Forensic Architecture: Open-Source Investigations into State and Corporate Violence
Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Its mandate is to develop, employ, and disseminate new techniques, methods, and concepts for investigating state and corporate violence. FA’s interdisciplinary team includes architects, software developers, filmmakers, investigative journalists, scientists, and lawyers, working at the intersection of human rights, journalism, architecture, art and aesthetics, academia, and law.
FA has been widely recognised for shaping a new investigative field. In 2022, the Peabody Awards programme described the agency as having co-created “an entire new academic field and emergent media practice.” In 2024, the European Research Council assessed Forensic Architecture as “a scientific breakthrough,” citing its revolutionary impact on existing paradigms and its role in opening new streams of research.
Since 2020, FA has also supported the growth of agencies worldwide that apply its methods. This includes the development of the Investigative Commons, both a global network of practitioners and a physical hub in Berlin, hosted within the offices of its sister agency, Forensis.
What is “forensic architecture”?
“Forensic architecture” is an interdisciplinary academic field developed within Goldsmiths’ Centre for Research Architecture (CRA) since 2010. The term refers to the production and presentation of spatial evidence within legal, political, and cultural contexts. It expands the idea of architecture beyond buildings to include shaped environments at the scale of cities, landscapes, and territories. Alongside the CRA’s MA programme in Forensic Architecture, FA has helped establish and support related courses at universities worldwide.
What does FA do?
FA’s investigations employ cutting-edge techniques in spatial analysis and digital modelling to reconstruct incidents of state violence and human rights violations. Born out of the “open source revolution,” FA’s core practice involves geolocating videos and images within navigable 3D digital environments, combined with open-source research and experimental methodologies.
These techniques draw from software development, interactive cartographies, remote sensing and satellite imagery, fluid dynamics simulation, and “situated testimony,” a method that integrates survivor and witness accounts into spatial reconstructions.
FA investigates states and corporate entities—including militaries, police forces, government agencies, and companies—for violent acts such as repressive policing, civilian deaths in conflict, structurally racist policymaking, violence against migrants and refugees, and historical and contemporary colonial destruction of environments and life worlds.
How are projects chosen?
FA takes on projects at the invitation of individuals and communities directly affected by human rights violations. The agency looks for cases in which its unique methodologies can be decisive in supporting accountability or political transformation, while also advancing the investigative tools and concepts of the field.
Funding and presentation of work
FA’s core funding comes from academic, human rights, and technology grants, supplemented by support for specific projects. All income received through media display or exhibition contexts is reinvested into research.
In pursuing accountability, FA works across multiple forums, including courts, parliamentary inquiries, citizens’ tribunals, international media, and exhibitions. The agency not only presents investigations in these spaces but also seeks to transform them, advocating for the admissibility of citizen-produced digital evidence and employing art as an investigative and political medium.
Legal impact
FA’s work has been admitted in legal processes in jurisdictions worldwide, including the US, UK, Germany, Greece, Israel, Guatemala, and Colombia. Investigations have also been submitted to the International Criminal Court and presented in the European Court of Human Rights and the UN General Assembly. FA’s director serves on the Technology Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court, contributing to the development of new media evidence in legal contexts.
Selected investigations highlighted on the platform include:
A Cartography of Genocide: Israel’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023 (updated 8 Oct 2025)
The Architecture of Genocidal Starvation (18 Mar 2025 – 1 Aug 2025)
Destruction of Medical Infrastructure in Gaza (7 Oct 2023 – ongoing)
Mass Graves in North Sinai (2013–2019)
Police Violence and Misinformation at the 2025 Nakba Day Protest, Berlin (15 May 2025)
The Grenfell Tower Fire: Situated Testimonies (14 Jun 2017)
For more on FA’s methods, current investigations, and published work:
https://forensic-architecture.org/