Editorial
Found States by Sanjana Narayanan
Found States by Sanjana Narayanan is a BA architecture thesis about Stratford, civic identity, public life and community space.
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Found States by Sanjana Narayanan is a BA architecture thesis about Stratford, civic identity and the public life of a changing town centre.
The project works because it looks at civic architecture as a social condition, not only as a building type. It asks how public spaces can hold memory, movement and everyday exchange.
Project gallery
The project image gives the article a visual centre, showing the civic and public-space ambition behind Sanjana’s thesis.
Project overview
Sanjana developed the project as a Part I graduate from Central Saint Martins, using Stratford Town Centre as the setting for a wider question about civic life.
The original article describes Found States: The Poises of Stratford’s Civic Heart as a project rooted in observation, public interaction and the potential of overlooked civic fragments.
The design idea
The civic heart is not just a formal centre. In this project, it becomes a way to read how people gather, pass through, wait, exchange and recognise a place as theirs.
- Stratford becomes the urban subject, not just the site.
- Postal and civic programmes support everyday public interaction.
- Community space is treated as infrastructure.
- The project uses architectural imagination to test how public identity can be rebuilt.
Portfolio lesson
A civic architecture thesis needs a clear social argument. The reader should understand who the project is for, what public behaviour it supports and why the chosen programme matters.
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Showcase your own civic project
Architecture Social can showcase civic and student work when the project makes the public idea easy to see and understand.
- Explain the place and the public problem first.
- Show how people use the project.
- Connect drawings to civic life, not only form.
- Make the thesis legible to someone outside your studio.
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Common mistakes
- Starting with theory before the reader understands the place.
- Using civic language without showing public use.
- Letting biography bury the project.
- Showing atmospheric images without explaining the social purpose.
Next step
Explore more Architecture Social projects, use the portfolio guide to sharpen your thesis narrative, or submit your own student project.
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If this project has made you rethink your own portfolio or next move, browse current architecture jobs or contact Architecture Social for a recruiter’s view.
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