Victoria Chong

Architecture (MA)

Community Room with Timber Panelling — The cooling room features openable timber shutters that allow natural ventilation, ideal for drying herbs. Timber framing lends a warm, domestic feel to the space, enhancing comfort. Hidden timber doors conceal fold-out tables and chairs, enabling flexible use of the room.

Herbal Bath — The Spring Equinox is a sacred time for herbal baths- rituals that ease muscle tension and invite renewal through warmth, scent, and stillness.

Exploded plan and section of Menopause Brewhouse — The spatial design draws inspiration from the paintings and conversations with the Menopause Group, translating their experiences into the building’s programme. The architecture unfolds like a procession: in the sweat lodge, herbs are gently burned, filling the air with therapeutic aromas. The cooling room offers relief from hot flushes, providing a calm refuge. At the heart of the plan, the kitchen serves as a communal space where women gather to prepare herbal teas. Towards the end of the day, participants are invited to unwind in the herbal baths, completing a holistic journey of wellness and renewal.

Depth Mapping of Evelyn De Morgan's Painting 'The Love Potion' — The depth mapping of Evelyn De Morgan's 'The Love Potion' (1903) transforms the painting’s interiors into the three-dimensional realm. Here, the sorceress is presented through a feminist perspective, with her gold gown and leather-bound books symbolizing her mastery as a scholar.

About

Victoria Chong is an architectural designer currently based in London. Her practice explores the intersection of architecture, narrative, ecology and community.

Prior to studying Architecture at the Royal College of Art, she completed her BA in Architecture at the University of Cambridge, and worked on a number of residential and commercial projects in Henley.

Bewitching the Body: A Herbal Brew for Walthamstow explores how ruderal plants in Walthamstow Marshes can heal the landscape and the body. Today, the Menopause Group meets monthly to share experiences and knowledge as a form of communal healing.

Whilst women historically adopted roles as community herbalists in pre-modern England, the Witchcraft Act of 1604 meant that this knowledge became lost as herbalism was prosecuted. How can we reclaim these once-forbidden recipes to support menopause health today? The project envisions a menopause brewhouse for women to forage, garden and collectively consume herbal remedies in the marshes.

Older women were most vulnerable to witchcraft accusations, forming part of the historical stigmatisation of menopause. Abstracting from the interiors in paintings of witches will reframe these narratives, generating a palimpsest of female-designed spaces in the brewhouse. It restores a historic practice of women working together on the commons, fostering social connections, and preparing herbal medicine.

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