ATHOL RUSTON

from Populous CV/Portfolio

by atholruston

COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN SPECIALIST

QUALIFICATIONS

ARB/RIBA Part II: Predicted Distinction

ARB/RIBA Part I: First Class Honours

PERSONAL AWARD SHORTLISTS

RIBA South East Award

Morgan Carn Design Award

The Chaplaincy Prize for Creative Sustainability

PERSONAL DETAILS atholruston96@gmail.com

07957 290 275 linkedin.com/in/athol-ruston-b85b77150

Education

Manchester School of Architecture

RIBA Architecture Part II, 2021 - Present

MArch 1 Infra Space [Distinction]

MArch 2 CPU.ai [Predicted Distinction]

May 2023 Completion

University of Brighton

School of Architecture and Design

RIBA Architecture Part I

First Class Honours

Graduated July 2018

BHASVIC

AS and A Levels A*- C

Maths [Mechanics]

Graphic Design

Fine Art Economics

Dorothy Stringer High School

GCSE’s 11 A*-C

SOFTWARE KNOWLEDGE

ADVANCED STANDARD

Revit // 3 Years

Rhino // 2 Years

Grasshopper // 2 Years

Python // <1 Year

Swift // <1 Year

C++ // <1 Year

Unity <1 Year

Unreal Engine <1 Year

Practice Work

Conran + Partners // AJ100

London / Brighton

2019 - 2021

Part I Architectural Assistant

ZCD Architects

London

2018 - 2019

Part I Architectural Assistant

FURTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

Winner of £100m bid for Town Centre Masterplan [April, 2020 // Conran + Partners, team of three]

RIBA Architectural Ambassador [Jan 2020]

Hackney Design Awards, Peoples Choice Award [Feb 2019 // ZCD Architects, team of five]

University of Brighton Housing Exhibition [Sept 2018]

The Pier Show, Hastings Pier [RIBA 2017 Sterling Prize winner]

EXTRA CURRICULAR

Photoshop // 10 Years

Illustrator // 8 Years

InDesign // 8 Years

Sketchup // 8 Years

Enscape // 2 Years

VRay // 1 Year

AutoCAD // 1 Year

Vectorworks // 1 Year

References

Solon Solomou s.solomou@mmu.ac.uk

Samuel Higgins s.higgins@mmu.ac.uk

Manchester School of Architecture Design Tutors

John Hatton

Conran + Partners Associate john.hatton@conran.com

Luis Diaz

University of Brighton Design Tutor

L.Diaz@brighton.ac.uk

RIBA Competition: Re-imagining the garden city

Zcd Architects

Part I Architectural Assistant Private Houses - Interior - Community Hackney, London [2018-2019]

Vectorworks - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop - Sketchup Award Winners: Hackney Design Awards, People’s Choice Award: Clapton House

As a first Architectural Assistant job, the role at ZCD Architects contained a high level of responsibility. With the small 5-6 person practice working on RIBA Stages 0-7, my knowledge of the roles of an architect, as well the logistics involved in running an architectural company, were significantly developed. Hands on experience with live projects and client/contractor meetings allowed for a sharp increase in practical knowledge. The work was engaging and rewarding due to results immediately benefiting private clients in their homes and businesses. Competition work also enhanced my masterplanning and presentation skills.

CONRAN + PARTNERS // AJ100 [REVIT]

Part I Architectural Assistant Residential - Town Planning - Masterplanning Brighton / London [2019-2021]

Revit - Enscape - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop

Competition Winners: £100m bid for Town Centre Masterplan [April 2020, team of three]

My second Architectural Assistant role at Conran + Partners provided an insight into working for a larger AJ100 practice. Securing the contact for the job through the RIBA South East Award presentations provided the perfect gateway into the internationally renowned company. The majority of my time at the practice involved working on the Hailsham Town Centre Masterplan. Following our successful bid, time was spent in RIBA Stages 1 and 2 where masterplan layouts were strategised and discussed with clients. Other projects included medium to large scale housing projects and RIBA Ambassador work.

RIBA PART I PRACTICE SUMMARY [REVIT]

Part I Architectural Assistant Residential - Town Planning - Masterplanning / Private Houses - Interior - Community Brighton / London [2018-2021]

Revit - Enscape - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop - Vectorworks - Sketchup

During the three years of practice work that was completed before my masters, I gained a broad range of knowledge in regards to the design and construction process of buildings. The role at ZCD Architects involved producing concepts, drawings and planning applications for private residential projects in London. With the practice taking projects from Strategic

Definition to Handover and Use [RIBA stages 0-7], I gained vital skills in the process of briefing, designing, constructing and operating building projects. The work at Conran + Partners transferred these skills for a larger scale of residential project and gave me experience in BIM software. These digital skills have now been utilised and enhanced further during my MArch studies.

ARB/RIBA PART I OVERVIEW

ARB/RIBA Part I [Architecture]

Design Project - Social Housing [Grade: First]

Brighton School of Architecture and Design [2017-2018]

Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop - Sketchup - Model Making

Shortlists: RIBA South East Award - Morgan Carn Design Award - Chaplaincy Prize for Creative Sustainability

This scheme was designed in response to a complex brief based around adding additional housing to three existing tower blocks in central Brighton. The final proposal was established through the process of iteration, drawing and model making to create an intricate proposal of horizontal and vertical mathousing. The two building typologies were connected by streets and paths through the site that formed relationships for both new and existing residents. Changes in level or material signified a shift in privacy level and the design ensured that every dwelling featured a large landing that offers additional exterior space.

‘Athol was the top performing student in my studio that year for both the term 1 and terms 2/3 studio project. His project and approach remains among the best I’ve seen in the last ten years and I can recommend him without any reservations.’ - Luis Diaz, Design Tutor [Reference available upon request]

Polyvalent play space testing

This project provided thirty dwellings for transient offshore workers on a difficult site in Grimsby. It challenged the recent weakening of the planning system and how the status of temporary residence affects space and the basic provisions of light, air and heat. The housing was augmented by socially productive space for families and children. Before formal playgrounds, children used to explore and occupy leftover spaces of the city, places of play were informal impromptu spaces of gathering. Through the movements of play, the proposal became the surface for a child to test the relationship between their body and its surroundings. Designed in Revit, the next page will explore the computational aspects of the project.

A green future for Grimsby

Facade design for optimum building performance

THE PLAYHOUSE [COMPUTATIONAL FACADE]

ARB/RIBA Part II Architecture [MArch 1] - Infrastructure Space

Professional Studies 1 - Offshore Worker Housing, Grimsby [Grade: Distinction]

Manchester School of Architecture [2021]

Revit - Grasshopper - Rhino - Safaira - VRay - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop

By designing the elevations using computation, the facade was able to be designed in a way that considered light and function simultaneously. This allowed for a frontage that sat within the Grimsby context and also provided ideal daylighting conditions within the proposal. These daylighting conditions were also monitored and designed to let certain amounts of light into each space depending on the internal room types. For example, living space was programmed to be bright, however storage could be left darker. The final façades made use of multiple, sometimes layered, material finishes that provided both quality internal daylighting and a scheme that showed continuity with the surrounding area and internal programme.

Combined script for daylighting analysis

Iterative testing

Exploded process diagram in context

GLASHUS ‘ICE CREAM FACTORY’ [REVIT]

ARB/RIBA Part II Architecture [MArch 1] - Infrastructure Space

Professional Studies 2 - Retrofit Ice Cream Factory, Grimsby (Conservation Project) [Grade: Distinction]

Manchester School of Architecture [2022]

Revit - Safaira - VRay - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop

The Glashus project repurposed a former fish dock, ice factory and market in Grimsby. With a severely scaled back and redistributed fishing industry in the port and wider area, the site forms one of a number of redundant structures with no clear purpose in the context of a modern, functional port. This project re- imagined the area as a new entertainment district with the ice cream factory functioning as a ‘Willy Wonka’ style gateway to the proposed masterplan. The proposal tested whether infrastructural architecture could be productive in service of humans and the environment simultaneously.

Proposed pier: Ice cream factory / Tour and experience / Children’s playground

Street food market

Grimsby’s industrial heritage retained

Advancing traditional building typologies with parametric energy generating prosthetic devices and systems

A future zero-carbon urban realm

[URBAN] PROSTHETIC ENERGY [COMPUTATIONAL THESIS]

ARB/RIBA Part II Architecture [MArch 2] - CPU.ai

Design Thesis - Integrating ‘Prosthetic’ energy generating devices into an urban context through the use of a custom built computational tool. [Predicted Distinction]

Manchester School of Architecture [2022-2023]

Rhino - Grasshopper - Python - Swift - C# - Unity - Unreal Engine - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop

This thesis explored whether it is possible to achieve carbon neutrality by integrating energy generating prosthetics into the fabric of the built environment. This was achieved by developing hybrid prosthetic typologies derived from established building types. In order to balance liveability, cost and carbon with technological prosthetics, a multi-factor analysis and optimisation approach was used in a computational tool that was constructed over the year. The tool demonstrated its success in generating zero-carbon urban blocks while taking into account and improving other significant societal factors

An augmented street-scape implemented in a larger unified computational tool. were capable of being completely zero-carbon.

Parametric energy generating prosthetic device scripts Advanced prosthetic typology scripts

Urban Computational Tool Workflow: https://youtu.be/xioFyTHpW_4

[URBAN] PROSTHETIC ENERGY [COMPUTATIONAL WORKFLOW]

ARB/RIBA Part II Architecture [MArch 2] - CPU.ai

Design Thesis - Integrating ‘Prosthetic’ energy generating devices into an urban context through the use of a custom built computational tool. [Predicted Distinction]

Manchester School of Architecture [2022-2023]

Rhino - Grasshopper - Python - Swift - C# - Unity - Unreal Engine - Illustrator - Indesign - Photoshop

This depicts how the computational tool was constructed to provide any controller with the capability to design an urban block at the Eastern Gateway. Supported and explored through applicable theories, the tool can be used anywhere on site. The unified computational process combined all of the scripts and data from the energy prosthetics and prosthetic typologies. During the optimisation stage, the controller can select which performance criteria they intend to maximise and the prosthetic script will run iterations repeatedly until the choice is optimised to maximise appropriate factors.

Final zero-carbon urban block design

Iterative Computational Tool Testing: https://youtu.be/zlaEjCtGxgA

[URBAN] PROSTHETIC ENERGY [USER INTERFACE PROGRAMMING]

ARB/RIBA Part II Architecture [MArch 2] - CPU.ai

Design Thesis Products - Two User Interfaces. [Predicted Distinction]

Manchester School of Architecture [2022-2023]

Rhino - Grasshopper - Python - Swift - C# - Unity - Unreal Engine Software Development / UX / UI / Graphic Design

The additional thesis outcomes consisted of two user interfaces that allow relevant stakeholders to access the capabilities of the Prosthetic Energy project. The first desktop application allows developers to create and compare prosthetic urban block iterations and proposals created within the computational tool before submitting them for the next RIBA Stage. The second mobile application provides Eastern Gateway residents with access to all prosthetic features. It connects residents, councils and developers, avoiding elaborate and expensive public consultations and allowing for direct communication and rating of new proposals on site.