Sam Lynch

Dr Lynch is interested in supervising both theoretical and practice-based PhDs that challenge traditional modes of architectural representation. Lynch's own research interests focus on experiential time and investigate the temporal and spatial complexities of drawing architecture.

Dr Samantha Lynch is a Senior Lecturer and studio leader in Architecture at the University of Brighton. Following completion of her Masters at the University of Manitoba, Canada, she has carried out funded architectural research in Canada, Berlin, Italy and the United Kingdom. Lynch has worked in architectural practices in both North America and Europe, and in 2009 was awarded the Power Corporation of Canada Award, followed by the 2010 Canadian Prix de Rome for Emerging Practitioners. In 2017 she completed a fully-funded practice-based PhD at the University of Brighton and continues to exhibit her work internationally. 

Lynch's developing research interests in experiential time, photography and the role of the image in architectural design led her to completing a fully funded PhD at the University of Brighton, where she has been lecturing in Architecture at both masters and undergraduate level. 

Titled The Dark Mirror: Engaging Multiple Temporalities Through Drawing, Lynch's doctoral thesis investigates the temporal relationship of experimental methods in both architectural drawing and making, focusing on the role of the unknown in the creative process. Her findings are fundamentally connected to the process of learning and this is expressed though her position as a studio leader. She has been involved in architectural education since 2012 and her active interest in learning is central to her role as an academic researcher. As the vehicle for her research often manifests in drawn and built works, she regularly exhibits in the UK and abroad.

Dr Samantha Lynch has disseminated her work to colleagues, students and the public through a number of conferences and funded exhibitions in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. She is annually involved in organising an architecture workshop and exhibition for students and practitioners in Copenhagen, Denmark, centring on site specificity as an instigator of creative change. She is a member of the Drawing Research Enterprise Group and has worked in collaboration with the Black Horses Association for Speculative Architecture. The nature of her research is designed to promote the questioning of the everyday and cultural assumptions of time for a broad audience, allowing an often subjective and ephemeral response to captured moments, whether through drawing, photography or architectural installations. 

The architecture studio is a creative and educational space that is at the centre of each architecture student’s design education. It is a place of invention and experimentation, where the testing out of ideas is shared in a community of like-minded and engaged colleagues. I presently lead an undergraduate level studio (years 2 and 3) at the University of Brighton. In the past I have taught masters level studio at this university, Premasters studio in Canada, and  first year studio at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. These communities are vibrant and in my studio I encourage a crossing over of ideas and discussions between levels. At the University of Brighton the architecture design studios are vertical, combining different year levels, resulting in each student being challenged and supported by their peers and given opportunities to teach as well as to learn. This increases capability in communication, teamwork, critical reflection and design skills. The cross-pollination of methods and techniques strengthens the design outputs and allows for a diverse and thriving educational platform.

In leading a studio I am able to share my experience in making and drawing, which is central to my academic research. The methods of experimentation and skill-building that I encourage allow for a personal engagement and development for each individual. I believe it is important to teach design students how to have the confidence to make decisions while expanding their horizons beyond what they already know. This approach is supported by the body of skills that they are able to develop through model-making, drawing, photography and experimentation with a range of media - both physically and digitally.

In teaching, it is my goal for the students to begin to develop their own critical position on design, both theoretically and through the cultivation of their own architectural language. The diversity that comes with this approach enriches the studio culture and provides a greater territory of exploration. As part of the studio curricula there are seminars on contemporary design projects and techniques, theoretical readings that help to strengthen academic and practice-based positions, and a constant update of recommended films, events and exhibitions. Group activities, such as the building of the studio site model, and field trips add to the core knowledge of the studio. The academic year culminates in a curated studio exhibition that invites the greater design community, families, colleagues and friends to share in the work.