‘The metaphor is simple, and thus especially ingenious. A mirror can be seen to function as a model because when people see themselves in one, they inevitably begin to straighten their clothes and hair. The mirror image, however, includes not just you, but also that which surrounds you.’

–      Kenneth Robert Olwig, Landscape Nature and the Body Politic

Between the years 1220–1235, the knight and jurist Eike von Repkow compiled the Sachsenspiegel (Saxon Mirror), a renowned written record of Germanic customary law. While spiegel translates directly from the German as ‘mirror’, its meaning becomes more nuanced when considered alongside the related English word ‘spectacle’, invoking not only reflection but also observation and perception.

This year, Intermediate 4 will hold up a mirror to the London Borough of Barnet, a suburban buffer between inner London and the Green Belt which has the highest number of long-term empty homes of any outer London borough. We will focus on the ecology of place, people, custom and ritual, and our reflections will include legal and moral considerations. At a time when government policy calls for 1.5 million new homes to be built by 2029, we will speculate on how and where to build – and, crucially, who is to build?

Our first exercise will be to research architecturally and socially significant settlements in Barnet, including the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Collectively, we will identify our testing ground for the year, a site where town centre meets Green Belt. We will survey empty buildings and overlooked spaces that have the potential for reuse or transformation. Students will design at a range of scales from landscape to interior, and mapping, drawing and modelling workshops with invited guests will support the development of individual design theses.