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Space, Media & Culture
The Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts (CAVA) is a practice-based and multi-disciplinary research centre that is situated in the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool.
We are interested in the critical intersection of space, media and culture in the context of digital, networked spaces and spatial practices with particular emphasis on their social and economic impact.
We apply design and system thinking/methods to study trans-disciplinary impact and consider the theoretical/practical intersection between analogue and digital culture.
"Architecture no longer can (if it ever could) be understood as an autonomous medium of mass, space and light but now serves as the constructed ground for encountering and extracting meaning from cross-connected flows of aural, textual and graphic and digital information through global networks."
W. J. Mitchell, Placing Words: Symbols, Space, and the City (MIT Press, 2005)
We undertake research into the representation of space/architecture in film as well as theoretical and practical implications of filmic/cinematic qualities of architecture and cities.
We have expertise in how space, architecture and cities are increasingly characterised by and extended into digital experiences and virtual and augmented forms of representation.
We are interested in how urban form and the architectural fabric of cities inform city placemaking – e.g. from morphological, planning, sociological, cultural, artistic, and heritage perspectives.
We work on theories and creative concepts that regard outdoor advertising as integrated, responsive and individualised means capable of transforming urban form and lived experiences.
With expertise that encompasses a broad and multi-faceted approach to maps and map-making, CAVA explores the mixed- and multi-media possibilities of mapping in the digital age.
We explore the cultural production and consumption of space and place, and the interdisciplinary cross-currents of practice and performance that underpin spatial humanities approaches to cities.
We pursue interdisciplinary research in areas such as film/architecture, digital/virtual space, mapping/cartography, city branding/marketing and spatial anthropology.
We work with city stakeholders, such as city councils, planning authorities, museums and galleries, industry partners, and the public to change the way see and engage with space, architecture and cities.
CAVA researchers often use creative practices such as moving images, installations, augmented/virtual reality or mobile and location-based technologies as proof of concept for their research.
We have a track record of producing internationally excellent (3*) and world-leading (4*) publications returned to the UK Higher Education Research Excellence Framework (REF).
University of Liverpool | School of Architecture
Abercromby Square | Liverpool, L69 7ZN
