EMMA KATE MATTHEWS
Architect, Artist, Composer, Musician, Researcher
Emma-Kate is an architect, artist, musician and composer. In 2012 she founded EKM Works; a transdisciplinary creative practice with a focus on experimentation and exploring the boundaries of innovative technologies. Emma-Kate teaches a Masters in Architecture unit at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL where she is also undertaking a design and performance-led PhD, part-funded by the Bartlett staff award bursary. Her research is concerned with discovering and exploiting creative reciprocities between music; as constructed sound, and architecture; as constructed space. Her supervisors are Prof. Bob Sheil, Prof. Yeoryia Manolopoulou (UCL) and Prof. Neil Heyde (Royal Academy of Music). She is currently a London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub Associate and is writing a number of site-specific, spatialised compositions. Emma-Kate’s spatialised compositions have been performed at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and London’s Southbank Centre. Emma-Kate plays the Clarinet, Drum Kit, Electric Bass and Piano and has released a number of albums, most recently “East of the Active” on Algebra Records. Her Architectural work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the RIBA and has also been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals including Architectural Design (Wiley), Design Ecologies (Intellect books) and the Organised Sound Journal (Cambridge Uni. Press). She is a coordinator of the Sound Making Space doctoral network and she is also currently organising the “Sound Of Space” symposium with Prof. Jane Burry and Mark Burry, which will take place at UCL, Here East, 11th December 2019. She has also recently completed commissions for the Guildhall School of Music, Musicity and the Barbican Centre as part of the “Sound Unbound” festival.
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Publications + Releases
*DUE Dec 2019 “Activating Audiences: How Spatial Music Can Help Us To Listen” – Cambridge Uni. Press, Organised Sound Journal
May 2019 “Construction 005: Similis” – for the Musicity Global, Culture Mile London and the Barbican Centre LINK
Mar 2018 "Female Composers, International Women’s Day” – Interview with British Music Collection LINK
Aug 2018 “East of the Active” – EP release as DIAS (experimental music collaboration) – released on Algebra Records LINK
Jun 2018 “The Art of Window Design and Display: Feature on RSW Grace project” – Published by Sandu (Project: Grace)
Jan 2018 “Window Display – Grace” – published by KONSEPT PROJELER, Istanbul (Project: Grace) LINK
Sep 2018 - ongoing“Linguistic Geometry” – Collaboration with Dr.Alex Pillen (UCL anthropology) for forthcoming book (TBC)
Jun 2017 “British Music Collection – Emma-Kate Matthews on Architectural Influences” – LINK
Jun 2017“Design Ecologies” – published by Intellect Books: (Project: The Spatialised Score) LINK
Dec 2015 “Pt.1 (6:1) + 6:2” – EKM – solo album release – (composer, performer, vocals, drum kit, guitar, bass, electronics, piano) LINK
Oct 2014 “Educating Architects” – Neil Spiller – Thames & Hudson Ltd: (Project: The Augmented Instrumentalist) LINK
Sep 2014 “London Design Festival 2014” – Dezeen: (Project: Grace) LINK
Jul 2012 “Royal Academy Awards: Celebrating 30 years” -The Architects’ Journal: (Project: The Augmented Instrumentalist) LINK
Jul 2012 “Pews and Perches” Wallpaper* Magazine: (Project: The Whistling Stop) LINK
Jun 2012 “StripHouse” SuckerPUNCH Magazine: (Project: StripHouse) LINK
Mar 2012 “Higher Integration in Morphogenetic Design: AD” – Achim Menges – John Wiley & Sons: (Project: Augmented Instrumentalist) LINK
Jun 2010 + Jun 2011 “Bartlett School of Architecture Summer Show” UCL: (Project: Various) LINK
Jun 2008 “Treptow Crematorium: Bursary Article” SCALA Journal: (Project: Travel Bursary Building Analysis) (Pp 31-33) LINK
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Performances
May 2019 “Construction 005” – Event: Sound Unbound Festival (composer) for Musicity Global, Barbican Centre, London
Mar 2019 “Construction 004” – Event: Getting it Right Conference (composer) for Guildhall School of Music, London
Jan 2019 “Construction 003” – Event: Gala Concert (composer) for London City Orchestra at Southbank Centre, London
Aug 2018 “DIAS: East of the Active” – Event: EP launch event (composer, musician) at DIY space, London
Dec 2017 “Construction 002” – Event: Private (composer, conductor, researcher) with Aus Research Council, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Dec 2017 “Construction 002” – Event: Time Making Space (organiser, composer, exhibitor, respondent) at Royal Academy of Arts, London
Dec 2017 “Rise” – Event: Building opening (composer) for 5-piece student choral group, 22 Gordon Street, UCL, London
Sep 2017 “Construction 001” – Event: Site-specific performance (composer) for London Graduate Orchestra, Shoreditch Church, London
Jun 2017 “Dorsal Falls” – Event: Edge to Edge Festival (organiser, composer, presenter) Shoreditch Church, London
Jan 2015 “Plexus Open Field” – Event: Plexus Experimental (performer:electronics, composer) Hampstead Road, London
Jun 2015 “Station to Station” – Event: Boredoms Concert (performer:drums) Barbican Concert Hall, London
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Exhibitions
Apr 2019 - Research as Art / Art as Research at UCL (Project: PhD)
Feb - Mar 2019 - In Permanent Readiness for the Marvelous at The Bartlett (Project: PhD)
Apr 2018 - Research as Art / Art as Research at UCL (Project: PhD)
7th Dec 2017 - Time Making Space at the Royal Academy of Arts London (Project: The Spatial Instrumentalist & Construction 002)
Dec 2017 - British Music Collection – Graphic Scores (Project: Construction 001)
Jun – Sep 2017 - Harley Open, Harley Gallery, Nottingham (Project: Dorsal Falls)
Jun 2017 - Edge to Edge at Shoreditch Church, London (Project: Dorsal Falls)
Jun – Aug 2016 - The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (Project: Dorsal Falls – Sketch for a spatialised score)
Nov 2014 - Stars on Canvas for the Willow Foundation (Project: Grace)
Jun – Aug 2013 - The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (Project: The Big Egg hunt (with WEA))
Oct -Nov 2012 - RIBA, London, Open Exhibition (Project: The Split Studio)
Jun – Aug 2012 - The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (Project: The Augmented Instrumentalist)
Mar 2012 - The Big Egg Hunt, canary Wharf, London (Project: The Big egg hunt, with Wilkinson Eyre Architects)
Jun 2010 + Jun 2011 - Bartlett School of Architecture Summer Show (Project: Various)
2008, 2009, 2012 - Nottingham School of Architecture Show (Project: Various)
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Awards
Mar 2014 - RIBA: Regent Street Windows, Won (Project: Grace, for Karen Millen)
Jan 2013 - London Festival of Architecture/Groucho Club: Make a Stand Bike Rack, Won (Project: Ribbon Rack)
Mar 2012 - RIBA: Pews and Perches Bench Design and Fabrication, Won (Project: the Whistling stop)
Aug 2012 - ISE: Graduate Engineer’s Competition, Shortlisted - (Project: Castlemeads Bridge, with Buro Happold)
Jul 2011 - UCL: Dean’s list for ‘students achieving distinction in design and thesis’ (Project: The Augmented Instrumentalist)
Jul 2007 - SCALA (now SPACES): Student Travel Bursary (Project: Brixton Railside CPUL)
Jul 2006 - Uni. Nottingham: Portfolio Prize (Project: Various)
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Grants + Scholarships
Sep 2019 - Sep 2022 - Doctoral Scholarship: Awarded by the London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) / (AHRC)
Sep 2018 - Sep 2019 - Doctoral Network Funding: Awarded by UCL for Sound|Making|Space (co-applicant with Ruth Bernatek)
Sep 2017 - Sep 2018 - Doctoral Network Funding: Awarded by UCL for Sound|Making|Space (co-applicant with Ruth Bernatek)
May 2017 - Sep 2017 - New Voices Portfolio Residency with the London Graduate Orchestra: Awarded by Sound and Music
Sep 2017 - Sep 2019 - Staff award for MPhil/PhD tuition fees: Awarded by the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Sep 2016 - Sep 2017 - Small projects grant for Cassini's Funeral. Event with Ella Frears: Awarded by the UK Arts Council
Jul 2016 - Jul 2017 - Architecture Research Fund for project Dorsal Falls: Awarded by the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
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Talks
*DUE 11th Dec 2019 - “Composing for The Sagrada Familia” - (organiser + speaker, “Sound Of Space” symposium, UCL Here East
*DUE 29th Nov 2019 - “Spatiosinic Constructs" - (presenter, seminar series, Royal Academy of Music
05th Oct 2019 - “Calibrating Spatial Typologies with Musical Ideas" - (presenter, “Spatiality and Music” conference, Uni. of Arts, Belgrade
15th Jul 2019 - “Spatial Simulation and Sonic Realities” - (respondent, organiser and presenter for interactive event) Max Fordham
19th May 2019 - “Sound Unbound”- (performance and presentation) Barbican Centre
20th Mar 2019 - “Implied Rhythms” - (performance) Getting it right? New music/new technologies conference at the Guildhall School of Music
18th Feb 2019 - “Spatiosonic Constructs” - (conference presentation) PhD conference at the Bartlett School of Architecture
19th May 2019 - “Similis” (performance / Q and A) for Musicity, Culture Mile London and the Barbican Centre
24th Jan 2019 - “Construction 003 - Regional/Axial” - (performer / presenter) Southbank Centre with London City Orchestra
22nd Sep 2018 - “Activating Audiences”- (presenter / performer) New Music to New Audiences conference PACE @ Leicester De Montfort Uni.
27th Mar 2018 - “Sound Space Pecha Kucha” - (organiser / presenter with SMS doc. network) Event at the Bartlett, UCL
15th Feb 2018 - “Keeping Time” - (organiser / respondent with SMS doc. network) Event at the Bartlett with Asaf Sirkis and Kemal Yusuf
07th Dec 2017 - “Construction 002 at Time Making Space” - (organiser / exhibitor / respondent) Event at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
24th Jun 2017 - "Edge to Edge" - (organiser, presenter, composer) Festival of music and movement, Shoreditch Church, London
14th Jun 2017 - "Generation to Fabrication" - (presenter) Rhino UGM conference, London, UK
20th Apr 2016 - “Simulation to Fabrication” - (presenter) Presentation at Shape to Fabrication conference, Stratford
08th Dec 2015 - “Stop:Frame” – (presenter) 1st year lunchtime lecture at the Bartlett, UCL
26th Feb 2015 - “Plexus Open Field” - (performer / presenter) Open Field, Plexus. UCL
19th Feb 2015 - “Think, Draw, Make” - (presenter) Lecture on digital manufacturing and engineering-led design at uni. Canterbury
16th Sep 2014 - “Regent Street Windows” - (presenter) RIBA Pecha Kucha event at Apple Store Regent Street, London
07th Jun 2012 - “Whistling Stop” - (presenter) RIBA Pecha Kucha event on the Whistling Stop Project & EKM Works projects, London
17th Mar 2012 - “Sound/Space” - (presenter) Lecture to students of the MA Visual Culture (Interpreting space) Uni. Westminster, London
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Current Employment
Sep 2015 - Present - The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL - [Senior Teaching Fellow, MArch U25 unit tutor]
Sep 2019 - Present - Oxford Brookes University - [Associate Lecturer, Unit J Lead Tutor]
Sep 2016 - Present - Weber Industries (London) - [Architect, Senior Designer, Fabricator]
Sep 2012 - Present - EKM Works (London) - [Founder, Architect, Musician, Artist, Composer, Researcher]
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Past Employment
Sep 2013 - Aug 2016 - Geometrics Group at Price & Myers (London) - [Architect]
Sep 2014 - Aug 2015 - University of Greenwich - [Visiting Critic, Unit 7]
Nov 2014 - Aug 2015 - University of Kent - [Technical Tutor for Masters Architecture, Unit 4]
Sep 2008 - Sep 2013 - Wilkinson Eyre Architects (London) - [Architectural Assistant]
Dec 2011 - Feb 2012 - Sixteen*(Makers) (London) - [Freelance Production Assistant for “55/02”]
Sep 2010 - Oct 2010 - Unto This Last (London) - [Assembly & Finishing]
Jun 2007 - Sep 2007 - Marsh:Grochowski Architects (Nottingham) - [Architectural Assistant]
Jun 2006 - Sep 2006 - Groundworks Architects (Nottingham) - [Architectural Assistant]
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Education
Sep 2017 - Sep 2023 - MPhil/PhD Architecture: In progress: The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Feb 2013 - Oct 2013 - RIBA Part 3, Examination in Professional Practice: Merit: London Metropolitan University
Sep 2009 - Jun 2011 - RIBA Part 2, DipArch & MArch: Distinction: The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Aug 2005 - Jun 2008 - RIBA PArt 1, BArch: First Class (with Honours): The University of Nottingham
Aug 2004 - Jun 2005 - Art Foundation Degree: Distinction: Nottingham College
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Memberships
Oct 2017 - Present - London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub - (Associate Member)
Jun 2017 - Present - Sound|Making|Space Doctoral Network - (Coordinator, Researcher, Respondent, Presenter)
Jun 2017 - Sep 2017 - London Graduate Orchestra, portfolio residency with “Sound and Music” - (Composer in Residence)
Oct 2013 - Present - Chartered Architect at the Royal Institute of British Architects
Oct 2013 - Present - Architect with the Architects’ Registration Board
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Media links
http://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/emma-kate-matthews
https://www.musicityglobal.com/mxcm-emma-kate-matthews/
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/emma-kate-matthews