AA School Prospectus 2011-12 by AA School

AA Prospectus 2011â&#x20AC;&#x201C;12

Architectural Association School of Architecture

Contents Introduction

AA Schools Undergraduate School Foundation First Year Intermediate Diploma

56 58 62 86

Complementary Studies History & Theory Studies Media Studies Technical Studies Architectural Practice

116 124 132 140

Graduate School Design Research Lab Emergent Technologies History and Critical Thinking of Architecture Housing & Urbanism Landscape Urbanism Sustainable Environmental Design Design & Make AA Interprofessional Studio Conservation of Historic Buildings Projective Cities PhD Programme Research Clusters

146 152 156 160 164 168 172 174 176 178 180 182

Visiting School UK Schools Global Schools

186 191

Resources and Information

223

AA Prospectus 2011â&#x20AC;&#x201C;12

Architectural Association School of Architecture

and as the European headquarters for many overseas universities, colleges and schools. Major cultural institutions such as the British Museum are also nearby. At the core of the AA, the five-year ARB/RIBA accredited AA Undergraduate School leads to an AA Diploma and Parts 1 and 2 of the UK qualification as an architect. This part of the school also includes an associated, full-time Foundation Course for those contemplating studies in architecture or associated creative fields at the AA or elsewhere. The focus of our undergraduate students’ academic lives are the units, which involve year-long design teaching and learning alongside associated Complementary Studies courses. The AA Graduate School is accredited by the Open University in the UK, and encompasses 11 programmes that last one or more years in graduate design or other specialised courses of study. Our Conservation of Historic Buildings and AA Interprofessional Studio (AAIS) both offer options for part-time study; all other undergraduate and graduate programmes are full-time. In 2011 over two thirds of our 600 full-time students in London were undergraduates working towards the AA Diploma, and around one third were graduate students pursuing advanced studies in a Graduate Diploma, Masters or PhD programme. While admission to all parts of our full-time schools is very competitive, all interested prospective students are actively encouraged to visit the AA and to make an application in the knowledge that what the AA seeks above all are self-motivated students who are able to bring with them interesting personal, professional and other academic qualities that will allow them to contribute to a school filled with like-minded students and staff. Complementing the AA’s courses

Introduction Welcome Welcome to the 2011/12 academic year of the Architectural Association School of Architecture. The following prospectus provides an introduction to the activities that make the AA the world’s most diverse and influential school of architecture. Now in its 165th year, the AA is an incredibly fluid, dynamic and active learning environment. Alongside the formal coursework it offers a yearlong schedule of visiting lectures, symposia, book launches, exhibitions and other events, bringing together a growing public audience who collectively push the boundaries of architectural culture today. The AA School lies at the heart of a global association of architects and other committed individuals dedicated in every way imaginable to engaging with the challenges that lie ahead in the collective futures of our world. This prospectus offers only a summary guide to the depth of the AA’s commitment to this goal: the best way to experience the AA is through direct participation in it – whether as a full-time student, as an AA Member or as part of the audience convened here throughout the coming year.

The AA: Full-time London and Part-time Visiting Schools The AA has been located on the west side of Bedford Square, London’s last-remaining intact Georgian Square, since the early years of the twentieth century. Today the surrounding area of Bloomsbury is recognised as Europe’s single largest academic precinct. It not only includes some of the UK’s largest and best-known research universities, but also serves as the home for leading independent academic institutions

intelligently to the changing conditions of architecture at a time when the profession is facing a spectacular range of challenges. The AA’s independence also means that we are able to push boundaries, test new ideas and promote new ways of teaching and learning. As a small and independent school located at the heart of a multicultural city, the AA is unique in at least three important ways. First, we are by far the world’s most interna tional school of architecture, with nearly 90 per cent of our full-time students and nearly as many of our teachers coming to the AA from abroad. Secondly, we are organised around two distinct kinds of activities, both of which are of immense value to our students and staff: our formal courses and our Public Programme of evening lectures, symposia, exhibitions and publication launches. Thirdly, there is the famous pedagogical basis for the school itself: our ‘unit’ system of teaching and learning in which, in various ways, all of our students participate as the foundation for the experimental forms of teaching that remain the hallmark of the AA. The modern history of the AA School is bound up with the incredible legacy of architectural personalities, projects and pedagogies which have emerged from the school during the past half century. When we consider that three of the past decade’s recipients of the Pritzker Prize are AA graduates from a brief, intense 17-year period during the 1960 and 70s – Richard Rogers (AA ’60), Rem Koolhaas (AA ’72) and Zaha Hadid (AA ’77) – we realise that our school has fostered remarkable architectural careers and personalities. The AA has long been a home for some of the most experimental advances in architectural education, teaching and learning, hosting countless avant-gardes – from the thinking of Cedric Price or the seminal group Archigram in the 1960s, the provocative

Introduction and activities in London, the AA Visiting School was formalised and expanded in early 2008, giving visiting students all around the world the chance to experience the AA’s influential form of unit-based teaching. In this capacity, the Visiting School has arranged short design workshop courses in over 30 different cities worldwide, bringing together AA tutors, outside partners and local teaching staff to work on important projects and problems related to the challenges of local cultures, cities and environments.

The AA School: A Legacy of Experimentation Our mission at the AA School isn’t to teach architecture as it is already known, but rather to create the conditions for new forms of teaching, working and above all thinking and learning that will ultimately transform architecture in ways not yet fully realised. This has long been the central ambition of the AA School, which for decades has been home to the world’s leaders in architecture. The AA is a famously independent educational experiment: we are selfdirected, self-motivated and self-funded. As the UK’s oldest and only remaining private school of architecture, it has grown up alongside – and to a very great degree helped shape – the architectural profession. It should be stressed that the AA School sits entirely outside the state fund ing of higher education in the UK, and as a private school – with a broad commitment to bringing issues of contemporary architecture, cities and the environment to a large public audience – we are deeply committed to realising the potential that our independence allows, by adapting

NATO collective of the 1980s, to the formalised, team-based experimentation across electronic design networks begun with the formation of the DRL in the 1990s. For decades the school has been the place where young architectural interests and agendas have been given space to establish themselves, seek audiences and mature into the kinds of projects and careers that gain worldwide recognition. Past AA prospectuses are where architects can find the origins of many of the ways of thinking that spawned some of the great architects, designers and educators of our time. During a period when it was directed by Alvin Boyarsky, one of the twentiethcentury’s leading architectural educators, the AA School was a hive of experimentation and invention, with teachers like Jan Kaplicky, Ron Herron, Bernard Tschumi, Nigel Coates, Zaha Hadid, Peter Cook and many others laying out agendas for work and careers that would unfold over the past quarter century. Today this legacy of invention runs strong in a school that is committed not only to new kinds of architectural projects, practices and ideas but also to an open experimentation with the many new ways of working and thinking architecture. Our era has been transformed not just by the realities of globalised economies and forms of practice, but by fundamental changes to the organisation of architectural studios and design networks, based on an increasingly collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. Today the AA seeks to embrace, confront and transform the conditions of architectural practice and culture – as well as the very idea of how an architectural school should be organised, operated and inhabited in an era of change. At the heart of the AA’s exploration of new approaches lies our belief that architecture – including architectural thinking – will be transformed one project at a time. The

school’s famed ‘unit’ system of teaching is built around a few, simple challenges to a conventional school of architecture. We believe that: 1) Students learn best by working in small, highly focused groups around a single tutor or team for an entire year. The expectation is that our students can direct their own path through a school that offers an intense diversity of possible paths; our students assume a great part of the responsibility for defining their own future through their selection of a specific unit (in the Undergraduate School) or programme (in the Graduate School). 2) AA learning is project- and portfoliodriven. AA students learn architecture and address the broad spectrum of associated professional and political issues by embedding these realities within the scope of a single, resolved, design portfolio. 3) Collective assessment and enquiry is fundamental. Student projects are assessed at the end of the academic year by a panel of tutors, who together determine the relative success of any given project and portfolio. The AA undergraduate end-of-year review panels, as well as our Graduate School’s double-marking of design studio results, ensures that our students’ work is seen and socialised across the school. Taken together, these features of the AA’s internal organisation help account for how a small and independent school such as ours can so consistently define the conditions for the emergence of unexpected and promising new architectural agendas.

historical mission as well as our ongoing commitment to transforming architecture and its potential everywhere. We actively seek out new members who will join us in this project and continue to welcome any and all enquiries by those interested in helping us make the AA the world’s most unique environment for the learning and promotion of architecture.

Introduction AA Public Programme One of the most remarkable resources of the AA, and one that sits entirely outside the formal coursework of the school, is the Public Programme, a year-long collection of evening lectures, exhibitions, publications, open workshops, symposia, performances and other events by which the AA seeks to create new audiences for architectural ideas, projects and prac tices. Each year the AA brings to London dozens of architects, artists, designers and scholars as part of its mission to operate at the forefront of contemporary culture. This year, the AA will again bring a host of visitors to the school to give evening lectures and, in many cases, participate in juries and workshops. Combined with the AA’s growing programme of exhibitions and publications, which increasingly includes international events, the AA today remains an unparalleled setting not only for architectural education, teaching and learning of all kinds but also for the promotion of contemporary architectural culture in all its forms.

Brett Steele Director, AA School

The AA: A Unique Architectural Environment The AA School is the core activity and cultural centre of the larger Archi tectural Association, which currently includes more than 4,500 members who join us in helping to shape the future of one of the world’s great organisations dedicated to promoting, discussing and debating the conditions of architectural practice, learning and education. As the AA School goes forward in these early years of the twenty-first century, all of us involved in the AA are committed to advancing both our

Student Awards & Prizes 2010/11

Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu, Diploma 6, Fifth Year William Glover Bequest

Hwui Zhi (Brian) Cheng, Diploma 14, Fourth Year Henry Florence Studentship

Kanachai Bencharongkul, Intermediate 12, Third Year Alex Stanhope Forbes Prize

No Escape From Modernism and Modernity: Mr Blandings Attempts to Build His Dream Home and Escape From The City ‘By looking at issues opened up by this lack of consideration of what constitutes city and country we can question the role of Mr Blandings’ Dream in terms of both modern ideal and modern production, the problems of realisation and a life that seems to balance so precariously between happiness and anxiety. By looking beyond the inevitable narrative conceit of the film, I’d like to suggest that far from escaping the city and leaving his problems behind, Mr Blandings is in fact inadvertently embracing it and what the city actually stands for. In fixating on an image of a better life in the country and endeavouring to make that image a reality, he is in fact consuming both the image of modernism and the production of modernity. Through this he becomes intrinsically involved in the continuation of the city he is trying to leave, playing a vital part in the construction of yet another iteration of it – the suburb. Put simply: Blandings can’t leave the city because he’s too busy building another.’

Scrap Marshall, Diploma 11, Fourth Year Dennis Sharp Prize

Stefan Jovanovic, Foundation Julia Wood Foundation Prize

Jan Nauta, Diploma 10, Fifth Year AA Prize

Yuk Fung Cheung, Diploma 13, Fourth Year Howard Colls Studentship

Manijeh Verghese, Diploma 9, Fourth Year Henry Saxon Snell Scholarship

The Architecture of Linear B Supervisor: Mark Cousins The major objective of this thesis is to attempt to unveil how an astonishingly young and professionally untrained scholar such as Michael Ventris, an AA graduate, could have, to the amazement of the world, deciphered the famous problem of Linear B, one of the three scripts found in the ruins of the Minoan palaces. While Ventris lacked experience in the field of written scripts this thesis will attempt to prove he had a distinct advantage by virtue of not just his â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;brillianceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but also the forms of analysis he had acquired as part of his architectural training.

Emmanouil Stavrakakis, PhD Michael Ventris Extraodinary Award in Architecture

COLLAPSED PLAN OF THE VILLA(S) ROTONDA(S)

brick compound masonry

stone masonry

travertine compound masonry

marble compound masonry

bespoke material (unknown)

timber construction

SCALE 1:100

Lionel Eid, Intermediate 12, Third Year Nicholas Boas Travel Scholarship 2011

10m

Antoine Vaxelaire, Intermediate 7, Third Year Alexander Memorial Travel Fund

Nathaniel Mosley, Diploma 11, Fifth Year Holloway Trust

Charlotte Moe, Intermediate Unit 9 Best Technical Project in the Third Year

Aditya Aachi, Diploma Unit 7, Fifth Year Foster Prize for Infrastructure and Sustainability

Patricia Mato Mora, Intermediate 2, Second Year Ralph Knott Memorial Fund

Jon Lopez, Diploma 11 Best Technical Thesis in the Fifth Year

Fly-In, Fly-Out. Fit-In or Fuck Off: Fictions of the Australian Industrial Landscape â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Peter lit his own cigarette and for the first time since entering the bus at Kalgoorlie, looked at the landscape around him. The bus had not stopped in a town at all, or rather, it had stopped in a corpse of one. Large rusted machines, the valves of crushers and the husks of old cars, sat piled in a line, which he imagined at some point in the dying years of the settlement had been rearranged in some effort of salvage. The dirt road that had brought the group to Menzies stretched forwards and backwards into the distance, with an array of scattered stone buildings on either side. He approached the nearest and read the words General Shop painted in blue across a surprisingly recently painted stone wall. At least it looked recent, he thought. As he peered between the bars that guarded the windows, he saw dusty shelves where the odd can and package still sat, half moved.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Aram Mooradian, Diploma 6, Fifth Year Dennis Sharp Prize

Vidhya Pushpanathan, Intermediate 8, Second Year AA Travel Studentship

Phung Hieu Minh Van, Intermediate Unit 12, Second Year Nicholas Boas Travel Scholarship 2011

Tobias Scheepers, First Year Alexander Memorial Travel Fund

Summer Islam, Intermediate 2, Third Year Holloway Trust

Architects vs The City or the Problem of Chaos â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;In 1978, Koolhaas put Corbusier up against Manhattan and, perhaps surprisingly, declared Manhattan the winner. Manhattan, the city, managed effortlessly to create what Corbusier had tried painfully (and unsuccessfully one might add) to recreate. If Manhattan could outsmart Corbusier (not a meagre architect by any standards) would it not be reasonable to consider that cities might be better at creating cities then architects are at creating cities? That cities, partly planned, partly unplanned, partly designed, partly forgotten, are simply better at creating the social and economic construct of the urban? So in 1978, Koolhaas put Corbusier up against Manhattan. Six years prior to that, he put himself up against London. This time he declared himself the winner. The architect, the organiser, the designer, the one with the holistic vision had won over the unorganised, the historic, the chaotic, the sometimes rather ugly London.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Sylvie Taher, Diploma 11, Fifth Year Dennis Sharp Prize

Alexey Marfin, Intermediate 3, Second Year Holloway Trust

Previous page: AA Bedford Square, Projects Review opening night Top: AA Pantomime 1936 Bottom: Denis Clarke Hall at Mount House, the AAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wartime home, 1941

Top: Mark Fisher, Fifth Year 1971, The Dynamic World of Amersham Lerry Bottom: Martin Pawley, Fourth Year 1962, National Film Theatre

Top: Le Corbusier visits the AA, 1953 Bottom: Cedric Price at a jury, 2002

Opposite: John Fraser, Third Year 1965, housing project

Top: Zaha Hadid in her unitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s installation at the 1983 Projects Review exhibition Bottom: Alvin Boyarsky, Richard Rogers and Peter Cook, 1985

Top: Summer School studio, 2011 Bottom: Diploma Honours presentations, 2011

Previous spread: A slice of the graduating class of 2011 Top: Morwell Street studios, 2008 Bottom: Projects Review 2011, Diploma 11 installation

Top: Benny Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Looney walking tour with Visiting Teachers, 2010 Bottom: Second Year previews, 2010

Previous spread: Ching’s Yard, 2004 Top: AAIS ‘Exquisite Corpse’ installation, Cologne 2011 Bottom: Landscape Urbanism studio, 2008

Overleaf: Design & Make, Hooke Park, full-scale prototyping of the Big Shed doors and trusses, 2011. All images courtesy AA Photo Library

Top: DLAB pin-up, 2007 Bottom: Diploma Honours presentations, 2011

Photos courtesy of AA staff and students

Diploma 17, India, 2010 Unit Trips

Diploma 4, Iceland, 2010

Intermediate 6, Hong Kong, 2010

Intermediate 7, Russia, 2010

Intermediate 10, UAE, 2010

Intermediate10, Intermediate 10,Location, UAE, 2010 Year

Intermediate10, Location, Year

Intermediate 10, UAE, 2010

AA Schools

Undergraduate School The AA Undergraduate School is a RIBA/ARB-accredited five-year, full-time course of studies in architecture leading to the AA Intermediate Examination (RIBA/ARB Part 1) and AA Final Examination (RIBA/ARB Part 2). It is divided into three distinct parts: Foundation/First Year, Intermediate School (Second and Third Years) and Diploma School (Fourth and Fifth Years). Students join the school in September and attend three terms of study concluding the following June. Entry into the school at any level can be from Foundation to Fourth Year, depending on experience. The AAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one-year, full-time Foundation is open to students who do not have an extensive visual or design background. Some students joining have already begun their studies in architecture, engineering or art, some are exploring a career change, while others come direct from high school. In a group of approximately 20, students learn to think conceptually and creatively via the disciplines of art, film, architecture and craft in both group and individual projects. Ideas and designs are explored through the process of models, sketches, drawings, films and performance. While exploring individual design sensibilities and approaches, students have the opportunity to engage with the rich educational, cultural and social life of the AA and London. First Year introduces students to architectural design, critical thinking and experimental ways of working. It comprises approximately 60 students working both individually and in groups in an open studio format under the guidance of five experienced and energetic design tutors. Students begin to form their own architectural identities and personalities through a diverse range of design ideas, agendas and interests. In addition to the studio, students take courses in history, theory, media and technology. Together these courses lead to a portfolio of the yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, the basis for entrance into the Intermediate School. The Intermediate School gives Second and Third Year students the opportunity to work within the structure of the unit system. Each year the Intermediate School has a balance of units covering a diversity of questions and innovative approaches to material, craft and techniques of fabrication. Explorations of cultural and social issues are often set in inspiring places around the world. In parallel to the unit work, skills are developed through courses in history and theory, technical and media studies as well as professional practice. The Diploma School offers further opportunities for architectural experimentation and consolidation. With a broad range of interests and teaching methods, the aim is to marry drawing and technical proficiency to complex intellectual agendas in an atmosphere of lively and informed debate. Students are in an environment that fosters the development of creative independence and intelligence. They learn to refine their research skills and develop proposals into high-level design portfolios at the end of the year. Here students begin to define their voices as designers and to articulate individual academic agendas that will carry them into their future professional careers.

Photos: Valerie Bennett

Undergraduate School

Foundation

Foundation Director: Saskia Lewis Studio Staff: Takako Hasegawa

The AA Foundation course is a one-year introduction to an art- and design-based education. It allows students to develop their conceptual ideas through experimenting with a wide range of media and creative disciplines. Students are taught in an intimate studio-based environment and work on both individual and group projects. Drawing on a number of pedagogical practices, experienced tutors and visiting practitioners, the Foundation offers a unique cross-disciplinary education within the context of an architectural school.

Saskia Lewis has taught at the AA since 2001. She practised in New York, Paris and London and has taught at many London schools of art and architecture. She is co-author and photographer of Architectural Voices: Listening to Old Buildings (Wiley, 2007). Takako Hasegawa was born in Tokyo, educated at the AA and works on the periphery of architecture, art and performance. She also teaches at Chelsea College of Art and Design.

dents with the skills to develop their individual projects. Students will work with photography, drawing, painting, model-making, casting, mapping, material studies, form, structure, pattern cutting, millinery, sewing, weaving, textiles, carpentry, performance, lighting and filmmaking. After developing their skills in observation and visual and verbal representation, they will use their initial work as research to develop a final project, which will complete the portfolio and provide a personal reflection on their creative journey over the year.

Cooking Up A Storm ‘The Flavour Thesaurus… is a patchwork of facts, connections, impressions and recollections, designed less to tell you exactly what to do than to provide the spark for your own recipe or adaptation.’ – Niki Segnit, The Flavour Thesaurus 2010 In Season Using the culinary arts as a reference we will choose specific scales, sites, materials, scenarios and identities as ingredients for the creative process. By identifying the simmering points in such precedents as Gregory Crewdson’s photography, the curious garments of Hussein Chalayan and the mnemonic leftovers in Tacita Dean’s films, the Foundation cohort will develop work with personal, cultural and contextual resonances.

Consume & Digest A series of field trips will allow students to broaden their understanding of culture and context. These experiences will include tours of London, a trip to a European city, gallery visits and residential stays at Hooke Park. Lectures in history and theory and discussions with visiting artists will stimulate dialogue within the studio and help define students’ work. Throughout the year students will concoct their own intellectual ambitions and feast at the boundaries of their experience and personal development.

Chop, Mix, Add Projects will range in scale from the hand-held to the reported and mapped, with bespoke workshops providing stu-

Yasmin Keats, Being Earthed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; preliminary performative studies that examine connecting a body with the landscape, 2010

First Year

Head of First Year: Monia De Marchi

Monia De Marchi is an architect who studied at the Istituto di Architettura di Venezia. She has taught at the AA since 2005, as a Unit Master at both Intermediate and Diploma levels, in Media Studies and she directed the AA Semester Programme. She runs her own practice on architecture and planning.

Studio Staff: Valentin Bontjes van Beek Sarah Entwistle Max Kahlen Alex Kaiser Ingrid Schröder

Valentin Bontjes van Beek lives and works in London and trained as a carpenter in Germany before graduating from the AA in 1998. He subsequently worked as an architect in New York with Bernard Tschumi, in Berlin and London, and has taught at the AA since 2001. He is currently First Year Studio Master and runs the Pending Structures Media Studies course.

First Year at the Architectural Association is the initial exposure to the five-year course leading to an AA Diploma. The essential basis of First Year is the learning of foundational subjects inherent to the discipline of architecture and the understanding of their substantial implications. Architecture is seen as a form of knowledge and it is taught throughout the year as a way of thinking and designing that not only absorbs external inputs and influences but also engages and generates particular consequences and cultural implications. First Year seeks to expose students to an extensive intellectual foundation with a series of principal lessons, discussions and works of architecture within the design studio and the complementary courses. The course is not a light or compressed version of what architecture could be, but is the essential, initial exposure that constantly moves between an understanding of the disciplinary and the speculative. During the year students are introduced to the responsibility of taking a position within a framework that helps them to understand contemporary conditions in which we operate; they learn how to construct relations between architecture and a wider context, while taking innovative positions that are constantly discussed in the studio and represented in a year-long portfolio.

Sarah Entwistle is an architect and artist. Recent projects include a showcase installation for artists’ books in collaboration with Self Publish Be Happy presented at Krakow Photomonth. She is currently curating an exhibition for the AA, scheduled for January 2012, titled Famous Architect Playboy etc… Work by Sarah and Clive Entwistle (1916-).

Max Kahlen works as an architect in London and Germany. He is founding director of Dyvik & Kahlen Architecture and worked as associate at IJP Corporation after studying at the Stuttgart Academy of Art & Design and the AA where he graduated with Honours. He has been teaching courses in Diploma and Media Studies at the AA since 2008. Alex Kaiser studied at the Oxford Brookes School of Architecture and the AA. He has worked at the London architecture offices of Richard Rogers and Moxon Architects. In his recently co-founded studio he is experimenting with line and paint in realms beyond biomimetics, perception and narrative, from the technical to the bizarre. Ingrid Schröder has taught in First Year at the AA since 2010. She has also taught at the University of Cambridge since 2001 where she is a Third Year Studio Master, a Sir Isaac Newton Design Fellow, the creator/director of the University’s Sutton Trust architecture summer school and the coordinator of the Diploma Programme. She has run her own practice since 2004 and worked in London and in Cambridge for 5th Studio. She teaches at Cambridge and is in the final year of her PhD at the LSE Cities Programme.

AA First Year Studio, 2011. Photo Valerie Bennett

First Year

The First Year Studio First Year Studio is constructed around a dynamic and experimental environment in which students work both in groups and individually with an intensive interaction with tutors and collaborators in the form of daily tutorials, seminars and workshops. During the year, each student will address fundamental architectural topics such as form, space, context, subject and aesthetics from the point of view of theory, design and construction with crossover lessons between the First Year Studio, Histories & Theories, Media Studies and Technical Studies. We will question how an architectural project can be significant and novel but still echo with past thoughts and works. During the year students are continuously encouraged to rethink conditions and make connections between the different realms through a series of projects that question both the relevance of an idea and the implication of a design.

As much as drawing and making, writing is explored as an active tool that helps to clarify a design intention. Students learn to address different modes of writing from the definition of a short argument to the elaboration of a manifesto. Designing is seen through different methods as the essential instrument for developing a project. Students experience both the focused investigation of an architectural attribute and the openness of an intuitive discovery, with the use of different media and the exposure to several creative disciplines. The skill of arguing is addressed as a form of discussion and of presentation. Students learn how to present to different audiences and in different formats, from proposing questions to a roundtable, to engaging in counter-positions during a seminar or presenting a project to a large audience. The end result is a year-long portfolio that expresses the individuality of the student in a comprehensive body of work including text, projects and visual speculations.

The Portfolio The focus for the student is to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge that help to relate design, theory and discourse. The entire body of work is visualised not purely in a portfolio, as a form of design that draws out ideas, but as a combination of writing, designing and arguing. The awareness of the necessity of these forms is the educational core for the First Year student.

The Projects In the First Year Studio, students work on a series of projects while acquiring theoretical and practical knowledge through intensive, hands-on collaborations with tutors and external consultants. In this way students make relevant connections between theory and design.

The first term has an open and intuitive structure allowing students to learn how to formulate and represent an idea. Specific ideas and positions are challenged at multiple scales by question-ing issues of form, space and context. These issues are then visualised in an overall project for a reconstructed London that addresses new conditions at the scales of a room, a boundary and the city itself. During the second term students learn how to design different attributes of architectural forms and spaces, using drawings, digital modelling, fabrication processes and constructed representation within a rigorous but still exploratory framework. The object of the term is the development of formal, spatial and tectonic attributes within a series of integrated collaborations between the studio and the complementary courses, by urging the active role of theory and technical education into projects developed in the studio. In the third term, students learn how to speculate and make judgements on the possible consequences of their projects. The ambition of the term is not simply the conclusive visualisation of a proposal and the making of a coherent portfolio, but the acknowledgment of individual obsessions and strengths that push towards wider alternative conditions and open the portfolio to unexpected encounters and positions.

Exposure During the year, students and tutors will constantly engage with other parts of the AA School and with external thinkers on specific and relevant subjects through a series of tailored seminars and collaborations. The year will also be punctuated with lectures on teaching, learning and practising â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at the beginning of the year we will look at different forms of teaching and learning at the AA and during the second term we will address the role of the architect within different types of practices. At the same time students will be encouraged to experience works of architectural significance first-hand with visits to various buildings, cities, and exhibitions.

Intermediate 1

Unit Staff: Mark Campbell Stewart Dodd Mark Campbell has taught history and design at the AA since 2004. He has taught previously at the Cooper Union, Princeton University and Auckland University and received post-graduate degrees as a Fulbright Scholar from Princeton University (MA, PhD) and undergraduate degrees from Auckland University (BA, Arch Hons). He has worked in practice in Auckland, New York and London and served as the Managing Editor of Grey Room and the Cooper Union Archive, in addition to publishing extensively. He is the Director of the ‘Paradise Lost’ AA Research Cluster.

A New Miracle in the Desert The Salton Sea in the Californian desert is the result of an environmental accident that occurred during the early 1900s. This ‘accidental sea’ soon became a tourist attraction and an opportunity for rampant architectural speculation. Resorts, marinas and suburbs grew up almost overnight and at its height in the 1950s members of the cultural elite – from Jack and Jackie Kennedy to Frank Sinatra and his booze-addled Rat Pack – visited to drink martinis and race speedboats. Unfortunately the ‘sea’ was solely fed by chemically enriched agricultural run-off and the promise of modern architectural haven – ‘a Palm Springs with water’ – faded with the toxic reality of 140-degree summers and apocalyptic fish die-offs. This year Intermediate 1 will continue to examine the architectural extremities and cultural oddities that we uncover through our research. We will explore the notion of ‘accidental architectures’ and investigate the outsider communities who continue to live among the residues – in defiance of any discernible logic. Throughout these investigations we will act as ‘archaeologists of the immediate future’ and our forensic examinations will include found artefacts, architectural precedents, images of both the past and future, and speculative and spurious research.

Stewart Dodd is founding director of Satellite Architects Limited. He studied architecture at the Bartlett and worked for several architects in the UK and Europe. He has taught extensively at schools including the AA, the Bartlett and Brighton University, as well as being a visiting critic at a number of schools worldwide. He presently sits on the RIBA Validation board and is an external examiner at the Bartlett and Brighton University. Satellite has been the recipient of numerous architectural awards, most recently, the Green Apple, Gold Award for Sustainable Architecture.

‘America’ – Jean Baudrillard once noted – ‘is the original version of modernity. We are the dubbed or subtitled version.’ Taking this statement as a provocation, we will begin by exploring the questions of ‘faked histories’, architectural promise and cultural appropriation through such works as Gordon Matta-Clark’s ‘Fake Estates’ and the filmic explorations of America in La Jetée (1962), Alphaville (1965) and Zabriskie Point (1970). Fieldwork is vital to the unit and this year we will visit the abandoned suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, the airplane graveyards of Tucson, the desert suburb of Palm Springs and the ‘Californian Riviera’ of Salton Sea. In response to this research and architectural precedents such as Archigram’s ‘Instant Cities’ and Ant Farm’s ‘Inflatables’ series, the unit will be asked to design a new miracle in the desert – a temporary resort, or an airborne floating city – which is playful and disconsolate, a sly ruse, a deliberate falsity and a critique of our architectural intransigence.

‘The Salton Sea offers the good life in the sun. It’s the place for you to take charge of your future, you can come as you are – no reservations required.’ Real estate advertisement, 1958.

Intermediate 2

Unit Staff: Takero Shimazaki Ana Araujo

Crafted Narratives: make-value, use-value This year Intermediate 2 will cross the Atlantic and seek inspiration in the unorthodox architecture of Italo-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914–1992). Sceptical about predominantly intellectualised approaches in design, Bo Bardi spoke in favour of a ‘design-free’ attitude in architecture, devising a more direct and visceral connection between the act of making and the act of using. In a world today, where architecture seems more and more corporate and alienated from the general public, where contractors seem to be running the show, endorsed by an overwhelming burden of mandatory regulations, it is stimulating to find Bo Bardi’s approach that bypasses formalities in favour of a straightforward, spontaneous engagement with material, user and context. Bo Bardi believed that unorthodox architectures would encourage unorthodox activities, giving birth to a happier and freer society. To achieve this, architecture should be thought of not as a ‘monument to (Western) civilization’ but as an ‘infrastructural environment for living’, by focusing on material and contextual grounding, tolerance to ‘architectural incidents’ and a taste for improvisation and sensitivity towards popular manifestations in culture. Bo Bardi saw poetry not in the polished virtuosity of the drawing but in the spontaneity of crafting of simple, ordinary things and developed a fresh viewpoint in architecture that promises to reinvigorate the exhausted discourse in Europe today. Based on this Intermediate 2 will reengage with the users, with our cities and with our immediate living environment.

Takero Shimazaki is a director of a leading UK practice, Toh Shimazaki Architecture in London. He also runs t-sa forum workshops, which are associated with the practice. He has taught and lectured internationally. The practice combines critical thinking with projects that are built and realised since 1996. www.t-sa.co.uk

Ana Araujo practises as a designer, an educator and a researcher. She works at the crossover between spatial and textile design, having published and exhibited internationally (Germany, Holland, Brazil, UK, Japan, Australia). Ana is currently working on a publication and exhibition about Lina Bo Bardi’s work, as part of a larger project of dissemination of twentieth-century Latin American craft and design worldwide.

In the first term, we will research Bo Bardi’s oeuvre and adopt her methodologies to investigate and record our site in Soho, London. We will focus on materialspecific processes of crafted model- and map-making. We will then travel to Brazil and take a close look at her buildings and also the cultural material that gave her inspiration. In the second term we will design a building in Soho following a chosen aspect of Bo Bardi’s architectural approach. Soho, like Bo Bardi’s Brazilian context, is by nature a fast-changing environment that accommodates a fairly unorthodox mode of living, with its long history of immigrating waves and its unusual mix of sex shops, brothels, high-end restaurants, theatres, pubs and housing. In the third term we will compile the projects that have been developed throughout the year in a crafted book, with the help of a workshop. This book will then be presented to the Bardi Institute as a potential artefact for the 2014 international exhibition commemorating the life and work of Lina Bo Bardi.

Intermediate 2, Lingxiu Chong, proposal for intervention in South Kensington

Intermediate 3

Unit Staff: Nannette Jackowski Ricardo de Ostos

Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos (naja-deostos.com) are principals of NaJa & deOstos. They are the authors of The Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad and Pamphlet Architecture 29: Ambiguous Spaces

Post-Cyberpunk Codec –– Knock-knock! –– Who’s there? –– Architectural tamagotchi post cyberpunk creatures. –– Huh? –– Augmented pseudo-friendly beings raised from digital anti-corporate networks in the trash bin of human files searching for some kind of home. –– Come again?

Nannette has worked for Wilkinson Eyre and currently works for Zaha Hadid. She has taught at the AA-SAKIA Summer School 2009 in Daejeon, South Korea as part of the AA Visiting School’s programme.

Ricardo has taught at Lund University in Sweden and is currently an Associate Professor at Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. He was appointed curator of the Brazilian Pavilion for the London Festival of Architecture in 2008 and 2010. Ricardo has worked for Peter Cook, Future Systems and Foster + Partners.

J is for joint intelligence K is for Kinect, Arduino and CG – a few of our design tools L is for lyrical devices M is for micro, macro and mega N is for narrative-based anamorphism O is for OuLiPo and other lunacies P is for prototypes and 3D models Q is for questions R is for response: neutrino observatories, augmented temples, acoustic landscapes, farm(acy), synergetic crematorium, hanging vineyards, … S is for the southern hemisphere – our trip and research ground T is for time-based interactions U is for UV, MRI, RFID, AR, AI and the not-yet-mainstream technologies that we will fully indulge in V is for the virtual, of course W is for www.aainter3.wordpress.com for more information about postcyberpunk codec X is for X-ray vision (you need to be able to see through things) Y is for you – your designs, your statement, your theory Z is for 01000001 01101100 01100101 01100001 00100000 01101001 01100001 01100011 01110100 01100001 00100000 01100101 01110011 01110100

Among pervasive contemporary libidinal technologies and social protectionism Intermediate 3 promotes the postcyberpunk codec – a design-oriented protocol for radical environmental speculation. How can architecture mediate between the emergence of digital technodriven urban cultures and the formation of neo-natural habitats? Here is a handy A to Z survival guide: A is for artificial natures and the rise of human–machine ecology B is for building-related spaces (architecture as a construct is the goal) C is for collaboration between people, infrastructure and environment D is for DIY and drones E is for environmental ‘prosumption’ – a cross between ecosystem production and consumption F is for fictional speculations on augmented habitats G is for Gattaca, Ghost in the Shell and William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy H is for hacking, tinkering, testing, failing and re-making our Frankenstein environments I is for implications of technological and social growth in non-Western societies

Intermediate 3, Ilina Kroushovski, Sunshine in Neutrino Observatories â&#x20AC;&#x201C; exploring the dichotomies of religion and scientific knowledge of the sun deep underground in an active gold mine in South India, 2010/11

Intermediate 4

Unit Staff: Nathalie Rozencwajg Michel da Costa Gonçalves

Nathalie Rozencwajg studied and has been teaching at the AA since 2004 as well as being the coordinator of the AA Visiting Workshop in Singapore. She is cofounder of RARE architects, based in Paris and London. The office emphasises work at different scales integrating research, design and experiment. The office was awarded the RIBA 2011 award and RCIS Project of the Year Award for Town Hall Hotel in London and is working on large-scale projects exploring advanced fabrication methods notably in the Arctic Circle. www.r-are.net

Urban interior At the end there is one in many. Tackling the insoluble challenge of urban evolution, the unit will investigate accidents and controls as an intervention posture for dense cities. Reinvesting the large scale with individual perception, we will propose designs through voids, layering contemporary performative and parametric paradigms with an invested consideration for cultural readings and phenomenological experience. Rather then defining precise form, which contradicts the unpredictability of urban living and its intrinsically iterative development, our questioning of metropolitan growth will be mediated by investigations into defined interiorities. Merging compelling and iconic urban settings with research into equally illustrious typologies, we will seek to parametrcise the possible and envisage chance in order to create new urban pieces designed from within. Mundane but historically and formally charged, the room will be the building block that condenses and locates the urban realm. A space where accident and coherence can be articulated at various scales, it exemplifies the common and the intimate. Through a specific usage of advanced modelling tools, we will seek to reintroduce into this complex unit an encompassing design approach, where multi-scale architectonics are considered as imbricate physical and semiotic catalysts.

Michel da Costa Gonçalves studied in Spain and France, and later graduated from the AA Emergent Technologies & Design programme. Cofounder of RARE architects, he is a former project architect for Shigeru Ban, notably on the new Pompidou museum in Metz, and AS in Paris, working on various prestigious international projects. Director and author of ‘City’ series for Autrement publishers and contributor to The Art of Artificial Evolution/Springer Natural Computing Series, he has previously taught at the ENSAPL and is coordinator of the AA Singapore Workshop since 2006.

As we investigate architectural objects in light of contextual qualities, curious notions such as proportion, scale, spatial reading and formal abstraction will be methodologically questioned to reveal intangible physicality and phenomenal specificities. To develop our specific representational techniques and notation systems, we will be looking at the urban stratification both historically and prospectively, picking out its transient qualities through methodical generative techniques. The unit will continue its exploration into layered systematic design processes with the aim of envisaging complexity and details within recursive urban interventions by means of successive inversions of scale, reading the city as architecture, the urban as interior. Our travels will lead us on a grand tour of urban rooms where incongruities of geopolitics have matured into unique built environments. Having learned from our multi-scale journey, through state to square to room, individual design proposals will embed an equal urge for spatial augmentation and iconic creation.

Intermediate 4, Kai Hian Ong â&#x20AC;&#x201C; urban moment diagram condensing metropolitan layers in a single instant

Intermediate 5

Unit Staff: David Greene Samantha Hardingham David Greene, born Nottingham 1937, usual English provincial suburban upbringing, Art School, elected Associate member of the RIBA and onto London to begin a nervous twitchy career, from big buildings toTt-shirts for Paul Smith to conceptual speculations for Archigram which he founded with Peter Cook. RIBA Gold Medal 2002 (Archigram). Joint Annie Spinks Award with Sir Peter Cook (2002). Currently visiting Prof of Architecture at Oxford Brookes University and External Examiner on the Masters in Advanced Research at the Bartlett.

Supersensible Speculations – or – Everything I Don’t Know * This unit is interested in an architecture that is conditioned by the processes and technologies of search and retrieval. And by this, we really do mean search and not research, so that the architectural consequences of today’s culture of continuous ventilation and circulation of information – what most people are doing most of the time – is observed, spied upon and thought about, rather than framed by neutralising, pseudo-scientific rubric. Students are invited to respond to a series of unrealised architectural projects** rethinking them in the light of now – with consideration to time, form and behaviour. Each student will design and build their own bill of quantities and qualities to include technical and cultural components. Movies – moving pictures, drawings and models – will be used as the means of both documenting and articulating an idea. Outstanding development of search skills will produce possibilities for a supersensible architecture for the simultaneous search, storage, retrieval and deployment of information at a designated time and location.

Samantha Hardingham is an architectural writer and editor publishing work in several editions of the original ellipsis architecture guide series. She graduated from the AA in 1993. She was senior research fellow in the Research Centre for Experimental Practice at the University of Westminster 2003–09. She co-edited a book and co-curated the accompanying exhibition for L.A.W.U.N Project #19+20. She is currently researching a publication on the ‘Complete Works of Cedric Price’.

–– We encourage a multiple aesthetic, individual interests and the expectation of the unexpected. –– We are interested not in solutions but in responses. –– We think the unit should aim to be a paragon of intelligence, clarity and mischief. –– We shall work with searchers in the fields of investigative journalism, art, architecture and materials science. –– We will travel within the UK. Courtesy of a poem by R mBuckminster Fuller. ** These are our influences and our inspiration – how many can you identify in the image on the opposite page? *

This is the world that we occupy

Intermediate 6

Unit Staff: Jeroen van Ameijde Brendon Carlin Jeroen van Ameijde studied Architecture and Building Technology at the Delft University of Technology. He has practised in Holland, New York and Hong Kong and taught in a graduate design studio at the University of Pennsylvania. As Head of Digital Prototyping he has been teaching at the AA since 2007, working with various units and programmes including the Design Research Laboratory. He has lectured and taught workshops in several universities worldwide and is developing design projects with his experimental architecture practice Material_Codes.

Part to Whole Intermediate Unit 6 will continue its investigation into integrated design and construction strategies, using realistic urban project scenarios to explore the architectural implications of technological innovation. Dividing the year into two interdependent phases, students will work in teams on experimental fabrication processes at 1:1 scale as well as individually on design methods that implement the key qualities of a material system through spatial and performative rules. Applying these methods to highdensity housing allows us to address some of the most pressing challenges that architecture faces today, exploring new modes of urban living within a context of limited resources and space. In the first phase of the year we will develop experimental design and build processes aimed at producing a single, stackable housing unit. Focusing this year on systems that consist of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;kit of partsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, we will take advantage of high-precision digital manufacturing technologies to separate building functions into specifically programmed parts. Combining high- and low-tech methods of fabrication and assembly, we will develop design and build methods to produce a range of structures that are adapted to their specific environ-mental and programmatic requirements. In collaboration with industry partners and using visits to Hooke Park, each team will design and construct a prototype at 1:1 scale.

Brendon Carlin completed his MArch at the AA and a degree in Environmental Design in Architecture at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has worked on architecture projects of various scales for offices in Holland, the UK, China and the US. He has taught and co-ordinated courses and workshops at the Berlage Institute, the AA, Harvard and the University of Colorado. Currently he is consulting with Arup for Relational Urbanism, and practising as co-director of The Build Operations, an architecture and urbanism studio.

Starting the second phase with research for our individual projects we will visit Shenzhen and Chongqing, two of Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fast-growing, second-tier megacities and a laboratory for new architectural and urban typologies designed to house a new middle class. We will respond with our own strategies for density and programmatic and social diversity, multiplying our housing units through clustering strategies that test issues of proximity, access and light. We will set up rules to adapt units to their individual role within the collective, adding strategic variation to improve the performance of private and public space. Then we will revisit our fabrication strategies and speculate on machinic construction and growth, allowing projects to become open systems able to adapt to the ever-changing requirements in their prolonged lives and become part of a highly networked and dynamic urban environment, programmed to evolve over time.

Kevin Primat, Construction drawing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; adjustable shear wall casting system applied to a high-density urban housing project at the location of the Central Escalator in Hong Kong

Intermediate 7

Unit Staff: Maria Fedorchenko Tatiana von Preussen

Maria Fedorchenko studied at UCLA, Princeton University and Moscow Institute of Architecture. She practised in Russia, Greece, and the US (including Michael Graves & Associates) and directs a design consultancy. Her research and design has been published and exhibitied internationally. She has taught at UC Berkeley, UCLA and CCA since 2003 and has been involved in HTS and Housing & Urbanism Programme at the AA.

Eastern Promises: Incubator Galleries Intermediate 7 is concerned with transfers between conflicted urban systems, relying on design infrastructures to align formal and programmatic strategies. Learning from Moscow’s sophisticated materialism, we will exploit clashes between culture and commerce to define new hybrid typologies. Diverging artistic and entrepreneurial resources have severely hindered the development of Moscow as a global cultural centre. However, tensions between: public institutions and private networks; confined collections and dynamic outlets; and display spaces and creative products suggest latent possibilities. We will be opportunistic in order to convert Moscow’s ruptures into generative associations. By advancing experimental formats of pragmatic research and speculative design, we will reconcile the Russian extremes of grandiose museums and makeshift markets, luxurious design salons and utilitarian dealerships, gigantic expo-cities and miniature pop-ups. The unit interventions will activate a sequence of underperforming sites outside segregated social circuits by installing new mediators between creative hubs and shopping routes. We will amalgamate exhibition zones, retail areas, cultural institutes, studios and archives developing new types of ‘incubator galleries’ able to attract, nurture and proliferate a range of commercial and cultural events. As both subject and product, ‘design’ will affect display media and physical structures on several scales.

Tatiana von Preussen was educated at Cambridge University and Columbia University. She has practised in both London and New York where she worked for James Corner Field Operations on The High Line park. She has taught design and advanced representation at Columbia University. Previously a partner of the research group Gleamlab, she is currently a director of vPPR Architects.

Relying on synthetic ‘infrastructures’ we will accommodate spatial and functional, static and dynamic, imposed and emergent ‘components’. Diagram-ming, mapping and graphic analysis will expose active ‘elements’ in juxtaposed urban sites and typologies. Contrasting elements will be combined in conceptual frameworks and physical prototypes. Formal prototypes will poach diagrams of productiondisplay-consumption, while concrete programme structures shortcut to graphic shapes and intricate surfaces. We will pursue a ‘plastic fit’ between form and programme inspired by case-studies from leading contemporary practices. The logic of loose control will inform how we curate at the levels of city, building and content. Diagrammatic tools will allow discrete transpositions between urban and architectural concepts and forms. Alternating between social and spatial effects, we will assemble beautiful apparatuses and imageable condensers. Our ‘galleries’ will emerge from the mix of diagrammatic matrices and seductive renderings, composite drawings and intricate models. Theoretical and practical products will be collated in extensive ‘catalogues’ of urban scenarios, design models and final artefacts.

Intermediate 7 (2010/11) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Antoine Vaxelaire, Figured Voids and No-Stop Shopping

Intermediate 8

Unit Staff: Francisco González de Canales Nuria Alvarez Lombardero

Politics of Fabrication III Framing Political Conflict in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, Mexico City The unit continues to explore the changing political implications of trajectories between digital fabrication and low-tech construction, looking at new ways of distributing the role of architects and users in contemporary cities. We are interested in the social and cultural dimensions of design in how alternative modes of making, closely related to everyday life activities, can define the political agency of the individuals who inhabit the city. This year Intermediate 8 will be working in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, located in Mexico City, one of the largest and certainly one of the most conflicted urban agglomerations in the world. Las Tres Culturas square is well known not only for the mixed presence of Aztec, Spanish Colonial and modernist constructions, but also for its political life including the infamous 1968 massacre. This event occurred ten days before Mexico hosted the Olympics, when students protested for more freedom to express themselves while chanting ‘No queremos olimpiadas, queremos revolución!’ (‘We don’t want the Olympics, we want revolution!’). The Mexican Army attacked the 50,000 students who congregated in the square causing a disaster that killed more than 30, with hundreds wounded and thousands arrested. The plaza continues to be a centre of political expression in Mexico City. During the year students will deploy designs specifically related to this sociocultural context, including food culture, dance and music, memory, wheeling and dealing, illegal activities or transcultural relations, and will generate different

Francisco González de Canales studied architecture at ETSA Seville, ETSA Barcelona and Harvard University, and worked for Foster+ Partners and Rafael Moneo before setting up the award-winning office Canales & Lombardero. He has previously lectured in England, Mexico, Spain and the USA and is the current AACP coordinator. He has recently published the book Experiments with Life Itself (Actar 2011) based on his PhD research on the radical domestic experiments of the 1940s and 1950s.

Nuria Alvarez Lombardero studied architecture and urbanism at ETSA Madrid and the AA. She has worked for Machado & Silvetti Associates in Boston and served on the editorial board of Neutra Magazine. Since 2003 she co-directs the LondonSeville based office Canales & Lombardero. She has previously taught studio in the University of Cambridge and TEC Monterrey and lectured on urbanism in the University of Seville. After working as a researcher at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge and the AA. She is currently finalising her PhD on the dissolution of boundaries traced by modern urban planning.

understandings about how to define a contemporary public space in Mexico City. These explorations will frame the existing conflicts in the city as a way of demonstrating pluralistic expressions in public as opposed to an attempt to define and implement singular solutions to these contentious relationships. The work will be divided into three phases. First, we will define a pertinent issue relevant to the inhabitants of Mexico City based on their everyday lives. Second, this issue will be framed and manifested into a proposed spatial configuration. Third, we will focus on how the people of Mexico City can physically realise this spatial configuration in relation to the different construction processes available to them. Following Hannah Arendt’s thoughts on politics, these construction processes manifested in public and constructed as physical registers acquire a political value as a public act and a means of preserving multiple ways of life through confrontation and agonism.

Intermediate 8, Vidhya Pushpanathan (AA Travel Studentship 2011) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a series of Uncanny Events in Little Havana, Miami

Intermediate 9

Unit Staff: Christopher Pierce Christopher Matthews

Christopher Pierce studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and gained a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Among his recent publications are essays on Jordi Bonet Armengol, ‘Gaudi’s Gatekeeper’ (2011) and Cero 9, ‘Bump and Grind’ (2011). He formed MisArchitecture (mis-architecture.co.uk) with Christopher Matthews in 2000.

Christopher Matthews, principal of Pastina Matthews Architects (PMA), was educated at the Bartlett School of Architecture. For nearly a decade he worked with James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates on projects including the Singapore Arts Centre, Lowry Centre and No 1 Poultry before setting up PMA in 2000.

We’ll bed down with Stirling right from the start. One group will head up the M1 to Leicester, another down the A3 to Haslemere and a few via the M4 to Oxford. In the first three weeks we’ll translate these buildings into information aesthetics – inventing ways of recording the glazing, materials, facades, leaks, cracks and alterations – and using the buildings as ‘living found drawings’ to produce a 3D Stirling archive. We’ll then set-off to the heartland of Germany’s fairytale heimat, starting with the Stirling exhibition at his Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart and then heading north to Melsungen. Later we’ll travel with our constructions to the rough concrete and masonry building in Granollers, Spain to work again with Toni Cumella, who’ll help turn ideas into artefacts. In between, Léon Krier, Anthony Vidler, Michael Wilford and other luminaries will explode various Stirling myths and recreate a few others in Inter 9’s debut ‘seminar sessions’. These will address not only the practice and drawing processes of this wildly idiosyncratic architect, but his extraordinary encyclopaedic historicism. By the end of it all, our brains will be as big as our stomachs, and you’ll not only be fluent in Stirling, but multi-lingual, too, in the associative languages of Choisy, Miralles and Ungers.

Reds Under the Bed Encompassing two trajectories (the historical and the off-the-wall), three countries (UK, Germany and Spain), nine projects and 14 different creative acts, Inter 9 will continue to eek every last ounce of invention out of architecture’s twentieth-century canon. For 2011/12 we’re abandoning a bearded cleric in Barcelona for a schnitzel-eating Englishman in Melsungen. Acting like a hungry pack of architectural surrealists, we’ll deface and remake ‘Big’ Jim Stirling’s inimitable worm’s eyes, bird’s eyes, isos and axos while we blur, distort, disassemble and reconfigure the boundaries between models and drawings by almost magically expanding laser-cut drawings from 2D to 3D. These artful yet rational constructions will be located either in and around Stirling’s incomplete Braun factory complex, or within one of his famous trilogy of red brick buildings in Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge or even within the imaginary space of one of his complete/ incomplete drawings.

Intermediate 9 Kunstkammer, photo: Michael Moroney

Intermediate 10

Unit Staff: Claudia Pasquero Marco Poletto Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto are co-founders of ecoLogic-Studio, (ecologicstudio.com) an architectural and urban design studio based in London. Completed projects include a public library, private villas, large facades and parametric masterplans. ecoLogicStudio has developed prototypes and installations architectural biennales and it runs international workshops. Claudia and Marco have been Intermediate 10 Unit Masters since 2007 and are directing the new AA Italy global school. Their Systemic Architecture was recently published by Routledge.

The Self-Organising City v2.0: Worker City Apps ‘…the metropolis of the information age is not, then, the capital of technology; it is rather the land of the humane, in all its ability to connect its own DNA with that of business, disseminating its own genes in a tight network of parental and entrepreneurial relations…’ – Andrea Branzi Agenda: As the world is urbanising at a rapid rate and our society is losing its direct connection with the natural and rural landscape, we need to become more efficient in developing novel frameworks of urban self-sufficiency and biodiversity. Our challenge this year is to get real! By combining notions of environmental design, cutting-edge digital technologies, biomimetics and biology we will aim to bridge the boundaries that separate disciplines; to engineer urban design applets; to network spaces involving direct social participation and to incubate urban biodiversity. Workers’ City Apps: Travelling East, all the way to China’s new ‘product cities’, we will investigate the socio-political condition of Chinese migrant workers, following their trajectories in search of a more permanent status as urban dwellers. We will then conceive workers’ city applets, new prototypes of augmented working spaces, constituted by two complementary components: a virtual interface, able to network workers with share-as interests; and a physical interface, the actual factory space.

Portfolio: Students will work in five teams during the first term, designing five workers’ cities through the conception of five urban design applets to be tested on Apple’s iPad. The concepts will emerge as a response to the reading of the work of the Italian radical group Archizoom and the theorist Andrea Branzi. In the second and third terms students will work individually and design the architectural stages for their applets prompting the factory spaces to evolve into gardens of social cultivation. The final versions of the workers’ city apps will be used to present the project portfolio and the most successful applet will be commercialised at the online App store.

Jin Uk Lee, Re-charging city â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perspective view of solar desalination dune and SPA station, Rub al Khali Desert in UAE

Intermediate 12

Unit Staff: Sam Jacob Tomas Klassnik Sam Jacob is a director of FAT (fat.co.uk), an award winning London-based architectural practice. He also teaches at Yale and UIC and is a contributing editor to Icon and a columnist for Art Review and editor of Strange Harvest. (strangeharvest.com)

Tomas Klassnik is director of The Klassnik Corporation (klassnik.com), a design practice focused on architectural speculation and UK correspondent for Deutsche Bauzeitung. He has also taught at Chelsea College of Art and the RCA.

Re-Enactment: The architecture of reenactment relies on techniques of reconstruction, restoration and remaking often associated with conservatism and caricature. Yet in fields as diverse as the laboratory, the sports field and the crime scene, re-enactment is an active condition used to test a hypothesis. How might re-enactment be mobilised as an architectural device? Pre-Enactment: Prior to their raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound, the Navy Seals constructed a life-size replica in order to choreograph tactics and become familiar with their mission. Projecting into the future, of course, is the central mode of architecture. How might explicitly invoking the idea of pre-enactment crystallise this familiar architectural operation? The unit will be engaged in research documenting existing examples of architectural copies. It will use physical and digital techniques including modelling, scanning, printing and casting in an effort to understand the errors, degradations and hybridisations that copying introduces, to produce a series of architectural bootlegs, forgeries, mashups, facsimiles and reproductions. Intermediate 12 is run in association with the Architectural Doppelgangers Research Cluster. architecturaldoppelgangers.com

Ground Xerox Copying within creative practice – especially in architecture and design – is seen as degraded, immoral and sometimes illegal. Yet we are also sure that copying plays a significant role in the history of architecture. Copying is fundamental to the founding myths of architecture. Greek temples were stone versions of wooden structures, Romans copied Greeks, the Renaissance copied both and so on. Each time, the iteration of an appropriated language allowed something new to be said. The copy sets into stark contrast issues of cultural meaning and value. Copies ask us to look closely and to understand who is doing it and why. It’s not what you steal, it’s the way that you steal it. The studio will explore the idea of the copy through the following questions: Intellectual Property: If IP law places creative practice within moral and economic frameworks how might we begin to use its articulation of creativity and ownership productively?

Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast (Pierre Fakhoury), consecrated 1990 (top) and St Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Basilica, Vatican City, (Michelangelo, Bramante and Bernini et al), consecrated 1626 (bottom)

Intermediate 13

Unit Staff: Miraj Ahmed Martin Jameson Miraj Ahmed is a practising painter and architect exploring the interstices between art and architecture. He has taught at the AA since 2000 and is a Design Fellow at the University of Cambridge and Associate Lecturer at Camberwell College of Art.

The Void ‘I’ve had nothing yet,’ Alice replied in an offended tone, ‘so I can’t take more.’

Martin Jameson is an associate at Serie Architects. He studied for five years at the AA and received his Diploma with honours. Before studying architecture he was a business consultant advising corporations on strategy and organisational design. He has a BA from Oxford University where he studied Kantian philosophy and political theory, and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

‘You mean you can’t take less,’ said the Hatter: ‘it’s very easy to take more than nothing.’ – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll Intermediate 13 continues its investigation of the political and cultural dimensions of architecture. This year we will concentrate on nothing, or the void. In an obvious sense, this is an attempt to swim against the tide of contemporary architectural teaching, in which the emphasis has been on an obsessive articulation of the physical object, its geometry and form. As an antidote to this compulsion to objectify we will divert our attention to the void – the space between – and the potential of erasure. This return to nothing is a rejection of the so-called ‘new’ and a contemplation of the eternal, poignant and experiential. In one sense, this contemplation is directed toward the phenomenological potential of absence, of enclosure and place-making, in which creative energy and experimentation are directed at the creation of atmosphere. This is the personal world of memory, psychological impulses and sensations. In a sense, the potential of the void is embedded in the political life of the collective. Here, the focus of thought is on removal, difference, separation, and on assembly, collision

and event. In both instances, the object is put aside and attention is directed at once toward the boundary, the limit, and its counter, the boundless sublime. Unlike previous years we will indulge in a strategy of delayed gratification – immersion into the complexity of an urban site will be postponed until the second term. This will give us more time lingering within the void and teasing out its potential as a fecund space of possibility. In this space the void is seen as a generative tool and emptiness as a design technique. Starting with art practice and an interest in the conditions of void, we will move on to architectural space and the disruptive effects of cutting, carving, casting and dislocation, with renewed interest in physical modelling. A wide range of media techniques will be encouraged. In the second term students will bring strategies of the void to sites in London subject to problematic differences of wealth and power, disuse and conflict, compromised architectural heritage and impoverished cultural content. Our goal will be to use nothing to achieve something.

Bruno Malusa, The Top Floor: The Fall â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Broadgate Tower expenditure project, 2011

Diploma 1

Unit Tutor: Tobias Klein Tobias Klein studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen, the University of Applied Arts Vienna and gained his Diploma and MArch at the Bartlett School of Architecture. He is a founder of .horhizon, an experimental architectural design platform, was a unit master at the Royal College of Art and visiting lecturer at the University of Innsbruck. He has taught First Year and Media Studies at the AA since 2008.

Prototypes of the Informational Revolution By 2015, the world’s IP networks will be transferring 7.3 petabytes of data every five minutes (the equivalent of every movie, ever made, every 300 seconds). Even now in 2011 we are living in a world where the online gamers playing World of Warcraft constitute a population twice as big as Austria’s; where Facebook, with over 500 million profiles, represents the world’s third largest country; where the biggest single marketplace is eBay; and yet where Amazon, another huge global shopping mall, employs only 12 people to operate each of its distribution centres. This digitised culture is increasingly enveloping and defining our lives, and yet architecture has been very slow to adapt to the dynamism, to say nothing of the realities of this condition. Tackling this failing, Diploma 1 sets out to design interfaces for the informational revolution, establishing a set of prototypical architectures situated in the in-between of data highways, sensorial accumulations, social web applications, CCTV, data archives, Skype and web 2.0 platforms on the one hand, and within the actuality of public spaces, cultural institutions, ecclesiastical spaces, banks and civic structures on the other.

The testing ground for these prototypes will be the Square Mile of the City of London – an area that epitomises the tension between the scarcity of the real and the abundance of the virtual. You (and your own tremendously successful avatar) will be asked to define agendas within the simultaneity of this site and the cultural context of an informational revolution, choosing civic spaces to reconstruct, mutate and evolve into prototypes and new typologies for an augmented urban landscape – the pearly gates of cyberspace. We will celebrate the arrival of a dynamic architecture that allows the emergence of new cathedrals of an augmented reality. The unit will involve the construction of a data-as-phenomenon installation at the end of the first term, and a field trip to Hong Kong – another artificial, articulated environment. Throughout the year we will collaborate closely with the researchby-design network horhizon through a series of lectures, seminars and technical workshops.

London City by Eboy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Steffen Sauerteig, Kai Vermehr and Svend Smital

Diploma 2

Unit Staff: Didier Faustino Kostas Grigoriadis

Kostas Grigoriadis studied at the Bartlett and the AA’s Design Research Laboratory. He is currently co-designing a mixeduse development in India and is pursuing a PhD in Architecture at the Royal College of Art in London.

‘The thing that matters is not what they show me but what they hide from me and, above all, what they do not suspect is in them.’ – Robert Bresson

Didier Faustino is an architect by education and explores the relationships between architecture and the arts, between body and space. His approach is multifaceted, from artistic installations to experimentation, from creating subversive visual artworks to spaces designed as a tool for exacerbating our senses and sharpening our awareness of reality.

Like an iceberg, what you see is not what you get. Everything has a hidden aspect, an internal logic or system or mechanism that is richer than the image outwardly projected. The aim of this unit is to work on the notion of the iceberg and to use it to develop an architectural project. The structure of the unit will be divided into three phases: research, production and exhibition. In the first phase, students will work individually to build up their body of references and their personal definition of an iceberg. Each week a collection of material – such as texts, films and other media – will be provided and discussed to help nourish individual research, which will then be elaborated through intuitive and experimental processes. Among this corpus, specific terms should be thoroughly explored: appropriation, diversion, flesh/bones, fragile/ solid, legal/illegal, lure/manipulation, soft/hard, visible/invisible. At the end of this phase students will have to produce a theoretical design project – taking the form of a text, a film, an object, a performance or some other abstract architectural project – that will express their full understanding of the iceberg as metaphor. In the second phase, students will design an architectural project using the preceding theory as a paradigm. Although

a site will be provided, the students will have to define their own programme. Teamwork will allow students to combine skills and knowledge and produce common tools – models, analyses, etc. At the end of this phase all students will have an empirical architectural project. In the third phase, these empirical and theoretical projects will be synthesised into one. Students will define the representation and the transmission of their project, and will clarify what the best tools are to communicate the complexity of their work in as clear a manner as possible. At the end of this phase all student projects will be presented in a unit exhibition. A jury will be held in each phase, accompanied by a special guest: a theoretician (first phase), an artist (second phase) and a curator (third phase). A unit trip to Paris during the research phase will be organised, along with seminars and a series of visits to expose students to different types of display, research and production across various disciplines.

Building An Iceberg

Fragile equilibrium

Diploma 3

Unit Staff: Peter Karl Becher Matthew Barnett Howland Peter Karl Becher established Studio Becher in London in 2007 after working for Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Beijing (Bird’s Nest) and London. He studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt under Enric Miralles, Peter Cook, Mark Wigley and Cecil Balmond, as well as at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. He taught at London Metropolitan University, Kingston University and NTNU Trondheim before teaching at the AA.

Troy X When Heinrich Schliemann began digging for Homer’s Troy in 1870 at Hissarlik in western Turkey it was impossible to know that over the course of 20 years he would reveal nine layers of settlement remains piled up to form an artificial hill of significant height. Built one on top of the other between c. 3,000 and 100BCE, the layers encapsulate nearly three millennia of the rise and fall of different peoples and cultures, from prehistoric through western Anatolian, Mycenaean, Hellenistic and Roman. This year the ambitious objective of Diploma 3 is to ‘reboot’ the western city by drawing on the intriguing history of the hill of Hissarlik. Disillusioned by the various attempts to modernise this globally applied model over the past 100 years, and dissatisfied by the latest proposals for new urban developments around the globe, the unit seeks clues to modernising the essential idea of the city by studying its origins in the Aegean Bronze Age. The enterprising venture will oscillate between two scales: building design and urban design. This year the proposals will focus on the detailed design of a highly densified cluster of buildings on top of Troy’s ancient acropolis. This fictitious tenth layer – Troy X – will be supported by the schematic design of a self-sufficient city for 100,000 inhabitants below the acropolis.

Matthew Barnett Howland is co-founder of MPH Architects. He studied at Cambridge University and the Bartlett and has extensive teaching experience from Kingston University, London Metropolitan University, Cambridge and the University of East London. In 2004 he was awarded the RIBA Tutor Prize.

Broken into eight fragments that will run for three weeks each, the project will touch on contemporary urban issues ranging from multi-generational housing to city growth without horizontal expansion, from urban mathematics to fuelling and feeding the city, from approaching and entering the city to the protection of the hinterland, and from post-fossil fuel cars to the reintegration of domestic farm animals into the city. In the final term these fragments will be interpreted and joined together in an ‘archaeological’ manner. With a focus on conceptual rigour and experimental building design, Diploma 3 is not interested in imitating any particular architectural style. Instead, it aims for inventive, diverse and unprecedented solutions, and for architectural form as result rather than anticipated intention. The unit will be inspired and critiqued by international professionals from various disciplines including archaeology, engineering and architecture, history and theory, sculpture and painting.

Top: Wilhelm Dรถrpfeld, Troja und Ilion, Plate III, Beck & Barth, 1902; bottom: the hill of Hissarlik, believed to be the site of the ancient city of Troy

Diploma 4

Unit Staff: John Palmesino Ann-Sofi Rรถnnskog John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rรถnnskog are architects and urbanists. They have established Territorial Agency, an independent organisation that combines architecture, analysis, advocacy and action for integrated spatial transformation of contemporary territories.

Polity and Space: The Coast of Europe Diploma 4 continues to build on its research into the transformations of the coast of Europe. Continuing its engagement with real-world issues, the work will combine architecture and urbanism to rethink the structures of cohabitation in Europe at a time of profound institutional and economic change. Uncertainty and non-determinism will set out a field of potentials for the transformation of the material spaces of contemporary Europe. When architecture acts to transform the city, it challenges the relations between individuals and their spaces of operation and questions well-established patterns of perception, calling for a re-evaluation of citizenship, cohabitation, governance and agency. The mental and material spaces of contemporary Europe are a mixture transformed by a multiplicity of agents, where architecture acts as a sectoral rationality amongst other practices. Architecture today is confronted with a complex condition where the situational analysis of the present cannot be separated or understood independently from a diagnostic bearing on the possibilities of transformation. The unit research investigates two strands of this development: on one side we will consider how new remote-sensing technologies are shaping contemporary spaces of operation as well as individual and state sovereignty; and on the other we will focus on the agency that these new technologies elicit and entail.

John is Research Advisor at the Design Department of the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. He is researching for his PhD at the Research Architecture Centre at Goldsmiths, where he also teaches. He was previously Head of Research at ETH Studio Basel/Contemporary City Institute and co-founder Multiplicity, an international urban research network. Ann-Sofi was previously a researcher at ETH Studio Basel and she has studied in Helsinki, Copenhagen and Zurich.

Diploma 4 works for integrated and sustained transformations of the contemporary inhabited landscapes of Europe. Student projects will combine the design of precise and contained architectural devices with new forms of assembly and complex visualisations of territorial transformations. Students will achieve a capacity to analyse and strategically design real-world integrated plans, combining remote-sensing with architectural visualisations. These plans will be tested through interaction with the EU and other international institutions. The unit work is accompanied by a Diploma History and Theory seminar that analyses the contemporary relations between polities and space and continues the collaboration with the MA in History and Critical Thinking. www.aadip4.net

Diploma 4 research unit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Remote Sensing: the metropolitan coast of Helsinki, composite satellite image, 2011

Diploma 5

Unit Staff: Cristina Díaz Moreno Efrén García Grinda Tyen Masten

Re: Public | Third Natures Everything is pop (and therefore nothing can really be pop anymore). Today any kind of cultural source is inserted in an ever-changing network of meanings and symbols. As a result, any distinction between high culture and pop has been replaced by a vast network of interwoven links, from multiple origins, which modulates the way in which each product is conceived, assembled and received. This is the space of interaction in which Diploma 5 will work again this year, rethinking and producing buildings as third natures. The term third nature was originally coined in the sixteenth century to refer to a new reality halfway between existing categories. It was used specifically in relation to gardens that established culturally constructed relationships with nature, technology and history, and defined spaces with a radically new materiality. For Diploma 5, the concept of third nature is synonymous with space understood as the phenomenon of mediation between different materials of different origins. And so the entity formerly known as buildings can now be understood as an assembly, or as a complex ecology that acts as a linking mechanism between living beings, social groups and technological objects that work with cultural capital, politics and identity.

Cristina Díaz Moreno and Efrén García Grinda are both architects and founders of the Madrid based office AMID.cero9 and regular collaborators to El Croquis. Since 1998 they have taught at ETSAM and ESAYA, and have been visiting teachers at Cornell, ESARQ and EPSA among others. They have won more than 30 prizes in national and international competitions, and their projects and writings have been collected in Breathable and From cero9 to AMID. Tyen Masten works at Zaha Hadid Architects. Prior to joining the office in 2004, he was a graduate fellow at UCLA and worked extensively in both Los Angeles and New York.

Diploma 5, however, is not a dogmatic unit, but works collectively as a group to develop the individual interests and agendas of students, tutors, guests and critics. Each student will consciously select and assemble a range of materials and technologies – beginning with a post-subculture as both context and scenario – in a specific and complex assembly. The form and the methodology with which this assembly is analysed, remixed, described and represented – in texts, books, hizines, drawings and images, videos and models – will be constantly subjected to a collective negotiation between the interests of the student and the unit. For Diploma 5 this process of gathering and assembling post-subcultural materials into third natures is to dream of the collective, to image the public realm in a subversive manner in the pursuit of extreme and radical forms of beauty.

Diploma Unit 5, Carl Fredrik Valdemar Hellberg (Diploma with Honours), The second community. Identity Tourism. California City â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A porous mountain avatar in the desert northeast of Los Angeles that floats above the desert floor. With a capacity of 40,000 people, the port gathers individuals open to role-play in its featureless white space.

Diploma 6

Unit Staff: Liam Young Kate Davies

The Unknown Fields Division: Strange Times 0–180º Longitude Far from the metropolis lie the dislocated hinterlands and remote wildernesses that support the mechanisations of modern living. Diploma 6 – the ‘Unknown Fields Division’ – probes the fertile territory between nature, technology and culture to explore our contemporary condition through critical acts of speculation. We map the complex and contradictory realities of the present as a site of strange and extraordinary futures. The Division is a nomadic design studio embarking on expeditions to explore these unreal and forgotten places, techno-landscapes, alien terrains and obsolete ecologies. The otherworldly sites we encounter afford us a distanced viewpoint from which to survey the consequences of emerging environmental and technological scenarios. Last year we speculated on the reinvention of nature and spun aboriginal creation myths with the modern mining technologies of the Australian ‘NeverNever’. This year we continue to slip suggestively between tradition and science as we voyage to the edge of today, through the strange times of Alaska. As winter solstice approaches we will head into the darkness of an eternal night. We will dance along the date line, our paths illuminated by twin electric skies, as we spend neon afternoons in the city and bask under the flickering Aurora in the wilds of the frozen tundra. We will stalk the arctic fox, marvel at the vast military outposts scanning the frontier and listen for the roar of ice road truckers snaking along the oil lifeline stretching south. It is a cyclical landscape of natural and artificial time. Alaskan Inuits, in-

Liam Young studied architecture in Australia and now works in London as an independent designer, futurist and curator. He has taught design studios at schools across Europe and Australasia and he is a founder of the think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today which explores the consequences of fantastic, perverse and underrated urbanisms. Their projects are critical instruments for instigating debate about the cultural consequences of emerging biological and technological futures.

Kate Davies is a designer, writer and educator. She is co-founder of the multidisciplinary group LiquidFactory. Kate makes objects, narrative work, films and installations that deal with obscure territories of occupation. Her current work explores the psychology of extreme landscapes and the meaning of wilderness. Kate has taught at London Metropolitan, The Bartlett and Chelsea College of Art and regularly runs international design workshops.

formed by ancestral memories of their environment and its patterns, embrace the uncertainties of the future with a deep belief in their own adaptability. Meanwhile, environmental scientists attempt to assemble their observations into climate models in order to predict the future as precisely as possible. Caught between improvisation and premeditation these cultural relationships to landscape and time will define the future of the north and in turn our cities beyond. Here in the darkness we will be explorers in time, deploying time-based media. Film, animation, storytelling, gaming and choreographic drawings will define dynamic spaces of motion and commotion, cycles and shifts, ebbs and flows. We will draw on the rich uncertainty of this territory, speculating on possible futures, rewriting histories and altering the present. Joining us in the Division will be fellow time-travellers from the worlds of technology, science and fiction, and together we will examine the Unknown Fields between cultivation and nature and spin cautionary tales of a new kind of wilderness. www.unknownfieldsdivision.com

Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu, GravityONE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a choreography for militarised airspace

Diploma 8

Unit Staff: Eugene Han Eugene Han runs AVA-Studio, developing systems in industrial design, architecture and computation. He is the Head of Media Studies at the AA-

Corporate Domain Diploma Unit 8 will continue its research into the role of the corporation as an integral and vital element in the development of the contemporary territorial condition with which architecture must now contend. The unit’s core investigation within the Corporate Domain will utilise reductive elements in architecture as a means to understand the prevalent yet seemingly contradictory tendency for the development of an excessively individualised architecture for an ever-generic understanding of the corporation and the city.

Corporate Territory The unit will collectively study seminal works in mid-twentieth-century Europe and the US as well as contemporary evolutions. Though current trends in expansion and global territorialisation are immediately understandable, our projects demand a deeper understanding of the layered organisations that must be developed for such intricate frameworks to exist, and their various repercussions for architecture. In order to demonstrate their thesis, students will select their own site and corporation for the development of their yearlong project. The resultant proposals will demonstrate the success (and failures) of their established architectural elements as tested for a large-scale corporate complex within a stated context. The value of projects will be based on both the credibility such speculations can produce and, more importantly, on the fractional but precise elucidation of the role of the contemporary corporation within the city.

Corporate Complex Students will be required to develop speculative proposals for a large-scale corporate complex as the basis for researching and further developing their understanding of the evolving roles of contemporary corporations in relation to their urban contexts. In keeping with the unit’s adoption of form as derived from organisational logic, the design of the contemporary corporate complex must consider the dynamic nature of economies in the city. More importantly, the proposal must be able to address underlying static constructions that allow for the perceptible change of the built environment. Central to the methodology of the unit is the attempt to understand the process of the architectural ‘object’ from a computational definition. Rather than commence proposals on any given size-dependent scale, such an object-oriented approach necessitates a simultaneous and non-scalar implementation of a priori architectural attributes.

Diploma 8, Claretta Pierantozzi â&#x20AC;&#x201C; organisational variants of corporate complex, 2009/10

Diploma 9

Unit Staff: Natasha Sandmeier Natasha Sandmeier is an architect and partner of Big Picture Studio. She was Project Architect for the Seattle Public Library while at OMA. She has been Unit Master of Diploma 9 since 2007, and was Intermediate 2 Unit Master from 2001-6. She also directs the AA Summer School.

CONTEXT 2: From Room to Universe and Back Again Diploma 9 will continue its interrogation of context while blurring the line between fantasy and fiction as we design worlds that challenge the conventional form of an architectural project – one that must reconnect with the larger cultural context. As such, our discourse will hover between the 1970s architectural theory of contextualism and the contemporary use of fiction in order to test the extreme form of an idea. In 2010/11, our first year of the Context series, we brought the wunderkammer into the unit as a conceptual and historical precedent. This year we again integrate the room as a design project, but this time in collaboration with the larger year project – using them to expand and shape our constructed contextual relationships. The Room of Wonder will operate in its historical form as a microcosm of a more expansive world, offering the viewer – and more importantly the designer – the ability to reinterpret the large (your project) by reconfiguring the small (your portfolio/room). A room tells a story through its collection, display and arrangement of objects, and is the mediator between our imagination and our architecture. Borrowing heavily from Duchamp’s Box in a Valise, we will reinvent what it means to make a portfolio/mini-collection/portable room.

We will also beg, borrow, steal, rewrite, resituate and redesign important architectural rooms and worlds; from the modernist high ground of Mies’s own reshaping of Americana and Koolhaas’ re-origination of Manhattan with Delirious New York, to the Eameses’ media saturation of the house that describes a new form of space, image and lifestyle. As we jump between the scales and context of our rooms and the worlds beyond, we will embody these designers’ absolute capacity for singular and persuasive vision – all of them designed universes, not just projects. Each student will begin the year by writing a personal manifesto whose expression will frame the year ahead and set up the context (artefacts, events, materials, histories and spaces) of the proposal. In Terms 1 & 2 we will collaborate with the graduate History & Critical Thinking programme through a series of seminars on architecture and context.

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Diploma 9, Kim Bjarke (AA Dipl Honours 2011) used the IIT campus and his version of its iterative expansion to interrogate the coveted concept of authenticity and originality.

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Diploma 10

Unit Staff: Carlos Villanueva Brandt Carlos Villanueva Brandt has been Diploma 10 Unit Master since 1986 and was awarded the RIBA President’s Silver Medal Tutor Prize 2000. The varied work of Carlos Villanueva Brandt Architecture, formed in 1984, has been published widely and exhibited internationally.

Direct Urbanism: Fixed or Flexible? Diploma 10 will concentrate and learn from the ‘live’ city, the real city – the direct city. We will look beyond the predictability of the planned city towards the unpredictability of the experienced city. As we experience the city, we mediate physical and social structures that include ever-changing combinations of fixed and flexible variables. The city’s reality is not made up of physical structures with fixed reference points, but is a complex reality that is constantly articulated and activated by the live realm. Without the live realm and without situations, there is no city. The variables that govern situations and those that generate physical structures are undoubtedly different and we will question, challenge and build on this difference in order to devise salient ways to act within this complexity. –– Can fixed variables influence situations? –– Are flexible variables embedded in situations? Using fixed and flexible variables, we will experiment with space, we will attempt to spatialise the direct. The city itself – in this case London or Tokyo – can be interpreted as a catalyst, we will engage with it, immerse ourselves in it, and identify, define and subsequently invent the variables that influence its physical, social, political and economic contexts. We will work with direct action, video, physical models, computer models, working drawings, text and animations in order to experiment with and propose, at the architectural and urban scales, composite spatial interventions that have a direct effect on the reality of the urban condition.

In recent work, we have used masterplans and infrastructures to anchor our interventions – this year, you will have to generate your own catalyst for change. We will use the urban themes of conflict, control, exchange, fiction, groups, life, power, space, structures and time – identified in the London +10 book – to reveal new potentials for urban change. We will question the role that these themes play in the making of architectural space and speculate on their direct relevance to the ‘live’ city. Taking the theme of conflict as an example, can we work with conflict and can conflict be a spatial variable? If conflict is a variable, is it fixed or is it flexible?

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Anna Andrich, BLUE: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Blueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; literally transforms the excluding fence to the Olympic site into 36 institutions that promise a true social legacy.

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Diploma 11

Unit Staff: Shin Egashira

Radical Remodelling Though we stand at the brink of the economic abyss, transport development and speculative commercial housing continue to drive urban regeneration. While property values stumble, construction generally proceeds apace, in an effort to complete images of cities based on masterplans that are far removed from reality. But when the construction process stumbles, empty volumes of buildings emerge, revealing textural details beneath the urban fabric. These show us the city as a history of architectural erasure rather than growth. It seems that this incompleteness, often by accident, creates the most successful public spaces and architecture of our city today. Could we take this phenomenon further and improve the city by making it even more beautifully incomplete? Could we remodel the city by taking apart its rigid structure and colliding different objects and programmes, old and new, small and large, temporary and permanent, until the city functions as a collective expression of life? Diploma 11 continues to be fascinated by the pattern of urban change at the peripheries of London. For us these areas are post-infrastructural cities emerging within a city – micro-cities. Our approach is empirical. Our fieldwork is based on direct observation and sampling as we reread and redraw taxonomies of the urban field. Our experimentation consists of making and un-making physical models of the city, randomly combining them to speculate on new forms of urban architecture beyond the given context. Our design objective is to make familiar objects unfamiliar.

Shin Egashira makes art and architecture worldwide. His recent collaboration experiments include the rebuilding of Alfred Jarry’s ‘Time Machine’, ‘How to Walk a Flat Elephant’ and ‘Twisting Concrete’, which intend to fuse the old with the new. His work has been exhibited in Japan and Europe in venues such as the Spiral Garden in Tokyo and the Venice Biennale. For the last 16 years he has been conducting a series of landscape workshops in rural communities across the world including Koshirakura (Japan), Gu-Zhu Village (China) and Muxagata (Portugal). He has been Diploma 11 Unit Master since 1996.

At the southeast corner of Royal Albert Dock lies a small community trapped between City Airport and the Thames Gateway. Cross Rail and commercial development are leaping in from the west. The DLR extension across the Thames is underway from the south. On the east side the former Beckton Gas Works, the site for the Thames Gateway Bridge, has now been abandoned. Silvertown East was bombed in 1940 during the Second World War and was further demolished in 1987 by Stanley Kubrick during the shooting of Full Metal Jacket. A ferry terminal and its forgotten foot tunnel, the Thames Barrier, a sugar refinery, a rubber factory, a forest of BT satellites, rows of terrace housing, pubs, churches, schools and North Woolwich Station all have uncertain futures. The design brief this year explores the remodelling of Silvertown utilising the area’s voids through the recycling of its architecture. We will speculate on alternative service facilities for this small piece of the city that appears to be trapped between trains, ships, lorries and airplanes.

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A City Stripped Bare â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Diploma 11 installation at south Jury Room, June 2011 AA Projects Review

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Diploma 14

Unit Staff: Pier Vittorio Aureli Maria S Giudici

Towards Edufactory: Architecture and the Production of Subjectivity In 1967 Cedric Price proposed to transform the ruined industrial region of North Staffordshire into a mobile university campus. The resulting Potteries Thinkbelt became the first large-scale project to anticipate the passage from material to immaterial production as the driving force of an advanced capitalist economy. Shortly afterwards, in 1969, the Open University was established as a new model of education, open to both country and city beyond the insularity of the campus. Both initiatives made clear that higher education was no longer an Ivory Tower of knowledge reserved for the ruling elite, but was becoming a mass phenomenon directly linked to economic production. Today, when knowledge and information are bought and sold as if commodities, universities are at the centre of this production. The vehicles for this exchange, however, are not the various academic departments and a body of knowledge, whether artistic or scientific, but the students themselves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; subjects controlled through the manipulation of their desires, feelings, affections and perspectives. Unlike material production (for example, manufacturing) in which commodities are objects detachable from the subject who produced them, within knowledge production it is not possible to detach the commodity from life itself. Bios, dynamis and experience become both means and product. And so rather than absorbing specific forms of knowledge, university students learn how to live, how to network, how to compete. In this way the university

Pier Vittorio Aureli is an architect and educator. He is the author of The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (2011), The Project of Autonomy: Politics and Architecture Within and Against Capitalism (2008), and other books. His writings and research focus on the relationship between architecture, the city and political theory. Together with Martino Tattara he is the co-founder of Dogma.

Maria S Giudici is an architect and writer. She is currently completing her PhD dissertation on the construction of the modern subject through the project of public space at the TU Delft/Berlage Institute. She has developed several large-scale urban projects in Eastern Europe and Asia with De Architekten CIE (Amsterdam), Donis (Rotterdam) and BAU (Bucharest).

becomes an Edufactory â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that is, empowered with the mass production of subjects ready to be implemented into the increasingly precarious conditions of work. This year Diploma 14 will explore, question and re-imagine this scenario. The goal will be to define new forms of welfare that can counter the increasing precariousness of life and offer alternatives to neoliberal education policies. We will focus on London as a case study and propose welfare interventions in the form of specific architectural projects. Housing and new kinds of learning centres will be at the core of these interventions while other programmes and institutions will be decided according to the adopted interventions and strategies. A critical link between form and subjectivity will be the testing ground for the assessment of the proposed projects. These will be introduced and constantly complemented by theoretical reflections in the form of writing and research. In everything, Diploma 14 encourages a radical approach in which drawing and writing are reclaimed as the most essential means to produce architecture.

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Students protest at a sit-in

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Diploma 16

Unit Staff: Jonas Lundberg Andrew Yau

Cybernetic Insurgence I – Urban Autopoietics Diploma 16 will continue to develop alternative methods of architectural production and urban models based on cybernetics and adaptation to our rapidly changing environment. This year our research emanates from the production of new carbon-neutral cities striving for a homeostasis between nature, technology and people. We will speculate on the design and culture and BIOME-specific zero-carbon model cities such as the Masdar City development by Foster + Partners. Our aim to develop alternative forms of urban morphologies, spatial imagination and methods of construction in pursuit of a post-Cartesian architecture. We will attempt to address the design challenges that these urban projects present by exploiting associated information and phenomena in both a parallel and iterative manner, exploring the innate opportunities afforded by generative and associative modelling techniques and digital manufacturing. Diploma 16 will reinvent vernacular types and construction methods – and reclaim a new sensibility in architectural craftsmanship – using emerging types of generative, material and production processes. We will define an epistemology of ecological stoichiometry for new city design through the specific deployment of computational design tools. The year will start the year with a series of computational workshops in associative modelling systems from which we will define an analytical ecosystem model for a specific BIOME. A series of generative modelling workshops will develop an Autopoietic Machine, a drawing maching compositing vernacular and natural processes with digital generation and production. The

Andrew Yau and Jonas Lundberg (winner of the RIBA tutor of the year prize in 2003) are members of Urban Future Organization, an international architecture practice and design research collaborative. UFO has won a number of international competitions,

exhibited its work at the Venice and Beijing Biennales and was recently featured in 10X10 v. 2. They are currently working on large-scale urban and architectural projects in the Far East.

Autopoietic Machine will be the basis of a series of workshops in digital fabrication leading to the design and fabrication of a large-scale prototype influenced by an industry-specific composite production process. Each student will develop a BIOME-specific urban manifesto and formal research abstract in order to relate the project to a larger cultural context. The anticipated project outcome is a co-evolving manifestation of a new-built city and specific architectural production processes as an urban autopoietics intended to produce a meaningful level of complexity, public urban domain, architectural form and spatial sensibility setting ground-breaking energy and carbon targets. We anticipate speculative, innovative and novel urban and architectural proposals manifested in a clear material and tectonic form. Projecting from the experimental practice of selfgovernance design, Diploma 16 seeks to use rapidly changing global environmental, economy and cultural conditions as a springboard for imaginative collaborative production models and visionary tectonics that will help nurture innovation and design culture in cities emerging from our new forms of green economy.

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Diploma 16, Adam Holloway, Augmented Stepped Well, 2010/11

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Diploma 17

Unit Staff: Theo Sarantoglou Lalis Dora Swejd

Latent Territories: City Species Diploma 17 continues to investigate new conditions of the contemporary city while interrogating the relationship between infrastructure and architecture. Last year we explored possibilities for integrating proto-industrial infrastructures and new urban settlements. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investigation continues a collective survey on specialised cities with a particular interest in productive fields: cities specialised in the production, processing or distribution of goods. Within these exacerbated conditions, we will identify relevant socioeconomic and geopolitical issues and their associated city-species as new territories for design. We will deploy speculative briefs that address both the urban and the architectural scales, allowing us to deepen our understanding of the architectural project as an integral contribution to a broader sociopolitical framework. This preliminary research will be supported by seminars on photojournalism, anthro-pology and urbanism and the AA History and Theory programme. This year Diploma 17 will be travelling to Brazil to study Brasilia and Curitiba, among other sites. We will develop urban proposals, critically addressing infrastructure not only as economic armature and vital city genera-tor but also as the manifestation of a value system and endemic economic model. Through a critical reassessment of boundaries we will find opportunities

Dora Swejd and Theo Sarantoglou Lalis are the principals of LA.S.S.A. (lassa-architects.com). The office is currently working on commissions in Egypt, Greece, Belgium, Kuwait and Korea. In 2010 LA.S.S.A. was awarded a research grant by REA in partnership with major European research institutes. Theo Sarantoglou Lalis studied at the ULB in Brussels and the Bartlett. He has taught postgraduate studios at Columbia and Harvard.

Prior to founding LA.S.S.A, he worked at studios such as Future Systems and Asymptote in NY. Dora Sweijd graduated from the Bartlett. She previously worked at a number of practices in Brussels, London and NY including REX and Foster + Partners. Both Dora and Theo have lectured internationally, led workshops and taught undergraduate studios at LTU in Sweden and at the AA.

for testing new organisational patterns and new modes of civic appropriation. Our attention will shift from the urban scale to the architectural scale as we develop distinctive proposals in search of novel tectonic and material systems. We will be developing speculative urban schemes that respond critically to a variety of socioeconomic and cultural issues through a reformed approach to urbanism that conceives of infrastructure and architecture as a symbiotic meaningful compound capable of delivering qualitative public occupancy and civic progress. Throughout the year, there will be a number of computational workshops and support from consultant specialists. As part of the unitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest in the transfer of technologies and large-scale digital fabrication, we will be organising a series of short trips to fabricators from the aerospace, automotive and naval industries.

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Diploma 17, Vicky Chen, Recombinant floating settlement, 2010/11

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Diploma 18

Architecture is responsible for 40 per cent of the CO2 released into the atmosphere, making it the number one cause of global warming. Diploma 18 will engage with global warming in developing a body of research that transforms the architect’s role into that of an activist. We will take our cues from Jeremy Rifkin’s The Third Industrial Revolution, which defines four foundational pillars for a novel paradigm in the discipline of architecture: the use of renewable energies, understanding buildings as power plants, developing means of storing energy and the creation of a distributed energy system. The following ‘storage silos’ of a self-sustaining investigation will construct the core of a thesis that will be articulated in a book: 1. A collective case-study of a retrofitting project using the buildings of the AA, culminating in an intervention on the facade to project a particle animation of the energetic mechanisms of the school. The event will be supported by a lecture and book launch by Jeremy Rifkin. 2. Case studies of existing membrane structures will give us an understanding of the characteristics of lightness in large-scale architecture. 3. Experimentation with soap-film characteristics will extend our work with the artist Pep Bou in Madrid and in the studio. 4. Energy, CO2 , methane, hurricanes, water, evaporation, pollution and materials are phenomena that occur dynamically at a particle scale. We understand architecture to be alive, and therefore we will animate at this particle scale using Maya.

Unit Staff: Enric Ruiz Geli Edouard Cabay Juliane Wolf Enric Ruiz Geli studied architecture in Barcelona. He founded Cloud 9 in 1997, an interdisciplinary architectural team in Barcelona that works on the interface between architecture and art, digital processes and technological material development.

Edouard Cabay graduated from the AA in 2005. He has worked for Foreign Office Architects and Anorak and is currently working with Cloud 9, where he runs various international projects. Juliane Wolf is an architect and studied environmental design at the AA. She worked for Studio/Gang/ Architects and is co-founder of büro blickpunkt, a research team focusing on material expression and identity.

Each student will be working on a UNlisted global warming scenario such as hurricane activity in the Caribbean, melting ice in Antarctica, loss of biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea, methane emissions in Mongolia, mobility in large urban contexts, the damaged aquifer of Bahrain, water pollution in Taipei, etc. After exploring the scenario the student will draw up a strategy of action, defining an articulated infrastructural system that is not only scalable and distributed but shows an awareness of energy and context, as well as a policy for communication. Between technological and infrastructural innovation, lies empathy, the human quality that connects all human beings and encourages awareness of our environment. The unit proposes a researchbased agenda which will compel students to craft an independent position towards the environment through the building of knowledge and discoveries. Education is the future and the future is about a green consciousness. We will benefit from the close support of a team of experts including architects Nora Graw and Konrad Hofmann and London-based engineering firm Buro Happold.

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Cloud 9, The Basque Culinary Centre, 2007

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Undergraduate: Complementary Studies

Three kinds of Complementary Studies courses in History and Theory, Media and Technical Studies are an essential part of every year of the Undergraduate School. In term-long courses or shorter projects students obtain knowledge and gain experience related to a wide range of architectural learning. Third and Fifth Year students additionally take a Professional Practice course as part of their RIBA Part I and II requirements. These courses also provide opportunities for students approaching architecture from the different agendas of the units to come together in shared settings. History and Theory Studies includes courses that develop historical and theoretical knowledge and writing related to architectural discourses, concepts and ways of thinking. Media Studies helps students to develop skills in traditional forms of architectural representation as well as todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most experimental forms of information and communication technology. Technical Studies offers surveys as well as in-depth instruction in particular material, structural, environmental and other architectural systems, leading to technical submissions that build upon the ideas and ambitions of projects related to work within the units. Together, the various courses on offer in Complementary Studies give students the opportunity to establish and develop their own individual interests and direction within the school.

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Photos: Valerie Bennett

Undergraduate: Complementary Studies

History & Theory Studies

History and Theory courses run over all five years of a student’s study at the AA. Overall the courses have the function of introducing students to the nature of architecture, not solely through the issue of design but also in the larger context of architecture’s relation to culture now, in the past, in the future and across different cultures. The courses are also linked to another and major function – writing. Architects are increasingly expected at a professional level to describe and analyse both designs and buildings in a written form. Writing is a central skill for the architect and the lack of it would stunt the individual professional development. As a consequence History and Theory Studies is renewing those aspects of the courses enabling students to develop their own point of view in seminars and through the course requirements to develop their writing skills. In the first three years the intention of the courses is to provide a fundamental framework for the student’s comprehension of architecture at several levels. Such is envisioned through a series of distinct stages in the student’s development, moving from a broad background on the theories and concepts of architecture, to architecture’s role in the materialisation of cultural ideas and then an understanding of contemporary buildings in detail. We think it is important that students are given the tools to understand the histories and theories behind architecture. It is for the student to decide what he or she thinks; it is for the course to enable the student to articulate their thoughts and choices; it is for the seminar to allow an open discussion of the choices.

Director Mark Cousins Course Lecturers/ Course Tutors Pier Vittorio Aureli Mark Cousins Mollie Claypool Ryan Dillon Christopher Pierce Ivonne Santoyo Brett Steele Programme Staff William Firebrace Teaching Assistants Ross Adams Daniel Ayat Shumi Bose Orit Goldstein-Mayer Emma Jones Roberta Maraccio Alison Moffett Emmanouil Stavrakakis Consultants Mark Campbell Paul Davies Oliver Domeisen Maria Fedorchenko Francesca Hughes John Palmesino Victoria Walsh Ines Weizman

Mark Cousins has taught at the AA for many years in the Undergraduate programme, the Graduate programme and the PhD programme. He is a founding member of the Graduate School, the London Consortium, has been Visiting Professor at Columbia University and is currently Guest Professor at South Eastern University Nanjing China. Christopher Pierce studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and gained a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. His recent publications are essays on Jordi Bonet Armengol, ‘Gaudi’s Gatekeeper’ (2011) and Cero 9, ‘Bump and Grind’ (2011). He formed Mis-Architecture (mis-architecture.co.uk) with Christopher Matthews in 2000.

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Brett Steele is Director of the AA School. His research and writings can be found online at brettsteele.net Pier Vittorio Aureli is an architect and educator. He is the author of The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (2011), The Project of Autonomy: Politics and Architecture within and Against Capitalism (2008), and other books. His writings and research focus on the relationship between architecture, the city and political theory. Together with Martino Tattara is the co-founder of Dogma. Mollie Claypool is a designer, writer and editor with experience working with NY-based and international architectural practices as well as major arts, architecture and design publishing houses. She studied architecture at Pratt Institute and received her Masters with Distinction from the AA in 2009. Ryan Dillon is currently working for EGG Office. He is a tutor in the AADRL graduate programme and has previously taught at the University of Brighton. He is a graduate of the AA and Syracuse University School of Architecture. He has previously worked at Safdie Architects. Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco graduated from the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam and from the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. She is currently a PhD candidate at the AA funded by the Mexican government. She has practiced in offices, such as LAR/Fernando Romero, Wiel Arets, Foster + Partners and Arup. Mark Campbell has taught at the AA since 2004. He has taught previously at the Cooper Union,

Princeton University and Auckland University and received post-graduate degrees as a Fulbright Scholar from Princeton University (MA, PhD) and undergraduate degrees from Auckland University (BA, Arch Hons). He has practised internationally and served as the Managing Editor of Grey Room and the Cooper Union Archive. He is the Director of the ‘Paradise Lost’ AA Research Cluster.

AAVSP. Since 2007 he has been the Unit Master for Diploma 13. He regularly lectures and has curated an exhibition on the topic of ornament, and is now writing the Four Elements of Ornament.

Paul Davies has lectured at the AA since 1997, always on a populist agenda. He has contributed to many magazines and books, and is well known for his work on Las Vegas.

Maria Fedorchenko studied at UCLA, Princeton University and Moscow Institute of Architecture. She practised in Russia, Greece, and the US (including Michael Graves & Associates) and directs a design consultancy. She has taught at UC Berkeley, UCLA and CCA since 2003 and has been involved in HTS and Housing & Urbanism Programme at the AA.

Oliver Domeisen studied at ETH Zurich and the AA. From 1997-2000 he worked as project Architect for Zaha Hadid; since 2000 as director of dlm ltd; from 2001-07 as Unit Master for Intermediate 9; and from 2005-07 as a Studio Master for

Francesca Hughes joined the AA in 2003 and has been unit master of Diploma 15. She has lectured internationally and served as external examiner in schools, both in the U.K. and abroad. Author/editor of The Architect: Reconstructing

her Practice (MIT Press: 1996), she is currently completing a book entitled Error: The False Economy of Precision in Architecture. Her practice Hughes Meyer Studio has been published by AA Files, AR, ANY, Art Forum, Merrel, Routledge and Wiley. John Palmesino has established Territorial Agency. He is Diploma Unit Master at the AA, where he also teaches at the HCT Masters programme. He is Research Advisor at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. He teaches at the Research Architecture Centre, Goldsmiths in London where he is pursuing his Doctoral Research. Previously he has been Head of Research at ETH Studio Basel – Contemporary City Institute. Victoria Walsh is a curator, project manager and research consultant in the fields of visual arts, architecture, arts education and

post-critical museology, and has worked for the Tate, London Mayor’s Cultural Office, LSE Cities, Architecture Foundation, Foster + Partners, and the Royal College of Art. She has published on postwar British artists Nigel Henderson, Francis Bacon and Gilbert & George and architects Alison and Peter Smithson. Ines Weizman was trained at the Bauhaus University Weimar and the Ecole d’Architecture de Belleville in Paris. She studied at Cambridge University and completed her PhD at the AA in 2004. She taught at the AA, Goldsmiths College London, the Berlage Institute of Architecture and London Metropolitan University. Research and exhibition projects include ‘Celltexts. Books and other works produced in prison’ and an architectural reenactment of Adolf Loos’ 1927 ‘House for Josephine Baker’.

Mark Cousins, HTS Friday Evening Lecture Series, Technology and the First Person Singular, 2010/11. Photo Valerie Bennett

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The courses in First, Second and Third Year take place in Terms 1 and 2:

History & Theory Studies

First Year

In the first year the course presents a series of exemplary texts and projects addressing architectural form, space, tectonic, subject and context that will highlight fundamental instruments within the history of architecture and urbanism. In the second year the student is introduced both to the past of architecture and to the nature of architecture in different cultures. It considers the different ways in which architecture has been used as the material support of different religions, forms of political power and forms of family life. In the third year the students will study a variety of twentieth-century buildings, critical texts and other forms of representation providing the student with a more experienced way of analysing architectural devices. Students in the Intermediate School follow the courses outlined in the course document while students in the Diploma School choose from a number of optional courses taken in the First Term only. These courses are designed to be much more focused and specific, covering a wide spectrum of contemporary topics that are continuously changing from year to year. Students, who wish, can choose to write either a thesis or two separate diploma essays. At the end of the Diploma School we would hope and expect that students would be able to independently research a topic and write about a problem clearly and with a definite argument. A full account of the courses and reading lists will be given in the Complementary Studies Course Booklet, which will be available at the beginning of the academic year.

Introduction to Design, Building and Writing Course Lecturers: Chris Pierce/Brett Steele (Term 1) and Pier Vittorio Aureli (Term 2) Course Tutor: Mollie Claypool Teaching Assistants: Emma Jones, Alison Moffett, TBC

These first lessons of the history and theory of architecture will address a series of fundamental aspects within the discipline of architecture. The purpose of this, apart from the obvious objective of enabling students to know exemplary projects and positions in architecture, is to understand the relationship between architecture and its past as a body of knowledge constituted by forms of writing, designing and buildings. In the first term the course will present a series of exemplary texts and projects addressing architectural form, space, tectonic, subject and context. This will lead to the second term when the same conditions will be highlighted as fundamental instruments within the history of architecture and urbanism. Both terms will underline that knowledge of architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past is indispensable for an intelligent and critical point of view in the practise of architecture. Second Year Architecture and its Pasts Course Lecturer: Mark Cousins Course Tutor: Ryan Dillon Teaching Assistants: Ross Adams, Daniel Ayat, Roberta Maraccio

This course introduces students to the historical and cross cultural range of built forms. It does so by looking at buildings that are related to the institutions of politics, of religion and of private life. But it also considers architecture from the

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point of view of modernisation in which architectural forms are increasingly both internationalised and globalised. It considers the bases upon which new organisations of variation can be thought about in architectural terms. Third Year Architectural Coupling + 1 Course Lecturers: Mollie Claypool and Ryan Dillon Course Tutor: Ivonne Santoyo Teaching Assistants: Shumi Bose, Orit Goldstein-Mayer, Emanouil Stavrakakis

This course will couple architectural projects from the rise of modernism until the early 1990s exposing important architectural of the twentieth-century. By pitting a series of architectural projects, practices, educational models – and, occasionally, architects themselves – against one another, the course will take on a two-term project of comparative analysis. Pairings such as the Situationists versus Archigram, and the École des Beaux-Arts versus the Bauhaus will be discussed. Each coupling will be supplemented by a key device (the +1) such as theoretical writing, drawings, film publications, photography, etc. which link these projects to other contemporary disciplines outside of architecture. We will be entering worlds where Magritte’s painting, La Condition Humane will fuse together Venturi’s Guild House and Mies’s Barcelona Pavilion. Each week students will develop the skill of analysing the key architectural device in relationship to the coupling through the act of writing, dissecting key terms and how to decipher their multiple meanings bringing theory, writing and the analysis of architectural projects into a succinct body of work.

Diploma Courses The courses in the Diploma School take place in Term 1 only: Pier Vittorio Aureli Architecture and the Construction of Subjectivity

The seminar investigates the relationship between architectural form and the construction of modern and contemporary forms of subjectivity. There is no direct link between form and subjectivity. Yet the history of architecture and its project has always implied a history of the human subject understood as the potential to act, to communicate, to desire and most importantly to produce. From discussions on proportions, to the invention of perspective, from theories about beauty, to the role of engineering in the construction process, architecture has always addressed a specific, historically situated subjectivity contended by forms of power control and instances of freedom. In light of this hypothesis the seminar will revisit the history of architecture from Greek-Roman antiquity to Modernity by analysing archetypical examples such as books, buildings and architectural projects. From Filippo Brunelleschi’s modular architecture, to Leon Battista Alberti’s theory of perspective, from Pope Sixtus V’s streets network to Cedric Price’s Life Conditioning, the seminar will analyse the ways in which architecture and more generally architectural culture has implied, addressed, defined the subject’s way to live, to see, to act and to produce within urban space. The seminar will address the relationship between architecture and the city in light of political theory and political economy.

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History & Theory Studies

Mark Campbell Domestic Ruination

Scratch beneath the surface of normality and you are likely to find the complete opposite – the perverse, paranoiac or maladjusted. This course will examine the architectural dynamics of normalcy and perversion in the domesticity of the post-war American suburb through a critical reading of a series of textural, cultural and filmic references. During this research we will confront such notions as architectural and social conformity, ‘imageability,’ sexual obsolescence, the meditative value of television and the misplaced trust in technology. The course evolves out of a formulation of the compensatory role architecture played in covering over the paranoiac space of the Cold War, effecting the possibility that – as JG Ballard once offered – ‘nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again, the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul.’ Mark Cousins The History of Homecoming

The history and nature of ‘home’ causes a great deal of trouble for architectural analysis. At one level the category of ‘home’ is related to the ‘house’ and thus to the nature of domestic space and architectural form. On the other hand, the term ‘home’ has importantly migrated in historical terms to include such things as the region or the nation of one’s origin. Clearly this has created important consequences for nationalism, and for political conflict. It also creates a condition of homelessness which refers not to just the

lack of a house but to exile, migration and of inhabiting the planet without a visa. This course tackles these problems through the history of stories and aspirations to homecoming. It starts by considering the most famous homecoming of Homer’s Odyssey and looks at a twentiethcentury version in the film of Jean Luc Godard, ‘Le Mépris’. Paul Davies The Theory 750

This course comprises a set of theoretical readings running from the present day to the beginning of the twentieth century, including writers Alain Badiou, Terry Eagleton, Dave Hickey, Henri Lefebvre, William Burroughs, Evelyn Waugh, Ayn Rand and John Dos Passos. The selection of writings places an emphasis on good writing in relation to architecture and cultural theory. In doing so we provide a relatively accessible, but still dangerous analysis of our road to present calamity. The course submission will have the student launch a blog and write weekly updates in place of the traditional essay submission at the end of the course. This format makes the sessions lively and increases participation, making talking about difficult things both challenging and enjoyable. Oliver Domeisen Ornament: Decadence or Virtuosity?

In response to changed public desires and alternate forms of cultural production that have long exorcised self-referential abstract monologues in favour of more complex and meaningful modes of expression, architectural practice once again embraces the language of ornament. It is precisely architectural ornament – as an inherently architectural form of communication – that is ideally suited to re-establish a meaningful dialogue between the built

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Maria Fedorchenko Design Infrastructures

environment and its cultural and societal context. This course will equip you with the necessary knowledge and vocabulary to partake in what is a rapidly emerging discourse. The discussion of architectural ornament has always been the battlefield, upon which the future of architecture was forged. We will read and scrutinise authors such as William Hogarth, Gottfried Semper, Owen Jones, Alois Riegl, John Ruskin, Louis Sullivan or Adolf Loos, who have all defined, celebrated and condemned ornament for their own purpose. We will discover the historical contexts, underlying pathologies and enduring legacies of these seminal texts, and we will determine their relevance in establishing a desperately needed contemporary theoretical framework. In the process you will encounter some of architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ugliest conspiracies and most beautiful theories. You will cover two and a half centuries, revel in ornament from around the world and discover the difference between decadence and virtuosity. You will also learn not to trust Le Corbusier, to think harder about David Chipperfield, to fall in love with Louis Sullivan and much more. Most importantly you will learn how to read contemporary ornament in light of its historic precedents.

This course focuses on gaps between theoretical conceptions of infrastructure and their application in design. As understanding of infrastructure has expanded beyond the urban system of connection and service, it has been favoured by contemporary practices as an advanced design system. Reliant on the diagram, infrastructure was to extend the way the project works (operation) into how it looks (appearance). However, open-ended diagrammatic infrastructures yielding set forms and patterns point to potential inconsistencies. How do theoretical advances relate to practical methods for organising, programming and directing the project on multiple levels? The course will be delivered in three thematic segments and will question core design tensions: how formal armatures control processes linked to networks and fields; how controlling elements that permit growth and change borrow from ecologies and megastructures; and finally, how loose fit between form and programme relies on conceptual and geometric frameworks. Symptomatic projects by OMA, Bernard Tschumi, SANAA, UN Studio et. al. will be reframed using theoretical arguments and design precedents. We will expose potentials and limitations of infrastructure, addressing consistency between operation and appearance. As a shared research platform for several units, the course prepares you to tackle persistent design conflicts in an informed way.

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History & Theory Studies

Polity and Space John Palmesino

Francesca Hughes Outer space and Inner space: The computer outside itself

The family of software that became CAD is fifty years old and now we forget it is there, it is time that we step back and ask how it is that the computer, its use, idioms and developmental trajectory came to be the way it is? This course presents a survey of the spatial productions and effects that we now associate with the computer. The course is a cultural forensics of early computing in two parts. The first half examines spatial traditions that the invention of the computer and early use simply incorporated such as: the window as interface between subject and object; the housing of memory and the organisation of its retrieval pathways; the spatiality of calculation; and the very big piece of paper. This will entail close analysis of ancient Greek mnemonic architectures, Bush’s 1945 Memex desk, Wittgenstein’s crisis around counting and calculation, and Sutherland’s seminal Sketchpad demonstration at MIT. The second half examines the cross fertilisation between analogue and digital space in the computer’s formative years such as: the analogue spatiality of BASIC, with reference to Perec’s use of the literary algorithm; and the cinematic multiscalarity of the zoom function. Lastly, through analysis of NASA and Roscosmos footage, we will examine the shared cultural construction of outer space and digital space set out in the navigational strategies of the first space walks in which the astronaut is a protodigital object that can only ‘pitch, yaw and translate’ in that other, dark, gravityfree space.

Cohabitation, with all its conveniences and accompanied by all its struggles, has for centuries been the main purpose of the construction of cities and of the infrastructures to protect and maintain them. The very act of construction yet implies separation with the set up of differences and demarcations, it implies making differences visible, not allowing others in. It implies generating a differentiated and striated society. Architecture is today undergoing a set of negotiations and re-alignments that direct it towards a constantly changing position. The relation between the form of the inhabited territories and the institutional framework has never been a static one: the shifts, expansions and modifications in the forms of contemporary polities are reflected in the material configuration of their spaces of operation. The seminar analyses a series of architectures that have made the relation between polity and space a problematic one, where the challenges to preconceived and well-established forms of cohabitation has led to the rethinking and reshaping of power. The material basis of contemporary transformations of the operations of states, multinationals, international organisations and sub-state polities show up to traditional forms of intervention, where differences and confrontations are modulated and outplayed. The grim doubts that these constructions have cast on the established notions of sovereignty will be the departing point for a detailed theoretical analysis that sets architecture as both the object and method of analysis of transformations of contemporary life.

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Victoria Walsh The Independent Group: Tracing the Parallels in Visual and Urban Culture

The Independent Group was a highly significant collection of writers, thinkers and creative practitioners, which met at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London from 1952-56. Leading artists such as Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson and William Turnbull; architects Alison and Peter Smithson, James Stirling and Colin St John Wilson and critics Lawrence Alloway and Reyner Banham all contributed to this group which embraced contemporary culture ‘as found’. Using a range of sources including the pages of science-fiction magazines, Jackson Pollock’s paintings, Hollywood film, helicopter design, the bombed streets of London’s East End and modernist architecture, the Independent Group proposed radical new approaches to visual culture which continues to provoke artists, architects and academics. This course will consider the work and value of the Independent Group and its relation to contemporary cultural practice and thinking in today’s increasingly post-disciplinary, digital age.

copy and original in relation to history with numerous bizarre and fascinating case studies in which architectural characters employing fakes, doppelgängers, replicas and re-enactments have in fact become heroes. In a sequence of lectures that go through a variety of intellectual products and properties, the course seeks to show how spiritual property works in respect to architecture. It will tackle the constant paradox of architecture: how both conservative notions of tradition and contemporary notions of multiplication entail a degree of repetition (almost every gesture in the construction of space would have to be protected). On the other hand, architecture’s claim for innovation, expression and aesthetic value. As such, copyright in architecture seems to protect two completely incompatible sources.

Ines Weizman Architectural doppelgangers, fakes and déjà vue(s)

Open Lecture Course: The Poetics of Cliché Mark Cousins

This course deals with questions of authenticity, originality, fake, law and architecture. In the contemporary intensity of our media, culture flows, and the dematerialisation of the architectural process and product, issues of intellectual property, copyright or by extension patent are at the centre of a new vortex of creativity. Looking at examples in the history of art, architecture and photography, the course will couple more theoretical, or conceptual discussions of notions such as forgery,

Fridays at 5.00pm in the Lecture Hall Mark Cousins lecture course will examine the power of formulations in language or in images, which would normally be described as cliché. It asks why these formulations exercise such a continuing power over us and why we respond to them. Over the course of the lectures we will examine various concepts of the ‘imaginary’ and the use of ‘imaginary’ to explain certain mechanisms in that area called everyday life.

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Media Studies

Head Of Media Studies: Eugene Han Staff: Shany Barath Sue Barr Valentin Bontjes Van Beek Shin Egashira Elif Erdine Trevor Flynn Anderson Inge Max Kahlen Alex Kaiser Tobias Klein Heather Lyons Antoni Malinowski Marlie Mul Joel Newman Goswin Schwendinger

Introduction Media Studies at the AA includes required studio-based courses for First and Second Year students, covering methods of production in the design process. In addition, it offers a set of computer laboratory-based courses that focus on the direct instruction of a series of significant digital applications in the architectural pipeline. Studio-based courses for Second Year students are also open to participation by all students in the Intermediate or Diploma schools, while laboratory-based courses are open to students throughout the entire school. Together the many classes and special events comprising Media Studies expose students to the work of architects, artists and other practitioners, to the innovative skills associated with traditional forms of architectural media and representation, and to today’s most experimental information, communication and fabrication technologies. Media Studies emphasises the integration of established techniques in design with progressive media and production methods, underlining the potential of production within the creative process.

Eugene Han runs AVAStudio, developing systems in industrial design, architecture and computation. He is also the Unit Master of Diploma 8. eugenehan@ aaschool.ac.uk Shany Barath is a registered architect and the cofounder of SHaGa Studio. She received her degree in architecture from the TU Delft faculty of architecture in the Netherlands (Hons), and her MArch in design and computation from the AA. She has practised architecture with Ben Van Berkel_UNStudio in Amsterdam and Adrian Geuze_West 8 in Rotterdam, and has been teaching at the AA since 2009. Sue Barr studied at the London College of Printing where she specialised in photographing Brutalist architecture. She is now in practice as an architectural photographer and tutor at the AA. She is currently a PhD student within the architecture department at the RCA, where she is using large-format digital photography to research and produce topographical photographs of motorway infrastructures. Valentin Bontjes Van Beek trained as a carpenter in Germany before attending the AA, from which he graduated in 1998. He has practised architecture in Berlin, New York and London, and has taught at the AA since 2001, where he is currently a First Year Tutor. Shin Egashira makes art and architecture worldwide. His recent collaborative experiments include the rebuilding of Alfred Jarry’s ‘Time Machine’, ‘How to Walk a Flat Elephant’ and ‘Twisting Concrete’. His work has been exhibited in Japan and Europe in venues like the Spiral Garden in Tokyo and the Venice Biennale.

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For the last 16 years he has conducting a series of landscape workshops in rural communities across the world including Koshirakura (Japan), Gu-Zhu Village (China) and Muxagata (Portugal). He has been Diploma 11 Unit Master since 1996. Elif Erdine is a PhD candidate at the AA and Director of the AA Istanbul Visiting School and AA DLAB Programmes. She has been working at Zaha Hadid Architects since 2006. She received her BArch degree from Istanbul Technical University in 2003 (High Honours), and MArch degree from the AA DRL in 2006 (Project Distinction). Trevor Flynn received his MFA (Goldsmiths) and is Director of Drawing at Work. He is a drawing instructor at Rogers, Stirk, Harbour and Partners, an associate lecturer at Central St Martins College of Art and Design and has produced short tutorial films for the Architects Journal about freehand drawing. Anderson Inge is a practising architect who has completed additional training in structural engineering (at MIT) and sculpture (at St Martins). He also teaches at the Rural Studio and Royal College of Art (sculpture). Max Kahlen is working as an architect in London and Germany. He is founding director of Dyvik & Kahlen Architecture and worked as an associate at IJP Corporation after studying at the Stuttgart Academy of Art & Design and the AA where he graduated with Honours. Max has been teaching courses in Diploma and Media Studies at the AA since 2008.

Tobias Klein studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen, the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and gained his Diploma and MArch at the Bartlett School for Architecture. He is a founder of .horhizon, an experimental architectural design platform. He has taught First Year and Media Studies at the AA since 2008 and was previously a unit master at the Royal College of Art and visiting teacher at the University of Innsbruck. Heather Lyons is an architect and interaction designer who has been producing digital products

for the last 12 years. She has worked on a wide variety of projects from mobile handsets to interactive kiosks and environments. She concentrates on creating interfaces which are simple, charming and useful. She received her MArch from Princeton University in 1999. Antoni Malinowski is an artist whose practice comprises painting and large-scale drawing installations. He has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe, and his paintings are in most major collections, including the Tate’s. Recent art in architecture

projects include a mosaic for the facade of the new Eric Parry building on Maddox Street, London. Marlie Mul is an artist from The Netherlands, living and working in Berlin and London. She received an MA in Architectural Histories & Theories from the AA in 2009 and a bachelors degree in Fine Art from the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht in 2003. She is an initiator of the online artists’ publishing platform www.xym. no launched in 2009.

Nara Ha, Assembly of maquette. Course: Ecclesial Anatomies, Tobias Klein (tutor).

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Joel Newman was born in 1971 in rural Hertfordshire. He studied fine art at Reading University and has exhibited in the UK and abroad. He has run the AA’s Audio Visual department since 1994 and taught Video within Media Studies since 1998. Goswin Schwendinger was born in Belgium, became an architect in Switzerland, went to Spain to learn photography and moved to London to live. He has been teaching at the AA since 1999 and recently collaborated with Paul McCarthy on a Tate Modern publication.

Media Studies

First Year Courses Peripheral Landscapes Sue Barr, Terms 1 & 2

Required Media Studies Courses Media Studies courses are a required part of the First Year and Intermediate Schools, providing students with the knowledge and skills associated with a wide range of contemporary design, communication and fabrication media. These weekly courses are taught by AA unit staff, the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s AV department, Workshop and Computing staff, as well as by invited outside architects, artists, media and other creative specialists. Each term-long course focuses on the conceptual and technical aspects of a specified topic of design media, and emphasises a sustained development of a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to use design techniques as a means for conceiving, developing and producing design projects and strategies. Media Studies Lab Courses Working with the AA Computer Lab, Media Studies offers a range of focused workshops that allow students to quickly grasp fundamental techniques in major digital applications for architecture. As digital design technologies have now matured as an integral part of the architectural education offered by the school, Media Studies provides concise one-day courses that cover the fundamentals of many of the most common computer applications, covering content such as 3D modelling, computer-aided drafting, imaging, publication, digital computation and scripting, various physics-based analyses, and other relevant software. www.aa-mediastudies.net

This year we will explore landscape photography in suburbia, taking inspiration from the work of legendary American landscape photographer Robert Adams. Instead of photographing iconic architecture within the city centre we will be working at the periphery of the city, where the landscape is subtler and reveals its forms more quietly. Translation Object to Drawing Shin Egashira, Term 1

An examination of the link between procedures used in representing and making space, through the translation of objects into drawings and the interpretation of sets of drawing into models. One-to-One Instruments Shin Egashira, Term 2

Techniques for constructing performative instruments, including collage and bricolage, are to be tested through application to the city. We will be working both on drawings and physical assemblages to develop design concepts. Light Moments Elif Erdine, Terms 1 & 2

The course will bring together different methods of algorithmic modelling and rapid prototyping in order to design and fabricate a 1:1 scale lighting element for interior environments. Students will be introduced to the principles of parametric tools using Rhinoceros as the digital platform to produce a range of experimental design options depending on specific rules.

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Life Drawing Trevor Flynn, Terms 1 & 2

The figure will be used as a departure point for drawings that enable us to study tone, mass, line, rhythm and underlying geometric pattern. We will work with a number of techniques to develop observational skills and draw with a wide range of media. Colour and Light Antoni Malinowski, Term 2

Information Design and Presentation Heather Lyons, Terms 1 & 2

The course focuses on the interaction of subtractive and additive colour. We shall be considering micro structure of pigments and other materials as a source of the perceptual interdependence of micro and macro scale.

This course will teach students techniques for clear and meaningful visual communication. Term 1 will focus on taking information from the analogue world to the digital world, creating infographics and investigating mapping strategies. To support our work, we will spend a portion of each session looking at different toolsets and devices from typography to colour, iconography, layout techniques and graphing and mapping tools. Term 2 will be a deeper investigation into putting all the pieces together. We will look at typography and layout techniques in greater detail and take a critical look at layout strategies. By the end of the term, you should be communicating visually with impact.

Object Organisation Marlie Mul, Term 2

In a course focused on formal improvisation, each student will work towards the creation of 1:1 scale functional objects from Styrofoam. Working according to a set of parameters, the object will be the site for finding a successful structure by means of both improvisation and calculation. Video: First Year Joel Newman, Term 1

Materiality of Colour Antoni Malinowski, Term 1

This course focuses on the potential of colour in creating/manipulating space. Students will be introduced to the materiality of pure pigments with the focus on colour as micro-structure. Students will be encouraged to create their own distinctive notational system sensitive to space, time, light and the characteristics of materials.

Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Jean-Luc Godard In these sessions students will make a 1500-frame animation using video technology. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one minute in real time. After looking at examples of animated work we will embark on an exploration of techniques and methods. No techniques are excluded but students must create their own soundtracks.

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Media Studies Second Year Courses Active Matter I Shany Barath, Term 1

This course will experiment with systemic procedures and speculate on the possibilities of production modes as both performative and sensual aspects of digital craft. Working at the interface between computed geometry, material properties (melting points, colour, translucency) and machinic inputs (drill bits, speed, temperature), we will explore the production of geometric articulation as the parameter of negotiation between the machine and the material.

be designed and produced with the use of CNC-milling technology. Issues of weight, porosity and composition should be considered. The course will culminate with a fabrication trip to Hooke Park. Pending Structures Valentin Bontjes Van Beek, Term 2

Active Matter II Shany Barath, Term 2

This course will continue the investigation into systemic production modes as both performative and sensual aspects of digital craft. In this term we will focus on the development of digital data sorting techniques and the possibilities of translating visible and invisible material properties into variables of colour, light and penetration patterns. Through the exploration of data-driven material effects, we will experiment with different modes of manufacturing techniques in order to generate a series of fabricated data prototypes. Replica Structures Valentin Bontjes Van Beek, Term 1

The course will focus on the redesign (copy) and fabrication of an existing chair. Each student will select an original (chair) and work towards a translation and a fresh construction strategy for the fabrication of this replica structure. Our sole medium will be 12mm-sheet material (birch plywood). All components will

Going beyond the scale of the standard model, this course focuses on developing a working understanding of fabrication through designing on the CNC machine for an actual scale. Throughout the term, students will be developing projects that address the design of installation pieces within the school, examining the relationship of material structures and physical resolution. The ‘Pending Structure’ should be beautiful and consider ideas of independence while respecting forms of integration – a measured ratio of directionality and belonging. The course will culminate with the fabrication of a final project at Hooke Park.

Customised Computation Eugene Han, Term 1

This course will focus on the manipulation of digital geometry using scripted techniques within a NURBS modelling environment, using Python for Rhino. We will cover the basics of scripted logic to customise geometry using iterative logic. Students will also be introduced to the basics behind the theory of computation and processing as a means to establish intelligent geometrical systems, and its application to their ongoing unit projects.

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MMORPM Eugene Han, Term 2

In MMORPG (Massively Multi-Object Rapid Prototyped Models), students will be extending their knowledge in the scripting environment to include techniques in rapid prototyping to control workflow strategies within Rhino using Python script and model construction. Students will produce and document relevant processes to determine the most effective customised workflows for design research projects. Drawing in the Nation’s Cupboards Anderson Inge, Term 1

Painting Architecture Alex Kaiser, Terms 1 & 2

Students will achieve confidence in drawing-by-hand. We’ll enjoy the riches of nearby national collections, as we draw both from observation and from imagination. ‘So much more than I expected from a “drawing class”, a new perspective in visualisation was unravelled.’

Using the medium of digital painting we will be creating large-scale narratives. We will hurl pixels at a virtual canvas, which will then be redrawn, modelled and deconstructed as we navigate our way through it. Architectures and stories that exist within it will be surgically extracted and edited. Ideas will be siphoned through various software, techniques and projections that gradually aggregate into the final vision.

The Invisible Visible – Interiority Max Kahlen, Terms 1 & 2

This course will focus on the construction of two contrasting forms of representation: one drawing and one image – aiming to represent precisely one idea and one moment, dedicated to the notion of ‘interiority’ – an atmosphere somewhere between plan and space. In a series of workshops students will explore specific drafting and collage techniques, developing a sensibility for detail and learning to confront the precise abstraction of the drawing with the surreal reality of the collage. We will conclude the course with a collective publication.

Bone-Paper-Scissors Tobias Klein, Term 1

Focusing on the qualities of found data objects (objets trouvés), in particular data residues of 3D scans, laser-scans and magnetic resonance images, the course will contextualise, interpret and situate embodied data in the architectural landscape of London. We will use Osirix, Rhinoceros, 3ds Max, Modo, laser cutting and 3d printing technologies to create models within a Duchampian tradition as a result of composition, scale, placement and articulation.

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Media Studies

WebCam It + Augment It Immanuel Koh, Term 2

The course continues the conceptual computational framework set out in the autumn by looking at Augmented Reality (AR) as another potential site of spatial investigation using real-time video-based input. This term students will use the webcam as the main hardware and Processing/Java as the main scripting software to implement the AR experiments (ie videofeeding, making & tracking 2D QR pattern and creating & importing 3D objects).

Matterhorn Bobsleds Tobias Klein, Term 2

Modelled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps, the Matterhorn Bobsleds is an attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Located between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, it employs forced perspective. The course seeks to experiment with modes of representation between the artificial rendered beautification and the mechanic precise construction of the artificial mountain. We will use Rhinoceros, 3ds Max, Autocad and Photoshop to create an articulated set of documents of our own augmented natural imitation. Scan It + Track It Immanuel Koh, Term 1

The use of motion-sensor apparatus in today’s gaming industry has allowed hackers/designers to capture 3D data for their own purposes without sophisticated knowledge of the underlying technology. This term students will use X-Box’s Kinect sensor to extract Depth, IR, RGB data and then further manipulate them with Processing’s rich algorithmic and graphical capabilities.

Video: Intermediate Joel Newman, Term 2

This year the course will investigate new private spaces that have been shaped by the audio components you will create in the initial stages of the project. The piece which may be without narrative in structure, will be no shorter than three minutes in length and will incorporate live action footage. The Unseen I Goswin Schwendinger, Term 1

Lives will be observed and visualised as random yet personal guidelines that trigger photographic moments. The build-up of a personal vocabulary generates the foundation for the construction of new realities. ‘A Mind-blowing Experience’. The Unseen II Goswin Schwendinger, Term 2

Based on results of the work from The Unseen I course we will dissect, reconfigure and recompose the final results and come up with a yet unseen composition of visual realities (‘a crock’, ‘brilliant’, ‘indulgent’).

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Tia Crocker. Course: The Invisible Visible, Max Kahlen (tutor).

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Technical Studies

Head of Technical Studies Javier Castañón Intermediate Master Wolfgang Frese Diploma Master Javier Castañón

The Technical Studies programme stands as a complete and coherent technical education over five years, but also constructs a creative collaboration with the material demands of individual unit agendas. The programme continues to evolve from detailed discussions with lecturers, all of whom are drawn from leading engineering practices and research institutions embracing a wide range of disciplines and current projects. It is founded on the provision of a substantial knowledge base, developed through critical case studies of contemporary fabrication processes, constructed artefacts and buildings. These studies include critical reflection and experimentation with the ideas and techniques taught. Knowledge acquired in this way generates a ‘means’, a set of precepts capable of negotiating the technical requirements of construction in unforeseen futures and unpredictable contexts. Lecture courses form a portion of each year’s requirements, particularly during the First, Second and Fourth years of study. In these years students concentrate on critical case studies, analysis and material experiments. In the First year, in addition to the lecture courses, Technical Studies Design tutors will join the First Year tutor masters in the studio and contribute with tutorials and consultations.

Programme Staff Giles Bruce Phil Cooper Christina Doumpioti Kenneth Fraser Clive Fussell Mehran Gharleghi David Illingworth Anderson Inge Marissa Kretsch John Noel Fernando Perez Fraile Juan Subercaseaux Manja van de Worp Consultants Carolina Bartram Ian Duncombe Ben Godber Martin Hagemann Emanuele Marfisi Simos Yannas Mohsen Zikri

Javier Castañón is in private practice as director of Castañón Associates (London) and Castañón Asociados (Madrid). Wolfgang Frese studied at Stuttgart and the Bartlett. He is an associate at Alsop Architects working on many international projects. Giles Bruce is a chartered architect specialising in environmental performance. He is a graduate of the AA SED programme (Distinction 2007). In addition to directing a_zero environmental architects, he teaches environmental design at the AA and the University of Nottingham. Philip Cooper is technical director of Cameron Taylor Bedford, Consulting Engineers, located in Cambridge. He has taught at Cambridge University, Leeds University and the AA.

In the Third Year, lecture coursework, workshop experiments and technical ambitions are synthesised in a detailed Technical Design Project (TS3). Students conduct design research and experiments to explore and resolve the technical issues of the main project of their unit portfolio, with the guidance of Technical Studies tutors. In the Fifth Year, students undertake a Technical Design Thesis (TS5), a substantial individual work that is developed under the guidance of Technical Studies. The thesis is contextualised as part of a broader dialogue which synthesises the technical and the architectural agendas arising within the units. Its critical development is pursued through case studies, material experiments and extensive research and consultation.

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Christina Doumpioti is an architect and received her Masters of Architecture (Dist) from the AA and has worked at Arup Associates. She was Studio Master in the EmTech graduate programme at the AA and co-director of the Biodynamic Structures AA Visiting School. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Royal College of Art. Ian Duncombe is a Director of BDSP Partnership, which he co-founded in 1995. The practice has worked on projects including the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi and 30 St Mary Axe. Current work includes Central Market in Abu Dhabi. He graduated from the University of Bath in 1987. Kenneth Fraser has taught at the AA since 2007 and is a director of Kirkland Fraser Moor Architects

(k-f-m.com). He served as an advisor to the Department of the Environment Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel.

and civil engineering at Imperial College. He teaches at the Bartlett and is currently Associate Lecturer in structures at the University of Kent.

Clive Fussell is a Chartered structural engineer who has worked on projects in the Middle East, the USA and the UK. and at Buro Happold Engineers. In 2010 he became a founding director of Engenuiti. He studied Engineering Science at Oxford University and in 2001 graduated from the Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE) Masters Degree at the University of Cambridge.

Martin Hagemann is an architect at Grimshaw’s, where he is a member of the computational design and biomimicry research groups.

Ben Godber is a structural engineer with a background in architecture. He is the founding Director of Godber & Co. He studied architecture at the Bartlett

David Illingworth is a chartered structural engineer working in Buro Happold. He studied civil and structural engineering at the University of Sheffield and was awarded a Happold Scholarship. He has also tutored at the Welsh School of Architecture and lectured at Imperial College. Anderson Inge studied architecture at the AA and at the University of Texas at Austin before completing

additional academic training in structural engineering (at MIT) and sculpture (at St Martins). John Noel studied civil engineering at Imperial College, London and the RWTH Aachen, Germany. He worked with Buro Happold in London until 2010. He is a senior engineer at T/E/S/S Atelier d’Ingénierie, in Paris. Manja Van de Worp is a graduate of the AA’s Emergent Technologies & Design programme. Fernando Perez Fraile studied architecture in Spain and worked at Frank O Gehry and Associates. He joined IDOM in 1993 and in 2001 he set up IDOM UK. He has taught at the University of Navarre and collaborated with the TS Department at the AA since 2002.

Charlotte Moe, Intermediate 9, Water Weights Controlling Form – a fabric canopy structure that responds to wind and sunlight intensity and direction above the Colonia Guell crypt in Barcelona

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Technical Studies Two timeline options are offered to all Intermediate and Diploma units: Option 1: Interim Jury in Week 6 of Term 2 (13 – 17 February 2012) Option 1: Final Document Submission: Monday 5 March 2012 Option 2: Interim Jury in Week 9 of Term 2 (5 – 9 March 2012) Option 2: Final Document Submission: Monday 23 April 2012 The Prospectus contains a brief summary of the TS programme and the courses offered. Full details and a statement of the course regulations will be found in the HTS/TS/Media Studies Handbook, which will be available at the beginning of the academic year.

research into them, to produce physical models and, above all, to ask questions. What is that element of the building for? What loads is it subject to? Why this particular geometry? Why was this material chosen? How was it constructed? Weekly lectures given by the course tutors aim to provide students with a sound qualitative understanding and appreciation of fundamental structural principles: forces and loads; form and geometry; and mechanics of materials. The course will conclude with each group of students presenting their case study to their peers along with the submission of a brief written report.

First Year Workshop Introduction

Making is an important part of the programme for the year, and students spend a significant portion of their time in the workshop. The induction sessions are run by the workshop staff and cover the use of tools, machines and facilities, including correct safety procedures.

First Applications (First Year Compulsory Course – Term 2) Giles Bruce (Environment), Christina Doumpioti (Materials) and Marissa Kretsch (Structures)

Case Study (First Year Compulsory Course – Term 1) Ben Godber and David Illingworth

This course aims to equip students with the skills to critically engage with existing buildings and works of architecture through the examination of structure. The year will be divided into groups, with each group being assigned a case study building in London. As such, London will be our principal teaching resource. Students will be encouraged to get under the skin of their case study buildings, to see them ‘in the flesh’, to draw them, to conduct

The purpose of this course is to offer students a more direct hands-on experimental approach that will allow a greater integration of Technical Studies with the First Year design portfolio. Technical Studies tutors (experts on structures, materials and environmental issues) will join First Year studio tutors. Seven separate briefs will cover three areas – structure, materials and environment. The submission for the course will be made as part of the TS workshop during Week 11 of Term 2 and will be assessed by the TS tutors in the presence of the First Year studio tutors.

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Intermediate School Second Year students take Structures and one of two other courses offered. Third Year students, in addition to the Structures course, undertake a Technical Design study as part of their main project, which synthesises their individual architectural ambitions with an account of the material production of the proposal. Structures (Second Year Compulsory Course) Phil Cooper and Anderson Inge

This course aims to develop a feel for forces in structures through a series of lectures and student presentations that investigate how the structural elements of a building carry a load. We will analyse well-known buildings to show how strength and safety can be predicted by calculation. In addition to making physical models and load-testing them to illustrate deformation and failure, we will find idealised conceptual models to demonstrate structural behaviour, focusing on the stability of the whole building structure. We will also examine how forces create stresses and deformations in architectural structures, taking into account material properties. Material and Technologies (Second Year Option Course) Carolina Bartram

This course will investigate a range of materials used in contemporary structures including concrete, timber, brick and blocks, glass, fabrics and composites. Material properties, methods of manufacture, durability, cost and appearance are significant factors that will be reviewed, leading to an understanding of how different materials can be used in a variety of applications.

Environmental Design in Practice (Second Year Option Course) Giles Bruce

‘We all know environmental design is important – but we just can’t see how it is relevant to our studio work.’ This course aims to challenge this sentiment by s howing how every design decision that architects make has an immediate and quantifiable impact in terms of environmental performance. The course provides students with an intuitive grasp of the underlying principles of environmental design and the creative opportunities these present in terms of architectural form, materiality and expression. Above all, the course aims to eliminate the temptation of ‘greenwash’ from studio design work by providing students with analytical techniques to test and validate their environmental hypotheses. Structures (Third Year Compulsory Course) Phil Cooper and Anderson Inge

This course introduces structural model analysis, inviting students to make and test scale models to predict the static and dynamic behaviour of structures under load. The theory and practice of the effects of scale will become obvious from the model testing, promoting better intuition for predicting the behaviour of real, full-size structures. Analytical skills will be applied to make predictions. The observed behaviour of physical models under load will be used to establish the parameters of a detailed digital model that a computer can analyse.

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Technical Studies

Diploma School Fourth Year Seminar Courses Fourth Year students choose two courses from the selection on offer and may attend others according to their interests: Form and Matter Christina Doumpioti Third Year Design Project Wolfgang Frese and Manja van de Worp with Giles Bruce, Christina Doumpioti, Clive Fussell, Fernando Perez and Juan Subercaseaux

Third Year students undertake a comprehensive design study that explores and resolves the central technical issues of their projects in collaboration with individual unit agendas. The study records the strategic technical decisions made as the design is developed, integrating knowledge of the environmental context, use of materials, structural forms and processes of assembly. It also documents the research carried out in the process of developing the design project. The individual projects are developed with support from technical teaching staff within the unit and from tutorials with Wolfgang Frese and the Intermediate TS Staff. Seminars on specific relevant subjects will be organised by the technical teaching staff and guest speakers further support the research.

How does matter form under different forces and design objectives? How can architecture be informed by material textures, attributes and constraints? Through the investigation of natural systems, form-finding techniques, smart materials and novel digital fabrication technologies, this course will introduce a new method of design influenced by the embedded intelligence of materials. Case studies will examine the use of traditional materials in both past and contemporary contexts, analysing techniques of assemblage and fabrication while developing an understanding of how common materials can be applied in innovative ways. Using physical form-finding models as well as computational tools to simulate material behaviour, we will approach structures as complex systems emerging from the strong relationship between force, energy and material organisation, resulting in the desired performative and spatial effects. Guest speakers from research and practice will contribute by providing expertise through different scales of material implementation.

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Environmental Engineering of Tall Buildings Ian Duncombe

There is a continuing fascination with the tall and super-tall buildings that define the evolving skylines of the world’s major cities. But can they contribute to a more sustainable future, and what role does environmental engineering play in the design of these towering structures? The course aims to address these questions whilst imparting the fundamental knowledge needed to design tall. We will consider tall buildings in an urban context, the strategic considerations defining form, the impact of climate, the environmental drivers affecting form and fabric, servicing strategies and various approaches to lowenergy and sustainable design. Students will have the chance to apply the principles learned from the course by developing a concept for their own tall building. Process in the Making Wolfgang Frese

This course aims to highlight and explain the complex forces underlying the transformation of architectural designs into built form, joining the processes that link the design of architecture with the ‘art of building’. We will focus on interdisciplinary collaboration since the architect, as lead consultant, has to constantly adjust and evaluate his designs to address these often contradictory forces. Guest speakers from other consultancies will discuss their own perspective on the importance of collaboration within a project team.

Small in Large – the Interrelation of Component and System Martin Hagemann

For reasons of rationalisation, prefabrication, flexibility and maintenance, the use of components in architecture has become very common. This course aims to give the designing architect an insight into the theory and practice of component-based structures, covering their organisation, assembly, performance and current research. We will critically review existing component-based systems and investigate how advanced technology in the design and fabrication process can be used for redefinition and contemporary interpretation. We will get to know systems in which the individual component is adaptable, thus turning the whole system into a responsive structure. Invited researchers from different European and American research institutes will present their latest experiments in theory and practice.

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Technical Studies

Technology Transfers or Technomimetics John Noel

Studies in Advanced Structural Design Emanuele Marfisi

Structures are complex systems providing strength, stiffness and stability to buildings. This course starts with a brief history of the most common types of constructions before going on to detailed studies of structural principles and forms that describe the potential of the various systems. The investigation includes the comparison of construction details, buildability issues and other non-structural design challenges. Advanced methods used in structural engineering are introduced and discussed throughout the course. Coursework focuses on the analysis of an existing building, looking at drawings and photographs to gain understanding of its structural behaviour and to develop alternative concepts or alterations of the existing structure. The objective is to make students more aware of structural options and thus more comfortable during the development of their unit project designs and in their future professional endeavours.

This course hinges on the simple observation that the world around us, from artefacts to living things, is bursting with structural engineering ready to be applied to buildings. We will start by exploring the use of materials in the context of structures where weight is a primary concern, and will then explore the relationship of some familiar everyday objects and living organisms to buildings. After this, we will investigate some of the production, transformation and assembly processes used in other industries and their possible cross-pollination with construction processes, before looking at the spectrum of technologies currently employed on a building site. The course will conclude by examining the way design is supported by information technology and communicated through production, fabrication and assembly. Environmental Modelling & Simulation Simos Yannas

This hands-on technical course is on the use of environmental design software for the generation and assessment of climate data and the simulation of solar, thermal and lighting processes in and around real or virtual buildings. An introduction to fundamental environmental design parameters is followed by a study of adaptive comfort mechanisms relating to the different climatic, programmatic and operational conditions characterising unit projects. This becomes input for modelling and simulation studies using software aimed at achieving thermal and visual comfort with minimum use of non-renewable energy sources.

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Form, Energy and Environment Mohsen Zikri

The course explores design territories where architecture and engineering meet. Its aim is to help students create holistic buildings with strong sustainability credentials and attributes that delight their occupants as well as the general public. The course explores the links between building form, energy and the micro/ macro environments and reviews the development of the building skin. It explores the use of passive energy design techniques and the exploitation of renewable energy sources on real projects. We will analyse how specific buildings have benefited from the use of computational modelling tools, placing emphasis on human comfort and energy use. Students will complete a two-part design assignment. The first part includes researching case studies of buildings in different climatic zones. The second involves conceiving a futuristic building that is capable of pushing the normal design and social boundaries within the built environment.

Fifth Year Technical Thesis Javier Casta帽贸n with Giles Bruce, Christina Doumpioti, Kenneth Fraser, Mehran Gharleghi, Martin Hagemann, David Illingworth and John Noel

The Technical Design Thesis is a substantial individual work developed under the guidance of Javier Casta帽贸n and the Diploma TS Staff. Tutorial support and guidance is also provided within the unit. The central interests and concerns may emerge from current or past design work, or from one of the many lecture and seminar courses the student has attended in previous years. The thesis is contextualised as part of a broader dialogue in which the technical and the architectural agendas that arise within the unit are synthesised, and its critical development is pursued through case studies, material experiments and extensive research and consultation.

Diploma 6, Edward Pearce, 2010/11

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Architectural Practice

Staff: Javier Castañón Hugo Hinsley Alastair Robertson Robert Sparrow Javier Castañon is in private practice as Director of Castañón Associates (London) and Castañón Asociados (Madrid). He has taught at the AA since 1978. Hugo Hinsley is an architect with experience in housing, community buildings and urban development projects. He also teaches in the Housing & Urbanism programme in the Graduate School. His recent research explores London’s design and planning, particularly in the East End and Docklands; European urban policy and design; and housing and urban density.

Alastair Robertson trained at the AA and Manchester Business School and has taught at the AA since 1971. As a senior consultant he has worked on several English new towns and St Katharine Dock in London and currently advises industry sector organisations in the UK and several governments in the Middle East on vocational training and qualification systems and policies.

Part 1 Professional Practice for Third Year Javier Castañón

Developing an understanding of architectural practice is a mandatory requirement within the Intermediate and Diploma schools, and specific courses are run for Third Year and Fifth Year students. A Professional Studies Advisor is available for year-out students and post-Part 2 students to help with work experience. Developing practice experience is essential preparation for the final Part 3 examination that may be taken after several years’ office experience working on live building projects.

This course prepares Third Year students for their year out, a time for practical training taken after completion of RIBA Part 1. It aims to provide students with an idea of what working in an architectural practice entails. Students will learn how to ‘make themselves useful’ in an office with the intent that the sooner they are perceived as useful, the sooner they will become part of the action and the more they will benefit from the experience. The first lecture, titled Roadmap to Architectural Registration, describes the steps required for registration as an architect and is followed by four lectures which cover a wide range of subjects illustrating issues with real-life examples and well-known case studies.

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Part 2 Future Practice for Fifth Year Hugo Hinsley

The sixth lecture will be conducted as a meeting to illustrate the importance of conveying information in the professional environment (be it in a site hut or clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boardroom) and how this differs from that of the lecture theatre or a jury in the AA. This affords the students the opportunity to prepare their assignments and group presentations as well as a chance to practise tasks such as taking meeting minutes. The final lecture consists of a 15-minute presentation by four groups of students on a topic selected from those covered in the previous sessions. Those students not participating in this presentation will need to submit a short written essay. Since AA students come from all over the world, and many of them intend to practise back home, the essays are encouraged to be comparative in nature, for studies of situations arising both in Britain and in home countries. The essays should present concepts, facts, points of law, etc, clearly and succinctly, in no more than 1,500 words on the appointed day.

The context and conditions of architectural work are changing rapidly. Practice needs to adapt, both conceptually and practically. Being a good designer is not, in itself, enough to succeed in practice. This course provides an opportunity to investigate how design work is implemented in the real world and the implications of this for developing a practice of architecture. There is no standard model of practice and each student should address the question of how to design a concept and structure of practice that will best support the type of work they aim to achieve. A series of lectures and discussion sessions explores issues related to the changing context of design and production of the built environment and different concepts and models of practice. These issues include the changing context in which projects are realised; different responsibilities towards clients and users; economic and cultural impacts; political and legislative considerations; environmental issues and ethical implications. There are also more practical points, including ways to collaborate with other disciplines and consultants; effective ways to engage with the construction process; and suitable models and scales of an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;officeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Students work with a tutor to develop a critical paper of around 3,000 words. This should discuss, in relation to the issues covered in the course, some implications for developing a practice of design, as well as potential techniques and structures to support the evolution of the most effective future practice. ARB/RIBA validation procedures for Part 2 require evidence of Professional Studies. Fifth Year students must achieve a pass in this course and include the assessed paper in their final portfolios.

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Architectural Practice

Part 3 AA Course and Exam in Professional Practice Alastair Robertson and Rob Sparrow

Supervision of Work Experience for Intermediate & Diploma School

For year-out and post-Part 2 students, Alastair Robertson, the AA Professional Studies Advisor (PSA) provides counselling on all aspects of training and work experience in architectural practice. Students can make an appointment through Rob Sparrow (sparrow_ro@ aaschool.ac.uk) to meet with Alastair. A guidebook on the year out, Working out in Architecture gives advice and tips on how to obtain a job and what is expected from year-out experience. The guidebook is downloadable from the AA Website (www.aaschool.ac.uk/architecturalpractice). All year-out and post-Part 2 students must register with Rob Sparrow. Registration for the year out is free. For post-Part 2 students it is £250. Registration entitles students to workplace oversight, tutorials with the PSA, UKBA liaison, as required. Review and sign-off of PEDR records – the Professional Education and Development Record (PEDR – see www.pedr. co.uk) is a mandatory part of students’ final Part 3 requirements and a failure to keep the records up to date during Part 1 and Part 2 can cause serious problems in future practice. For students subject to UK Border Agency visa regulations sign-on is critical because the AA cannot support visa extensions and renewals without proper documents.

Leads to exemption from the ARB/RIBA requirements for the Part 3 Examination Each year the AA provides two courses and examination programmes, one beginning in March and the other in mid-September. Alastair Robertson, the AA’s Director of Professional Practice and Professional Studies Advisor (PSA) and Rob Sparrow, the Professional Practice Coordinator, advise and help students through the process. Typically there are 25 places available for each course and examination programme. Candidates are drawn from the AA and other UK schools and pass rates exceed 75 per cent. The course and examination is formally recognised by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). An intensive full-time, two-week course offers an introduction to the examination process and covers all the topics central to professional practice, including building contract, planning and building regulations as well as business management and soft skills such as personal presentation. It is not intended as a foundation course, but the AA provides an extensive bibliography, lecture notes, past papers, tutorials and access to study groups. The 48-week/year-long AA Part 3 programme also serves as a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for UK registered practitioners trained elsewhere in the EU who have not had to sit a Part 3 exam in the UK because of European Law on ‘Mutual Recognition of professional qualifications between EU states’. The examination is a two-step process. First, candidates must establish their

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eligibility by submitting a report for an Initial Assessment by the PSA. Second, they must submit a scenario-based research paper that is completed over four weeks. Third, three digitally-based papers are done under exam conditions at the AA and finally, candidates present themselves for a professional review by two examiners from the AA Board of Part 3 Examiners. The review is based on their record of professional experience (normally a PEDR record – see www.pedr. co.uk), the documents submitted for their initial assessment and their exam papers. To be eligible to sit the exam, candidates must have exemption from the ARB/RIBA Part 1 and 2 Examinations, at least two years’ practice experience (three to four years is more usual), of which one year must be after passing Part 2 and one year should be in the UK working on UK-based projects and under the supervision of a UK-registered architect. The essential starting point for Part 3 students is to register with the school immediately after completing Diploma School/Part 2. The registration fee covers the costs of practice monitoring, PEDR review and sign-off, an initial Part 3 Assessment and tutorials with the PSA, as required. Registration is essential for students subject to visa regulations as they could lose their UK work experience entitlements because of the AA School’s sponsorship obligations to the UK Borders Agency. The PSA will not sign PEDR forms unless the student is registered with the AA School. For further information see www.aaschool.ac.uk/study/ professionalstudies/part3.php

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Graduate School

The AA Graduate School includes 11 postgraduate programmes offering advanced studies in one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most dynamic learning environments. All enrolled students join the school in September at the outset of an academic year, and attend full-time studies according to the length of the course selected. Full-time masters programmes include 12-month MA and Msc and 16-month MArch options. The Design Research Lab (MArch), focuses on experimental architecture and urbanism through a series of design projects. Emergent Technologies & Design (MArch/MSc) emphasises forms of architectural design that proceed from innovative technologies. History & Critical Thinking (MA) encourages a critical understanding of contemporary architecture and urban culture grounded in a knowledge of histories and forms of practice. Housing & Urbanism (MA) rethinks urbanism as a spatial discipline through a combination of design projects and contemporary theory. Landscape Urbanism (MA) investigates the processes, techniques and knowledge related to the practices of contemporary urbanism. Sustainable Environmental Design (MArch/MSc) introduces new forms of architectural practice and design related to the environment and sustainability. Design & Make (MArch) attempts to close the gap between design and making in architectural education by placing students in a unique rural environment that physically combines a design studio, workshop and building site. Projective Cities (MPhil) recognises the city as a new contemporary design and research agenda, and pursues through architectural experimentation and speculation the meaningful production of new ideas for the city. The Interprofessional Studio researches and applies alternative forms of collaboration between the multiple creative professions through the research, conception and implementation spatial performances and constructions resulting in a Graduate Diploma. Building Conservation attempts to address the need to conserve those artefacts in need of conservation, and the methods of this conservation, and also leads to an Graduate Diploma. Complementing these masters programmes, the AA PhD programme fosters advanced scholarship and innovative research in the fields of architecture and urbanism through full-time doctoral studies, while a new PhD by Design programme provides a setting for advanced research and learning for architects, designers and other qualified professionals. All graduate degrees at the AA are validated by the Open University.

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Photos: Valerie Bennett

Graduate School

DRL

DRL Director: Theodore Spyropoulos

Theodore Spyropoulos is director of the experimental architecture and design practice Minimaforms. He has been a visiting Research Fellow at MIT and co-founded the New Media Research Initiative at the AA. He has taught in the graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania and the Royal College of Art, Innovation Design Engineering Department and previously worked as a project architect for the offices of Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid Architects.

Founder: Patrik Schumacher DRL Programme Tutors: Alisa Andrasek Robert Stuart-Smith Shajay Bhooshan Mollie Claypool Ryan Dillon Jose Sanchez Mirco Becker Technical Tutors: Hanif Kara

Design Research: Experimentation and Innovation (v.14) The DRL is a 16-month post-professional design programme leading to a masters of Architecture and Urbanism (MArch) degree. The DRL investigates digital and analogue forms of computation in the pursuit of systemic design applications that are scenario- and time-based. Considering controls systems as open acts of design experimentation, the Design Research Lab examines production processes as active agents in the development of Proto-Design systems.

Course Structure Four terms of study are divided into two phases. Phase I, a three-term academic year beginning each autumn, introduces design techniques and topics through a combination of team-based studio, workshop and seminar courses. In Phase II, beginning the following autumn, teams carry forward their Phase I work in the form of comprehensive thesis design projects. At the end of January these projects are presented to a panel of distinguished visiting critics, after which each team documents their 16 months of design research work in a hardbound book.

Patrik Schumacher is partner at Zaha Hadid Architects. He studied philosophy and architecture in Bonn, Stuttgart and London and received his doctorate at the Institute for Cultural Science at Klagenfurt University. He is a visiting professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and university professor at Innsbruck University. Alisa Andrasek is an experimental practitioner of architecture and computation in design and director of Biothing. She studied at the University of Zagreb and Columbia University and has taught at Columbia, Pratt, UPenn, RMIT Melbourne and RPI. Robert Stuart-Smith is a Founding Design Director of Kokkugia, and former graduate of the AADRL. He has worked in the offices of Lab Architecture Studio and Sir Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, prior to cofounding Kokkugia. He has previously taught at RMIT University (Australia), the University of East London, and First Year Studio at the AA. He also leads Kokkugia’s consultation to Cecil Balmond on algorithmic design research. Kokkugia is currently working on projects in the UK, USA and Mexico.

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Shajay Bhooshan currently works as Lead Researcher in the Computation and Design (co|de) group at Zaha Hadid Architects. He completed his Masters Degree at the AA in 2006. He has taught and presented work at various events and institutions including AU 2010 Las Vegas and Beyond Media Florence 2009. Previously he worked at HOK Sport Architecture on projects such as 02 Arena within the Millennium Dome and the Oval cricket stadium. He recently completed his scholarship-in-residence with Autodesk Idea Studio in San Francisco. Mollie Claypool is a designer, writer and editor with experience working with NY-based and international architectural practices as well as major arts, architecture and design publishing houses. She studied architecture at Pratt Institute and received her Masters with Distinction from the AA in 2009. Ryan Dillon is currently working for EGG Office based in Los Angeles. He is a tutor in the History and Theory Studies department at the AA and has previously taught at the University of Brighton. He is a graduate of the AA and Syracuse University School of Architecture. He has previously worked at Moshe Safdie and Associates. Jose Sanchez is an architect/programmer based in London. In 2009 he joined Biothing expanding the research of generative design/complexity. He is also co-founder of Probotics, a architecture/robotics practice in London.

Mirco Becker received his MArch from the AADRL. He has taught AA Diploma Unit 1 and is the Visiting Professor for Digital Design Methods at the University of Kassel. He worked with Foster & Partners SMG (Beijing Capital International Airport) and was a Senior Associate Principal at KPF (Abu Dhabi Airport) and currently works for ZHA. He has lectured and published at ACADIA, Arch+, eCAADe, ICD and SmartGeometry.

Hanif Kara is a co-founder of AKT II, a design-led structural engineering practice. He has assisted various diploma units at the AA since 1998. As well as providing support to Diploma Units and the Design Research Lab, he has been co-tutor for Diploma Unit 14 and an external examiner from. He is currently a Visiting Professor at KTH, Stockholm, the Pierce Anderson Lecturer in Creative Engineering at GSD, Harvard.

+nous_KRAMA Tutors: Patrik Schumacher, Christos Passas Team: Ermis Chalvatzis (Greece), Chen Jian (China), Natassa Lianou (Greece), Andri Shalou (Cyprus)

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DRL

Phase II Design Research Agenda: Proto-Design (v.2)

Phase I Design Research Agenda: Proto-Design (v.3)

DRL will continue to pursue its design research agenda investigating digital and analogue forms of computation in the pursuit of systemic design applications that are scenario- and time-based. ProtoDesign considers controls systems as open acts of design experimentation, examining production processes as active agents in the development of architecture. Behavioural, parametric and generative methodologies of computational design are coupled with physical computing and analogue experiments to create dynamic and reflexive feedback processes. New forms of spatial organisation are explored that are not type- or site-dependent but instead evolve as ecologies and environments seeking adaptive and hyper-specific features. This performancedriven approach seeks to develop novel design proposals concerned with the everyday. The iterative methodologies of the design studio focus on the investigations of spatial, structural and material organisation, engaging in contemporary discourses on computation and materialisation in the disciplines of architecture and urbanism.

Proto-Design systems developed in Phase I will be tested in site-specific scenarios. Theodore Spyropoulos’ studio, Digital Materialism, investigates behaviour as the means to explore self-regulating and deployable soft systems within the field of scientific enquiry. Proto-Campus, led by Patrik Schumacher with Mirco Becker, focuses on the design of parametric prototypes that intelligently vary general topological schemata across a wide range of parametrically specifiable site-conditions as a campus. Alisa Andrasek’s studio, Protocols, looks at infrastructure’s ecological implants within the context of heterogeneous networks. Robert StuartSmith’s studio explores how non-linear design processes may be instrumentalised to generate a temporal architecture with a designed life-cycle. Phase I Design Studio: Proto-Architectures Alisa Andrasek, Patrik Schumacher, Theodore Spyropoulos, Robert Stuart-Smith

Five design studios will continue to challenge the notion of the design project driven exclusively by contextual and programmatic parameters. Each studio will introduce a specific arena of design concepts, tools and intended outcomes, ranging from prototypes of urbanism, architecture and detail systems. This body of initial design research work will be carried forward to Phase II in 2011/12, and applied to a series of specific briefs and sites for each studio.

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Phase II Design Studio: Urban Protocols Alisa Andrasek, Patrik Schumacher, Theodore Spyropoulos, Robert Stuart-Smith Term 1

Phase I Design Workshops: Material Behaviour Alisa Andrasek, Theodore Spyropoulos, Robert Stuart-Smith Term 1

Term 1begins with two sets of three design workshop modules, emphasising computational and material prototyping as both an analytical methodology and the prime mode of design production and representation. Each five-week module focuses on a specific set of methods and intended design output, introducing Phase I students to a broad range of concepts and techniques that can be taken forward to further workshops and the year-long Phase I and Phase II studio projects. Phase II Design Workshop: Adaptive Systems and Structures Alisa Andrasek, Patrik Schumacher, Robert Stuart-Smith, Theodore Spyropoulos, Term 1

Design teams in five studios will carry forward their Phase I work on generative design systems, structures and prototypes in developing thorough Phase II design proposals. The aim is to develop adaptive models through proto-versioning that affords generative, transformative and parametric controlled systems that can be deployed on multiple sites. Systems will be developed to construct context-specificity, developing models of spatial practice that are hyperspecific rather than generic. The ambition is to design open systems that have the capacity to rethink conventions of practice through the design and fabrication of architectural prototypes and processes. Contemporary fabrication protocols will be explored to create correlations of nonstandard elemental distributions through an active engagement with digital and material interaction. Phase I Core Seminars: Design as Research I â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Open Source Robert Stuart-Smith Term 1

This five-week workshop at the midpoint of Phase II addresses a detailed part of the spatial, structural, material and environmental systems of each teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thesis project, with an emphasis on modelling techniques which act as feedback for the testing and development of the larger-scale proposals. A presentation in November will serve as a major interim review.

Pursuing design as a form of research raises a series of questions that this course will examine in relation to larger technological, economic and cultural contexts. The seminar will explore ways of associating design with forms of research, as well as the implications of this for architectural and design practice. Weekly sessions will include presentations related to course readings.

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DRL

Phase I Core Seminars: Embodied Patterns Alisa Andrasek, Term 1

This seminar will investigate key ideas from the history of computation and contemporary sciences and their reverberations in the domain of architecture and design. It will probe concepts such as generative design, algorithmic information theory and key ideas from quantum physics, biology and systems theory as a knowledge resource and means of production. A productive dialogue will be instigated with experts from other fields, including mathematics, computer science, quantum physics and engineering, under the larger collaborative platform of Computational Salon. Synthesis: Project Submission, Writing & Research Documentation Mollie Claypool, Ryan Dillon Terms 1 & 2

These weekly sessions will review the basics of writing and research related to DRL course submissions. Presentations will cover resources in London, the preparation of thesis abstracts, writing styles and issues related to essays, papers and project booklets. Tutorials will discuss ongoing research topics and seminar and studio presentations. Behaviour: Examining the Proto-Systemic Theodore Spyropoulos Term 2

This core seminar will articulate ProtoDesign as a behaviour-based agenda that engages experimental forms of material and computational practice. Examining cybernetic and systemic thinking through seminal forms of prototyping and experimentation, the seminar will look at the

thought experiments that have manifested since the early 1950s as maverick machines, architectures and ideologies. Team-based presentations will examine these methods and outputs as case studies for studio experimentation. Design as Research II: Computational Space Alisa Andrasek Term 2

This seminar is an overview of computational approaches to architectural design, strategies and processes. Weekly readings on software technologies and design systems will relate computational work in art, music, new media, science and other sources to contemporary architectural discourses around parametric design. Teams will make weekly presentations related to the readings and an analysis of selected projects. Digital Tools: Maya, Rhino, 3D Studio, Catia, Processing, Arduino & Macromedia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Software & Scripting Shajay Bhooshan, Brian Dale, Mustafa El Sayed, Jose Manuel Sanchez, Diego Perez-Espitia, Robert Stuart-Smith, Paul Jeffries, Torsten Broeder, Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Knut Brunier Terms 1 & 2

These optional workshops provide an introduction to the digital tools and systems used in the DRL, introducing the basic skills needed to build and control parametric models and interactive presentations. Sessions will build up to advanced scripting, programming and dynamic modelling techniques.

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So Proto_Soft Body Architecture Tutor: Theodore Spyropoulos Team: Miguel Miranda (Puerto Rico), Said Fahim Mohammadi (Germany), Katharina Penner (Germany), Yifan Zhang (China)

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Emergent Technologies

Directors: Michael Weinstock George Jeronimidis Studio Master: Evan L Greenberg Tutors: Suryansh Chandra Mehran Gharleghi Visiting Professors: Achim Menges Wolf Mangelsdorf

The Emergent Technologies and Design programme continues to evolve through the development of our research in studio, the seminar coursework and the dissertations. We aim to produce new research each year, building from our interests and expertise in material organisation and the design and development of systems in a variety of scales. This continuation of work is focused on the interdisciplinary effects of emergence, biomimetics and evolutionary computation of design and production technologies, as well as developing these as creative inputs to new architectural and urban design processes. Building on the achievements of our past studies, we will include greater involvement from experts in the fields of component systems and material computation, urban physics and algorithmic urban design, engineering, advanced computation and computationally driven fabrication. We will continue our Masterclass series for the third year, along with lectures, tutorials and workshops from Wolf Mangelsdorf (Buro Happold), Fabian Scheurer (Design to Production), Achim Menges (ICD Stuttgart), Cristina Díaz Moreno and Efren Garcia Grinda (AMID/Cero 9), Neri Oxman (MIT), Joan Busquets (Harvard GSD) and Jan Carmeliet (Urban Physics, ETHZ).

Michael Weinstock is an architect. Born in Germany, lived as a child in the Far East and then West Africa, attended an English public school. Ran away to sea at age 17 after reading Conrad. Years at sea in traditional sailing ships, with shipyard and shipbuilding experience. Studied architecture at the AA and has taught at the AA School of Architecture since 1989. Founder of Emergent Technologies Masters programme. His research interest lies in exploring the convergence of biomimetic engineering, architecture, emergence and material sciences. He received the Acadia Award for Excellence 2008. He has published The Architecture of Emergence, and Emergent Technologies and Design – Towards a Biological Paradigm for Architecture, and has been visiting professor at Rome, Barcelona and Yale. George Jeronimidis is the director of the Centre for Biomimetics in the School of Construction Manage ment and Engineering. He is an active member of the Smart Materials and Structures Committee of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3). He has published extensively in these fields with articles in scientific

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journals, book and conference contributions, including keynote lectures. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Colloid and Interface Research in Golm, Germany and on the editorial board of the International Journal of Virtual and Physical Prototyping. Evan L Greenberg, is an architectural designer and co-director of the research collaborative Network Research + Design. He has worked in architecture and engineering offices and with product designers and artists in both New York and London, and is currently an architectural designer at Populous. He earned his MSc in Emergent Technologies and Design from the AA in 2008, and his BSc in Architecture from the University of Virginia in 2005. Suryansh Chandra is a research architect at Zaha Hadid Architects where he developed parametric design systems at the architectural and urban scale that explore new paradigms of the design process. His specialised teaching includes associative modelling in Rhino with Grasshopper and scripting in VB.net. Mehran Gharleghi received his BA degree from Tehran University of Science and Technology, and Master of Architecture from the Emergent Technologies and Design Programme at the AA. His Dissertation has won awards including the AA Fab Research Cluster Symposium 2009 and International Prize for Sustainable Architecture 2010. He has lectured and exhibited work internationally, collaborated with architects in Iran, and has worked for Plasma Studio and Foster and Partners in London. Mehran is director of Studio Integrate.

Emergent Technologies end of the year AA Projects Review Exhibition 2011

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Emergent Technologies The programme is focused on the concepts and convergent interdisciplinary effects of emergence on design and production technologies, and on developing these as creative inputs to new architectural design processes. The instruments of analysis and design in Emergent Technologies are computational processes. The seminar courses and core studio are designed to familiarise students with these instruments, their associated conceptual fields and with their application to architectural design research. The courses are extensively cross-linked, thematically and instrumentally, with each other and the core studio. In Core Studio 1 the focus is on the exploration of material systems and their development into differentiated surfaces and assemblies. These assemblies demonstrate the potential for integrated structural and environmental performance producing local ‘microclimatic’ variations that define spatial arrangement. In Core Studio 2 we investigate a larger and more complex piece of the city – examining urban systems and generating new material, social and ecological organisations.

The Programme Core Studio 1 and 2 – Active Systems Studio Master : Evan Greenberg with support from Mehran Gharleghi and Suryansh Chandra Terms 1 and 2 Core Studio 1 – Material Systems

Evolutionary strategies and computational techniques are used to develop the architectural qualities of different material systems. Physical models will

explore the integration of material behaviour and fabrication processes. The studio is supported by weekly sessions on associative modelling in Grasshopper/ Rhino, workshops on scripting in VB and in Grasshopper, sessions on geometry and iterative processes, and L-Systems to model and control growth processes. The studio concludes with fully fabricated and digitally modelled, doubly-curved material systems that exhibit integrated structural and environmental properties. Core Studio 2 – City Systems

The Core Studio 2 project extends the system logics to a larger and more complex piece of the city. The microclimatic, typological; and social organisations of a defined urban tissue are studied and the interactions between them across the hierarchical levels analogous to cell, tissue and organ are analysed. A generative set of rules at the scale of the neighbourhood is developed and initiated. The studio concludes with the design of a new urban tissue and its systems and the detailed design of one ‘cell’ within it that is fully fabricated and digitally modelled. Emergence Seminar Course Michael Weinstock, Terms 1 and 2

Emergence has been an important concept in biology, mathematics, artificial intelligence, information theory and computer science, newer domains of climatic modelling and other complex systems analysis and simulations. A survey is presented of the mathematics of evolution and embryological development, the data structures and processes of the genome and population dynamics and pressures. Applications to architectural design are explored in The Generative Design Experiments. The experiment concludes with the detailed modelling and analysis of the set of forms, surfaces and structures evolved.

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Systems of Organisation Design Workshop

Cristina Díaz Moreno and Efrén García Grinda (AMID/Cero 9)

Biomimetics Seminar Course George Jeronimidis with Evan Greenberg, Term 1

Urban Physics and Climatology

An introduction to the ways in which organisms have evolved their form, materials and structures in response to varied functions and environments is followed by an account of engineering design principles that have been abstracted from nature in current research projects for industry and material science. A study of a natural system (general form, anatomy, energy flows and behaviour) is carried out, the interrelations explored and the engineering principles abstracted. (Analysis continues into Term 2.) Visiting tutors deliver a series of workshops and lectures for the programme and they include: Master Classes Terms 1 and 2

Including (tbc): Cristina Díaz Moreno and Efrén García (Grinda, AMID/ Cero9); Neri Oxman (MIT Media Lab); Alan Dempsey (NEX); Hugh Whitehead (Specialist Modelling Group, Foster and Partners); Achim Menges (Institute for Computational Design, Stuttgart); Fabian Scheurer (designtoproduction); Wolf Mangelsdorf (Buro Happold) Joan Busquets (Harvard GSD)

A series of lectures given by Jan Carmeliet (Chair of Urban Physics at ETH), and Janet Barlow (Reader in Urban Meteorology at Reading University. Design Research Studio and the Thesis / Dissertation Terms 3 and 4

Three main fields of design research are offered – Active Material Systems with Advanced Fabrication, Natural Ecological Systems Design (currently focused on shorelines and deltas), and Urban Metabolic Design (currently focused on algorithmic design for energetic models of new cities in emergent biomes). Students may choose one of the three fields and will work in pairs. The Design Research Studio facilitates the development of a deeper understanding of emergence and its application to advanced production in architecture, urbanism and ecological engineering, while integrating theoretical discourses, science and the insights gained from experiments. The studio work allow students to develop the ability to analyse complex issues and to engage in independent research. The Design Research Studio concludes with the presentation of the fully developed thesis/dissertation proposal.

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History and Critical Thinking of Architecture

Director: Marina Lathouri Staff: Mark Cousins Tina di Carlo John Palmesino Douglas Spencer Thomas Weaver Visiting Tutors: Pedro Ignacio Alonso Erieta Attali Mario Carpo Teaching Assistant Emma Letizia Jones

History and Critical Thinking provides a platform for critical enquiry into theoretical debates and forms of architectural and urban practice. The aim is threefold: to connect contemporary arguments and projects with a wider historical, cultural and political context; to produce a knowledge that relates to design and public cultures in architecture; and to inquire into new forms of knowledge, research and practice. Central to the 12-month programme is an emphasis on writing as practice of thinking. Different forms of writing such as essays, reviews, short commentaries, publications and interviews allow students to engage with diverse forms of inquiry and articulate the various aspects of their study. A common concern of the different courses is to relate theoretical debates to particular projects and practices in order to develop a critical view of the arguments put into the design and the knowledge produced through its mechanisms and effects. To this end, the programme is also involved with the design work produced in the school through joint events with Diploma units, HCT students sitting on reviews as jurors as well as providing commentaries in current AA publications.

Marina Lathouri studied architecture and philosophy of art and aesthetics. She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and since 1999 she has been teaching architectural history, theory and design at the AA and Cambridge University. Most recently, she has co-authored and co-edited the Intimate Metropolis: Urban Subjects in the Modern City (Routledge, 2008). Mark Cousins directs the AA’s History and Theory Studies at the undergraduate level. He has been Visiting Professor of Architecture at Columbia University and a founding member of the Graduate School at the London Consortium.

Tina di Carlo is a former curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. She is the author of Exhibitionism (forthcoming Sternberg Press), has taught at the Berlage Institute, Rotterdam and writes and lectures internationally. John Palmesino has been Head of Research at ETH Studio Basel and is currently Research Advisor at the Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht and Diploma Unit Master at the AA. He also teaches at the Research Architecture Centre, Goldsmiths in London. He has established Territorial Agency with Ann-Sofi Rönnskog. Douglas Spencer has studied architectural history, cultural studies and critical theory. His research and writing on urbanism, architecture, film and critical theory has been published in journals including The Journal of Architecture, Radical Philosophy, and AA Files. Thomas Weaver works at the Architectural Association as editor of AA Files. He has previously edited ANY magazine in New York and has taught architectural history and theory at Princeton University and the Cooper Union.

The programme also provides research facilities and supervision to research degree candidates (MPhil and PhD) registered under the AA’s joint PhD programme, a cross-disciplinary initiative supported by all of the Graduate programmes.

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Visiting Tutors: Pedro Ignacio Alonso studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile and completed his PhD on the rhetorical strategies of assemblage in modern architecture at the Architectural Association. Since 2005 he has taught

architectural theory at the AA and worked for Arup’s Urban Design. He currently teaches at the Universidad Católica de Chile. Erieta Attali is an architectural photographer working internationally and her work has been widely exhibited and published. Since 2003 she has been teaching architectural photography at Columbia University, New York.

Professor of Architectural History at Yale University. His research and publications focus on the relationship between architectural theory, cultural history and the history of media and information technology. His publications include The Alphabet and the Algorithm (MIT Press, 2011) and Architecture in the Age of Printing (MIT Press, 2001)

Emma Letizia Jones received her Master of Architecture with Honours from the University of Sydney in 2009 and has recently completed the MA in History and Critical Thinking at the AA. Having worked as an architect in her home country of Australia, she is interested in the relationship between professional practice, writing and teaching.

Mario Carpo is Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Vincent Scully Visiting

History and Critical Thinking students engaging in seminar discussion Terragni at Asilo Sant’ Elia, while on the unit trip to Como, Italy

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History and Critical Thinking of Architecture

Term 1 has three main objectives: to help students understand the history of the discipline of architecture and the role of writing in the process of its formation; to interrogate the writing of history; and to investigate the question of modernity. Architecture Knowledge and Writing Marina Lathouri, Mario Carpo, Thomas Weaver

The two parts of this course – a lecture series and writing seminars, seek to show how a knowledge specific to architecture emerges and develops. The lectures discuss cultural technologies and the multiple formats within which this knowledge is produced and communicated. The aim of the writing seminars is to look more closely at a specific mode of architectural writing, namely the essay. Narratives of Modernity Marina Lathouri

Through a detailed examination of forms of architectural writing, this seminar series looks at the role that key texts played in the construction and critical assessment of a canonical history of architectural modernity. Aesthetics and History Mark Cousins

Much architectural theory attempts to avoid questions of aesthetics. This is frequently based upon a misunderstanding of the nature of aesthetics, which is the attempt to provide a framework for the analysis of the experience of art or

architecture. This course will consider the question of beauty in philosophy and fine arts in antiquity and the Renaissance. It then considers the fundamental contribution of Kant in founding and aesthetics for modernity. The course will trace his thought through the criticisms of Hegel and of subsequent accounts of the subjective experience of architecture up to the contemporary writings of Rancière. Architectural Photography Erieta Attali

This one-week workshop focuses on the use of the medium of architectural photography as a critical tool. Through the production of a series of images students will explore the relationship between building, image and text. In Term 2, lectures, seminars and debates examine contemporary forms of architectural and urban practice enabling the students to reinterpret disciplinary knowledge in a broad cultural and political arena. Contemporary Forms of Architecture and Agency Douglas Spencer

Critically engaging with the different modes of practice found in the field of contemporary architecture, this lecture and seminar series discusses the discipline’s expansion into new operational territories and analyses the implications of this development in terms of architecture’s specific critical agency.

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HCT Debates: City, Politics and Spaces Marina Lathouri, John Palmesino

Many of the emerging urban formations and forms of urbanity are partially or completely novel institutional orders or systems of relations. What is it, then, that we are trying to name with the term ‘city’? Would that mean that the emerging spaces are also spaces for a new politics? Is it possible to proceed through a critical body of architectural references, existing or to be constituted, in order to rethink urban space against a background of a recent political philosophy that has questioned the communal? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this year’s debates with invited architects, critics, scholars and historians.

Exhibitionism: Spatial Aesthetics as Contemporary Critical Praxis Tina di Carlo

Architecture is here explored as part of a broader aesthetic, social and political discourse. The exhibition is invoked as another reframing of architectural practice. Emphasis is placed on thinking through (in, outside and around) the curatorial frame and moving from the exhibition of architecture to considering architecture as exhibitionism, as well as the exhibition as a form of architecture. Critical Fabrications Pedro Ignacio Alonso

This one-week workshop investigates the ways in which the contemporary notion of ‘fabrication’ has come to acquire the status that the notion of ‘construction’ had in accounts of modern architecture. The Post-Eurocentric City John Palmesino

This seminar series seeks to articulate the theoretical conjunctions of the contemporary city. It analyses the links between the transformations in international and sub-state polities, processes of institutional change and the material structures of human environments. The course articulates notions of postcolonialism, extraterritoriality and world-systems away from the traditional model of expansionism of the European city.

Term 3: Thesis Research Seminar The thesis is the most significant component of the students’ work. The choice of topic, the organisation of research and the development of the central argument are discussed within the Research Seminar, which may be supplemented by individual tutorials. Central to the development of the thesis, however, is the collective seminar where students learn about the nature of a dissertation from the shared experience of the group. The unit trip, which takes place in the beginning of the third term, includes intense sessions to help students solidify their topic, field and argument. At the end of term, the thesis outline and argument is individually presented to a jury of invited critics. In Term 4 the students further develop and complete their thesis to be submitted in September.

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Housing & Urbanism

Programme Directors: Jorge Fiori Hugo Hinsley Programme Staff: Lawrence Barth Nicholas Bullock Elad Eisenstein Kathryn Firth Dominic Papa Elena Pascolo Alex Warnock-Smith

The Housing and Urbanism Programme applies architecture to the challenges of contemporary urban strategies. Today’s metropolitan regions show tremendous diversity and complexity, with significant global shifts in the patterns of urban growth and decline. Architecture has a central role to play in this dynamic context, in developing far-reaching strategies and generating novel urban clusters. This programme focuses on important changes in the contemporary urban condition and investigates how architectural intelligence helps us to understand and respond to these trends. Offering a 12-month MA and a 16-month MArch, the course is balanced between cross-disciplinary research and design application. Students’ work is divided among three equally important areas: design workshops; lectures and seminars; and a written thesis for the MA or a design project for the MArch, which allow students to develop an extended and focused study within the broader themes of the course.

Jorge Fiori is a sociologist and urban planner. He studied in Chile and has worked in academic institutions there and in Brazil and England. He is a visiting lecturer at several Latin American and European universities, and consultant to a number of international and national urban development agencies. He researches and publishes on housing and urban development, with particular focus on the interplay of spatial strategies and urban social policy. Hugo Hinsley is an architect with expertise in urban development projects, housing design and community led co-developments. He has a wide range of practice experience and has been a consultant to many projects in Europe, Australia and the US. He is a member of the research committee of Europan and has taught, lectured and published internationally. Recent research includes London’s design and planning, particularly in Docklands and Spitalﬁelds; urban policy and structure in European cities; and rethinking density for housing and urban development. Lawrence Barth lectures on urbanism and political theory, and has written on the themes of politics and critical theory in relation to the urban. He practises as a urbanist consultant to architects, cities and governments on largescale strategic projects, and is engaged in research

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on urban intensiﬁcation, innovation environments and the transformation of workspace in the knowledge economy. Nicholas Bullock studied architecture at Cambridge University and completed a PhD under Leslie Martin. His research work includes issues of housing reform with a special interest in Germany; postwar housing design and policy; and the architecture and planning of reconstruction after the Second World War. Elad Eisenstein is an architect and an urban designer, and is an Associate Design Leader at the Integrated Urbanism Unit of Arup. He has experience in designing and delivering a wide range of projects with sustainable place-making at their core, ranging from new eco-cities to largescale metropolitan centres and constrained and complex city centre sites. He has lectured internationally on urban design and sustainable urbanism. Kathryn Firth is Chief of Design at the Olympic Park Legacy Company in London, where she leads the masterplanning and urban design of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. She has been involved in both design work and research projects that inform urban design policy and practice, and she lectures internationally on issues of urbanism and urban design. She has taught in the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics, the GSD at Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Toronto. Dominic Papa is an architect and urban designer involved in practice, teaching and research. He is a founding partner of the practice s333 Studio for Architecture and

Urbanism, which has won awards for projects across Europe. He is a design review panel member for CABE and the West Midlands and has been a jury member for a number of international competitions. Elena Pascolo is an architect and urbanist who has trained and worked in London and South Africa on large housing and urban regeneration projects. She recently co-founded

Urban Projects Bureau with Alex Warnock-Smith. Her research focuses on the development of spatial tools that structure complex urban strategies and the role of institutions in promoting urban transformation. She is a member of the AA research cluster – the architecture of the informal city – and has participated as a design tutor in numerous international workshops on design and urbanism.

Lower Lea Valley – edge permeability and internal sequencing

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Alex Warnock-Smith is an architect and urban designer. Alex trained at the University of Cambridge and the Architectural Association, and has a range of experience in practice, teaching and research. His work is concerned with the relationship between social experience and urban space. He has taught at the Architectural Association, London Metropolitan University and The University of Brighton.

Housing & Urbanism

with other urbanism programmes and to test our design and conceptual approaches in a different context.

Lecture Courses and Seminars

Cities in a Transnational World Term 1

Design Workshop Terms 1, 2 and 3

This course explores the social and economic context of housing and urbanism as it interacts with the formulation and implementation of strategies of urban development and with the reshaping of the role of architects and planners in the making of cities. It offers a comparative analysis of the restructuring of cities in the context of the current global internationalisation of the world economy, placing strong emphasis on issues of policy and planning and on current reforms in systems of urban governance.

The Design Workshop is the core course of the programme, providing a framework for linking design investigation to a politically and historically informed approach to issues of contemporary urbanism. It has two components: the Group Workshop, in which small teams of students and teachers explore and develop design responses to well-defined urban challenges, and the Urban Seminar, which opens up a debate on different approaches to key themes in the programme’s areas of research and is delivered by both students and visiting scholars and practitioners through a series of presentations. While each of the Group Workshop teams will pursue distinctive lines of investigation, the Urban Seminar and individual work gives the opportunity to evaluate and reflect upon different approaches to key issues within urbanism today. The H&U programme places particular emphasis upon the urban inner periphery, where the complexity of the urban process is plainly visible, and our project work in the Design Workshop reflects this emphasis. Each team will define the balance and integration of architectural, social and political concepts that drive its work, giving each project a distinctive style and character. Our main site for design investigation will be an inner-peripheral area of northeast London. We will engage with the urban process of this site within the larger frame of London and of its metropolitan region. We will also hold an intensive design workshop in Taiwan taking the opportunity to collaborate

The Reason of Urbanism Term 1

This lecture and discussion series provides the foundations for an engagement with the urban as a problem-ﬁeld in western governmental reasoning. The course will trace the twentieth-century development of urbanism to highlight the inherent political issues, and will develop a theoretical perspective through an engagement with the work of Arendt, Foucault, Sennett and others. Through this, students will investigate the relationship of key political concepts to the generation of new urban spatiality. Critical Urbanism Terms 1 and 2

This course will explore urbanism’s role as an instrument of diagnosis and critique. Beginning with lectures and readings in the first term and building toward a seminar format in the second term, the course explores the ways architecture has generated a range of critical and reﬂexive responses to the city over the last four decades. Emphasis will be placed on

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developing students’ facility with the critical analysis of contemporary urban projects, while background readings will include Koolhaas, Rowe, Rossi, Eisenman, Tschumi and others. Shaping the Modern City Terms 1 and 2

This course explores the various national and local strategies evolved by the state to meet the challenge of urban expansion during the twentieth century. Rather than presenting a continuous narrative history, the lectures and seminars will look at key events, projects and texts that illustrate contemporary responses to the opportunities and problems created by growth. The course will focus on post-1945 housing and planning in a number of European and US cities, offering a vantage point from which to consider critical issues such as density, regeneration, mixed use and new working and living patterns. It will also review the development of ideas about housing form and production.

Domesticity Term 2

This seminar series explores trends in contemporary multi-residential housing against the background of a discursive formation linking domesticity and urbanism. Taking Mies van der Rohe’s patio houses of the 1930s and Karel Teige’s 1932 critique of the minimum dwelling as opening counterpoints, this course develops students’ understandings of type and diagram in the pursuit of fresh approaches to urban living. Core readings for the essay include theoretical and historical writings of Michel Foucault, Jacques Donzelot and Nikolas Rose.

Housing and the Informal City Term 2

Thesis Seminar Term 3

This course uses housing as a strategic vehicle for investigating the evolution of ideas and approaches to the informal and irregular processes of city making. In particular, it reviews critically the growing despatialisation of strategies to deal with urban informality and its associated social conditions and explores the role of urbanism and spatial design in addressing those conditions. It draws from the extreme circumstances of irregularity and sociospatial segregation of the cities of the developing world. With reference to relevant projects, it attempts to identify appropriate tools and instruments of spatial intervention and design and examine their articulation through the redesigning of urban institutions and rules.

This seminar is organised around the students’ work towards their written or design thesis. It provides a forum for students to discuss work in progress with members of staff and invited critics, and to comment on each other’s work. Other Events

We will make a study trip to a European city to develop comparative research. The programme also invites a number of academics and practitioners from all over the world to contribute to its activities during the year. Students are encouraged to attend complementary courses offered by other programmes in the AA Graduate School and by History and Theory Studies.

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Landscape Urbanism

Programme Director: Eva Castro

‘Landscape Urbanism’ is, by definition, transdisciplinary. Whilst drawing upon the legacy of landscape design to address the dynamics of contemporary urbanism, it integrates knowledge and techniques from environmental engineering, urban strategy and landscape ecology, deploying the science of complexity and emergence, the tools of digital design and the ideas of political ecology. All these means are combined to project new material interventions that operate within an urbanism conceived as social, material, ecological and continually modulated by the spatial and temporal forces in which it is networked. The Landscape Urbanism MA programme is a 12-month studio-based course designed for students with prior academic and professional qualifications. It comprises a design studio, interrelated workshops and a series of lectures and seminars that form the core of project development. Prototypical Urbanities: Toward an Interstitial Ecology China’s economic boom, combined with migration from the countryside to the cities, is boosting a high-speed urbanism that produces new cities in the shortest imaginable time, changing the faces of older towns. This directional urbanisation, propelled from the coastal zones into the countryside, has brought the smallest villages face to face with the phenomenon of globalisation – and its foreign capital and generic architecture. Framework 2011/12 The course will focus on China’s ambitions to build 400 new cities by the year 2020, as the basis for its brief. We will engage opportunistically with the

Studio Masters: Alfredo Ramírez Eduardo Rico Seminars: Douglas Spencer Tom Smith Workshop Tutors: Rebecca Haines-Gadd Hossein Kachabi Enriqueta Llabres Teriyuki Nomura Clara Oloriz Nicola Saladino Eva Castro has been teaching at the AA since 2003. She studied at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and subse quently completed the AA Graduate Design programme with Jeff Kipnis. She is cofounder of Plasma Studio and GroundLab. She is winner of the Next Generation Architects Award, the Young Architect of the Year Award, the Contract World Award and the HotDip Galvanising Award. Her work is published and exhibited worldwide. Plasma and GroundLab are lead designers for the 2011 International Horticultural Fair in Xian, China. Alfredo Ramirez is an architect and director of Groundlab where he has won and developed several competitions, workshops, exhibitions and projects, including the winning entry for Longgang City international competition master plan and the 2011 International Horticultural Fair in Xi’an. Alfredo is also Director of the AA Visiting School in Mexico City and has given workshops and lectured on the topic of Landscape Urbanism and the work of Groundlab in Italy, Mexico, China, UK and Venezuela among others.

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Eduardo Rico studied civil engineering in Spain and graduated from the AA’s Landscape Urbanism programme. He has acted as consultant and performed research in the fields of infrastructure and landscape in Spain and the UK. Currently he is involved in the development of infrastructural strategies for large-scale urban projects within the Arup engineering team as well as being part of the collective GroundLab. Douglas Spencer has studied design and architectural history, cultural studies, and critical theory, and has taught history and theory at a number of architectural schools. His research and writing on urbanism, architecture, film and critical theory has been published in journals including The Journal of Architecture, Radical Philosophy, AA Files and Culture Machine. He is currently researching for a book that formulates a Marxian critique of contemporary architecture and ‘control society’. Tom Smith is a landscape architect and urban designer currently at EDAW AECOM. His work has been diverse, ranging from masterplanning for the Chelsea Flower Show, to developing networks of rural communities on the Portuguese coast, to large-scale multidiscipli nary landscape, engineering and architecture projects. He has been instrumental in the design of the London 2012 Olympic and Legacy Masterplan. He is currently focusing on leading the design and delivery of the Olympic and Legacy Parklands, as well as the development of the Legacy Masterplan framework.

Alicia Hidalgo, Hira Waseem & Kai Fu – Floodscapes: From Risk to Opportunity, Chong Shou, Hangzhou Bay, China

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Landscape Urbanism

generation of ‘proto-strategies’ for new large-scale agglomerations as a means of critically addressing the phenomenon of mass-produced urban sprawl. Our test bed will be the urban agglomerations of the Yangtze River Delta – including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo – with students focusing on the emergence of three benchmark issues: 1. Metabolic rurbanism: the emergence of ‘desakota’ (urban villages) in which urban and rural processes of land use are combined, and the potential it presents for the origin of industrial ecologies 2. Tactical resistance: where generic, top-down masterplanning collides with informally developed urban cores, there may be the potential to locate the fault lines of this dynamic as a space that is qualitatively informed and territorially specific. 3. Material identities: the inadequacy of providing new urban settlements with an instant ‘identity’, through application of either vernacular or western styles of building, in the context of ‘post-traditional’ urbanisation

Design Studio 1. Indexical Models: Mediation Between Typical Organisational Paradigms and Local Conditions

Term 1 is based on a series of intensive workshops. It aims to initiate a dialogue between the techniques being acquired and their application in the development of new organisational models.

2. Sensitive Systems: Development of a Prototype

The second term begins with a field trip to China, providing us with the opportunity to engage with a real large-scale urban project and local planners and architects. Central to this phase will be the development of a prototype, a malleable model capable of continuous transformations. 3 & 4. Network Urbanism: Global Behaviour

During the third and fourth terms work develops different logics of proliferation while mastering degrees of self-differentiation, specificity and responsiveness within the field. Investigations developed during the year will be presented as a final Design Thesis in a public review at the end of September.

Seminars & Lectures Landscaping Urbanism: Douglas Spencer Terms 1 & 2

This lecture series and seminar unit is designed to synergise with its workshops, projects and field trips. Over its two terms it introduces the student to the transdisciplinary origins of landscape urbanism whilst defining its unique configuration and potential in the context of contempo rary urban conditions. Machining Landscapes: Tom Smith Terms 1 & 2

Félix Guattari, in his essay ‘On Machines’, proposed that the concept of the ‘technological machine’ be expanded to one of the ‘machinic assemblage’. Following this proposition the lecture series introduces a range of construction techniques related to the design of landscape projects that adopts a ‘machinic’ ethos for technical practice.

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Ecology & Environment Ian Carradice & Ove Arup Associates, Summer Term (Term 4)

This lecture series by experts from the Ove Arup Environmental Unit addresses environmental concerns, introducing a wide range of techniques aiming at ensuring sustainable management and design.

Scripting Prototypes: Alfredo Ramírez, Eduardo Rico, Clara Oloriz Term 2

Landscape Urbanism Guest Lecture Series 3, Term 2

These lectures, which are open to the public, allow the Landscape Urbanism programme to continue to refine its own transdisciplinary approach by inviting an international and diverse range of speakers to offer new perspectives on the issues that concern its practice.

Workshops Indexing Territories: Eva Castro, Alfredo Ramírez, Eduardo Rico Term 1

This workshop aims to develop the students’ capacity for reading information from fields and then decoding, synthesising and systematically processing it into indexical models. There will be tutorials on software packages such as Maya, Rhino, Land-desktop and Space Syntax. DFC (Digitally Fabricated Cities): Eva Castro, Alfredo Ramírez, Eduardo Rico Term 1

The workshop explores digital fabrication techniques to acquire an instrumental deployment of these tools and to create a feedback loop to overcome the traditional bi-dimensional reading of the city.

Differing scripting techniques will be explored as a means of creating flexible design tools that are capable of accommodating change and a degree of indeterminacy within the design process. Relational Urbanism: Eduardo Rico, Enriqueta Llabres Term 2

This workshop will deal with the mediation of bottom-up readings and strategic decision-making concepts. The overall arrangement of the material components produced will be adjusted and further articulated to respond locally to specific conditions and globally to relational strategies. Lu_ In The Field 10–11: Eva Castro, Eduardo Rico, Alfredo Ramírez + LU collaborators Easter Break

This is the fifth of a series of workshops to be held each year during the spring break in conjunction with different LU collaborators. Its aim is to serve as a quick and intense test-bed for the application of the techniques acquired in a real project within a new political context. A final public presentation of the project will be given to the clients. www.aaschool.ac.uk/lu

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Sustainable Environmental Design

Programme Directors: Simos Yannas Programme Staff: Paula Cadima Klaus Bode Gustavo Brunelli Joana Carla Soares Gonçalves Jorge Rodriguez Alvarez Rosa Schiano-Phan Visiting Lecturers: Nick Baker Raul Moura

The conditions for a symbiotic relationship between buildings and the urban environments they form and occupy are the main concern of the SED masters programme. The dynamic energy exchanges characterising this relation foster distinct change in the climates of cities, the environmental performance of buildings and the comfort and energy use of their inhabitants. Knowledge and understanding of the physical principles underlying these exchanges, along with the conceptual and computational tools to translate them into an ecological architecture and urbanism, form the core of the taught programme in sustainable environmental design. This is structured in two consecutive phases. Phase I combines MSc and MArch candidates and is organised around joint studio projects that are worked on in teams. Project work is supported by weekly lectures, research seminars and computer workshops. Phase II is focused on dissertation projects, which are undertaken individually and supported by regular seminars and tutorials. This year both MArch and MSc dissertation projects will focus on sustainable urban refurbishment.

Simos Yannas has undertaken research in many areas of environmental design and has taught and lectured in some 30 countries. His latest book, Lessons from Vernacular Architecture is due for publication in 2011. His earlier Roof Cooling Techniques was shortlisted for the RIBA International Book Award for Architecture. A new edition of his Portuguese language Em Busca de uma Arquitetura Sustentavel para os Tropicos was recently published in Brazil. He was awarded the PLEA (Passive and Low Energy Architecture) International Achievement Award in 2001. Paula Cadima has been in architectural practice and environmental research for some 25 years and has taught at the Technical University of Lisbon where she created and directed the Masters course on Bioclimatic Architecture. She worked for the European Commission in Brussels for five years managing projects on energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and world-class research in emerging fields. She chaired the Environment & Sustainable Architecture working group of the Architect’s Council of Europe and is currently the President of PLEA (Passive Low Energy Architecture).

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Klaus Bode co-founded BDSP Partnership, an international environmental engineering firm with offices in London, Lisbon and Belgrade. He was project engineer on Foster + Partners’ Commerzbank and on Rogers and Piano’s Potsdamer Platz projects in Berlin. He has collaborated with the Rogers Partnership on the Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff, with the sculptor Antony Gormley on the engineering of the Blind Light exhibition and with Hopkins Architects on the Velodrome for the London 2012 Olympics among other projects. Gustavo Brunelli graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo and won an Alban scholarship to the MA in Environment & Energy Studies at the AA, which he completed with distinction in 2004. He has worked as an environmental consultant on the new headquarters for Petrobras in Rio de Janeiro and with BDSP on projects in the UK and abroad. Joana Carla Soares Gonçalves completed her PhD on the sustainability of tall buildings at the University of São Paulo, where she has taught since 1998. She has practiced in Rio de Janeiro with Ana Maria Niemeyer and has worked as an environmental consultant on projects in Brazil, winning awards in a number of design competitions. She is the author of The Environmental Performance of Tall Buildings published by Earthscan in 2010. Jorge Rodríguez Álvarez graduated from the architectural school of A Coruña, Spain where he currently teaches and undertakes research on sustainable urban design. He was awarded an MA

in Building Conservation and Urban Regeneration from the University of Santiago and completed the MSc in Sustainable Environmental Design at the AA with distinction in 2008. He co-founded SAAI in 2009, an international environmental consultancy with projects in Europe, Asia and America.

Rosa Schiano-Phan studied architecture in Italy and completed masters and PhD studies in environmental design in the UK. She worked as senior sustainability consultant with Brian Ford & Associates and at WSP Environmental, and was a Research Fellow on passive cooling at the

Department of Built Environment, University of Nottingham. She is a coauthor of The Architecture & Engineering of Downdraught Cooling published by PHDC Press in 2010.

Mixed-use redevelopment in Fitzrovia, London with sun, wind and inhabitant adaptive opportunities as architectural and environmental design generators. Winter Term design project by Herman Calleja, Noah Czech, Alexandre Hepner and Anna Tziastoudi, January 2011.

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Sustainable Environmental Design

Phase II Studio: MSc Dissertation Projects Spring & Summer Terms

Studio Projects Phase I Studio: What Can Cities Tell Us, What Can We Tell Back? Autumn & Winter Terms

In the autumn term the Phase I studio looks at how different microclimates form in cities and the effects these have on activity and environmental quality in and around buildings. With London as our laboratory this phase starts with field studies that combine the mapping of activities in selected buildings and outdoor spaces with environmental measurements across sections of the city. The mappings inform the nature of environmental conditions, as well as provide numerical data that can calibrate computational tools applying these to parametric studies as part of design research. The findings of these studies provide starting points for design projects that follow in the winter term exploring adaptive and performative strategies that can achieve autonomy from conventional energy sources addressing climate change and environmental quality. Phase II Studio: MArch Dissertation Projects Autumn, Spring & Summer Terms

In the autumn term the MArch studio will host the final stage of Phase II dissertation projects that began in the previous academic year. This comprises 15 individual design projects focusing on building programmes with the majority located in hot climates. These projects will be completed in early February and a similar number of projects will start in the spring term by candidates that join the programme in the autumn.

MSc candidates embark on a significant piece of design research addressing the SED programmeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s areas of concern as well as studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; own backgrounds, professional interests and special skills. Project topics are decided by the end of the winter term and grouped into thematic clusters identifying areas of research that can be developed individually or in teams of 2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4 students.

Lecture Courses, Seminars & Workshops Myths & Theories of Sustainable Architecture Autumn Term

Many architects and students take sustainable environmental design for granted, as if it were now standard practice, while others see environmental performance as a mere by-product of the digital revolution. The course dispels such myths, which continue to obscure the development of an architectural discourse of sustainable design. Far from being a computational gadget or an issue of engineering, the environmental performance of buildings is fundamentally a matter for architecture, being an outcome of programmatic, formal and operational choices made, or ignored, by design. Sustainable environmental design requires essential architectural knowledge that recent generations of architects did not receive. Its main concepts and performative criteria are introduced in this course, providing the cognitive grounding and critical framework needed for design research and practice.

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Environmental Design Primer Autumn & Winter Terms

The course deals with key topics in environmental design research. Lectures will look at the historical relationship between climate and architecture; adaptive theories of environmental comfort and their application in design; daylight and artificial light in architecture; natural and mechanical ventilation; passive and mechanical heating and cooling; ecology and performance of traditional and new materials; energy expenditure in buildings; renewable energies and other related topics. Refurbishing the City Autumn & Winter Terms

This course provides quantitative and qualitative criteria for the environmental assessment of cities based on local climatic conditions, built density, urban morphology, materiality and anthropogenic activity. The course will examine masterplanning and design strategies that attempt to improve urban microclimates on the ground as well as at roof level while also looking at examples and case studies of recent refurbishment schemes and new developments in different urban locations and climatic regions.

Design Research Tools Autumn & Winter Terms

This is a core technical course on fieldwork methods and computational tools that are essential for all project work in exploring environmental objectives, performance targets and design strategies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to simulate and compare the likely environmental performance, energy use and comfort conditions of alternative designs; to assess predictions of environmental conditions against measured data and benchmarks; and to fine-tune design proposals and inform final design decisions. Modelling & Simulation Workshop Autumn, Winter & Spring Terms

The weekly sessions of the Design Research Tools course are followed by hands-on training in the application of the digital tools and research techniques introduced by the course, helping to build the necessary knowledge and skills under close supervision.

Lessons from Practice Spring & Summer Terms

Research Seminar Autumn, Winter & Spring Terms

This course draws on the experience of practising architects, engineers and researchers who are invited to present their approach and practice of sustainable environmental design with examples of projects from different climates and building programmes.

This seminar fosters the development of the research, presentation and writing skills required for studio projects, dissertations and professional work. A primary aim is the acquisition of a shared visual language for communicating the principles and outcomes of sustainable design.

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Design & Make

Programme Director: Martin Self Studio Master: Piers Taylor Tutors: Charley Brentnall Kostas Grigoriadis Kate Darby

Students of Design & Make develop new and alternative modes of architectural design that integrate full-scale making. Based at Hooke Park, the AA’s woodland campus in Dorset, the students inhabit an environment that combines studio, workshop, building site and forest, as part of a wider rural community of rich craft tradition. Working within the framework of a masterplan for the extension of the campus, student teams design and construct new experimental buildings at Hooke Park. With access to the woodland as a source of building material and to Hooke Park’s woodworking facilities, timber building technologies are at the core of the programme’s agendas. Design & Make is a full-time 16-month graduate design programme open to postgraduate students of architecture who wish to pursue design and realisation of alternative rural architectures. We test prototypical design propositions through their construction, developing design methodologies in which form is generated in response to the conditions and phenomena presented by the site, our physical contact with the materials of building, and reactively through the processes of fabrication and construction. The ambition for the programme is to work without a distinction between designing and making, so that architectural solutions emerge that would not be possible within the usual constraints of the design office and the abstraction of representation.

Martin Self is an engineer and designer who has taught design and theory at the AA since 2004. He was a founder member of Arup’s Advanced Geometry Group, studied architectural theory at the AA, and has provided structural engineering and formfinding consultancy within practices such as Zaha Hadid Architects and Antony Gormley Studio.

Piers Taylor is a partner in award winning architects Mitchell Taylor Workshop, a unit master at the University of Cambridge, and the founder of the annual Studio in the Woods which is concerned with the testing of ideas through making.

The 2011/12 academic year will carry forward last year’s brief for a largespan assembly workshop, by designing and building a pair of small student accommodation lodges. Through a deep engagement in the cultural, societal and landscape contexts of the English rural condition, students will be expected to manifest compelling responses to the issues of dwelling, material, place and environment. The D&M programme consists of design studio projects and seminar courses, construction-driven studios and the individual production of a thesis. The Induction Project provides an intensive introduction to the programme’s key design methodologies; the Core Project is dedicated to individually themed fullscale, site-specific design-and-make explorations at Hooke Park. Design approaches and skills developed in the first term are applied in the second term as the team-based design of the Hooke Park projects. The four seminar courses are focused on the cultural theory of making as design; the agendas of ruralism, sustainability and place; fabrication and construction technologies; and the theories of collective design.

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Constructing the ‘group primer’ project at Hooke Park in November 2010

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AA Interprofessional Studio

Studio Director: Theo Lorenz

24cc The Postgraduate Diploma in Spatial Performance and Design aims to create and define spatial arrangements and objects through performance and interaction. The studio utilises and links creative intelligence across multiple disciplines to achieve unique spatial conditions and generate a lasting interprofessional ethos among its participants. This year the studio will create a series of three events that form the framework of the creative process. These events are the driving force behind the development of our creativity and innovation. Due to the overlap of the various disciplines that are involved in our work, the projects are experimental and often unprecedented. The series ‘24cc’ will explore the spatial and creative potential of three different locations throughout Europe. Each event will last 24 hours and attempt to create a continuously transforming environment that forms a ‘24 hour cinematic choreography’ between architecture, dance, film, design, photography, fashion and art. The first event in the series will take place in Cologne in conjunction with our local partners the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (HfMt) and the KunstSalon Foundation. The ideas and design explorations that are generated in the studio will be developed together with a local artist and will result in the first experimental day-long performance for the programme. The unique results that are the outcome of the first event will be extended, varied and transformed into a 24 hour-long festival, which will take place in the Matadero Madrid plaza and its surrounding buildings. At this event the students will extend the initial structural ideas transforming them into the main spatial

Studio Master: Tanja Siems Studio Tutors: Andy Dean Renaud Wiser Theo Lorenz is a registered architect in England and Germany, as well as a painter and media artist. Working between art and architecture, his interest lies in the relation of digital and physical space and the associations between subjects and objects. He has been teaching at the AA since 2000 and has directed the AAIS programme since 2008.

Tanja Siems is an urban designer and infrastruc tural planner and the director of the interdisciplinary practice T2 spatialwork. The office addresses social, political, economic and environmental problems as fuel for the design process and the development of a dialogue that can lead to an enhanced built proposal or solution, rather than a reduced compromise. She co-leads the AAIS programme and is Professor of Urban Design at the BUW, Germany.

environments of the work; the music, dramaturgy and choreography will be elaborated and rehearsed; and the methods of documenting the process will attempt to allow for more precision and creative variation. The project is specifically placed within the socio-political environment of the Matadero area. In various workshops the students will test and discuss the events with the local community and audience alongside the event, which will have a profound effect on the outcome. The final event takes place in London and has a direct relation to the AA. The event itself forms the basis for the discussion of the unique methods that are inherent and important to interprofessional design. This discussion takes place between the students, the partners, the Architectural Association, as well as with the creative community of London and beyond. The final event offers the students the possibility to establish their creative work within the community and to expand their professional network beyond the scope of the course.

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Andy Dean is a British record producer, remixer, DJ, songwriter and soundtrack composer who is credited with 20 million album sales and numerous awards for his work with artists Joss Stone, Texas and Gabrielle. Currently he is the CEO and Founder of Music Technology Ltd, producing expert interactive digital engagement and communication tools for Pete Tong, Space nightclub in Ibiza and Sonica FM.

Renaud Wiser is a professional dance artist and choreographer who has worked for major dance companies across Europe including the Ballet Nattional de Marseille, The Gothenburg Ballet and Rambert Dance Company. He regularly leads a workshop creating dance works for students at Roehampton University and the Place and Rambert school. He is part of the dance collective New Movement.

Scene from the Interprofessional Studio’s ‘Exquisite Corpse’ event at the D-Q-E Cologne with ‘New Movement Collective’ and ‘Boilerhouse Boys’. Photo: Henrietta Williams

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Conservation of Historic Buildings

Programme Director: Andrew Shepherd Programme Staff: David Hills David Heath Andrew Shepherd is an architect and has run a practice specialising in conservation work for over 30 years, principally in the ecclesiastical field. He is also involved in various international training programmes.

The stewardship of the historic environment requires heritage practitioners with special skills in understanding, investigating, enhancing and communicating the legacy of the past. It is the ambition of this programme to inspire the participants to build upon their existing knowledge and skills to become more effective, competent and confident practitioners. This two-year part-time programme takes place on 32 Fridays over each of the two academic years and is designed to offer a comprehensive and innovative approach to the conservation of historic buildings. It attempts to address the need to conserve, the artefacts that require conservation, and the methods of conserving. Philosophical issues and craft techniques are explored and modern value systems of assessing significance are investigated. The programme includes site and craft workshop visits that are connected to current conservation issues of interest. The First Year engages the students in developing their own conservation philosophies, allied with the study of early and medieval building types. Students learn about causes of defects to buildings, as well as their diagnosis and repair. Amongst the required pieces of written work are a materials essay/investigation, a church development study, a conservation statement exercise and a fabric condition survey of a building.

David Hills is an architect with a major conservation practice and has a special interest in the conserva tion of modern architecture with heritage significance. David Heath was latterly Chief Conservation Architect to English Heritage and is the current Chairman of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He is the course thesis tutor.

The Second Year extends the scope of these studies including the issues associated with the development and repair of historic interiors and the introduction of services into historic buildings, further developing the students’ philosophies. The principal work for the student is a thesis of 15–20,000 words on a subject of their choice to be approved by the staff. This is developed with the assistance of a specialist external tutor for submission to external examiners. Those directing the programme benefit from the expertise of its advisors, Richard Halsey, Elain Harwood, Frank Kelsall, John Redmill, Clive Richardson and Robert Thorne. Many former students show their continuing commitment to the course by returning to lecture to current students. For 35 years the AA’s Conservation of Historic Buildings programme has been recognised as one of the leading courses of its kind. The course is designed to meet the ICOMOS Guidelines for Education and Training and is informed by current developments in conservation best practice. The course is accepted by the RICS and IHBC, meeting the standards for members involved with conservation works.

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Field trip to Canterbury Cathedral

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Projective Cities

Unit Staff: Christopher C M Lee Sam Jacoby

The Projective Cities programme, now in its second year, is dedicated to a research and design-based analysis of the emergent and contemporary city, leading to an MPhil in Architecture. It proposes the city as an architectural project and as a projection of the possibilities of architecture. The programme recognises the city as a new contemporary field, area of study, design and research agenda, and pursues through architectural experimentation and speculation the meaningful production of new ideas for the city. The focus of the course is the formation and design of cities explicated within its dominant types and large-scale architectural artefacts. It systematically examines and speculates on the rapidly emerging phenomena of the contemporary city and its design challenges through both theoretical and specific architectural design inquiries. By providing a unique, integrated research platform, dedicated to the examination and research of the future of the city, the taught MPhil programme unites theoretical and practical design research. This research will be demonstrated in a distinct contribution to scholarship in an integrated design and written dissertation. A Contemporary City For the past two decades, the discourse of architecture in relation to its larger context has been predominantly discussed and reasoned through concepts of urbanism and articulated by complex form, with little or no relevant alternative theories for its existence and relentless proliferation.

Christopher C M Lee graduated with the AA Diploma (Hons) and is the co-director of the Projective Cities programme. He is also the Design Critic in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He previously taught at the AA in the History and Theory Studies (2009–10) and was the Unit Master for Diploma School (Unit 6, 2004–09) and Intermediate School (Unit 2, 2002–04). He is the co-founder and principal of the award-winning Serie Architects and is currently conducting his doctoral research at the Berlage Institute, Rotterdam on the topic of type and the city.

Sam Jacoby trained as a cabinet-maker, graduated from the AA and is an architect in private practice. He is a director of the AA’s Projective Cities programme and Semester Programme. Since 2002 he has taught at the AA in Intermediate School, Diploma School and the History and Theory Studies programme. He also taught at the University of Nottingham from 2007–09. He is currently writing his doctoral dissertation at the TU Berlin.

The idea of the city, on the other hand, can be seen as distinct from urbanism and is directly concerned with the emergent phenomena of the contemporary city. The current area of investigation in the programme will be the contemporary city itself. This is understood here as the expansion and cumulative construction of the city in progress, witnessed, for example, in the emerging and fast expanding cities in the Far East and Middle East or any city that is struggling to redefine its strategic role in the recent financial crisis. This understanding will focus on the conception and articulation of the city through its dominant types. The aim of this investigative research is to arrive at proposals for a contemporary city as an architectural project. Implicit in such a proposal is the role of the dominant type as the embodiment of the idea of the city – its raison d’être – and as a deep structure and pliable diagram of the city.

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Jan Pingel: The Sectional Edge, Manhattan (2011)

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PhD Programme

Programme Director: Simos Yannas PhD Supervisors: Pier Vittorio Aureli Lawrence Barth Paula Cadima Mark Cousins Jorge Fiori Hugo Hinsley George Jeronimidis Toni Kotnik Marina Lathouri Rosa Schiano-Phan Patrik Schumacher Brett Steele Thomas Weaver Michael Weinstock Simos Yannas

The AA School’s PhD programme combines advanced research with a broader educational agenda, preparing graduates for practice in global academic and professional environments. Set up in the late 1970s the programme now operates as an autonomous, cross-disciplinary unit supported by all of the school’s postgraduate departments. Current research encompasses many topics of the school’s postgraduate programmes in the areas of architectural theory and history, architectural urbanism, emergent technologies and design, and sustainable environmental design. Along with the traditional format of the text-based PhD dissertation, candidates can now explore alternative thesis formats incorporating design research as part of the formal argumentation and output of their research projects. The preferred entry route to the PhD programme is through one of the AA School’s post-professional MA, MSc or MArch courses which provide the theoretical grounding and appropriate tools for engaging in advanced research in their respective fields. Applicants from outside the AA must hold a postprofessional master’s degree in their proposed area of PhD research.

PhD studies at the AA are full-time for the entire duration. Starting with a preparatory period, candidates acquire specialised knowledge and skills while developing their research proposals. Approved research proposals are submitted for registration initiating the formal period of PhD study, which has a normal duration of three calendar years with a maximum of four years. Candidates work under the guidance of two approved supervisors. Regular events include research seminars, workshops and presentations of research work involving new and continuing research students. An international event is organised annually by research students in the summer term on topics of current interest within the school. PhD degrees at the AA School are administered by the Architecture & Urbanism Management Group in partnership with the Open University. AA students pursuing PhD degrees are also registered with the OU.

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Ideology in Transparency, Proceedings of PhD Symposium edited by Emanuel de Sousa and Kirk Wooller; a book that inaugurates AA PhD Publications

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Research Clusters

Cluster Curators: Mark Campbell Sam Jacob Clara Oloriz Sanjuan Douglas Spencer Ines Weizman

AA Research Clusters are year-long special projects, activities and events that bring together diverse groups of AA staff, students and outside partners – audiences, specialists, researchers – in order to realise a body of focused research. Originally conceived in 2005, Research Clusters are mechanisms for triggering and integrating discussion and exchange across the school. Operating as ‘vertical units’, they are intended as platforms through which to explore and enhance existing and new territories and modes of research. The clusters are intended to promote and cultivate the culture of applied research in the school. Each year the AA Research Cluster Group, managed by the AA’s Academic Head, in consultation with existing cluster curators, takes applications from across the school for a new cycle of research areas; there are usually four clusters operating at any one time. The deadline for new Research Cluster proposals will be in April 2012. In addition to developing expertise and specific projects, Research Clusters seek to challenge existing forms of research and presentation – exploring alternative ways in which work can be produced. These might include events, symposia, conferences, workshops, performances, publications, off- or on-site exhibitions, fabrications and interdisciplinary collaborative research and competitions.

Architectural Doppelgängers Directed by Sam Jacob and Ines Weizman

The research cluster Architectural Doppelgängers aims to explore the relationship of architecture to the multivalent meanings and implications of copying. Subject to law, the idea of the copy also brings profound moral disturbance to our idea of architecture. Though the profession increasingly relies on technologies of copying, duplication and replication, the idea of originality remains a disciplinary foundation. Originating with a sequence of public interviews, small symposia and talks that examine a variety of intellectual products and properties, the cluster will explore two main questions: one concerns the nature of the copy, the other the problem of copyright. Examples and precedents of moral and legal infringements of originality will be documented and analysed. Architectural Doppelgängers asks: Does the myth of the doppelgänger haunt the discipline where architecture’s imminent death is signalled by encountering its doppelgänger. Or does its doubling create an evil twin? Conversely, might architecture find a productive relationship with the culture of the copy?

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Paradise Lost Directed by Mark Campbell

The Paradise Lost Research Cluster explores the notion of architectural obsolescence. If we accept Sigfried Giedion’s argument that architecture manifests the unconscious will of society, then it can also exist as a kind of residual by-product and a marker of defunct socio-economic processes. In this sense, these long-abandoned buildings are not only emptied of any literal purpose but also – in the more rhetorical sense – of any continued logic for existing. It is this lack of reason, coupled with the stubborn facts of architectural perseverance that this cluster will explore in order to delve beneath the image of a Paradise Lost. This study is not intended to be comprehensive or authoritative, but speculative and opportunistic. Photographs of these architectural by-products will be classified and uploaded to an online archival database. Selected examples will be further researched and described through the process of drawing, with a series of informal workshops, interviews, and invited external commentaries informing the cluster. Our research will culminate in a final printed publication, which will conclude and present our speculative efforts.

Urban Prototypes Directed by Clara Oloriz Sanjuan and Douglas Spencer

In the contexts of the continued and rapid urbanisation of much of the globe, and the social, economic and ecological implications of this development, the urban prototype is emerging as both a conceptual model and a design practice of increasing relevance. However, the urban prototype has been inflected from a number of perspectives – cybernetic, biomimetic, analytic – and embraced by a number of disciplines – architecture, urban design and planning. Hence we will be working across a range of disciplines and perspectives in order to grasp a coherent and critical understanding of the potentials of the urban prototype. This will be undertaken through a series of design proposals, interviews, debates and symposia, culminating in an international conference and communicated through the cluster’s dedicated website alongside print-based publications.

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Visiting School

AA Visiting School programmes are a highly flexible and in many ways extreme version of the famed year-long AA unit system, and run for any length of time from three days to a whole term depending on the agenda and itinerary set out by the individual course director. The notion of the visit, fundamental to the school, also works in two directions, with courses divided between those programmes that visit the AA and base themselves in London or the AA’s Hooke Park campus, and those global schools where it is the AA itself that is visiting, in the form of short courses taught by AA tutors in a multitude of different cities and locations all across the globe. Regardless of geography, what all the programmes share are exciting and radical levels of invention and experimentation. All will help develop skills in different modes of analogue and digital, 2D and 3D production using the myriad of mediums at your disposal. Many of these ‘laboratories’, ‘building workshops’, ‘nomadic studios’ or ‘schools’ are formed with collaborating partners – academic, industrial, commercial and/or creative – while others venture out independently to forge their own paths. Wherever you are on the planet’s five continents there is the opportunity to be involved in one or more of these short but intense, and in some cases revolutionary, programmes. You will be part of a diverse, international group of students and professionals (in some cases in a very small cohort of no more than 15 or 20 students, which facilitates specialist input, in others working with as many as 100 on the construction of 1:1 prototypes of large-scale ingenuity). A number of programmes are based in the world’s largest global cities, others in some of the world’s remotest and harshest locations, while UK-based programmes facilitate a direct involvement with the AA itself. Along with the course agendas, all the locations are updated annually. Whatever your interest or speciality, there will be a programme on the pages overleaf that will help take you to new and unimaginable heights. All of the AA Visiting School programmes, both in the United Kingdom and internationally, will be fully detailed in the AA Visiting School Prospectus, published in Autumn 2011. You can contact the director of the Visiting School, Christopher Pierce, or coordinators Sandra Sanna and Karina Joseph at visitingschool@aaschool.ac.uk, and to obtain further information or to register for any of the programmes please go to the Visiting School section of the AA website.

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Photo bottom: Valerie Bennett

Visiting School

Semester Programme

dLab

Unit Staff: TBC

London January – May 2012 The AA Semester Programme is a fulltime, 15-week intensive studio-based programme open to talented undergraduate and graduate students from around the world. It provides students with the unique opportunity to experience the AA’s unit-based teaching format and take electives alongside full-time AA students. The programme is specifically designed as a complete semester abroad, allowing students to gain study credits that are transferable to their home schools. Elective studies can be chosen from the courses offered by the AA History and Theory seminars, Technical Studies and Media Studies. As in previous years, the programme focuses on the city of London as a site for speculations. The conceptual and material design research in the studio will lead to the development of a comprehensive architectural proposal and portfolio.

Unit Staff: Elif Erdine

Green London April 2012 July – August 2012 The AA dLab experiments with the possibilities of digital design tools and rapid prototyping techniques as highly integrated systems of design development. Starting in 2012, and taking green as our colour of choice, dLab will be launched into the field of visual appearance and sensations resulting from the presence of brightly coloured compositions. Green – with its effects on human emotion and activity, its association with regeneration, fertility and rebirth, and its connections to nature – becomes our inspiration for observing natural and biological structures. In this setup, green goes beyond its role as a representational and graphic instrument, stimulating imaginative processes of vividness and becoming the factor that determines the methods of algorithmic applications for projects in the architectural realm. Taking advantage of the AA premises in London, participants have full access to the public lecture programme and the AA Digital Prototyping Lab for the fabrication of prototypes/models in various mediums.

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Little Architect

Unit Staff: Mark Cousins Koushna Navabi

Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead  April 2012 The AA is holding a short programme for children from the ages of seven to twelve years old. The school will provide an opportunity for participants to think, speak and draw buildings, maps and versions of plans. There will be an opportunity to make models and to experiment with different materials. This will lead to a collective project, which will be realised after a period of enjoyable research. The imagined site for the proposal will be located in Hampstead Heath. A previous knowledge of parametrics is not required!

MakeLab

Unit Staff: Jeroen van Ameijde Luke Olsen

Hooke Park, Dorset April 2012 MakeLAB is a five-day programme engaging in pioneering architectural fabrication processes in collaboration with the AA’s London-based Digital Prototyping Lab. The aim is to explore the integration of advanced digitally driven fabrication technologies in the context of Hooke Park’s forestry and workshop resources. Core to the programme is the design, build and testing strategies that are developed through the prototyping and construction of 1:1 structures. Technologies and equipment currently unavailable at Hooke Park are transported for the MakeLab workshop in anticipation of the particular area of technological investigation. This workshop is aimed at participants interested in the development of innovative technologies for the process of exploring architecture through making.

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Visioning Architecture

Visiting Teachers

Unit Staff: Trevor Flynn Anderson Inge Alex Kaiser

London April 2012 Acting as archaeologists, forensic observers and oracles, we will extract evidence from the city, of its people, stories and architecture. We will go on to discover and construct new realities of the city by weaving together visions of past, present and future, and thus ‘create and perceive our world simultaneously’. With selected sites throughout the St Giles area of London as our catalysts we will use drawing, explorative and experimental, digital and freehand, to develop visions of different times and realities. Each city will have a mentor to provide stimulus and differentiation: an architect (Soane), a writer (Calvino) and an artist (Piranesi). The passage of time will be composed through drawings that allow one to understand the past and unravel the future. Students will gain ﬁrst-hand experience of collaborating in small teams and will transcend the use of drawing as a means of portraying finished proposals, instead incorporating it as an integral part of their design and thinking process.

Unit Staff: Hugo Hinsley

London May – June 2012 The AA’s innovative model as a place of education and debate attracts the interest of academic visitors from all over the world. In response we offer a short programme to give teachers of architecture an opportunity to engage with the teaching and research of the school and to develop a debate about the aims and strategies of teaching architecture. The programme provides the opportunity for detailed discussion of ideas and methods of education during meetings with the school’s students and teachers. Participants will present work for debate in a seminar and visits are organised to important examples of architecture and planning in London. The programme is open to a small group of candidates who are currently teaching architecture or related subjects, and begins at the end of May 2012. Applicants will be selected on the basis of a brief statement outlining the issues of architectural education. There is no fee for the programme.

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Doctoring the Doctorate

Summer School

Unit Staff: Mark Cousins

London June 2012 This workshop is a post-doctoral Summer School that focuses on issues and problems of supervising PhDs. The workshop is designed for young academics in the fields of architectural theory, architectural history and relevant disciplines and considers the skills necessary to a supervisor. The course will consist of two core elements. The first relates to helping the doctoral student to define and frame the PhD topic; to construct a detailed thesis proposal, to organise appropriate filing systems for research and to deal with the planning of the thesis in terms of chapters and paragraphs. The second core workshop will provide an opportunity to read and comment on pieces of writing, which will be supplied by existing AA PhD students. The course is intended to provide an open framework and it draws upon extensive experience of supervision.

Unit Staff: Natasha Sandmeier

Après City London July 2012 As the Olympic Games draw to a close next Autumn 2012, London will be struggling with the question of what to do when the party’s over? Do we all just pick up the garbage, tidy up and go home? And, more importantly, where’s the after-party? This year’s AA Summer School will speculate on the after-life, after-party and after-city of the Olympic site in London. The programme will focus on the continuing relationship between the form of the event and the form of the city, from small-scale on-site performances and installations to the larger scale re-imaginings of an eventdriven future city. The school will invent and describe the après-city through compelling perspectives: spatial, social, economic, ecological, cultural and technological. It will use London as an experimental laboratory of ideas and actions. The brief and intense course – based on the renowned AA unit system – emphasises techniques of interpretation, recording, drawing, making and thinking through diverse media types, both analogue and digital.

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SummerMake

LociMake

Unit Staff: Luke Olsen

Hooke Park, Dorset July 2012 The AA SummerMake is an intensive, two-week, annual opportunity, to engage in a ‘live’ architectural project at Hooke Park. The programme provides hands-on engagement in workshop-driven design and production methods, leading to a built full-scale architectural intervention. A complete cycle of conception, modelling, prototyping, testing and building will introduce participants to the methods of an architecture focused on making. Participants get to live in the Edward Cullinan-designed residential lodge, work in the ABK/Frei Otto-designed wood workshop and eat in the refectory, also designed by Frei Otto. Using timber, usually sourced from the surrounding 350-acre forest, prototypical experiments will be designed, constructed and tested as scaled models leading to a built, occupied 1:1 architectural project.

Unit Staff: Luke Olsen

Hooke Park, Dorset September 2012 LociMAKE is a five-day course exploring green woodworking techniques at Hooke Park, the AA’s rural campus in Dorset in the South West of England. The name LociMAKE originates from the term genius loci (‘spirit of the place’) and the course takes this dictum as its core, learning about how to best utilise the trees in the Hooke Park forest and working with local expert craft makers who provide hands-on classes in traditional and contemporary green-wood fabrication techniques. Daily workshops investigate techniques such as steam bending, Bendywood® and greenwood joinery. Working with green (unseasoned) timber sourced from Hooke Park forest and alongside architects, prototypical experiments will explore the architectural potentials of these techniques, which will be tested as scaled models and 1:1 constructions.

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Photos: top: Tim Street Porter; middle: Lana Patrak; bottom: Alejandra Bosch

Global Schools from top: Santiago, Dubrovnik, Mexico City

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Paris

São Paulo

Unit Staff: Jorge Ayala

Building Fashion Musée des Arts Décoratifs October 2011 Building Fashion is a cutting-edge course that focuses exclusively on novel approaches to the emerging practice that combines fashion with architecture. The fashion scene today has become an ensemble of ‘socio-morphological forces’ that connect people through experimental and openended design. Fashion, and its affinity for transformation, is a complex terrain of architectural identities, scenery and performance. These dynamic spaces are the field where vanguard ideas incubate. From right within fashion’s creative nexus we will foster ‘integral spatial qualities’ by harnessing the surprising typologies intrinsic to temporal bodies, fluid matter(s) and singular proportions. On the edge of couture’s technological transformation, Building Fashion aims at rapid prototyping templates that stage sharp, raw, urban, experimental and alien spatial apparel logics. For this new season, topics will allow participants to acquire the knowledge and understanding of Fashion + Architecture, while gaining the digital computational skills to engage with physical experimentations.

Unit Staff: Anne Save de Beaurecueil Franklin Lee

Supple Pavilion 01–04 November 2011, January 2012, April 2012, July 2012 Extending the High-Low Visiting SchoolSão Paulo 2011, this four-phase design workshop will focus on the 1:1 fabrication design of an interactive pavilion for the 2012 International Festival of Electronic Language (FILE) in July. Given the pavilion’s location in a bleak alley across from the FIESP building on Avenida Paulista, the aim is to create a dialogue between the static brutalist office towers and the harsh environment they create, with an intelligent, interactive and supple design using recursive scripting, associative modelling, processing and Arduino with digital fabrication processes. Reacting to light sensors and human activity, the pavilion will transform to create a range of different lighting and spatial effects that will trigger further movement, thus producing an interactive feedback loop of behaviour and response. Our schedule: November – material and structure scale modelling and prototyping; January – material and structure 1:1 prototyping; April – digital fabrication of final elements; May/July – final fabrication – assembly.

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Rio de Janeiro

Unit Staff: Anne Save de Beaurecueil Franklin Lee

Carnaval Interativo Pimpolhos Samba School December 2011 The programme will work to empower the Samba culture within the decaying port of Rio de Janeiro and in the process counter the market pressures that are threatening to displace Carnival float fabrication from its current location near the Sambodromo. Based at the Pimpolhos Samba School port warehouse, the workshop will collaborate with local float designers and fabricators to invent a new type of interactive Carnival float that would redefine the relationship between performers and spectators. Knowledge and expertise from local artisans will be combined with computational design and digital fabrication techniques such as Grasshopper associative design, processing and Arduino, as well as CNC- and laser-cutting technologies as a means to conceive new float designs for the people of the Samba culture.

Beijing

Unit Staff: Yan Gao

Distributed City Centers Tsinghua Architectural Design & Research Institute, Institute of International Engineering Project Management, Tsinghua University January 2012 The programme will investigate how to inject the intelligence and automation of computational design into more practical and comprehensive models through experimentation on a high-density redevelopment. With Beijing as our testbed we will attempt to diminish the bottleneck that has suffocated the growth of the old city centre by focusing on existing downtown areas and transforming them into new distributed city centres. In 2010 the local government adopted the concept of ‘River of Time and Space’ – a play on the history and culture of Tongzhou Canal – as the basis of the new urban plan. Rather than interpreting this scheme from a metaphorical perspective, this workshop aims to explore a series of computational neighbourhood models integrating parameters that are extracted from social and economic dimensions.

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Santiago

Sydney

Unit Staff: Pedro Ignacio Alonso

Holiday Universidad Católica de Chile – MARQ January 2012 The programme will return to the extreme climatic and geographical conditions of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. However, after the rigours of previous years, this time we have decided to go the desert on holiday, as tourists armed with the photographic camera as our principal design tool. We will exploit Chile’s attenuated landmass in the Atacama’s liminal zones,attempting to engage with the tourism industry. Addressing the processes of leisure and human occupation we will design and stage minimal programmes for desert coastal occupation helping us to imagine scenarios for possible futures of the Atacama desert. The workshop is organised in collaboration with the Atacama Desert Centre and Masters Programme in Architecture MARQ at PUC. The 10-day workshop consists of lectures and site visits and is open to engaging students, recent graduates, young designers and architects as well as professionals from other related fields.

Unit Staff: Jeffrey P Turko

InFloatables University of Technology Sydney February 2012 In late 2010 and early 2011, Australia experienced the most devastating flooding around its territories in years. With changes to the climate that have recently occurred and the prospect of rising sea levels all coastal cites are at risk of evanescence – fading away. With over 100km of coastal edge and harbourside Sydney will be a ground zero for these changes. To address this condition we will develop floatable prototypes and test out their potential use in different scenarios. In other cites around the world it is about land reclamation for urban expansion, but we will focus on land retention and the expansion of new grounds. We will investigate how one can manage the tenuous conditions between the manmade and the natural. This year a 10-day studio-based design course will explore the potentials of articulated envelopes and grounds through the use of computational design approaches and the constructing of 1:1 inhabitable and floatable spaces.

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Paris

Istanbul

Unit Staff: Jorge Ayala

Post-McQueen Embryos Musée des Arts Décoratifs March 2012 Alexander McQueen (1969–2010) was one of the most influential and provocative designers of his generation. His clothing challenged the generic and conventional parameters of fashion to express culture, politics and identity. McQueen saw beyond the physical constraints of traditional clothing design by looking at its ideological and conceptual possibilities, addressing questions related to race, gender, religion, sexuality and environment. McQueen’s evolutionary design will act as prompts for generating embryos within the programme’s body of work. The Post-McQueen agenda will eradicate the non-responsiveness in current clothing design by reviewing McQueen’s alienated proportions, aiming to bust fashion design out of its commercial stranglehold. At the core of the course our single aim will be the consolidation of the emerging discipline – bodily architecture. The programme revolves around the multicultural, active Parisian fashion scene and is facilitated through site visits to learn about some of the most important practices from around the globe.

Unit Staff: Elif Erdine

Connected Tower Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture March 2012 The second edition of the programme, in collaboration with Istanbul Technical University, takes on the challenge of radically decomposing the current tower typology, which is dominated by repetition and segmentation, and redefining it in terms of verticality as differentiated dynamic systems. The design process will be influenced by an investigation into biological systems that have adaptive, multifunctional qualities. Translating the cultural connotations that are inherent in the geometrical organisation of crafted systems will enhance adaptation and is a key component to the course. The school will rediscover verticality through novel computational techniques and physical prototypes by creating a connection with AA Athens Visiting School. An interactive platform will be initiated between the two schools, allowing the investigation of related generative methods and the development of an integrated design system which oscillates between two contrasting agendas, verticality and horizontality.

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Athens

Unit Staff: Alexandros Kallegias

Cipher City National Technical University of Athens April 2012 In today’s world of amplified social interdependence and an increased focus on issues of connectivity, adjustability and dynamic relations, there is a need for our built environment to evolve beyond its current static state. Cipher City, in collaboration with the NTUA, School of Architecture in Athens, will address architectural themes involving participation and active engagement with design prototypes that are characterised by action. The programme will put interactive design to the test by building novel prototypes of experience upon horizontal planes. The final archetypes will then be related to the AA Istanbul Visiting School proposals in an attempt to create an actual connection between two distant locations with contrasting agendas. The end-results of one school will become the design counter-arguments for the other.

Asinara

Unit Staff: Stefano Rabolli Pansera

Beyond Entropy Conservatoria delle Coste della Sardegna and Parco Nazionale dell’Asinara April 2012 The workshop will take place on the Italian island of Asinara, focusing on the ruins of its high security prision in relation to the course brief on energy. What is the future of the existing derelict prison? How can the prison become the epicentre for a new development on the island? By refusing both the logic of exploitation of the coast and the protective logic of the ‘national reserve’, the workshop aims to define an alternative form of territorial development. A series of workshops with engineers, artists, scientists, planners and economists from other universities and cultural institutions are organised in order to understand the implications of new programmes and activities on the island. We will test these consequences through architectural proposals within the existing prison compounds.

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Lisbon

Unit Staff: João Bravo da Costa

Design for Change Universidade Técnica de Lisboa April 2012 Lisbon now has something like 4,000 vacant buildings. This inert and decaying urban mass is a growing environmental, economic and cultural burden. Can fresh ideas, innovative strategies and audacious design conquer a problem that is draining the life of the city? Workshop participants will investigate this question and creatively respond with design proposals based on the conceptual and technological apparatuses offered at the workshop, including mapping, algorithms and advanced modelling. The aim will be to produce strategies and designs with the power to inspire a novel form of urban transformation. The workshop will be at the centre of Portugal’s own architectural main event: the Lisbon Architecture Triennale. Integrated in the Triennale’s programme and hosted by the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, the workshop will span 11 days of learning and experimentation during which students and professionals will join forces to apply innovative thinking and practice to a public agenda.

Milan

Unit Staff: Stefano Rabolli Pansera

Beyond Entropy Open Care and Fare Arte May 2012 The suburbs around Milan form one of the biggest conurbations in the south of Europe – a mega-city with a border that cannot be clearly defined through the use of conventional tools for spatial representation and political control. The impossibility of representing this kaleidoscopic territory (made of dense historical centres, diffused residential areas, agricultural fields and isolated industrial compounds) is reflected in the failure of political institutions to construct an appropriate framework for governing this ever-changing horizon of interests, actions, investments and operations (both material and immaterial). The diffused city is analysed and represented as a field of forces that are in continuous transformation. The workshop focuses on the idea of energy as representation and confronts the problem of how to represent this diffused urban condition, which is considered an entropic landscape. It will be run in association with local politicians, economists, urban planners, photographers and scientists.

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Berlin

Mexico City

Unit Staff: Olaf Kneer Marianne Mueller

Future Kunsthalle UdK, Berlin University of the Arts June 2012 The art world, a system of producing, showing and exporting art, is a growing force that is visibly changing the face of Berlin. An infrastructure of global artists, curators, art dealers, collectors, galleries and art tourists have pioneered the local transformation of Berlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spaces and are having a distinct impact on the shape of the city today. The private gallery is taking over the function of the museum. New nomadic institutions are emerging. Museums are searching for other ways of acting. The highly controlled context of the gallery is being challenged with alternative modes of art display and reception. The programme engages in research, discussion and proposals around spaces for the arts in Berlin and beyond. What role can the museum play in this dynamic context? How are formal, organisational and functional requirements for art spaces shifting? What time scales and geographies are involved in the network that disseminates art? The laboratory collaborates with local players and institutions in search for the Future Kunsthalle.

Unit Staff: Jose Alfredo Ramirez

Prototypical Networks Universidad Iberomericana June 2012 Building on a body of research established in the first year, the programme will continue an engagement with Mexico City and its infrastructures taking advantage of the challenges and opportunities these pose for the viability of one of the biggest cities on earth. The workshop will be constructed around key infrastructural issues such as the recovery of waterscapes and the reinforcement of mobility networks. These will form the spine for the intervention through prototypical strategies within a tactical urban framework. The workshop offers students the opportunity to develop their skills through different strategies based on the exploration of local conditions, engineering techniques, material processes and experimentation with fabrication, digital and representational tools. In addition, a series of lectures and seminars will be organised alongside site visits to major infrastructural works around the city.

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Milan / La Strada del Vino

Buenos Aires

Unit Staff: Claudia Pasquero Marco Poletto

Food Apparatuses June 2012 We grow food fast, we eat fast, we diet faster we could say – we waste fast. Our ambition with Food Apparatuses is to roam Italy looking for small producers and informed consumers who are reestablishing the value of slowness as a key ingredient to healthy life. We will attempt to register these new sensibilities and the related food design culture and stimulate the conception of ‘slow-food architecture’. The first atelier will be dedicated to the culture of wine, its production and enjoyment. We will travel the Italian ‘Wine Road’, researching biodynamic vineyards and hi-tech cellars, and join wine tasting events. We will test cutting-edge digital media and prototyping techniques and hybridise them with local crafting logics. A final exhibition of the work will be held in Milan with a one-day forum featuring speakers from the world of design, architecture, landscape and the wine and food industry.

Unit Staff: Victoria Goldstein

Inter Scaless Universidad de Palermo July 2012 The programme is a two-week design workshop where students develop parametric design strategies that enable them to generate design scenarios across multiple scales. By working through local relationships within parametric systems, students will take advantage of field design strategies and overcome the limitations of the object-based approach exhausted by modernism. Within bottom-up design procedures the local interactions are independent from the coherence of the end result. The articulation of the whole becomes a gradient of difference enhancing its capacity to negotiate boundary conditions. Parametric techniques and tools will be introduced during the workshop. Students will present and discuss selected readings that are relevant to the topic in order to engage critically with the subject of the course.

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Eugene

Johannesburg

Unit Staff: Kristin Cross Stewart Dodd

Marking the Forest University of Oregon July 2012 Oregon is one of the least populated states in the US, with nearly 30 million acres of forestland. Exploring the old and new growth forests, and understanding the commercialisation and commodification of the tree, we will investigate the natural life cycle of the forest and propose solutions for thoughtfully marking and occupying its terrain. We will be investigating an architecture that marks territories in the woodland through routes of inhabitation. A rafting trip, forest talks from naturalists and loggers, and visits to mills will inform our design sessions. We will then build and construct an insertion in the timberland: marking with simplicity, occupying inventively and building through multiples. Our final evening will see us toasting our successes with a feast in the forest. The project will be documented and presented as a book published by the Architectural Association.

Unit Staff: Jeroen van Ameijde Kristof Crolla

Digital Constructions July 2012 For the third successive year, Digital Constructions will bring together international and local students, academics and practising architects in a 10-day programme including lectures, tutorials and a workshop investigating digital design and fabrication methods for the production of social housing in Johannesburg. Organised as a collaboration between the AA, the University of Hong Kong and local industry partners, the workshop combines advanced design processes with local CNC-manufacturing facilities for the production of 1:1 scale functional housing prototypes which can be tested on-site. Using fabrication-based, open-ended design systems that can incorporate programmatic and site-specific criteria, the programme aims to offer new models for low-cost quality housing that are an improvement on existing models of standardised prefabrication.

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Road Show

San Sebastian

Unit Staff: Kate Davies Liam Young

Unknown Fields July 2012 The Unknown Fields Division is a nomadic design studio that ventures out on annual expeditions to the ends of the earth, exploring unreal and forgotten landscapes, alien terrains and obsolete ecologies. Each year we navigate a different global cross section and map the complex and contradictory realities of the present as a site of strange and extraordinary futures. Past journeys have traversed the Ecuadorian Amazon and the shores of the Galapagos Islands, the mining excavations of the Australian outback and the irradiated ground of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In the division we are visionaries and reporters, part documentary makers and part science-fiction soothsayers as the otherworldly sites we encounter afford us a distanced viewpoint from which to survey the consequences of environmental and technological scenarios. Joining us on tour will be collaborators from the worlds of technology, science and fiction and together we will examine the unknown fields between cultivation and nature and spin cautionary tales of a new kind of wilderness.

Unit Staff: Maider Llaguno Munitxa Clara Oloriz Sanjuan

Computing Topos ETSA San Sebastian â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ETSA University of Navarra July 2012 The integration of dense infrastructural networks within complex topographical territories is often ignored as a design problem. Taking this condition as our main focus and the city of San Sebastian as our testing ground, we will look at the urban fabric and complex topography that pose a huge challenge for infrastructural design. We will create new material dialogues between topography and infrastructure through computational design and respond to the existing contemporary hybrid ecologies. The workshop will focus on the hybridisation of tailored infrastructures through adaptive micro-scale prototypes in conjunction with local fabricators and R+D institutions. Designers will engage with digital fabrication and generative / evolutionary design processes to develop customised design solutions.

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SĂŁo Paulo

Shanghai

Unit Staff: Anne Save de Beaurecueil Franklin Lee

Machine Mediations Festival of Electronic Language July 2012 As part of the 2012 International Festival of Electronic Language (FILE) located in the FIESP building on Avenida Paulista, the July programme will use electronic art to create interactive environmental mediation systems. These will be produced with the use of new and inventive fabrication methods, expanding on different digital forms of fabrication, including laser cutting and CNC routing and milling. Rather than just passively controlling the movement of light, wind or water, these new mediation machines actively transform environmental effects, and in addition, react to the movements of people and different programmes. Using associative modelling, processing and Arduino, the design of the environmental systems will address multiple scales in the urban condition, creating new microclimates within the city of SĂŁo Paulo.

Unit Staff: Tom Verebes

Evolutionary Urbanism University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture Shanghai Study Centre July 2012 This sixth consecutive course will be hosted at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture Shanghai Study Centre. In an intensive nine-day studiobased course we will investigate new computational design approaches in architecture and urbanism in the context of Shanghai, one of the most rapidly growing, emblematic cities of the twentyfirst century. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topic concerns the challenges facing Shanghai as it feeds the insatiable demand for land for urban growth and densification. We will experiment with technologies associated with evolutionary approaches to urbanism and architecture through a variety of time-based, dynamic models of complex growth and change. Design proposals will negotiate the paradoxical dynamic forces of urban development and environmental change.

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Singapore

Tehran

Unit Staff: Nathalie Rozencwajg Michel da Costa Gonçalves

The Uncharted Line   School of Design, Singapore Polytechnic July 2012 The studio-based workshop will use the fertile ground of its host city to pursue an investigation of the fragile urban equilibrium found in the city-state while considering metropolitan evolution. Now in its seventh year, the course will focus on the translation of past and potential geopolitical conditions into fully developed and equally planned built fabric. Through a collaborative design approach we will delve into Singapore’s reappropriation of a tangible foreign line that runs for kilometres in its condensed landscape and consider the political, physical, social and architectural implications of bridging a future. The particular conditions of a residual and dilated site will allow a consideration of the largescale through new localised proposals. Exploring representational and simulation techniques as generative tools for design processes, the workshop will offer a unique insight into the AA’s researchbased educational approach.

Unit Staff: Omid Kamvari

Manufacturing Simplexities 003 July 2012 The programme returns to Tehran for a third consecutive year, to complete the last of a series of schools that investigate novel and traditional manufacturing technologies.Tehran, Iran’s capital, has become a major laboratory for contemporary architectural production and has recently undergone a massive expansion of its infrastructure and urban boundaries. This growth presents an opportunity to challenge conventional design strategies. We will be using algorithmic design combined with traditional and available manufacturing techniques to present a new approach. Simple rules will form the basic ingredients of our systems, which will have the ability to adapt to the specific environmental conditions of a location within Tehran. The systems will be tested through the use of 1:1 scale prototyping to determine their fitness. The results of these tests will be fed back through an iterative design process in order to drive the evolution of each system.

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Bogota

Moscow

Unit Staff: Diego Pérez Espitia

Up the River, Up the Mountain University of Los Andes Summer 2012 Bogota historically has had a troublesome relationship with its mountains and rivers, which form the boundaries of the city. The western boundary is the polluted Bogota River, which acts as a barrier to the area’s most fertile valley. On the opposite edge, the city grid terminates at the Eastern mountains, where the terrain becomes too steep to build. Bogota’s relation to these natural boundaries will be interrogated in a series of projects through the use of generative algorithmic design and digital prototyping techniques. Avoiding heroic mega-scale projects long proven to be out of sync with the way Bogota grows, we will orchestrate piecemeal urban actions at multiple scales. The workshop will be organised in two studios, each focusing on one scale: systems of organisation at the urban scale will define locations for speculative, small spaces; and samples of these will be digitally prototyped at scales of 1:2.

Unit Staff: Maria Fedorchenko

Loose Operations Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design Summer 2012 This research-driven workshop will explore design models that align form and programme in transitional urban contexts while expanding the arsenal of advanced visual tools. We will develop the logics of disguised operation and loose control – best subsumed by post-Soviet Moscow’s expedient reuses and superficial remakes. The aim is to extract hidden templates behind both planned and ad hoc transformations and to augment them via conceptual frameworks and design prototypes. We will experiment with dissimilar approaches to controversial and disused buildings, relating our outcomes to contemporary theories and practices. Diagrammatic maps, hybrid drawings and composite scenarios will help test conflicts and associations between spatial scaffolds and functional structures. Final prototypes will accommodate old and new forms and programmes for multiplied effects, while navigating issues of preservation, transience and flexibility.

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Turin

Unit Staff: Tommaso Franzolini Edmondo Occhipinti Federico Rossi

Factory Futures Summer 2012 The relationship between the emerging conditions of labour, the city and its architecture is the focus of the course. Ivrea, the defunct headquarters of the Olivetti productive facilities, will be both our territory of action and our cultural background. Participants will be asked to explore adaptive re-uses of the Olivetti architectural heritage through alternative habitation and preservation strategies. In phase one, the research will begin from the generic unit understood as a live/work environment using a customwritten application of Digital Project led by Gehry Technologies and will result in a prototype. The second phase will test the ability of these prototypes to form a civic ensemble. A final product based on the graphic qualities of the Olivetti advertising campaigns will result in posters exploring the architectural possibilities developed through the process. The three-week course will be supported by a series of interdisciplinary seminars, to be a published in a book and exhibited in London, Ivrea and Rome.

Liechtenstein

Unit Staff: Peter Staub Teresa Cheung

The Alpine AA University of Liechtenstein September 2012 Situated in the heart of the Alps, the Alpine AA takes advantage of its location to investigate the relationship between nature and artifice in one of the most beautiful yet challenging terrains in the world. Whilst most consider the Alpine region as one of complete nature, the need for connectivity, energy production and tourism has transformed it into a synthetic landscape. The course will develop visionary yet sensitive proposals that analyse and map this shift and provide possible answers for the future use, inhabitation and development of invisible infrastructures and excavations below the pristine surface. Lectures and workshops by experts from leading institutions in the fields of cartography, architecture and engineering will provide invaluable input to the projects, whichculminate in a public exhibition of a series of installations.

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Venice

Unit Staff: Stefano Rabolli Pansera

Beyond Entropy Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Biennale di Venezia September 2012 The workshop continues the investigation of the relationship between energy and space aiming to use the concept of energy as a poetic device for defing the possibility of new architectural forms and urban spaces. Venice is a paradigm of an urban and territorial development that is constantly engaging with natural forces – tides, corrosion, crystallisation, gravity, deposition, suspension, transformation, decay, oxidation and growth. How can we control these forces? How can we enhance these transformations in order to produce habitable conditions? How can we study and represent the city by using these forces? The course will organise a series of visits to the Venice lagoon and to the inland development within the city, which will act as the site of investigation. Seminars, debates and presentations will be arranged in collaboration with professors and local experts in order to understand the urban and architectural implications of the notion of energy in relation to the city and its architecture.

Tel Aviv

Unit Staff: Shany Barath Gary Freedman

Active Matter Shenkar College of Engineering and Design Winter 2012 Active_Matter will investigate contemporary approaches towards composite materiality within Israel’s traditional and evolving composites industry. Through an in-depth collaboration with experts in construction, manufacturing technology and material engineering, we will set out to explore the intensive and active properties of mouldable materials such as concrete, cement and even the earliest composite construction material – straw and mud – in order to rediscover these building materials for what they truly are: flexible, dynamic and open-ended. The workshop will aim to formulate unique bridge binding, material-based processes with advanced digital fabrication techniques, re-evaluating applications of colour, texture, light and material composition, within the local context. We will promote novel manufactured effects and production of highly experimental and playful materiality.

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Photos: Valerie Bennett & Sue Barr

Presentations to the Diploma Committee, 2011

School Life 2010/11

Maeda Twisting Concrete Workshop at Hooke Park, 2011

Public Occasion Agency speakers, Fergus Henderson and Angelo Merlino

Students present their work at preview tables

Participants from the Beyond Entropy exhibition present their work

Beyond Entropy book launch

AA TEA (Tohoku Earthquake Action group) fundraiser

Projects Review 2011 student party

First Year studio review

Audience and speakers, AA Lecture Hall

Projects Review exhibition opening 2010

Intermediate10, A magic show atLocation, FormatYear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the AAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s summer programme of talks and events

Intermediate10, Location, Year

First Year installation, Projects Review 2011

Resources and Information

Photos: Sue Barr and Valerie Bennett

Hooke Park

Model Workshop

AAIR

Bar

Digital Prototyping Lab

AA Bookshop

Materials Shop

Digital Photo Studio

Wood and Metal Workshop

Restaurant

Computer Room

Maeda Workshop

Audiovisual Lab

Library & Archive

Photo Library First Year Studio

Unit Staff: Valentin Bontjes van Beek, David Greene, Samantha Hardingham, Tobias Klein, Martina Schäfer, Robert Stuart-Smith Students: Anouk Ahlborn, Carl Anderson, Francesca Hue-Woon Au, Akhil Mahendra Bakhda, Meliti Bampili Thymara, Andrew Bardzik, William Boscawen, Michelle Choi, Su Yi Choi, Lingxiu Chong, Hunter Devine, Dimitar Dobrev, Philip Doumler, Olle Eriksson, Fatemeh Ghasemi, Nara Ha, MonThi Han, Thomas

The First Year Studio at the AA is an open-ended experiment, a sometimes messy synergy of opposites, a place where problems don’t exist – only opportunities. First Year tutors think of design as a mode of behaviour rather than a body of information and consider the diverse teaching methods and ideas discussed to be an accurate reflection of contemporary architectural practice: a twitching territory of instabilities. Students learn to live dangerously and develop their own architectural ideas in the studio, which is organised around a series of projects building in complexity throughout the year. Projects Residues of a Meal_Building_ Beauty: a construction based on the notion of food production in a city. Making-Scaling-Re-Scaling 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000: discovering the possibilities of scale using an object palette of domestic implements. Creepy Crawlies – between manmade and natural objects: drawings that accurately describe the properties of lawnmower parts, a rare beetle. AA Speed Stop: exploring spatial

Holan, Insoo Hwang, Bella Susan Janssens, Rachel Khalil, Wiktor Kidziak, Tae Hyuk Kim, Hanjun Kim, Angelina Kochkinova, Fragkiskos Ioannis Konstantatos, Theodore Koustas, Yu Hin Kwok, Young-Sang Lee, Henry Jinn-Cherng Liu, Donika Llakmani, Sergej Maier, Bruno H. Malusa, Alexey Marfin, Patricia Mato Mora, Linnea Natalie Moore, Lucy Mary Moroney, Sonia Moss, Anna Muzychak, Anand Naiknavare, Shi Qi Ng, Dariga Nurmanbetova, Ekaterina Obedkova, Maria Olmos Zunica, Alexandra Paritzky, Fortune Penniman, Maria Elena Popovici, Vidhya Pushpanathan, Sophie Jane Ramsbotham, Marie-Louise Raue, Kira Sciberras, Sofia Sfyri, Andreani Maria Stephanou, Eleni Maria Tzavellou Gavala, Louise Amy Underhill, Phung Hieu Minh Van, Han Zhang

Wang, Mary Wang, Guan Xiong Wong, Lara Yegenoglu, Yifat Zailer, Min Zhang, Yu Zheng Guests: Jozef Amado, Sue Barr, Dana Behman, Phil Cooper, Rose Davey, Christina Doumpioti, William Firebrace, Annika Grafweg, Korey Kromm, Dominic McCausland, Mark Miowdownik, Jan Nauta, Joel Newman, Peter Salter, Toby Shew, Eva Christina Sommeregger, Brett Steele, John Walter, Ray Winkler, Gary Woodley, Catalina Pollak, Xin Wang, Denis Lacej, Simon Whittle, Jaime de Miguel, Ena Woret, KwunJoo Park, Yheu-Shen Chua, Jeroen van Amejde, Iain Maxwell, Eva Sopeoglon, Calvin Chua, George Douglas Thomson, Lukas Schrank, Larissa Begault, Faraz Anoushehpour, Nancy Ni Bhriain, Alex Haw… not to mention all of our jurors

experience through a short film; footage and montage as a space for imagination. A New Area of Ultra-LightIndustrial Beauty: an introduction to more orthodox notions of site and architectural typologies. Design Rethink – 6 Tutors, 6 Briefs: working across distinct agendas to develop a detail of each transplant proposal. Studio Visits, Workshops and Talks Outside of the studio, visits were made to small-scale UK manufacturers including the Albion Saddlery in Walsall, the Bentley car factory in Crewe and the Brompton bicycle factory in West London. Studio-based workshops introduced everything from orthogonal drawing to CAD to digital design for lasercutting to rendering to photography.

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Resources The AA: Participatory Democracy and Membership The AA is more than a school of archi tecture. In its constitutional structure it is ﬁrst and foremost an association of members, originally established by students in 1847. Currently there are 4,400 members of the AA internationally, including some of the world’s leading architects, who play a vital role in shaping the identity and assisting in the development of the school. Registered students and staff of the AA automatically become members, and membership is open to anyone with an interest in architecture. Members participate in lectures and events, visit exhibitions and make use of the AA’s facilities. For further information contact: T +44 (0)20 7887 4076 membership@aaschool.ac.uk AA Council The AA Council are the trustees and directors of the Architectural Association, Inc. The Architectural Association, Inc. is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, the primary purpose of which is the running of a school of architecture. The AA Council is elected each year by the membership of the Architectural Association, which includes staff and students. With the exception of those in paid employment at the AA, all members of the Architectural Association are eligible to run for a seat on council subject to certain legal and other restrictions as outlined in the AA’s Articles of Association & By-Laws. The AA Council for 2011/12 is as follows: President Keith Priest Hon Vice President David Jenkins Hon Vice President Christina Smith Hon Secretary John Andrews Hon Treasurer Sadie Morgan Past President Alex Lifschutz Ordinary Members Daniel Aram Julia Barfield Mike Davies Frank Duffy Merlin Eayrs Julia King Sophie Le Bourva Aram Mooradian Diana Periton

Kenneth Powell Jerome Tsui Jane Wernick Julyan Wickham The council meets at least six times each year in order to monitor the Association’s financial health, approve new business and review current initiatives and activities. Meeting dates and agenda items are announced on the Members’ area of the AA website. In general, council meetings are open to AA members wishing to attend as observers. Council does, however, reserve the right to hold certain meetings in camera in order to discuss matters of a sensitive nature, which may arise from time to time. On a yearly basis, the council endorses the school’s academic agenda, reviews the educational and cultural programme, and considers and approves the AA’s financial statements and proposed budgets. On an ongoing basis, the council confirms the appointment of all staff, approves new applications to the membership, ratifies AA Diplomas and other academic awards, and promotes the work of the AA through participation in its cultural events and fundraising initiatives. The council appoints a Director (who is endorsed by the school community – see below) responsible for the day-to-day running of the school and related administrative matters. Although the Director is fully accountable to the council, his/her status is dependent on maintaining the confidence of the school community. The council also appoints a Company Secretary to execute and administer, on its behalf, matters related to the AA’s governance, corporate and charitable status, including major contracts, leases, and other legal, statutory and regulatory matters. The AA’s Articles of Association and By-Laws (ie, ‘the constitution’), minutes of past council meetings, and related documents are available in the AA Library and also on the Members’ area of the AA website. For further information concerning the AA’s Council, governance or charitable status, contact the Office of the Company Secretary, on +44 (0)20 7887 4018. Decision-making in the School Community All registered students and contracted members of staff, with the exception of the Director, are members of the school community. School community meetings are a very important part of the Architectural Association’s governance. The council (who are also ex-officio

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members of the school community) consults the school community on important governance decisions such as the selection of a Director. The Architectural Association is proud to have the benefit of an active and participatory democracy. Through membership participation in its governance, as well as student and staff involvement, the AA has maintained its independence and developed as a self-governing, democratic body. It is this independence from state and institutional control that has allowed it to sustain continual success and renewal. Information on the history of the school community and the rules governing its meetings can be found in the AA Library. Development Office Since its founding in 1847, the AA has remained both independent and selfsupporting. A pioneering UK educational charity, the AA receives no public funding for its school or for its acclaimed cultural programme, which operates a large calendar of lectures, exhibitions and other public events dedicated to contemporary architectural culture. Each year the AA attracts the world’s foremost architects, engineers, designers, critics, theorists, artists and others as part of its academic and cultural programme. The AA takes very seriously its role as an independent setting for the teaching, learning, discussion and debate of architecture, including the vital role it can play in bridging between public, professional and political interests in the future of the world’s cities and built environment. Like the city of London that is its home, the AA is distinguished by its international and multicultural make-up. Maintaining the AA’s independence is the key to the school’s ability to remain at the forefront of architectural education, and its leading position is made viable and enhanced through the generous support, both financial and in-kind, provided by many individuals and organisations throughout the world. The AA’s development office cultivates mutually beneficial relationships between the school and individuals, organisations, institutions and companies. Interested parties are actively encouraged to join the AA’s network of supporters and partners, and can gain more information by contacting Esther McLaughlin, Head of Development at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, on +44 (0)20 7887 4090 or by email at esther.mclaughlin@aaschool.ac.uk

Library Term-time hours: 10am–9pm Monday to Friday 11am–5pm Saturday www.aaschool.ac.uk/library The AA Library was founded in 1862 with a stock of ten books, various societies’ transactions and proceedings, and a number of journals. It now has over 46,000 volumes, with books and journals on the history of architecture of all countries and periods, current architectural design and theory, building types, interior design and landscape design. It holds rare and early works – the earliest is the Nuremburg Chronicle of 1493 – and special collections on the modern movement, international exhibitions, the nineteenth century and garden cities. A large collection of CDs/ DVDs is available. In addition to online access to the Avery Index, the Art Index (full text), JSTOR, the Construction Information Service, Material ConneXion, CuminCAD and RUDI, the library has full text subscriptions to a number of art and architecture journals which can be found listed on the E-Journals page of the library’s website. The library also receives print editions of 118 periodicals and holds a substantial number of key historical magazines, including Wendingen and L’Architecture Vivante. The library includes the Archives of the Architectural Association, which consist of around 500 cubic feet of documents. The library’s loan, reference and information services are available only to staff and registered students and members of the Association. Most materials may be borrowed from the library, although periodicals and some books are for reference only. Eight books may be borrowed by members; up to ten books at a time can be borrowed by undergraduate students; and graduate students and staff can borrow a maximum of 12 books. The library website provides information about opening hours and policies and acts as a portal through which research can be undertaken on the internet. The online catalogue allows users to check the library’s holdings and their availability, as well as to reserve and renew books online. AA Archives Term-time hours: 10am–6pm Monday to Friday The recently opened AA Archive has moved this summer to a new location at the rear of 32 Bedford Square and welcomes AA students and members to research or browse through its extensive collections. Its holdings consist primarily of the administrative records of the Association, the educational records of

its school and substantial collections of student drawings, posters, models and ephemera, dating back to the 1840s. In addition, contemporary student work, including that of recent Diploma Honours students and recipients of AA prizes, are preserved in digital and paper formats. The archives contain the institutional memory and history of the AA and serve as a key resource for the study of architectural education over the last 160 years, shedding light on the significant role played by architecture schools in the formation, propagation and transmission of architectural culture, theory and practice. The archive is also open to non-members, who must purchase a temporary research membership. Photo Library 10am–1pm and 2pm–6pm Monday to Friday www.aaschool.ac.uk/photolib The Photo Library holds around 150,000 slides of both historical and contemporary buildings, 25,000 slides of AA student work and several valuable photographic archives by F R Yerbury, Eric de Maré, Reyner Banham and Ahrends Burton Koralek. The unique collection was originally created by AA students and staff returning from school trips and other travels. Many were members of the AA Camera Club (founded in 1893, relaunched in 2006 to encourage current students to contribute images to the library). AA students and staff can download low-res images from a fully searchable website featuring 8,000 images from the collection. We also publish cards and postcards from the collection which are available from the AA Bookshop and hold regular exhibitions featuring the work of photographers who have made the biggest contributions to the collection in recent years. The Photo Library also holds archive recordings of over 1,500 AA lectures and conferences dating back to the 1970s that include titles by Cedric Price, Peter Cook, Robin Evans, Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid. A broad selection of recent lectures are available online (www. aaschool.ac.uk/ lectures). There is also a collection of over 1,000 films and documentaries which can be viewed in the cinema or borrowed overnight. The cinema is equipped with 20 seats and can be reserved for unit, programme or student screenings. The cinema is also the venue for the AA Film Club, held weekly and curated by students to highlight specific filmmakers and different cinematic genres throughout the term.

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Computer Room Term-time hours: 9am–9pm Monday to Friday 10am–5pm Saturday The proliferation of digital design technologies has had a profound effect on architecture. As part of its educational remit, the AA equips its students to use current design systems and software packages to their fullest extent. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, AutoCad, Microstation, 3DS Studio Max and Maya will be introduced through one-day workshops in Term 1. Software introductions will consist of six-hour teaching sessions and will be held in 39 First Floor Front and the electronic media lab back room. The Term 2 programme offers introductions to the advanced use of selected software packages for interactive presentations, digital 3D modelling and the preparation of files for digital fabrication. There will be eight full-day Saturday workshops in the Morwell Street Studio Room 101. It is important to note that all students need to register for the software workshops online. The registration for each term will be in the second week of term. More specific details about the workshops and registration can be found in the Course Booklet. Audiovisual Lab Term-time hours: 10am–6pm Monday to Friday for video editing 10am–1pm and 2.30pm–5pm Monday to Friday for student equipment loans enquiries: Manager/tutor joel@aaschool.ac.uk Technician nick.wayne@aaschool.ac.uk www.aaschool.ac.uk/avlab Audiovisual: (http://twitter.com/ AAaudiovisual or http://aaaudiovisual. tumblr.com/) the Audiovisual Department is concerned with video and sound technology, supporting teaching throughout the AA. It lends equipment to staff and students, assists guest speakers presenting lectures, documents, stage manages the AA’s Public Events programme and maintains a Video Editing suite in 39 Bedford Square. Recorded lectures and events can be accessed through the AA Photo Library and online at: http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/public/ audiovisual/videoarchive.php Teaching Spaces and Equipment Reservations: audiovisual equipment for both internal teaching and the public lecture series is booked through an

established procedure. Staff (especially new staff) and students should liaise with the relevant coordinator at least one week prior to when the equipment is required. The department is unable to provide support for late or impromptu classes. Teaching spaces are equipped with large LCD screens or data-projectors for laptop use. Additional or specialist equipment such as slide projection, book readers or Skype access/Public Address should be requested in advance. The school as a rule does not record internal or complementary classes. Video Editing: (http://www.aaschool. ac.uk/resources/av/index.shtml) the school has a long history of utilising video within both unit programmes and Media Studies. This year Video Editing is located in a new space in 39 Ground Floor and houses designated Apple workstations running Final Cut Studio and Adobe CS 5.5 alongside various audio, video and encoding tools. DV/HDV players, audio interfaces, keyboards and microphones will be available throughout. The space is open to all students and staff and those wishing to work with video in this area, discuss a video project or seek tuition should contact Joel Newman. http://aavideo.tumblr.com/ http:// vimeo.com/user1723961 Loans: the Audiovisual loan service is situated in the Hub at Ground Floor 16 Morwell Street. Group projects or multiple loans should be discussed in advance. Those borrowing equipment from the Audiovisual Department are fully responsible for its security, care and prompt return. An agreement form must be signed to this effect. Groups may borrow equipment as part of a well-defined unit project on or off school premises only after discussion with the Audiovisual Manager. Some equipment is not available for student use or use off-premises. The school has a comprehensive insurance policy for those going abroad on unit trips. Unit staff should be aware that equipment will only be released for study trips after they have completed the Travel Insurance Form 2011, which can be downloaded from the school website. Audiovisual can help you with a very broad range of equipment including: video cameras, tripods, Manfrotto FigRigs, Gorilla Pods, Arri Lighting, LED lighting, digital audio recorders, microphones, audio mixers, video mixers, PA kit, vinyl/tape/iPod/minidisc/CD/DVD/ Hi8/VHS playback, 8mm and 16mm film projection, LCD data projection, slide projectors, overhead projectors, digital presenters, signal generators,

amplifiers, meters, speakers, PC laptops, headphones, distribution amplifiers, a USB microscope, and more. AA Digital Photo Studio Term-time hours: 10am – 9.30pm Monday to Wednesday (6pm – 9.30pm*) 11am – 3pm Thursday & Friday* 10am – 5pm Saturday* (*Managed by student assistants) 020 7887 4080 darkroom@aaschool.ac.uk The AA Digital Photo Studio is fully equipped with digital SLR cameras, tripods, lights and a variety of backgrounds for photographing models, drawings and installations. Computer facilities are also available for digitally processing the photographs. The Digital Photo Studio manager, Sue Barr is available from Monday to Wednesdays to give advice and inductions to students using the studio for the first time. The studio must be reserved in advance and during busy periods students are limited to photo sessions of one hour. AAIR www.aaschool.ac.uk/radio radio@aaschool.ac.uk Created and produced by AA students, AAIR broadcasts music, interviews, events, documentaries, field and found recordings, compositions, spoken word and various other shows contributed by listeners. AAIR projects include Radio Anacapri (radioanacapri.com) and AAIR Salon evenings at the AA. Wood and Metal Workshop Term-time hours: 10am–6pm Monday to Friday 10am–2.30pm Saturday www.aaschool.ac.uk/workshop The workshop is equipped with machine and hand tools for wood and metal. Facilities are available for working in steel and nonferrous metals, and for precise working in hardwoods, softwoods and panel products. Facilities may be used by all registered students and staff members; external registered students may do so at the discretion of the workshop staff and on payment of a prearranged fee. Hand tools and portable power tools may be borrowed when available. All First Year and new students will be required to attend a short induction course on safe working practices before they can use the workshop. Staff have a broad range of experience and their aim is to support individual projects as well as units whose programmes depend upon the use of the workshop.

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Model Workshop Term-time hours: 10am–6pm Monday to Friday Saturday by appointment www.aaschool.ac.uk/modelshop The Model Workshop offers assistance and equipment to construct small-scale objects. It specialises in casting, plastics and small-scale modelmaking, and has an adjoining yard for larger work. All registered students are able to use these facilities. New students must attend a short induction course. Digital Prototyping Lab Term-time hours: 10am–6pm Monday to Friday www.aaschool.ac.uk/digitalprototyping The Digital Prototyping Lab offers a number of digital fabrication technologies including five laser-cutting machines available to individual students, four CNC milling machines and two 3D printers operated by lab staff. Students interested in using the laser cutting machines are first required to attend an induction course, after which they are able to reserve machine-time through an online booking system. People interested in using CNC or 3D printing do not need an induction but are recommended to refer to the online tutorials, or contact the Lab staff for individual or group tutorials on file preparation. Hooke Park www.aaschool.ac.uk/hookepark Hooke Park is a 350-acre woodland site in an area of outstanding natural beauty in west Dorset, approximately four miles from Beaminster, near the village of Hooke, and 12.5 miles from Dorchester. Hooke Park provides the AA with a platform from which to research future material concepts in the building industry and operates as a showcase for experimental sustainable construction. The facilities were originally developed by an institute researching new uses for working with wood in modern construction. This ‘laboratory of experimentation and research’ will be further developed in a way that takes account of the biodiversity of the natural environment, which includes woodlands, wetlands, boundary banks and meadows. The spacious facilities and outdoor environment provide a setting for workshops and projects that might be problematic to carry out in the conﬁnes of central London. Students are able to explore techniques ranging from model-making to object fabrication and prototyping and to produce work on a larger scale, supported by specialist staff based at the site. The existing structures at Hooke Park

were designed by teams dedicated to pushing the boundaries of building with wood. The workshop, a collaboration by Frei Otto, ABK and Buro Happold, experiments with bending ‘green’ wood and carrying loads across large spans on small-diameter roundwood beams. The refectory, by the same team, is a prototype for a house in which the structure hangs like a tent on four A-frames. Westminster Lodge, by Edward Cullinan and Buro Happold, features a grass roof and the use of unmilled, untreated timber. Located around a central common room are eight double study-bedrooms, each with its own shower and toilet, in pods that penetrate the exterior wall of the building. In addition there is accommodation for another two people in a cabin close by. Hooke Park is open to registered students and staff from all sections of the school. The A V Custerson Annual Award provides funding to carry out projects associated with timber at Hooke Park. Projects are open to all registered AA students in the Undergraduate or Graduate Schools. See the Scholarships & Bursaries section of this Prospectus for more details.

AA Bookshop 10am–6.30pm Monday to Friday 11am–5pm Saturday bookshop@aabookshop.net www.aabookshop.net T +44(0)20 7887 4041 F +44(0)20 7887 4048 The AA Bookshop has recently moved to a new space in 32 Bedford Square First Floor. The bookshop stocks a wide range of recent books on architecture, including all titles published by the AA. The bookshop is able to supply recommended course books and any title that is in print. Bar & Restaurant www.aaschool.ac.uk/restaurant The bar and restaurant are open in term time to students, members, staff, friends and guests from Monday to Friday. Coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches, snacks and drinks are served in the bar on the ﬁrst ﬂoor from 9.15am until 9.00pm Monday to Friday during term time. Lunch is served from 12.15pm to 2.15pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 4.30pm on Saturday during term time in the dining room in the basement.

Maeda Workshop Generously supported by the Maeda Corporation in Japan, who have sponsored exhibitions and other events at the AA for more than a decade, the Maeda Workshops have brought in a series of visiting artists who have worked closely with registered AA students and staff on intensive short-term projects leading to installations within the school. Workshops have been led by internationally renowned artists including Richard Wilson, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Tadashi Kawamata and others. A second three-year cycle has focused on the use and long-term development of Hooke Park as a vital part of the school. Drawing Materials Shop 10am–5.45pm Monday to Friday www.aaschool.info/drawingmaterials It stocks a wide range of stationery, drawing instruments, computer consumables, videotapes and other essential equipment and supplies – all at very competitive prices. This includes a range of AA merchandise items. The shop also runs an overnight ordering facility for items not regularly kept in stock. Additional services include large-scale printing on the plotter and fax sending.

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Information Undergraduate Admissions LEA and EU Awards The following information applies to undergraduate students on the five-year RIBA/ARB undergraduate course only and is subject to current government legislation. Tuition Fee Loan New AA students (2011/12 onwards) from the UK and EU are eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan (non-income assessed). For further up-to-date information students should go to the student finance section of the website www.direct.gov.uk, bearing in mind that the AA is a private institution and so not all this information applies. New students who have been offered a place should apply to their SLC. Those transferring from other British schools must inform their SLC. Student Loans Student loans are available to home students, or those who have lived in the UK for three years prior to embarking on higher education, for living expenses. The SLC website is www.slc.co.uk At the present time EU students are not eligible for student loans for living expenses unless they have been resident in the UK for three years prior to embarking on higher education. Undergraduate Entry Requirements All applicants are expected to submit a bound portfolio of art/design work (no larger than A3 and between 10 and 30 pages) accompanied by a CD/DVD of additional material if so desired. Upon signing the application form applicants certify that the work submitted is entirely their own. Plagiarism is unacceptable in the academic setting. Students are subject to penalties including dismissal from the programme if they commit an act of plagiarism. Applications and portfolios will be assessed by the admissions panel, and applicants will be informed if they are invited to an interview at the AA. The interview takes the form of a discussion around the applicant’s range of interests and focuses on the portfolio of work in architecture, the arts or related areas. Students are strongly encouraged to visit the AA before applying. Students are admitted into the undergraduate programme at any level except the Fifth Year. Both schoolleavers and mature applicants with

previous experience are encouraged to take advantage of the wide range of possibilities offered within the school. Scholarships are available for new First, Second and Fourth Year applicants who demonstrate both outstanding merit in their portfolio and financial need. For further information see: www.aaschool.ac.uk/admissions The minimum academic requirements for students entering the First Year of the course are two passes (grade C or above) at A level with at least five passes (grade C or above) in other subjects at GCSE. If one A level is in an art/design subject, it must be accompanied by at least one non-art/design subject. Maths and a Science subject, together with English language, are compulsory at least at GCSE level. The AA Foundation course is recognised by the RIBA as the equivalent of an Art A level. Therefore the minimum entry requirements for students entering the Foundation course are as above for GCSE level, but only one A level pass (grade C or above) in a non-art/design subject is required, although two A level passes are preferred. Foundations in art and design must be accompanied by one A level (or equivalent) in a non art/design subject. Applicants for Fourth Year who have studied for Part 1 in the UK (or other countries using the same grading system) must have gained at least a 2:2 in their degree. Overseas applicants are required to have the recognised equivalent to the above examinations, such as the International Baccalaureate, Abitur, etc, plus the required English language qualification. Applicants without conventional entry qualifications are also considered, provided they are able to provide acceptable alternatives. English Language A recognised English language qualification is required by 6 May prior to entry to the School. We can accept those who have completed a qualification equivalent to a UK degree which was taught in a majority English-speaking country (including degrees taught in the UK) instead of an English language qualification. Qualifications accepted: IELTS 6.5 (academic); http://www.ielts.org/ with a grade of 6.0 or above in each category, Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English grade C or above, Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency English grade C or above. Please note we do not accept TOEFL. The AA reserves the right to make a place in the school conditional on gaining a further English language qualification if deemed necessary.

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A recognised English language qualiﬁcation is required by 7 May prior to entry to the school. Please note the English language qualification requirements are subject to frequent change as instructed by the UK Border Agency. Portfolio Guidelines Suggestions on preparing your portfolio can be found online at: www.aaschool.ac.uk/portfolioguidelines Entry to First Year Students applying for First Year are not necessarily expected to submit an ‘architectural’ portfolio. The panel particularly likes to see evidence of current interests and activities in the form of freehand sketches, drawings, essays or photographs. Entry to Second or Third Year (Intermediate School) Students with previous design or architectural experience may apply to enter the Intermediate School. They will be expected to submit a portfolio of their work to date, including not only ﬁnished drawings but also sketches, photographs and independent interests. Evidence of full-time architectural study is essential. Students entering the Third Year must be registered for a period of one academic year (three terms) to be eligible to submit for the AA Intermediate Examination (RIBA/ARB Part 1, the professional qualification) through the school. Entry to Fourth Year Many students apply to enter the Fourth Year from other schools after completing Part I. Applicants wishing to enter the Diploma School to gain the AA Final Examination (RIBA/ARB Part 2, the professional qualification) must have the AA Intermediate Examination (RIBA/ ARB Part 1) or have gained exemption from RIBA/ARB Part 1, which can be done either by successful completion of Third Year at the AA for a period of one academic year (three terms) as a full-time student, or by applying directly to the ARB for Part 1 exemption. Part 1 must be gained by 16 July prior to entry to the school. In order to be eligible for the AA Diploma and the AA Final Examination (RIBA/ARB Part 2), the Fourth and Fifth Years (minimum six terms) must be successfully completed. Entry to Foundation It is hoped that all applicants will include in their portfolios a good selection of work that reveals their individual

interests and skills. Essays, photographs, video, photos of 3D objects or self-generated projects can all be included. Offers of admission are based on evidence of motivation as well as intellectual and practical creative ability. Acceptance of Places To accept a place, a completed signed admission form and a one-term nonrefundable deposit must be received by the Registrar’s Office by the due date stated on the admission form. Open Days Foundation/First Year: Monday 7 November 2011 Fourth Year: Monday 5 December 2011, Further details will be available on the AA website closer to the dates. Individual or group visits for those interested in applying can also be arranged with advance notice. For further details please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Coordinator (see below). Applications The AA does not belong to UCAS, and all applicants must complete an AA application form. These forms can be downloaded from the website or are available from the Registrar’s Office. The closing date for applications is 13 January 2012 (application fee £40); late applications will be accepted up to 12 March 2012 (fee £65). Applications made after this date will be accepted at the discretion of the AA School. Enquiries to: Undergraduate Admissions, undergraduateadmissions@ aaschool.ac.uk T +44 (0)20 7887 4051 F +44 (0)20 7414 0779 Graduate Admissions Application Procedure: Mandatory Requirements All applicants are required to complete an application form, accompanied by the appropriate registration fee and original evidence of qualifications and the standard attained (copies will not be accepted). Academic and/or work references should also be provided. With the exception of Histories & Theories, and in addition to the previous requirements, applicants to all programmes are required to submit a portfolio of design work (no larger than A4 format) showing a combination of both academic and professional work (if applicable). All applicants are encouraged to attend a personal interview. All documentation is to be provided in English. Upon signing the application form applicants certify that the work submit-

ted is entirely their own. Plagiarism is unacceptable in the academic setting. Students are subject to penalties including dismissal from the programme if they commit an act of plagiarism. English Language A recognised English Language qualification is required by 6 May prior to entry to the School. We can accept those who have completed a qualification equivalent to a UK degree which was taught in a majority English-speaking country (including degrees taught in the UK) instead of an English language qualification. Qualifications accepted: IELTS 6.5 (academic) http://www.ielts.org/ with a grade of 6.0 or above in each category, Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English grade C or above, Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency English grade C or above. Please note we do not accept TOEFL. The AA reserves the right to make a place in the school conditional on gaining a further English language qualiﬁcation if deemed necessary. Any student without the required IELTS grade (6.5 or above) must register in an English-language school, and book and pass the examination before 7 May 2012 prior to entry in Term 1. Please note the English language qualification requirements are subject to frequent change as instructed by the UK Border Agency. Fees Fees are reviewed annually. For the academic year 2011/12 they are as follows: Undergraduate School Foundation: £15,180 Five-year undergraduate programme: £16,821 Graduate School 12-month MA and MSc: £19,719 16-month MArch: £26,292 PhD: £17,670 Graduate Building Conservation Diploma (day-release course): £5,475 AAIS £15,180 full time, £6,072 part time (2 days per week) MPhil 20-month Projective Cities: £29,450 Visiting School Spring Semester Programme: £8,310 dLab: £1,970 Summer School: £1,600 Global programmes: see AA website for individual programme fee updates There is an additional £50 membership fee and £35 student forum fee per year.

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AA Assistantships A limited number of assistantships are offered to eligible full-time registered students who are experiencing financial hardship. Students work between seven and ten hours per week, providing assistance with certain administrative, exhibitions, or maintenance functions in return for an agreed remission of part of their fees. New eligible students wishing to apply will be told the procedure when they register at the beginning of the academic year. Scholarships and Bursaries The AA is committed to giving as many talented students as possible the opportunity to study. Around one in six AA students receives financial assistance from the Scholarship, Bursary and Assistantship programme. What is the Difference Between a Scholarship and a Bursary? Scholarships are offered to new First, Second and Fourth Year applicants who demonstrate academic excellence and financial need. They are available for two or three years, subject to continuing progress. Bursaries are offered to existing AA students and new graduate students, and must be applied for on a yearly basis. How to Apply for a Scholarship Undergraduate applicants must complete the main application form no later than 13 January 2012, stating their interest in an AA Scholarship in the ‘Scholarships and Awards’ section. Students whose work is considered to be of scholarship standard will be asked, after an entry interview, to complete a scholarship application form, provide financial information and prepare a portfolio for the scholarship committee. For further information contact: T +44 (0)20 7887 4051 undergraduateadmissions@ aaschool.ac.uk How to Apply for a Bursary for Undergraduate Students Bursary application forms are available from the Registrar’s Office from the end of March and should be returned by mid-May. The Undergraduate Bursary Committee, which meets in June to distribute the awards, bases its decisions on academic performance, recommendation from the tutor and financial need. Named Scholarship and Bursary Awards, with their 2011/12 recipients, are listed below. See also: www.aaschool.ac.uk/admissions

How to Apply for a Bursary for Graduate School Students Bursary application forms are available from the Registrar’s Office upon an official offer of a place. Completed bursary forms to be returned by beginning of March. The Graduate Bursary Committee, which meets in March/April to distribute the awards, bases its decisions on academic performance, tutor recommendations and financial need. (Bursary awards range from one to one and a half terms, covering a proportion of student fees per year.)

entering the First Year. Applicants must demonstrate both merit and the need for ﬁnancial aid.

David Allford Scholarship This full-fee (three-term) scholarship has been set up to honour the memory of David Allford, a partner of YRM Architects and trustee of the AA Foundation. It is funded by David Allford’s friends and family and is awarded to a British student who demonstrates excellence and a need for ﬁnancial aid.

Marjorie Morrison Bursary Stephen Price Marjorie Morrison MBE, AA Slide Librarian from 1935 to 1975 and researcher until 1985, bequeathed a generous sum to the AA Foundation. The sum was increased by donations from among Marjorie’s friends.

Baylight Scholarships Dessislava Lyutakova, William Gowland Thanks to the generosity of the Baylight Foundation, headed by AA Past President Crispin Kelly, a number of full-fee scholarships are available to British students entering the Diploma School. Candidates need to demonstrate both outstanding merit and financial need. Alvin Boyarsky Scholarship As AA Chairman from 1971 to 1990, Alvin Boyarsky transformed the AA into an internationally respected school and a forum for architectural experiment and debate. The scholarship is for one term’s fees. Martin Caroe Memorial Scholarship (To be announced October 2011) Established in memory of Martin Bragg Caroe, whose collaboration with the AA was instrumental in establishing the postgraduate course in Conservation of Historic Buildings. Made possible through the support of Martin Caroe’s practice, Caroe & Partners, the scholarship is awarded to a second year student of the Conservation of Historic Buildings course based on an assessment of merit and ﬁnancial need. Stephen Lawrence Scholarship This award, in memory of the young man who was murdered in a racist attack on 22 April 1993, has been established with the support of Stephen Lawrence’s family, the Stephen Lawrence Trust and a number of generous private donations. Applications are particularly welcome from members of ethnic minorities

Eileen Gray Fund The Eileen Gray Fund for AA students was established in 1980 by the distinguished architect and furniture-designer’s niece Prunella Clough-Taylor. A bequest received from Ms CloughTaylor in 2000 has expanded the scope of this fund, which now awards a series of bursaries and scholarships every year to talented students in need of ﬁnancial assistance.

Enid Caldicott Bursary A bursary was established in 1978 in memory of Enid Caldicott, who was involved with the AA ﬁrst as a student and then as a member of staff, working for 35 years in the library. It is awarded annually to British students. Max Lock Bursary Max Lock studied at the AA from 1926 to 1931 and taught at the school during the late 1930s. The bursary is funded by his generous bequest to the AA Foundation. Elizabeth Chesterton Bursary Fund AA alumna and former Councillor Dame Elizabeth Chesterton OBE left a generous bequest in support of bur saries for British students at the AA. Anne Gregory Bursary Marie-Louise Raue A bursary is offered each year in memory of Anne Gregory, who died while in her ﬁrst year of studies. R D Hammett Bursary Manijeh Verghese This bursary is funded by the generous bequest of graduate R D Hammett. Nicholas Boas Travel Award Lionel Eid, Konrad Holtsmark, Phung Hieu Minh Van A travel award open to AA students who wish to study Roman architecture and urbanism has been established in memory of AA graduate Nicholas Boas (1975–1998). It provides funds for a onemonth study visit based at the British School in Rome.

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A V Custerson Award Anthony Custerson was passionate about Hooke Park and the use of indigenous and sustainable sources of timber, and he left a generous legacy to support students working in this area. Open to all AA students, the annual award of £7,500 provides funding to carry out projects at Hooke Park. Anthony Pott Memorial Award The award assists a study project related to architecture and design. The award is intended to fund original study or the publication of completed work. Further details are available from the Director’s office. Michael Ventris Memorial Fund Emmanouil Stavrakakis This award is open to candidates of at least RIBA/ARB Intermediate status or equivalent. The fund was established in 1957 in memory of Michael Ventris and in appreciation of his work in the fields of Mycenaean civilisation and architecture. It is intended to promote study in those areas and is available to support a specifically defined and achievable project. The closing date for applications is 31 October 2009. Mike Davies Bursary Fund Rebecca Crabtree, Stephen Marshall, Rebecca Spencer This bursary fund, established in 2008 in support of British or UK-based students within the AA’s five-year architecture programme, will reward innovative thinking and application in design. It is generously supported by AA alumnus Mike Davies CBE, founding partner of Richard Rogers & Partners (now Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners) and current AA council member. Fletcher Priest Foundation Bursary John Naylor The Fletcher Priest Foundation, established by AA alumni Keith Priest and Michael Fletcher, has initiated a generous commitment to the AA Foundation to support over the coming years a number of bursaries for deserving AA undergraduate students in need of financial assistance. Henry Florence Studentship Hwui Zhi Brian Cheng Established in 1916 in the name of AA President (1878–1879) Alex Stanhope Forbes Prize Kanachai Bencharongkul For work in the field of colour

AA Travel Studentship Vidhya Pushponathan To travel in the UK or abroad Howard Colls Studentship Yuk Fung Geoffrey Cheung For best drawings at the end of Fourth Year Alexander Memorial Travel Fund Antoine Vaxelaire, Tobias Scheepers Henry Saxon Snell Scholarship Manijeh Verghese To encourage design, construction of hospitals, convalescent homes and asylums William Glover Bequest Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu Established in 1913 Ralph Knott Memorial Fund Patricia Mato Mora For necessitous students with promise

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS MA 12-month courses in Histories & Theories Housing & Urbanism Second Class or above Honours degree in architecture or a related discipline from a British university, or an overseas qualification of equivalent standard (from a course lasting not less than three years in a university or educational institution of university rank). MA 12-month course in Landscape Urbanism Professional degree or diploma in architecture/ landscape architecture or urbanism. MSc 12-month course in Sustainable Environmental Design Professional degree or diploma in architecture, engineering or other relevant disciplines.

AA Prize Jan Nauta For significant contributions to the AA

MSc 12-month course in Emergent Technologies & Design Professional degree or diploma in architecture, engineering, industrial / product design or other relevant disciplines.

Holloway Trust Summer Islam, Alexey Martin, Nathaniel Mosley Traditionally awarded for work related to the building and construction industry

MArch 16-month course in Architecture and Urbanism (Design Research Laboratory) Five-year professional architecture degree (BArch/Diploma equivalent).

Julia Wood Foundation Prize Stefan Jovanovic

MArch 16-month course in Emergent Technologies & Design Five-year professional degree or diploma in architecture, engineering, industrial/product design or other relevant disciplines (BArch/Diploma equivalent).

Foster + Partners Prize Aditya Aachi For infrastructure and sustainability Nicholas Pozner Prize (To be announced October 2011) For best single drawing Dennis Sharp Prize Stephen Marshall, Aram Mooradian, Silvana Taher For outstanding writing Best Technical Project for Third Year Charlotte Moe Best Technical Project for Fifth Year Jon Lopez

MArch 16-month course in Sustainable Environmental Design Five-year professional architecture degree (BArch/Diploma equivalent). MArch 16-month course in Housing & Urbanism Five-year professional architecture degree (BArch/Diploma equivalent) or other related discipline. MArch 16-month course in Design & Make Five-year professional degree (BArch/ Diploma equivalent). MPhil 20-month course in Projective Cities Five-year professional architecture degree (BArch/Diploma equivalent).

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AA Graduate Diploma in Spatial Design (AAIS) 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time (2 days per week) Applications assessed individually upon receipt of a CV, a short statement and original evidence of qualification. AA Graduate Diploma in Conservation of Historic Buildings This two-year part-time (day release) course is open to students or professionals with Part 2 (RIBA/ARB) or equivalent recognised qualifications. Suitably qualified members of other disciplines (eg, surveyors) may be considered. MPhil/PhD Candidates for MPhil/PhD research degrees are expected to have reached a level equivalent to that of an MA/MSc or MArch and must show evidence of previous experience in their proposed areas of research. APPLICATION DATE Students are asked to apply by 13 January 2012 (application fee £40). Late applications will be accepted up to 12 March 2012 (late fee £65). Applications made after this date will be accepted at the discretion of the school. Enquiries to: Graduate School Admissions Registrar’s Office T +44 (0)20 7887 4067 F +44 (0)20 7414 0779 graduateadmissions@ aaschool.ac.uk OPEN DAY Friday 20 January 2012 Further details will be made available through the AA’s website nearer the date. Individual or group visits can also be arranged with advance notice. For further details please contact: Graduate School Admissions Registrar’s Office T +44 (0)20 7887 4067 F +44 (0)20 7414 0779 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE ASSESSMENT Full information will be given in the Student Handbook 2011/12. EQUALITY The AA aims to create conditions to ensure that students are treated solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential, regardless of their gender, colour, religious/political beliefs, ethnic or national origin, disability, family background, age, sexual orientation or other irrelevant distinction.

Disability and Learning DifFIculties The Architectural Association School of Architecture aims to provide a highquality personalised service tailored to the individual student’s needs. Support and information is provided at every opportunity to encourage students to disclose their circumstances and thereby access the most appropriate support for their needs. Prospective students are encouraged to contact or visit the Registrar’s Office to discuss their needs and to assess what support is available prior to starting the course. Students who are registered at the AA School are also encouraged to contact the Registrar’s Office and/or their Programme Director, Unit Master/Tutor or Complementary Studies Course Master to assess what support would be available. This is an ongoing process throughout the academic year, to ensure that if a student omits to declare a disability/learning difficulty prior to or during registration, or becomes disabled during the course, appropriate support is put in place so that the student can achieve maximum success in their studies.

Contacts Foundation undergraduateadmissions@ aaschool.ac.uk Undergraduate School Admissions undergraduateadmissions@ aaschool.ac.uk Graduate School Admissions graduateadmissions@ aaschool.ac.uk Visiting School visitingschool@aaschool.ac.uk Semester Abroad visitingschool@aaschool.ac.uk Professional Studies (Year Out & Part 3) psco@aaschool.ac.uk

Data Protection Upon registration in the school students will be required to sign a statement consenting to the processing of personal information by AA Inc in compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. Data will only be disclosed internally to members of the AA staff who need to know; and when required, to third parties outside the AA in accordance with the Act. Data will not be provided to third parties for direct marketing purposes. Plagiarism Plagiarism is treated as a serious offence and the AA may impose all or any of the following penalties on a student found guilty of it: • expulsion from the school • suspension from registration at the school or from particular courses for such period as it thinks ﬁt • denial of credit or partial credit in any course or courses • an ofﬁcial warning Door Security Policy From time to time it may be necessary to amend the AA’s normal open-door policy for Bedford Square. Entry may be gained at these times by using the AA Membership swipe card or the entry buzzer.

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Staff Director’s Office Director Brett Steele Personal Assistant Roberta Jenkins Registrar’s Office Registrar Marilyn Dyer Assistant Registrar Belinda Flaherty Registrar’s Office/ External Students Administrative Coordinator Sabrina Blakstad Admissions (Undergraduate) Coordinator Meneesha Kellay Admissions (Graduate) Coordinators Claire Perry Imogen Evans Undergraduate School Administrative Coordinator Kirstie Little Foundation Course Director Saskia Lewis Studio Staff Takako Hasegawa First Year Head of First Year Monia De Marchi Studio Staff Valentin Bontjes van Beek Sarah Entwistle Max Kahlen Alex Kaiser Ingrid Schröder Intermediate School Unit 1 Mark Campbell Stewart Dodd Unit 2 Takero Shimazaki Ana Araujo Unit 3 Nanette Jackowski Ricardo de Ostos Unit 4 Nathalie Rozencwajg Michel da Costa Gonçalves

Unit 5 David Greene Samantha Hardingham Unit 6 Jeroen van Ameijde Brendon Carlin Unit 7 Maria Fedorchenko Tatiana von Preussen Unit 8 Francisco González de Canales Nuria Alvarez Lombardero Unit 9 Christopher Pierce Christopher Matthews Unit 10 Claudia Pasquero Marco Poletto Unit 12 Sam Jacob Tomas Klassnik Unit 13 Miraj Ahmed Martin Jameson Diploma School Unit 1 Tobias Klein Unit 2 Didier Fiuza Faustino Unit 3 Peter Karl Becher Matthew Barnett Howland Unit 4 John Palmesino Ann-Sofi Rönnskog Unit 5 Cristina Díaz Moreno Efrén García Grinda Tyen Masten Unit 6 Liam Young Kate Davies Unit 8 Eugene Han Unit 9 Natasha Sandmeier Unit 10 Carlos Villanueva Brandt Unit 11 Shin Egashira Unit 14 Pier Vittorio Aureli Maria S Giudici Unit 16 Jonas Lundberg Andrew Yau Unit 17 Theo Sarantoglou Lalis Dora Sweijd

Unit 18 Enric Ruiz-Geli Edouard Cabay Juliane Wolf Graduate School Administrative Coordinators Clement Chung Danielle Hewitt DRL Director Theodore Spyropoulos Founder Patrik Schumacher Programme Tutors Alisa Andrasek Robert Stuart-Smith Shajay Bhooshan Mollie Claypool Ryan Dillon Jose Sanchez Mirco Becker Technical Tutor Hanif Kara Emergent Technologies Directors Michael Weinstock George Jeronimidis Studio Masters Evan L Greenberg Studio Tutors Suryansh Chandra Mehran Gharleghi History and Critical Thinking Director Marina Lathouri Programme Staff Tina di Carlo Mark Cousins John Palmesino Douglas Spencer Thomas Weaver

Studio Masters Alfredo Ramirez Eduardo Rico Programme Staff Douglas Spencer Tom Smith Sustainable Environmental Design Director Simos Yannas Programme Staff Paula Cadima Klaus Bode Gustavo Brunelli Joana Carla Soares Gonçalves Jorge Rodriguez Alvarez Rosa Schiano-Phan Conservation of Historic Buildings Director Andrew Shepherd Programme Staff David Hills David Heath Design & Make Director Martin Self Programme Staff Piers Taylor Kate Darby Projective Cities Directors Christopher C M Lee Sam Jacoby

Housing & Urbanism Directors Jorge Fiori Hugo Hinsley Programme Staff Lawrence Barth Nicholas Bullock Elad Eisenstein Kathryn Firth Dominic Papa Elena Pascolo Alex Warnock-Smith

PhD Programme Academic Coordinator Simos Yannas Programme Staff Pier Vittoria Aureli Lawrence Barth Paula Cadima Mark Cousins Jorge Fiori Hugo Hinsley George Jeronimidis Toni Kotnik Marina Lathouri Rosa Schiano-Phan Patrik Schumacher Brett Steele Thomas Weaver Michael Weinstock Simos Yannas

Landscape Urbanism Director Eva Castro

AAIS Director Theo Lorenz

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Programme Staff Tanja Siems Studio Tutors Andy Dean Renaud Wiser Research Clusters Curators Mark Campbell Sam Jacob Clara Oloriz Sanjuan Douglas Spencer Ines Weizman Complementary Studies History & Theory Studies Administrative Coordinator Belinda Flaherty Director Mark Cousins Course Lecturers / Course Tutors Pier Vittorio Aureli Mark Cousins Mollie Claypool Ryan Dillon Christopher Pierce Ivonne Santoyo Brett Steele Programme Staff William Firebrace Teaching Assistants Ross Adams Daniel Ayat Shumi Bose Orit Goldstein-Mayer Emma Jones Roberta Maraccio Alison Moffett Emmanouil Stavrakakis Consultants Mark Campbell Paul Davies Oliver Domeisen Maria Fedorchenko Francesca Hughes John Palmesino Victoria Walsh Ines Weizman Media Studies Head Eugene Han Programme Staff Sue Barr Shany Barath Valentin Bontjes van Beek Monia De Marchi Shin Egashira Trevor Flynn Adam Furman Marco Ginex

Anderson Inge Max Kahlen Alex Kaiser Tobias Klein Heather Lyons Antoni Malinowski Marlie Mul Joel Newman Goswin Schwendinger Computing Tutors Ran Ankory Christina Doumpioti Chris Dunn Andres Harris Joshua Newman Edgar Payan Pacheco Suyeon Song Technical Studies Administrative Coordinator Belinda Flaherty Head of Technical Studies Javier Castañón Intermediate Master Wolfgang Frese Diploma Master Javier Castañón Programme Staff Giles Bruce Phil Cooper Christina Doumpioti Kenneth Fraser Clive Fussell Mehran Gharleghi David Illingworth Anderson Inge Marissa Kretsch John Noel Fernando Perez Fraile Juan Subercaseaux Manja van de Worp Consultants Carolina Bartram Ian Duncombe Ben Godber Martin Hagemann Emanuele Marfisi Simos Yannas Mohsen Zikri Architectural Practice Professional Studies Advisor Alastair Robertson Professional Studies Coordinator Rob Sparrow Part 1 Javier Castañón Part 2 Hugo Hinsley

Visiting School Director Chris Pierce Coordinator Sandra Sanna (maternity leave) Karina Joseph Audiovisual Lab Manager Joel Newman Technician Nick Wayne Computing Head Julia Frazer Assistant Mathew Bielecki Support Staff Amos Deane David Hopkins Syed Qadri Bryan Rymer Kevin Seddon George Christoforou Digital Photo Studio Sue Barr Digital Platforms Head of Digital Platforms/ Web Designer Frank Owen Web Designer/ Developer Zeynep Görgülü Content Editor Rosa Ainley Images & Videos Joel Newman Workshops Model Making Trystrem Smith Wood and Metal Workshop Supervisor Will Fausset Technician Robert Busher Head of Digital Prototyping Jeroen van Ameijde Prototyping Lab Technician Kar Leung Wai Hooke Park Bruce Hunter-Inglis Charles Corry Wright Chris Sadd Administrative Coordinator Merry Hinsley

Association Secretary Kathleen Formosa Secretary’s Office Personal Assistant Cristian Sanchez Gonzalez Head of Membership Alex Lorente Membership Coordinator Jenny Keiff Staff Joanne McCluskey Development Office Head of Development Esther McLaughlin Research and Proposal Development Manager Nicola Quinn Staff Roz Jackson AA Foundation Secretary Marilyn Dyer Administrator Alex Lorente AACP Shumon Basar Staff Francisco González de Canales Mollie Claypool Exhibitions Head of Exhibitions Vanessa Norwood Exhibitions Project Manager Lee Regan Exhibitions Coordinator Luke Currall Library Librarian Hinda Sklar Deputy Librarian Aileen Smith Archivist Edward Bottoms Cataloguer Beatriz Flora Serials/Library Web Developer Simine Marine

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Print Studio Print Studio Manager/Editor AA Files Thomas Weaver Publications Editor Pamela Johnston Editor, Events List Rosa Ainley Editorial Assistant Clare Barrett Art Director Zak Kyes Graphic Designers Wayne Daly Claire McManus AA Publications Marketing & Distribution Kirsten Morphet Marilyn Sparrow Bedford Press Directors Zak Kyes Wayne Daly Print Technician Claire McManus Photo Library Librarian Valerie Bennett Public Programme Coordinator Philip Hartstein Accounts Office Head of Finance Geoff Parrett Interim Accountant Alison Ferrary Assistants Lauren Harcourt Linda Keiff Eve Livett George Brown Drawing Materials Shop Manager Maria Cox Facilities Manager Anita Pfauntsch Assistant Manager Peter Keiff Maintenance & Security Matthew Hanrahan Lea Ketsawang James McColgan Ebere Nwosut Adam Okuniewski Colin Prendergast

Leszak Skrzypiec Mariusz Stawiarski Bogdan Swidzinski Sebastian Wyatt Front of House Reception & Switchboard Mary Lee Eleanor O’Hagan Hiroe Shin Shigemitsu (maternity leave) Catering/Bar Manager/Chef Pascal Babeau Deputy Manager/ Barman Darko Calina Catering Assistants Brigitte Ayoro Isabelle Kacou Miodrag Ristic Daniel Swidzinski Human Resources Head of Human Resources Tehmina Mahmood AA Bookshop Bookshop Manager Charlotte Newman Bookshop Assistant Luz Hincapie Staff Konrad Schiller

Colophon

The Prospectus is issued for guidance only, and the AA reserves the right to vary or omit all or any of the facilities, tuition or activities described therein, or amend in any substantial way any of the facilities, tuition or activities for which students may have enrolled. Students shall have no claim against the AA regarding any alteration The Prospectus is produced through made to the course. the AA Print Studio The School is part of the Architectural Association (Inc.), which is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. Company no 171402. Charity no 311083. Registered Office as below.

Editor: Ryan Dillon Editorial Assistant: Clare Barrett Art Director: Zak Kyes Design: Wayne Daly, Claire McManus Printed in England by Pureprint

Reader Assistance Clause AA Members wishing to request a black and white and/or larger print version of specific printed items can do so by contacting AA Reception (reception@aaschool.ac.uk / 020 7887 4000), or by accessing the AA website at www.aaschool.ac.uk For an audio recording of AA Events List, please call 020 7887 4111.

Architectural Association School of Architecture 36 Bedford Square London WC1B 3ES T + 44 (0)20 7887 4000 F + 44 (0)20 7414 0782 info@aascchool.ac.uk www.aaschool.ac.uk

AA Academic Calendar 2011–12 INTRO WEEK 19–23 SEP

Registration new students Foundation, First Year Intermediate & Diploma September Reviews / Picnic for NEW students

Term 1 SEP

WEEK 1

26–30

Registration returning students / Introductions / Interviews

OCT 2

3–7

Complementary courses commence

10–14

Complementary courses continue

17–21

Undergraduate and graduate student meetings with Brett Steele

24–28

Complementary courses continue

NOV 6

31.10 – 4.11

★ Open Week / Graduate MSc examinations

7–11

Complementary courses continue

14–18

Complementary courses continue

21–25

Complementary courses conclude

28.11–2.12

5–9

1st Yr / 2nd Yr / 3rd Yr hand-ins

12–16

Diploma Unit juries / Christmas party

17.12–8.1

Christmas Break

DEC

Term 2 WEEK

JAN

9–13

4th & 5th Yr submission hand-ins / 1st Yr & Inter juries / Complementary courses commence

16–20

Progress Reviews / MArch Phase II Jury Week

23–27

Complementary courses continue

FEB 4

30.1–3.2

Intermediate & Diploma combined tutorials

6–10

★ Open Week

13–17

TS3 & TS5 interim juries

20–24

Complementary courses continue

MAR 8

27.2–2.3

Graduate MArch external examinations / Complementary courses conclude

5–9

TS3 & TS5 final hand-in / Late TS3 & TS5 interim juries

12–16

4th Yr previews / 1st Yr & 2nd Yr hand-in

19–23

3rd Yr Part 1 previews / 5th Yr Part 2 previews / 3rd Yr hand-in / Easter party

24.3–22.4

Easter Break

Term 3 APR

WEEK 1

23–27

Late TS3 & TS5 final hand-in

MAY 2

30.4–4.5

8–11

14–18

21–25

28.5–1.6

6–8

1st, 2nd & 4th Yr end of year reviews

11–15

Foundation end of year reviews / Inter (Part 1) final check / Dip committee / Dip Hons Pres

18–22

AA Prizes / External examiners / Grad ceremony / Projects Review exhibition

HTS and Sharp Writing Prize / TS3 & TS5 High Pass Panel / TS3 & TS5 High Pass Exhibition First Year, Intermediate & Diploma juries

JUN

Architectural Association