Association and the University of Cambridge, and supervises dissertations at Central Saint Martins.
Dr. Lola Lozano Lara
AA Dipl, ARB, PhD
Lola is co-director of Forms of Living. Her research focuses on the typology of the vecindad in Mexico City, tracing this disappearing form of collective housing across indigenous traditions, colonial urbanism, and republican reforms. Her work addresses urgent questions of housing beyond industrialised paradigms, linking historical research with design practice. Lola teaches architectural design at the Architectural Association and the University of Cambridge.
Collaborators past and present:
Isabella Synek Herd
Contact
Unit 5H Stamford Works
3 Gillett Street
London N16 8JH