Artwork by Urban Lab researcher permanently installed in UCL's Student Centre

The chosen image forms part of Felipe's PhD in Architectural Design thesis, 'Absence through layering: from experiencing urban leftovers to reimagining sites'. The overlay of images gives a painterly effect to the composition as if through the dense and humid air, the masses of buildings gradually dematerialise in the glowing light of Venice’s hazy and cold autumn days. Absence means to be away. It represents the city of Venice as a place that remains away from our grasp, so we can recreate it through our memory and imagination.

Dr Felipe Lanuza Rilling is a practicing architect, educator, and postdoctoral researcher at the UCL Urban Laboratory. His current research expands and deepens the interpretative framework and design methods developed in his PhD by investigating and representing the multiple and layered dimensions of absence as can be found in the changing environment of Burgess Park and the neighbouring Aylesbury Estate in south London.

Opened in February 2019, permanent displays of public art in the Student Centre include a new sculpture by UCL alumna and Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread and an innovative digital art installation by multidisciplinary art duo Thomson & Craighead (Jon Thomson is a member of staff from UCL's Slade School of Fine Art).

The Student Centre is the new heart of UCL's Bloomsbury campus, providing 1,000 additional study spaces and enhancing the student experience. The centre is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single day of the year. Access to all areas of the building apart from the public atrium requires a UCL staff or current student ID card.