Spence on Spence: The Basil Spence Project

By Issy Spence

I can’t quite believe that I am writing this: I SURVIVED BASIL SPENCE! And in fact, I enjoyed it. This year’s brief was to redeisgn the current train station in Oxford. It was an exciting brief, set off the back of a live competition set by Oxford Council. With constraints to consider such as working with a live railway and the iminent eletrification of the Great Western Line, the brief also demanded the inclusion of commerical and retail opportunities, a youth hostel and a lot of bike parking spaces... It is truly amazing to see how everyone’s designs evolve over the course of the 10 weeks. We kept finding ourselves saying ‘I can’t believe how much our scheme has changed.’ It’s fast-paced, challenging and slightly surreal once it’s all over with. I thought I’d perhaps reminisce and share a few things I’ve learnt and tips for making the most out of Basil Spence:

1. Strength in the idea - The best projects had a strong cohesive idea that was extremely well executed in all aspects of their design, from environmental to materiality to their philosophy. The winning e, with Emma Moberg, Matt McCluskey, Helen Needs and Zach Wynne, made their scheme come to life by focusing on the rich literature culture of Oxford.

2. Delight in the Design Process - seek inspiration for the design from many different sources, whether philosophical reading or a subconscious blind drawing experimentation.

3. Simplexity - Glenn Murcott’s quote ‘Simplicity does not ignore the complexity it highlights the importance,’ was particularly pertinent. You can never make a design too simple, but can far too easily overcomplicate and dilute your ideas with clutter.

4. Beauty in the components - Making the materials and details work hard. Although it sounds like I am in love with a brick, find an element that can work at all scales on your project.

5. Clarity - Make sure you can quickly explain what your scheme is about. Ideally, convey the essence of the scheme in a sentence.

6. Overall Project Organisation - Set yourself mini-deadlines and design freezes. Stick to them.

7. Enjoy it! Make things you’ve never made before, don’t be afraid to be bold and learn from it. Anyway I am going to stop being cheesy and here is some wonderful work from the Basil Spence Project 2016 ...