Forensic Architecture launch Grenfell Tower investigation

Forensic Architecture, a team of investigators based at Goldsmiths, University of London, has launched an open-ended investigation into the circumstances of the night of the Grenfell Tower fire of 14 June 2017.

The first part of the project is concerned with the thousands of videos of the fire that were taken by Londoners on their cameras and smartphones.

Each video is a unique piece of evidence and Forensic Architecture has started collecting these pieces and assembling them within a 3D model of Grenfell Tower to create a powerful new resource for the public understanding of the events of the fire.

By stitching multiple ‘mapped’ and geo-located videos together, the investigators will construct a 12 hour ‘3D video’ of the fire, mapped onto a new architectural model of Grenfell Tower. This model will allow the user to investigate the fire, improving the public’s understanding of the course of the tragic events on the night. The model will sit within a web platform that will ultimately act as a freely available public resource.

The team are inviting anyone with video of the fire to share this footage with them through the Grenfell Media Archive website (launched 21 March 2018).

Material can also be submitted through a workstation set up at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, from the 21 March until 6 May, where Forensic Architecture is holding its first UK exhibition.

The launch of the website coincides with the launch of the project on Sky News – whose support for the project includes contributing their entire rushes from the day of the fire.

The circumstances of the Grenfell Tower fire are the subject of both a public inquiry and a criminal investigation. Forensic Architecture has consulted extensively to ensure that as the project sits productively alongside both, and strongly urges contributors to also share with the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the Metropolitan Police any information that they share with Forensic Architecture.

Image: Investigators have developed techniques to geo-locate and map footage onto a model of the tower