Vertical Studio 2015: Imagine Bath

Vertical Studio project.

By Joe Ridealgh & Kishan Mulji

In February 2015, first, second, and third year Architecture students at Bath were asked in groups of four or five; either as a pair of first years and a group of second years or third years, to create a proposal relating to the future of Bath. Suggested ideas included transformation of a public space, a new building, piece of infrastructure, event or transport solution. Groups responded to the lack of restrictions in the brief with imaginative proposals that were judged more so on their aesthetic, as opposed to plausibility.

The resulting ideas were immensely creative, ranging in size and scale to the ambition of the schemes. Each group’s proposal was presented on an A1 poster that would exhibit the main aspects of the scheme, which was largely intended as a testament to the team’s presentation ability. These designs were subsequently submitted for RIBA’s ‘Imagine Bath’ competition, with some students even receiving commendations and cash prizes for their impressive schemes at the university prize-giving ceremony, with Group 1 (Below) ranking first.

But most importantly, the vertical studio provided the opportunity for students from every year to pool their knowledge - it was a rich source of information for the first years involved in the project. Although this design process seemed to mostly benefit us naïve first years by providing skills and insights into architecture student life, the experience was not wasted on the second and third year students. Propelled along by the sheer enthusiasm of an ever-optimistic first year and the lack of creative constraints on the project, a design team of varying age and experience came together to make use of each person’s assets.

The culminating exhibition – set in the moodily lit Vaults and Colonnade of Parade Gardens, celebrated not only students’ work, but also the ideas of local professionals and public. This task to ‘Imagine Bath’ was a way of integrating the architectural world with the public realm and seemed to successfully connect local people in a unified wish to make Bath a better place to live.