exhibit 2007 Design Yearbook by Guillermo Guzman Dumont

exhibit! 07 Design Yearbook School of the Built Environment University of Nottingham ISBN: 978 0 85358 237 3 Design, Layout and Edited by Guillermo Guzman Dumont Published by the School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham Printed in England by Pyramid Press Ltd. Copyright 2007 ÂŠ School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher. The views expressed in the included articles are those of their authors and may not reflect the views of the publisher, as well as the responsibility for copyrighted content supplied for those articles. School of the Built Environment University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham NG72RD UK Tel: 44 (0)1159514184 Fax: 44 (0)115 9513159 www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe Cover graphic: exhibit! 07-logo design by gguzman Inner back cover image: Students in a studio site visit, Mam Tor, Castleton, November 2004

exhibit! 07

Design Year Book

4 6 8 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 22 24 26 38 40 70 72 99 100 127 128 161 162 163 164 170 172 214 216 218 219 220 222 224 225 226 227 228 230 231 232

Welcome by the Head of School Design + Technology School Overview BA (K102) Architectural Studies Beng (K240) Architectural Environment Engineering Barch (K100) Meng (K240) Studio Year 1 FAT Architects Studio Year 2 McChesney Architects Studio Year 3 Year 3 Unit 1 (Jonathan Morris) Hopkins Architects Year 3 unit 2 (Ulyses Senegupta) Studio Three Architects Year 3 Unit 3 (Chris Hill) Hawkins \Brown Year 3 Unit 4 (David Short) Allies and Morrison Architects Year 3 Unit 5 (Nicola Gerber) UL Architects Architectural Management and Practice Diploma Overview Diploma Year 5 Modules Amin Taha Architects Studio Year 6 The Space*Studio Master Courses Field Trips Overseas study oportunities Rojkind Arquitectos Tongue & Groove presentation Stage design competition Exhibit! event presentation International Agreements School Academic Staff Architecture Bursaries Building Technology Bursaries Prizes awarded last year Prizes to be awarded this year

> Contents

10 BA (K102) Architectural Studies / 12 BEng (K240) / 14 Barch (K100) / 15 Meng (K240) / 16 Studio Year 1 / 20 Studio Year 2 / 24 Studio Year 3 / 162 Architectural Management and Practice / 163 Diploma Overview / 164 Diploma Year 5 Modules / 216 Master Courses

6 Design + Technology / 18 FAT Architects / 22 McChesney Architects / 38 Hopkins Architects / 70 Studio Three Architects / 99 Hawkins \Brown / 127 Allies and Morrison Architects / 161 UL Architects / 170 Amin Taha Architects / 214 The Space*Studio / 220 Rojkind Arquitectos

General Information

4 Welcome by the Head of School / 8 School overview / 218 Field Trips / 219 Overseas study opportunities / 222 Tongue & Groove presentation / 224 Stage design competition / 225 Exhibit! event presentation / 226 International Agrements / 227 School Academic Staff / 228 Architecture Bursaries / 230 Building Technology Bursaries / 231 Prizes awarded last year / 232 Prizes to be awarded this year

Courses Information

Students Projects

26 Year 3 Unit 1 (Jonathan Morris) / 40 Year 3 unit 2 (Ulyses Senegupta) / 72 Year 3 Unit 3 (Chris Hill) / 100 Year 3 Unit 4 (David Short) / 128 Year 3 Unit 5 (Nicola Gerber) / 172 Studio Year 6

Articles

The new Centre for Sustainable Energy Technology (CSET), designed by Mario Cucinella Architects, is now under construction at the University of Nottinghamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ningbo Campus in China.

> A Time for Reﬂection communicate with our many friends and collaborators in practice and industry. The work demonstrates the relevance of what we do to meeting the wider social, economic and environmental challenges facing society, and illustrates that the skills and creativity of our graduates will make a major contribution to the design and construction professions.

The pace of life today is so fast that we tend to leave little time for reflection, but the creation of the annual Design Yearbook provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on our achievements this year. Every final year student has had the opportunity to show his or her work within its pages. It also shows representative work from other years and courses, thereby illustrating the quality and diversity of student output across the School, and why we are one of the most highly regarded Schools in the country. It is important to record the work of a year in a permanent form, since the annual exhibition is too soon forgotten. The production of the Design Yearbook is useful for staff, but also a source of pride for our students. It provides us with an opportunity to

In addition to the work of our students, we have other achievements to celebrate: • At the end of last year we obtained unconditional renewal of both ARB/ RIBA and CIBSE accreditation of our MEng Course, which continues to go from strength to strength. • At the start of the academic year, Professor Ted Cullinan again masterminded the hugely successful twoday ‘Tour de Pasenville’ design event for first year and Diploma architecture students. • Our very distinguished Special Professors of Design, Ted Cullinan, Mario Cucinella, Ken Shuttleworth and Mick Eekhout, have been joined this year by Peter Clegg (founding partner of Feilden Clegg Bradley). • The first of six ‘Creative Energy Dwellings’ is nearing completion. This will provide opportunities for further research into energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies, for which the School has developed a worldwide reputation.

• The new Centre for Sustainable Energy Technology (CSET), designed by Mario Cucinella Architects, is now under construction at the University of Nottingham’s Ningbo Campus in China, and is due for completion this October. • During the Year we mounted four exhibitions in our Gallery space: including the ‘Materials of Invention’ exhibition from the Building Centre in London (curated by Michael Stacey), the RIBA President’s Medals exhibition, the RIBA Higher Education Building Exhibition, and an exhibition from the Architectural Association in London of postgraduate student work. These are just some of the highlights of the last year. As a School we seek to promote collaboration with architects, engineers and the construction industry through both our teaching and research, and we are delighted by the number of sponsors for student prizes, the end of year exhibition and this yearbook. We hope that this year’s graduates who are moving into practice will maintain their connections with the School and become our practice and industry collaborators in the future. Well done to all on a very successful year!

Professor Brian Ford Head of School

> Editorial: A book is more than a verbal structure or series of verbal structures; it is the dialogue it establishes with its reader and the intonation it imposes upon his voice and the changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of innumerable relationships. -- Essay: “A Note on Bernard Shaw” by Jorge Luis Borges

No way for refusing a task like this!! It has been a privilege to be able to put together this yearbook, and despite of the long nights and hard work, this experience is worth trying it. But also was a great challenge trying to maintain the high standard that was achieved with last year’s book, and for being the first one after a long time in the school, our task was even harder!!! So here we are, apart from adding colour to the pages, one of the most distinctive features of this book is that we’ve aimed it with a theme. A relevant and amalgamating theme that can integrate the diversity of our profession and our school ethos, and it wasn’t hard to identify that one of the most controversial subjects of discussion is the role of the architect in the growing interdisciplinary context in which today’s projects are developed.

“Interdisciplinary work: Towards a Sustainable Built Environment” In the recent years the built and the natural environments had entered a complex relationship. No longer is the domination a feasible way to relate both, and Interdependence has become a rule to follow. In pursuing this objective, a number of related disciplines are getting more involved in the generation of buildings. Understanding the interaction of these different disciplines, from the conception of the idea towards the development of the project, should help identifying the advantages and difficulties to overcome, and the vision of the Architectural practice is essential to give us a real dimension of the compromise with interdisciplinary work that we must adopt in our programs. So we invited the practices that participated in the Tongue & Groove lecture series this year, to give us their particular point of view in the

The Build Team ready for the start of the C-60 house.

matter, and the result was amazing. We received 10 articles of very high quality, exceeding by far our expectations. Some created their own questionnaire, some described the way their practices work, some elaborated a deep reflection on relevant matters of our profession, we even have a succulent cooking recipe! …In total a very diverse approach and always relevant in the learning process, as the school of the Built Environment has understood this challenge and its committed to produce professionals with a deep understanding of this conflict and to provide tools to deal with it in an effective way. We have interesting examples of project briefs based in real cases, participation of students in building experiences like the involvement in the C-60 house under construction, part of the Creative Energy Homes project, the manufacture of 1:1 scale models and further inhabitation, and the design competition and construction of the Stage for

this year’s end of year show, between others, all relevant examples of “hands-on” experience that the school is promoting. The contents of this book have been organised in a way that the browsing is not linear, mixing general information about the school, courses information, graduating students projects & dissertations and the practices articles, having two formats for the contents page to ease the search. I hope the book’s aim was achieved and the readers enjoy this journey, enhancing the passion we all should feel of being part of this amazing profession, from our own perspective.

Soyez réalistes, demandez l’impossible. (Be realistic, ask for the impossible) Slogan used during Students strikes in Paris, May ‘68

> Design + Technology Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. Steve Jobs, computer engineer & industrialist (1955 -) Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn’t have to experience it. Max Frisch (1911–1991) Swiss architect, playwright and novelist. This attractive invitation of Steve Jobs to use design to understand our context gets challenged by Frisch’s view on technology. And actually this is so true, as we give for granted so many things when facing design tasks. Our course is currently experiencing a revolution in communications; in the recent years more and more students arrive to the course carrying their laptops, which allows very efficiently to be “connected”… to have “access”. But does this help building up a school identity? Does an interdisciplinary school make you a team player by default? Not necessarily… Technology has provided us portals and sites like “facebook” allowing us to acquire a “virtual presence”, a customized identity, a permanent presence sharing exciting images, feelings and information, but it’s a manipulated truth after all, and that’s the risk because it gives us a very restricted view of life if we only rely on that...imagine driving a submarine only through its periscope… Don’t get me wrong, I’m a supporter of facebook, but that’s not the only way of relating us to the world, as some students devote more time to their facebook relations than the real ones!!!, affecting the so necessary studio culture that allows the real “encounter”, the use of all our senses, the experience! The virtual presence allows us to get there, but not to “be” there. Communication technologies may allow us to “belong” to many places, but are we really there? Anywhere? One day, someone showed me a glass of water that was half full. And he said, “Is it half full or half empty?” So I drank the water. No more problem.” Alexander Jodorowsky, actor, playwright, director, producer, composer, mime, comic book writer and psychotherapist

A password may be the key to open a door; but it’s not our identity... Becoming effective team players in interdisciplinary professional teams, implies knowing how to engage in real experiences, to use our communication skills to embrace knowledge rather than just acquire it, and this is not easy, as it may take all our lives to achieve it.

By Guillermo Guzman Dumont Lecturer

The School of the Built Environment is more than buildings…its about us, and what we do to contribute to our society, and this forces us be there!!!

> School Overview

The School of the Built Environment is comprised of four institutes: Architecture, Building Technology, Sustainable Energy Technology and Urban Planning. The School is one of the most highly respected in the country with a distinguished faculty and roster of alumni. The focus is on interdisciplinary teaching through a range of cutting-edge undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This approach gives graduates a high standing in terms of employment, research training and professional recognition. Equipping students with an integrated approach at an advanced level, the School also aims to develop vocational skills and environmentally responsible attitudes. The current student body is in the region of 850 including over 80 research students and 60 taught postgraduate students. Teaching is delivered by 5 full-time, 10 part-time and 4 practitioner-tutor academic staff. We also have a number of Special Professors who regularly engage with students including Peter Clegg, Edward Cullinan, Mario Cucinella, Mick Eekhout and Ken Shuttleworth.

The School provides a wide range of undergraduate courses. The fiveyear architecture programme leads to a ‘Bachelor of Architecture’ (BArch Hons) degree (ARB/RIBA Part I) at the end of third year and, following a year in practice, a two-year ‘Diploma in Architecture’ (DipArch) at the end of sixth Year (ARB/RIBA Part II). The interdisciplinary fouryear ‘MEng Architecture and Environmental Design’ achieves dual recognition for ARB/RIBA Part I and CIBSE. The BArch introduces the humanities, sciences and technologies that influence the built environment and allows students to acquire the necessary skills for architectural design. The MEng builds upon this by providing additional modules that develop a specialism in environmental design enabling recognition from CIBSE. In addition, the School offers a ‘BEng Architectural Environment Engineering’ which is accredited by CIBSE and focuses the use of modern and environment friendly technologies to create comfortable and efficient building environments. In addition, the new BA (Hons) Sustainable Built

Environment offers cutting-edge knowledge & skills in this highly topical field and enables students to acquire the necessary skills for assessing, planning and managing sustainable built environments. The ‘BA (Hons) in Architectural Studies’ prepares students who don’t necessarily want to follow the vocational route to professional registration to build upon their architectural knowledge for a wide-range of employment within built environment or other professions. The School also delivers a comprehensive portfolio of taught postgraduate programmes in architecture; Environmental Design, urban design and renewable energy (see ‘Masters Courses’). The Institute of Architecture also delivers a successful ‘Architectural Professional Practice’ course with ARB/RIBA Part III exemption which can also lead to MArch qualification. In addition, the School has a large PhD programme drawing on the wide range of research areas across all of the Institutes (see ‘Research Programmes’ and ‘PhD Programmes’).

Professor Tim Heath Director Institute of Architecture

> BA (Hons) in Architectural Studies K102 This course offers an attractive option for students who are interested in Architecture and the building industry, but do not want to follow the vocational-professional route to becoming an architect (offered by the BArch course). This undergraduate-level course thus offers a wellrounded degree which engages with a wide range of interests. The three-year course introduces at a theoretical level the humanities, sciences and technologies that influence the built environment and allows students to acquire an awareness and understanding of the issues involved with the creation, sustenance and maintenance of the built environment. This course uniquely allows students to chart a particular specialization according to their interests in light of the wide-ranging supporting services and businesses in the Architectural and Building Industry.

Raymond Quek Course Director

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In the first part of the course, students pursue core studies in the wider context of human settlements and environmental concerns and elect to do elective modules within the University leading to their specialization in the second part of the course. In this second part, students are able to programme their course â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;specializationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the selection of further elective modules, which eventually leads to a topic for a supervised dissertations.

The Architectural Studies course prepares students for a wide-range of employment positions in the Architectural / Building Industry and related supporting services. Graduates of this degree go on to work in industries such as planning, property and project management, estate and building development, building technology, the architectural and building press, interior design, product design, graphics and multi media, etc. Some graduates also pursue post graduate studies in a specialisation developed within the Architectural Studies course, such as urban studies, history and theory, conservation or environmental studies. Graduates may also continue on to do Law conversion courses or an MBA and with their background in Architectural Studies are able to offer a unique combination of legal, management & architectural studies skills to potential employers. A selection of graduating students dissertations are presented in order to illustrate the diversity in the areas of specialisation / dissertation titles.

Emily Webster LONDON IS HOSTING THE OLYMPICS IN 2012. ONE OF THE CRITERIA THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PARTICULARLY EMPHASISED WAS THAT OF REGENERATION. IS HOSTING THE OLYMPICS A VIABLE MEANS OF REGENERATION? The Olympic Games started in 1896 and have become the biggest sporting event in the World. Host countries spend years planning and invest billions of pounds into the development of the Olympic site and infrastructure of the city, all for a period of just a few weeks, hoping that the city will retain a successful legacy. Is hosting the Games a practical means of regenerating a city? This essay examines the issue by tracking the history of the Games, focussing on regeneration issues and problems from previous games and finally studying the planned Olympic site for London 2012, predicting its success. Stephen Soliman THE DESIGN OF ATRIA IN THE PROMOTION OF DAY LIGHTING AND NATURAL VENTILATION IN ENERGY EFFICIENT OFFICE BUILDINGS Energy efficiency is a branch of sustainable design, which is being used

increasingly in projects as a result of the current environmental concerns. The debate over whether atria contribute towards or hinder the energy performance in office buildings has been alive for many years with no definite answer reached as of yet. This dissertation will explore how atria can be designed to promote day lighting and natural ventilation in modern office buildings, and how this can improve the efficient consumption of energy, both renewable and non-renewable

they received of their performance. Through interview survey and rating scale methods, woodwind instrumentalists rated the effect of each condition for eleven aspects associated with performance expression, auditory and visual spatial judgement, and presence. The results show that perception does affect performance expression and provides a solid basis for detailed discussion with applicability to the psychology of performance, acoustics, auditory scene analysis, auditoria design and presence in virtual reality.

Charlotte Downing

sustainability and have paid little attention to environmental sustainability above simple regeneration of a brownfield site. However this appears to be changing with greater concern for more socially balanced, environmentally sustainable developments (such as Silvertown Quays and Islington Wharf, Manchester). This change is partly due to increasingly stringent legislation, however other factors such as market pressure and financing principles are also having an influence. Catherine Staniland

Nick Clements THE ROLE OF SOLOIST MUSICIANS’ CROSS-MODAL PERCEPTION IN A RECITAL HALL The research of cross-modal perception is a fairly recent development, with its applications remaining largely un-investigated. Further to this the study of auditory perception for acoustics in concert hall auditoria has mainly been focused on the audience. In order to develop this field of cross-modal perception research, the musicians must be investigated as interactive users of concert halls. The present study investigated musicians’ auditory-visual perception through performance in a recital hall and in four controlled environments simulated in a recording studio designed to control and isolate the visual and auditory feedback

SUSTAINABLE IN DOCKLAND SCHEMES

DEVELOPMENT REGENERATION

This paper discusses the nature of sustainability in dockland development schemes, how it has changed over time and what has caused these changes. Traditionally dockland developments (such as the London Docklands Development Corporation’s redevelopment) have followed a characteristic form of redevelopment due to their ex-industrial nature. This has involved expensive schemes having significant private involvement which has demanded economic success, focusing on luxury residential properties, office blocks and retail space. These schemes have traditionally neglected social

“The Crisis of Vision in the Modern City” explores the role of vision in the modern cities of the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, through the literature, art and finally architecture of the period. It initially traces the history of vision from Hellenic Greece up until the advent of the modern city in the nineteenth century, considering the relationship between vision and the way that man related to the world. It continues by exploring the influence that the modern city had on this visual relationship. It finally considers the effect that this new visual relationship had on selected movements of architecture in the early twentieth century and the conclusions we may draw about this in architecture today.

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> BEng Architectural Environment Engineering K240 The Bachelor of Engineering in Architectural Environment Engineering involves the use of modern and environment-friendly technologies to create comfortable and efficient indoor environments. Engineers in this field apply their skills to design energy efficient buildings incorporating renewable energy, green architecture, heating, thermal insulation, ventilation, lighting, acoustics and electrical/control systems. The requirement of building energy management systems, fire/smoke control, environmental pollution control and indoor air quality standards are also a high priority. The demand for high-quality graduates in Architectural Environment Engineers significantly exceeds supply and graduates have excellent prospects of obtaining a rewarding job in an advancing industry.

Dr Yu Yin Yang Course Director

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Environmental design for buildings is multifaceted and each project is likely to present new and often unforeseen challenges. The role of the design team is to ensure that on each occasion the client receives a building which is on time, within budget and meets the requirements of those who use it. This role has always been challenging, but never more so than now. This is largely due to much greater awareness of the impact of buildings in the global context in addition to their effect on the local environment they serve. As buildings currently account for up to

50% of all energy consumption, today architectural environment engineers will play a major role in bringing down future CO2 emissions. The course has a modular structure: Year 1 deals with fundamental subjects such as the interaction between people and the environment, computer aided design, maths, thermofluids and professional issues. Year 2 focuses on more specialised and advanced subjects including airconditioning design, acoustics and lighting, an introduction to renewable energy, engineering applications of IT and management studies. Year 3 is characterised by student-centred research and on design projects and optional modules which students select according to their needs and interests. The Year is concerned with the application of fundamental knowledge and skills acquired previously, to major design projects, and with development of the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; design capabilities. The BEng course has been awarded the CIBSE President Award for 2005 at a ceremony held in London in October 2005. The award was made for a final year research project on renewable energy application in buildings carried out by David Chetta. The President Award Trophy will be kept at the School till October 2006. A selection of graduating students dissertations are presented:

David Kwabens Anokye Opoku AN INVESTIGATION INTO SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC CONCENTRATION AND HEAT TRANSFER BY PASSIVE MEANS This dissertation contains work carried out on the heat transfer of selected thermally conductive strip tapes used to reduce heat build up on concentrating solar collector cells. The aims of the investigation were to validate the thermal conductivity of the strip tapes then leading to the testing of their thermal performance under expected operating conditions. This entailed mounting the thermally adhesive tapes onto an experimental v-trough concentrator design and subjecting the tapes to conditions encountered in the laboratory and outside. The results of the study identified a few thermal tapes that were particularly effective at reducing heat build up and so would enable solar concentrators of the type investigated to be cooled effectively. However the experimentation was subject to difficulties arising from equipment breakdown during testing. The heat analysis of the thermal tapes lead to the conclusion that careful selection of adhesive tapes for use on solar concentrating cells could possibly lead to improved passively cooled concentrators resulting in cheaper and more efficient devices closing the competitive gap between their flat plat counterparts.

Simon Wade Growing concern for carbon emissions from buildings, particularly in the commercial sector, have shocked the government and other private organisations into aiming for lower energy consumptions. The UK is currently aiming to incorporate many more energy efficient systems into commercial buildings to lower energy consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This dissertation investigates the design criteria of office building in the UK and some energy saving systems which are available. It focuses firstly on the design criteria for environmental temperature, relative humidity, ventilation, lighting, noise levels and hot/cold water supply. The energy savings and carbon dioxide emission requirements are of major concert to energy saving systems and discussed in detail. This paper also includes a section on designing for energy savings in office buildings. Further more it investigates combined heat and power (CHP) systems and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, including a detailed list of manufacturer’s products in the appendix. The dissertation then discusses different cases for energy system recommendations for an example office building to show the energy savings that can be made.

The paper concludes that design criteria and energy saving systems are a must for modern day design of office buildings. Through good design and the use of low energy systems, vast energy savings can be made and therefore carbon emissions reduced.

of window openings have significant effect on the airflow patterns. Proper window position was demonstrated as an important factor in the design of ventilation for a cross-ventilated building. A good ventilation design must strike a balance between high ventilation and occupant comfort.

Zhi Yin Ling James Kristopher Channer CFD SIMULATION OF WIND INDUCE NATURAL VENTILATION OF AN OFFICE BUILDING. This project investigated the effects of wind direction and window position on the airflow characteristics for a typical office building setting in London. Four different types of window position were examined in the experiment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the airflow distribution was performed using the standard k-� turbulence to model a 2D dimension building. CFD Fluent 4.5 program was used to measure airflow distribution and the results of flow measurements were presented. Wind speed and direction data from design guidelines such as CIBSE Guide A were used as boundary conditions for simulation. The wind-induced ventilation rate through a room/building was measured and the computer calculations resulted in similar airflow distributions for window openings in different configurations hence showing the effect of wind direction. The result also showed that the positions

A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF BIOFUEL AS A RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE UK “The supply and production of biofuels are critically analysed. Potential supply scenarios are used to demonstrate the quantities of biofuel available for the UK along with the associated CO2 reductions. From the production scenarios it was found that biofuels could supply 16% of homes in the UK, reducing CO2 emissions by 18.4 billion tonnes. The application of biofuels for domestic and commercial properties are then demonstrated by the use of biofuel generators and boilers respectively, comparisons of monthly costs are drawn against fossil fuels to allow savings and payback periods to be analysed. Investment in a biofuel generator for domestic use resulted in a typical payback period of 25-35 years with monthly savings in the region of £10-20. Comparatively biofuel boilers were more successful with a payback period of 7 years and

monthly savings of £30-40 depending on seasonal variation.” Nick McDowal THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS IN FACILITATING THE USE OF DYNAMIC DEMAND CONTROL Balancing supply and demand in the National Grid is essential to ensure frequency stability and maintaining supply quality in electricity networks. This paper investigates one aspect of the implementation of Dynamic Demand Control (DDC); whether the use of phase change materials (PCM) will help facilitate the use of DDC on domestic appliances. Such devices would monitor system frequency and switch the appliance on or off accordingly, promoting a compromise between the needs of the appliance and the grid. A simplified freezer model was used to investigate the systems response and temperature behaviour with and without PCM to determine whether it provides significant benefits in the attempt to increase the cycle period, since an increased cycle period both increases the window of opportunity to switch off the appliance and deceases the number of appliances which must switch off at any instant – thus smoothing demand.

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> BArch (Bachelor of Architecture) K100

David Short Course Director

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The undergraduate BArch Course is the first building block in the lifelong process of engaging with and learning about the practise of architecture. The course at Nottingham is built around a holistic approach to architectural education based on the two fundamentals of creativity and technique. At every stage the design process is informed and tested against the critical rigour of technique. The studio work, which is so fundamental to the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s training, is informed at each year by the humanities modules of history and theory and the technical modules of construction, structure and environmental design, in particular sustainable design. Urban design and practice and management modules are also introduced into the process. Each student moves through the course on a trajectory. Students are increasingly able to map out their own pathway through unit-led programmes set against ARB/ RIBA criteria. Year 1 studio consists predominantly of a series of skill building and knowledge gathering short programmes. These are brought together in a final short design project at the end

of each semester. All students are working to common programmes ensuring basic skills are taught and learnt. A practising or academic architect leads one of five units in the year. Year 2 studio continues the skill development programmes in semester one. Working within one of six units, students follow common programmes. In the second semester programmes are unit based and led again by practising or academic architects. Students elect to work in a unit of their choice at this stage. Year 3 studio builds on the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goals by allowing each to select to work in one of 6 units led by a practising architect. These units develop particular ethoses and interests and create an opportunity to work with individual students through the year. Students are, however, free to move units between Semesters. The final project in Semester 2 is seen as a rounding up of the undergraduate course by way of a major design project. Inserted within the more formal

programme of each year are short sketch exercises, which allow students to free up their approach and be more experimental. Within years 2 and 3 the studio programmes are in addition infused with a series of workshop days where guest lecturers are brought in to enrich the course further. Artists, product designers, materials specialists, structural engineers, landscape architects and practising architects make contributions here. These days usually begin with a lecture followed by a studiobased workshop when appropriate.

> MEng (Architecture & Environmental Design) K230

Today we have at our disposal a staggering array of systems that allow precise control to be exercised over the environment within buildings. Mechanical ventilation, refrigeration, and electric lighting are but a few of the inventions that have liberated designers from the constraints imposed by climate. No longer do building form and materials have to be painstakingly manipulated to moderate external conditions. In principle it is possible for architects to design anything they want, safe in the knowledge that an engineer can design mechanical systems to impose comfortable conditions within. Divorcing building design from climate comes at a cost, however. The energy required to operate building environmental systems is responsible for the consumption of finite fuel resources and also represents one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. A major challenge faced by our industry is how to design buildings that are more sustainable, yet still keep occupants healthy, comfortable and productive.

We are at an early stage in the process and, at present, the way ahead is not entirely clear. It is unlikely that in the short term we will revert to traditional forms of architecture. Occupant expectation demands comfort. The range of materials from which buildings may be constructed, and the development of energy efficient environmental systems, provide a far richer pallet for crafting solutions. Holistic design, where the building and its environmental services are considered as a system, requires new ways of thinking. It is clear that neither architects nor engineers can continue to practice in the manner that most do today. The MEng in Architecture and Environmental Design seeks to develop some of the new interdisciplinary skills that might make a difference. The 4-year course is built upon the Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BArch in Architecture, making use of the additional year of study to develop expertise in environmental design. The course is recognised for accreditation by both ARB/RIBA Part I and CIBSE. Joint accreditation provides graduates with wider

career prospects. They may pursue the route to becoming professional architects by gaining industrial experience and completing the Part II and III examinations. Additionally, graduates have the opportunity to obtain chartered engineer status by successfully completing a period of appropriate experience and professional review. The course is supported from key players in the building design industry and its graduates are sought after by both architecture and engineering practices alike.

4th Year MEng graduating this year Miss Bina Naran Miss Claire Margaret Goldthorp Miss Josephine Lindsay Bostock Miss Liu Liu Zhang Miss Xin Wang Mr Christopher James Dalton Mr Lin Chen Mr Nde Forcob Mr Oliver Grimaldi Mr Rimesh Patel Mr Tarran Singh Kundi Mr Timothy John Sparks Mr Harry William Steel

Internal Tutors: Rabah Boukhanouf Ed Cooper David Etheridge Guohui Gan Mark Gillott Matthew Hall Andrew Howarth Hao Liu Peter Rutherford Yuhong Su Robin Wilson Shenyi Wu Yuying Yan Xudong Zhao Jie Zhu.

Dr Robin Wilson Course Director

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> Year 1 Design Studio This is a foundation year, in which the essential skills of observation, recording, synthesis and communication are developed through practical experience. The studio module is a year-long module. It runs for 25 weeks, with 2 full days of tutoring per week. It integrates students from both the BArch and MEng courses. The year is divided into five units. Each unit is led by a full-time Unit Leader, with the year as a whole supported each week by input from thirteen visiting practitioners (a selection of which are listed below), six PhD students and eleven 6th Year Diploma students.

Internal tutors: Gemma Barton, Liz Bromley-Smith, Valeria Carnevale, Rachel Grigor, Guillermo Guzman Dumont External tutors: Genine Daniels, Dhiran Vagdia, Michael Ellis, Mark Hines, Michael Dahlke, Stephen Brown, Grant Sellars, Elvin Chatergon, Tom Ridley-Thompson, James Alison, Paul Thomas, Inga Sievert and Neil Price.

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The year itself is divided into five stages: (1) ‘Foundation One’ involves 8 weeks of observation, recording, representation and skills development, based on short practical exercises. (2) ‘The Integration Project’ is a 3 week exercise to design a ‘life-pod’, an optimal living space for a given client. (3) ‘Foundation Two’ integrates the contents of the semester one modules in two design applications: a construction project (to renovate a derelict stone building) and a Typologies study (which involves a field trip to Paris, context/site survey analysis of the places visited and CAD modeling to explore the findings). (4) ‘The Comprehensive Design Project’ is a 7-week project that integrates the knowledge and experience all of the previous stages, and demonstrates

the skills the student has developed throughout the year in a comprehensive design project. (5) ‘The Portfolio Review’ assesses the projects developed throughout the year. The student’s work is assessed by taking into consideration the progress shown throughout the year together with the overall quality of work in the following areas: (i) The use of different means of recording relevant information to enrich a proposal (sketches on site, literature review, precedent studies, etc). The achievement of this criterion should consider both sensibility & accuracy in the observation. (ii) Establishing and synthesizing sources of inspiration, and being capable of extracting appropriate information from the general and diverse information available. (iii) Design resolution: the capacity of establishing a scheme that integrates various sources of de-

sign requirements (the needs of the client, the potential of the context/ site, etc). (iv) The constructive capacity of the proposal: understanding the way the constructive components work towards the integrity of the proposal. (v) The appropriate choice in means of expression of design ideas. (vi) Communication: the use of expression to clearly define the proposal through technical, graphical & verbal communication.

Spatial model

Group during the Paris Field Trip

Work in Studio

Students Sketching on site

Selection of panels from the Final project (Comprehensive design) from last academic session. by Emma Matthews

Work in Studio

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> How We Teach Today FAT architects In the unintentionally hilarious early ‘90’s film Indecent Proposal there is a scene where Woody Harrelson, playing a penniless architecture tutor, delivers a stirring address to his students. Harrelson portrays the architect as dreamer and romantic loser. He keeps a polyboard model of his dream house under his bed. He can never afford to build it. Occasionally he shares with his wife, played by Demi Moore, his most intimate thoughts about space and structure. On their honeymoon he takes her on a study tour of his favourite buildings. In the classroom he holds up a

by Charles Holland

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brick and quotes Louis Kahn and his students look on in rapt awe. Harrelson is the architecture tutor par excellence: inspired, charismatic, a lone voice in a sea of philistines and moneymen. He stands for the architect as symbol of artistic integrity. He works alone, unencumbered by staff, builders, engineers or, if he’s really lucky, client interference. He turns to teaching because the world is too cruel, too venal, too ignorant to take him seriously. Bizarrely, this myth is the basis on which most architectural education is currently set up.

Partly as a result of post-modern attacks on both the orthodoxies of modernism and the plausibility of the disinterested professional, educational teaching increasingly favours subjective and personal approaches to education. Post-Structuralist inspired critiques of architecture’s mono-cultural value system have resulted in a belief in a pluralism of value systems. The unit system of teaching that most architecture schools use today was popularised at the Architectural Association in the 1970’s. This system replaced the previous monolithic mode of teach-

ing where all students studied the same course with a fragmented one built around the individual interest areas of charismatic design tutors. Their chosen thematic – the Po-Delta, concrete, Brechtian theatre, the mating habits of bees etc – are set to students as the basis for individual study. The most popular tutors are those that have already cultivated a level of fame within the profession, but increasingly the system itself can be used to gain notoriety. Individual student’s work within their group becomes a kind of personal and experimental research wing of the tutors own ‘practice’. Units, or interest groups, develop into a personal fiefdom whose territory is aggressively defended against intruders. After a while the tutor becomes too famous or successful to have time to teach at which point he or she bequeaths a successor to the throne. This is invariably a promotion from the ranks, almost always a favoured student from the previous few years. After a short initiation period when the former student is invited to attend crits in order to rubbish the work of their former colleagues (an important test of character this and an indicator of whether he or she is able to make the transition to the ‘other side’), the young pretender will be handed the ropes. This new tutor, fluent in the arcane inter-

est areas and stylistic quirks of the previous one can manage an almost seamless transition. The secondgeneration tutor is obliged to invite their benefactor to return at various points to monitor the progress of ‘their’ unit. After another five or six years this process is repeated and a new successor is found. In this way the ‘gene pool’ of new ideas becomes every more shallow. The area of study is drawn from an increasingly incestuous genealogy and the unit becomes a strange kind of oligarchy. All of this is championed under the banner of personal research. This is the leitmotif of current teaching ideology. The increasing lack of history and theory lectures (frequently dismissed as so much stodgy academism) means that this narrowing of focus is unaccompanied by any structure to give it meaning in a wider sense. The successful student absorbs the value systems of his or her tutor through osmosis and is not required to articulate its wider significance. Demystification is avoided at all costs. This process is placed in direction opposition to the professional requirements of architecture. Studying is seen as a period of experimentation and research based on an explicit critique of normative practice.

The student is inculcated into a belief system based on the idea of the singular genius of the individual and the star system of architecture, reproduced in miniature at unit level. I can’t help thinking that increasingly education leads students into a dark forest without a map to get back out. Is there a way for architectural teaching to re-engage with the realties of practice? Or, to turn it around for a moment is there a way for the possibilities of architectural practice to reengage with the realities of education? For surely, the cliché of the individual genius propagated by the unit system is a pretty hackneyed one. What was once excitingly open ended now seems increasingly doctrinaire and prescriptive. In order to do this, to liven things up a little, some things might need to change: the cult of the tutor, the anachronistic theatre of cruelty that is the ‘crit’, the internecine mock warfare between units, the idea of the architect as lone gun, the lack of collaboration or teamwork between students, the distrust of other related professional such as engineers, surveyors etc. In short what might have to go might be Woody Harrelson and his idea(l) of the architect as dreamer and romantic loser.

Fat is a London based practice run by Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob. Established in 1995, Fat has developed a broad approach to architecture. Early work included a series of seminal interior projects and art projects. The Blue House in east London has been described as ‘the most memorable new house in London’ since the 1980s. Islington Square, a development of social housing in Manchester, completed in 2006, has received a fantastic response from both its residents and from the press. We have received many awards including the Architecure Foundation New Generation Award 2006 and the FX Best Public Building Award 2006. Upcoming projects include the Museum of Croydon (due to open Sept 06), Sint Lucas Art Academy (Boxtel, The Netherlands – due for completion Sept 06). Planning permission has recently been granted for the Heerlijkheid Hooglviet – a community centre in Rotterdam. Contact: FAT www.fashionarchitecturetaste. com Unit 2 49-59 Old Street London EC1V 9HX UK +44 0207 251 6735 info@fat.co.uk

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> Year 2 Design Studio Our theme for this year was based on the archetypal ‘house’ and it’s derivatives, from bathhouse to lighthouse, art-house to knowledgehouse. Our goals were to immerse in the complexity of the subject and discover new architectural sciences and angles of investigation.

Studio Leader: Adrian Friend Unit 1 Martin Shirley assisted by John Bell, Gian Luca and Liss Werner. Unit 2 Matthew Butcher and Michael Cant assisted by Alisdair Russell, Stefano Arata. Unit 3 Jonathan Nicholls assisted by Nicola Antaki and Sarah Moore. Unit 4 Adrian Friend assisted by John Newbery and Rashid Ali. Unit 5 Tony Swannell assisted by Angus Pond and Susie Douglas.

The year’s projects were sequentially programmed to allow us to always return to this core theme and to enable each student to develop a personal approach to housing. Project 1, the first and shortest, was to ‘create a city in a day’. Project 2 asked each student to create a future vision for the redundant coal-mining town of Ollerton, Nottinghamshire based on the 21st Century idea rich economy. Project 3, a house set in the Fens, allowed exploration of spatial expression created by the architect-client dialogue. Projects 4, took the D&AD international competition to design an installation for the Architecture Foundations new building in London of which six of the best projects were submitted. Project 5 was a unit specific brief that introduced notions of archiving, nomads, street markets, social enterprise, train spotting and concepts of time to determine an architectural programme. All projects were injected with aspects of cyclic behaviour, recycling, ecology and ethical action and reaction. Year 2 Interdisciplinary Workshops The workshop programme injected

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diversity into the project briefs created by the interdisciplinary practice of visiting filmmakers, artists, architects and designers. Leo Fitzmaurice Artist Leo Fitzmaurice ran a workshop looking at the architectural application of graphic typeset from collected copies of the Liverpool Herald. Fitzmaurice typically works on a small scale with ephemeral materials and forms and this project shared a similar approach to his latest work with consumer packaging, collected, decoded and recycled as supremacist pieces of sculpture. Advertising, consumerism and excess are the basis of Fitzmaurice’s examination of the contemporary situation of the object. Andrew Cross Self-confessed trainspotter turned artist and filmmaker, Andrew Cross, ran a workshop asking students to reveal the hidden identity and world beyond Nottingham after playing his film ‘An English Journey’. Andrew Cross’s visual journeys are simultaneously about travelling and dwelling, departures and arrivals, passing through and passing by, the near and the far, the close at hand and the distant. As viewers of his work we locate ourselves between these opposites, engaging with their inherent tensions, like a psychological equivalent to the points of intersection that dominate his transport

images, where lines converge and diverge. Indeed moving between these often contradictory positions almost seems his prerequisite for living in our age of global, transnational networks whilst maintaining some sense of the local and immediate. Tom Karen Car designer Tom Karen famous for designing iconic cars such as the Scimitar GTE, Bond Bug and the Raleigh Chopper bike questioned the current housing standards and if the prefabricated housing industry could learn a thing or two from the ergonomics and production technology of the car industry. Karen’s workshop made students question what they take for granted in a typical student flat and showed the lack of evolution in kitchen and bathroom design over the last 100 years. Special thanks to the above guest lecturers and the following who also ran a Year 2 workshop including; Liss Werner, David Nicholson-Cole, Helena Rivera, Akay Zorlu, Jon Nicholls, David Bennett, Sarah Moore and Squint Opera.

Project 5, Liverpool Shed, Study Model by Matthew Tso

Project 4, Enchantment Installation, Montage by Emma Matthews

Project 5, Edge Hill Gallery, Model by Dijan Malla

Model Workshop

Project 5, Edge Hill Gallery, Model by Jessica Atkinson-Evans

Project 2, Mining Think-Belt, Model by Jessica Atkinson-Evans

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> Ian McChesney Architects

project resolved but there would be an essence in my mind. I found that this work demonstrated a powerful clarity that gave it strength; it was no longer clouded by the fog of supplementary thoughts painfully extracted in hours of angst.

One of the first paper models of the wind shelter Over time I have learnt much about the way that I work. One of the most interesting stages of a project, and one that students can probably most likely relate to, is the creative process early on. The mind is being asked to assemble a set of what are a series of seemingly incoherent thoughts into a working scheme. Over time I have adopted a way of thinking that allows the mind to relax while

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ideas are gently tended to and organised. I have learnt to relax into this process and not be panicked by all the differing variables. I have also learnt about the power of that first idea, that moment of clarity early on where you can see the essence of a project but don’t quite know how it is to be justified. Early on as a student, I naively assumed that the quality of a project was directly linked to the amount of time I spent locked in my room gaz-

ing into a sketch pad. I would spend hours laying down ideas, setting them aside, coming up with a more options and so on. It was an exhausting process and, at the lowest points produced some of my most confused and convoluted work. I slowly came to realise that the best projects were those where I simply ran with the first idea, where a thought would gel in my mind at the earliest stages - when the brief was still rolling off the lecturer’s tongue. I obviously wouldn’t have the whole

I think it was my tutor Fred Scott who helped me see this. While strong ideas exist early on, they do need to be extracted. What Fred could do was listen carefully to your thoughts, process them in his mind and deliver them back to you in a clearer, more coherent way. He would commonly say – ‘This is what your scheme is about… it’s about xyz… that’s the essence of this scheme.’ His crit notes would be copied to you later and include a thumbnail sized sketch of your scheme condensed down to show only the most critical elements. It was the perfect summary. Latterly I’ve learnt not to think too hard about a scheme early on, but instead to allow my mind to sift through my thoughts at a natural and relaxed pace. Initially I will only spend about an hour a day looking at a new project - ideally in the morning when I can think straight. I allow the rest of the day for ongoing business, but inevitably allow my mind to dip back into the new brief along the way. Each morning I enjoy a fresh look with the benefit of having slept on the previous day’s problems. So this is how I now work,

if it’s a competition I might typically spend two weeks like this simply dipping in and out, the scheme develops as I go about other business, then finally there is the inevitable final push for finished drawings during the final week. I think that the rotating wind shelter for Blackpool is a good example where a clear thought process was adopted. The brief stated that a shelter be designed to rotate, driven by the wind, to give occupants constant shelter. The shelter needed to consist of two simple elements, a shelter to baffle from the wind, and a vane to rotate it. I spent a day in Blackpool looking at the site, absorbing the ambiance, and digesting the brief. On the train home that evening while twisting strips of paper, I quickly realised that those two simple elements could be generated through a simple twisting form. The competition was an open and had many entries, but I’ve always suspected that it was the simplicity of the initial idea that was the success of this project. It’s this simple approach to thinking that has carried subsequent work. I don’t rely on underlying layers of theory, just - hopefully - a legible solution to the problem. I try to take the essential points of a brief and allow them to inform the result. I rely at every stage on subtle intuitive feelings and allow them to steer me through. I would like to think that Wind Shelter Blackpool

if there is a kind of theory behind my work, then it is one of legibility, where the brief, and solution to that brief, can be easily interpreted by the end user or passer by.

McChesney Architects  1A ILIFFE STREET  LONDON, SE17 3LJ  www.mcchesney.co.uk An award winning architectural practice that designs high quality, innovative architecture. Ian McChesney is a graduate of the Royal College of Art who went on to become an associate with the leading practice of John McAslan + Partners. McChesney Architects was founded in 2001 and soon established itself winning an international open competition to design a series of wind shelters for Blackpool’s South Shore Promenade. The practice has recently continued its success, winning competitions to design a bandstand for the new Walkergate development in the city of Durham, a new Pavilion for Avenham Park in Preston and most recently a landscape improvement scheme for Middlesborough’s A66. The practice was recently featured in the Architect’s Journal 40 under 40 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum and recently received a Civic Trust Award for its windshelters in Blackpool.

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> Year 3 Design Studio Developing the conceptual studio structure of the earlier two years further, Year 3’s studio is characterized by a strong unit based organisation. A clear profile of each of the five units creates a wide and diverse spectrum of individual themes, distinguishing the units from each other and allowing the student to choose a unit according to his/her personal interest.

Studio Leader: Nicola Gerber Unit 1 Jonathan Morris, Phil Watson Unit 2 Ulysses Sengupta, Laszlo Fecske, Luke Olsen, Liss Werner (1st semester only), Brady Peters (2nd semester only), Jethro Hon (2nd semester only) Unit 3 Chris Hill, Julie Richards, Yacira Blanco Unit 4 David Short, Amanda Harmer, Hugh Avison, Tughela Gino Unit 5 Nicola Gerber, Constance Lau, Chris Whitman, Farida Makki (2nd semester only)

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While the content of the unit based work is determined by the practicing architect leading the group an overall structure applies to all units. Starting with the division of the Year’s work into three projects; Project 1 is a narrative project ‘Start with Art’, either from literature, painting, sculpture, music, film. Project 2 is a short-term project ‘Make Matters’ with a distinct objective, e.g. the making of an object, the production of a prototype etc. and Project 3 ‘Without title – SO FAR’ is the main studio project. All three projects could either standalone or thematically relate to each other within each unit. Project deadlines and review dates are generally identical to achieve an even rhythm within the school. The students are encouraged and challenged to look beyond the classroom investigating farther aspects of architecture by introducing FIELD

TRIPS as a means to experience built architecture in its local, social, cultural and physical context and form as well as by encouraging independent research. Each unit challenges the students to define their own brief within a framework set by the unit head. To support the diversity and independence of the units, the unit leaders have the opportunity to invite GUEST LECTURERS and technical staff to expand the unit’s discussion; these guest lectures are open to all students. A continuous display of work within each studio space may set examples of good work, challenge the student’s ambition and allow a glimpse into each unit’s working process. An intense studio environment supports our effort to engage the students with their work. The studio space ss the focus of the student’s life and communication, supported by an EVENT for and created by all students within each unit. The principle of the INTEGRATED STUDIO is implemented through the introduction of two technical modules into the design process, Structures and Construction and Environmental Design. These modules alert the student to think laterally, introduce the concept of interdisciplinary and define those subjects as essential elements of the creative design process.

John Coogan

Richard Meddings

Christopher Dalton

Chris Raven

Stephen Hodgson

Ben Hopkins

Emma Brown

Lin Cheong

Quiao Yang

Xinyu Xie

Emma Louise Pegg

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> > Year 3 Unit 1 Jonathan Morris

The historical positions of Form, Function and scale are devoid of any substance, expression has become as ambiguous as language and Architecture is dead from the RIBA up……….Architecture is now found down new avenues of expression where scales are collapsed, geometries are de-splinned, form is ambiguous and building material is blown through jets. Students of Unit 1 probe these new avenues as year long projects where a critical enquiry is established from multiple preoccupations involving language, philosophy, technology, art and location, which cross cut each other as an infinitive of complex evolving exchange systems of idea and proposition. Each student is required to discuss their enquiry openly within the unit through written, modelled and drawn presenta-

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tions, these are then developed, re-written and re-drawn, proposals on material and technology are developed. Every piece of work is the finished article and is deployed as stepping stones tracing the trajectory of the project enquiry. It is from this working method objects, architecture and cities appear as never seen before, strong, detailed and with an insight into the future possibilities of how we view the world without restraint.

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My project explores Chimeric Angels that travel in fleets creating a moving landscape of chrome,steel,leather,rubber,light and dust. My architecture deals with the conjunction of steel hats and leather jackets worn by bikers with highly polished machines and rubber tyres of their motorbikes. The architecture is also concerned with motion; high velocity of motorbikes and swerving tilting movements of the rider.The site in Chester conveys both motions;consisting of a racecourse dealing with high speed,adjacent to a river which illustrates the swaying,meandering motion. Parts of the architecture are on the riverbank while some spill into the river with moving bridge systems creating connections between spaces. I aim to create a series of spaces that fulfil the requirements of users of the surrounding environment. A bar attracts those who were the inspiration for the project by incorporating parts of the motorbikes into the architecture. The tyres create buoyancy for a floating floor deck that rises and falls with the tidal river.A leather wall gives the impression of a gigantic sail that billows with the wind and tilting hats create a natural ventilation system. Other buildings function as fishing pontoons, smokeries and a restaurant with views over the racecourse. Disused clay pits are revived with devices that use silt from the river bed to create tiles used to construct parts of the buildings and restore others within Chester.

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Avalon is an entropic product of interrelating networks in a fluctuating + self augmenting system. Mechanisms maintain Ryman’s copse, containing 18 Silver Birch trees over 3 programmatic growthcycles of 80 years. Cycle1 containing trees in clay cast hydroponic troughs, harvest sap which is fractioned in subterranean distilleries, the bark is peeled to make rainscreen cladding sheets and the wood sawn, resin treated + stored in clay caskets. Cycle2 in parallel captures diurnal estuary silt to cast Edifice Dies, dried in Solar Kilns constructed using material from Cycle1. Zephyr Bores housed under resin production line canopies extract pigments which are injected into glass Ampules cast in the form of the void left from the bore. 4 Styli record the events of the system; etching and enscribing onto rainscreens of the fishing piers encoding the data of the system. Cycle3 is implemented by constructing a Phyllotactic Lattice from shaped Birch Beams. Creepers subsume the structure. After 240 years the banquet hall is be weatherproofed. Recycled pieces from previous systems are reclaimed. Orofix lamps tap methane fissures that luminesce. Encircling the slate walls of the kitchen you enter via a deck, winged by plates. The undercroft houses recycled Solar Kilns, now Bream Smokeries, with contents caught from the piers. Carpials fan and billow in air currents, fluttering to power dynamo charging ions, illuminating the spaces within.

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The city moves between places constantly reconstructing, relocating its inhabitants, its form and its direction. As a fabric, we experience its presence; we also experience its conditions of others, an architecture that constantly shifts as its fabric leaves a location. It becomes re-inhabited. The buildings become trails sometimes memories of events, and time becomes the way we inhabit the idea of the city. My project attempts to draw on the idea of shift and relocating as a method of designing. The construction of the project shifts between the idea and the material constantly reinhabiting the question of location and structure. The ideas created are intended as a thinking device for the production of the object or architecture. By finding the object, reconstructing and reviewing the idea, I am creating an invitation for a new experience. My project discusses the ideas that during relocation, sections are left behind. The parts become new buildings and a new object for thinking. Change and time alters perceptions of observers and as Bertrand Russell stated, no observation is ever the same at any one time. My project studies the pieces which become the transitions between the reinhabitation and reconstruction and to discover why things stay and why things move on. Contact: hljones30@hotmail.com

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The inspiration for my project is the work of Georges Bataille, particularly his essay The Labyrinth. This essay explores the concept that in men, ‘all existence is tied in particular to language.’ Man exists according to the words he uses, his gestures and movements. Thus there is no fixed nucleus within man. Knowledge becomes a mode of connection and ‘A man is only a particle inserted in unstable and entangled wholes.’

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I wish to emulate this entangled mass within my architecture, by creating a dynamic system suspended in between the statues within the sculpture garden at the Musée Rodin in Paris. This system comprises of a series of language looms, which fabricate skins and membranes to stretch and weave between the statues, the natural surroundings and the observers of the artwork. A steam bath acts as the focal point of the site, with the steam creating its own foggy labyrinth around the sculptures. The fabrics weave through the roof of the steam baths where they are dyed using pneumatic ink jets powered by the wind.

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The looms are timber structures that can be inhabited by visitors, becoming gallery pavilions, and are in continuous motion thus the fabrics are ever changing, as is the relationship between art, observer and environment. Thus a continuous stream of alternative readings of the artwork is presented to the observer and a dynamic energy is inflicted upon the static statues. ��

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For this purpose the Steam Pavilion and the new interior for the Council House Nottingham is served as a time-recording machine; it records events, collects ideas from people in Nottingham as time passing by; it becomes a political statement. The existing old market square in Nottingham town centre is transformed into a new landscape. The canvas gets produced from the pavilion, rolls from the pavilion into the Council house, then "running" on the street. Each part of the canvas offers different experiences of time and space.

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Architecture is not just about making shapes and form to represent a container; Architecture moving from Euclidean to noneEuclidean geometry raises questions about the construction of meaning rather than the unquestioning acceptance of things as they are. One aspect of Architecture is that it signifies how a culture is developing; it deals with how change is shaping a TIME not an object.

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The project is derived and Derridaed from Milton's writing desk in a cell under St Giles Church in Oxford. Displaced by Thomas Grey's 'Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard and cross-referenced with Oscar Wilde's 'Ballad of Redding Gaol'. The project anatomically reallocates the system and the idea, discussing time, transference, place and expression of content.

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Lebanon 340 years later addresses the problem of internally displaced people in a structure whose articulation of function becomes the architecture. Transducting the rubble from the Israeli conflict into the glass of the façade, which creates pressure differences used to ventilate the space. Comparable to Milton’s life, the building acts as a preamble to critique expression beyond the death of the creator. Twenty years on and the site is reinterpreted into a Parisian-esque cafe, the philosopher’s café, where Bachelard and Satre interject with the Lebanese. The architecture now reacts to the process of growing potatoes to produce the vodka intoxicating the visitors whilst exploring secondary buildings related to this process. The recycling and morphosis of structure between building stages express and develop the rust of materiality and form, and over time investigates social conflict. The absinthe, swelling beneath the carcass of the public space, fuels the interior events; chiming to the vibration of the stage. The architecture IS Milton’s desk.

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Distorted Reflections An early exploration project about the distortion of reflections from one surface to another then rereflected. The objects have painting projected onto its surfaces, this is the first step of distortion then the reflections from surface to surface are the next. The outcomes where then analysed to create new objects and systems.

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Gateway Another exploration project where a drum kit is taken into its basic parts and changed slightly to create a drum kit played by the elements. The kit is manipulated by the elements so that it wears over time, and the kits changes it shape and its sounds in the process. Drum Bank A project about the fine tuning of drums, and using them in a very different and controversial way. Each piece is constructed to a high degree of detail and quality, all pieces are connected to one another and the system works as a whole to record the flow direction and speed of the water. The system is located on the bank of the River Trent and is specifically for rowers for them to be able to tell the conditions of the water and wind before they set out onto the water. The drums make noises as well as changing and pulling canvases to create morphed paintings; each change tells the rowers a different thing. The system acts as an information centre for the rowers but also a sculpture for the people of Nottingham.

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synopsis··········································· ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ····this project explores the notion of the (phantasmagorical) weightless system whereby society exchanges reality (the truth) for the simulacrum (the lie). a series of armatures act as intermediate ‘paper machines’ between the real and the hyper-real. the digitisation, relocation, and ultimate destruction of interpreted ontologies are biallegorical of the scientist’s paradox and the diminishing image, and facilitate an understanding of the intrinsic problem within our own graphosphere··································· ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ························································ ·································

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Tracing the history of the missing parts of the boat. Architecture as an archaeological dig. Static workshop set within a disused Venetian building. Fibreglass shields protecting adventitious openings. Mechanistic hum reverberates. Dim glow searches. Flying machine transports observer. Timber soaking, twisting, notching. Syntax carved. Language created. Narrative relayed. Outside observer oblivious. Only docking station betrays the magic. Shimmering in the moonlight. Polished rods? Field of feathers. Tracking the rhythm of the canal. Premonition of the boat’s journey. The hull creaks in the archive. Cobweb lenses. Strangling rope. Ready for release. And then the virus. Workshop system takes over. Nails repeatedly cast and recast. Door handle carved. Mast notched. Sails knitted. Created pieces become used within the system as it constructs and evolves the boat, choreographing the dance of the morphing building. Existing walls become heated and cooled, heated and cooled. Envelope bulges. Fibreglass shields? Emergence of the ticking spirit level. Supporting, pivoting, chiming. Relocated? Emergence of the rudder.

Global warming? Rising sea levels trickle into the building. Parts journey through the building on the boat’s high tide. Some rooms flooded. Others regenerated. The Submerged Salute. The Ca’Cass becomes trapped under the delicately balanced debris-like state of the system. Emergence of the decking for the disembarkation station. Fibreglass shields detail the new chapter. Emergence of benches ready for the spectacle: the departure of the boat. Inflatables once used within the nail-replicating toaster chamber are relocated: expanding and contracting boobies for the curvature of timber pre-Ca’Cass. Booby bracket connection to relic of existing stone wall keeps the timber underwater. Attachments rust over time. Ca’Cass rises through the decking of the disembarkation station. The machines become a monument to the construction of the boat. Each piece disintegrates and disassembles. Their journey’s down the canal shadow those of the boat. A conversation on the seen and unseen journey’s and events. Interaction of the making and made. Of the origin of an object and the subsequent motions of the 2nd order figures within the dance. Transportation of architecture to a new vector. The motion of the platform decking? A fragmented algorithm between the delivered and the deliverer.

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Venice. City of honest architecture. Deteriorating buildings revealing layers of history. Peeling plaster. Flaking paint. Emerging palette of mythologies.

Constant relocation of pillars tracks ��

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Project Evræ

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This work deals with a rejection of the mantra “form follows function,” its somewhat spurious origins: it seems the entirety of architectural thought blindly accepted this dictum without so much as a question of it for several decades. This was historically unfortunate, and led to a corrupt capitalist bandwagon, culminating in appalling standards of aesthetics and architecture, disguised under the cloak of modernism. The project aims to state that (despite the critics’ opinion) buildings such as the Villa Savoye and the Unité d’Habitaton actually look terrible: those who worship them worship aged technology and restricted prison-like lines, a cold an emotionless perfection only robots would find satisfactory.

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The project openly declares itself as part-folly, part-history, and partmockery, intended as a hangar for air-balloons. It includes aesthetics never before attempted for reasons usually frowned upon. It states that in the future, function may finally be a secondary aspect to spatial and aesthetic enjoyment, because the lay man probably doesn’t care what the building does – but he knows that his town looks nice.

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The 'Exquisite Corpse', is an eclectic Whole, drawing its name from the paper-folding game of the Surrealists that produced fantastical creatures, products of fully liberated minds. I deal with this notion in relation to our greatest out of control collective artefact, the City an accumulation of many eclectic architectures.

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The City could be seen as a machine, constantly re-building and rewriting itself, revealing itself for one moment only to be plunged into darkness the next, charging forward in an attempt to define itself. Each component of this fantastical city that constantly reworks itself is a fragment of a lost Exquisite Whole that has lost its original identity only to have gained an infinite number of uncertain possible identities. Perhaps architecture is just that – an impossible lithic search attempting to create a complete Whole. My year of learning and drawing has culminated in using a flooded central London as a site to discuss the progress of architecture through a city. It deals with the beginnings of architecture, and how eclectic parasitic communities are conceived and accepted into their environments, the decaying, lifeless monuments rising out of the water. It is important to mention, however, that my architecture is only a proposal – one possible Whole.

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> Unity in the multi disciplinary field of architecture

Throughout my formal architectural education and in the work of our practice, I have always believed that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;unityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the constituent components of any design was a fundamental.

By Bill Taylor, Hopkins Architects

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It is difficult to resist the simplistic metaphor of an orchestra. Whilst the players may perform their different parts on different instruments at different times in the piece, nevertheless, the sum of the parts should always be cohesive and harmonic. Indeed, the sum of the whole must be greater than the sum of individual parts.

And so, it seems to me, it is with buildings. The seamless and mutual integration of plan and section, structure and environment, materials and light, form and space are all key requisites of an holistic architectural expression. There are lots of examples one could choose to illustrate that point. However, a simple and very effective one would be one of our membrane buildings, say at the Inland Revenue in Nottingham. This is more than a tented structure. The form of the building is disciplined by the functional plan. The shape of the roof is the result of the curvature needed to span the sports hall, the method of creating that curvature, and the qualities of the fabric itself. The paper thin fabric keeps the water out and lets the light in. The architectural form is the pure embodiment of the functions facilitated, the material used and the engineering principles deployed- architectural onomatopoeia one might say.

The issue however is not confined to the simple ‘big picture’. The environments people inhabit need to work at many scales of operation and need to be mutually reinforcing. The thorough co ordination of architectural elements such as glazing modules, handrails or floor tiles for example with the overall structural systems, site layout etc should all serve to reinforce the bigger picture. Such an approach requires discipline, tenacity and rigour, but far from an outcome of sterility, a controlled and consistent richness of experience,

spatial, visual and tactile can result. And don’t forget: getting a single element to fulfil several purposes is not just about architectural rhetoric; it can also be a means of getting more miles per gallon from the resources and budget employed. The act of building has for a long time been the domain of more than one person or profession. Charles Barry relied upon his craftsmen at the Reform Club for their detailed technical knowledge as much as practising architects rely upon spe-

cialists today. Whilst it might be true that our world is now more sophisticated and complex, this only serves to reinforce the importance of a central coordinating entity whose responsibility it is to marshall the troops and achieve the ‘vision’ of the project. That person, to me, is the architect. Without a unity of purpose and co ordination of effort the spaces we create will be unintelligible, the whole would be less than the sum of the parts, and that would never do!

Hopkins Architects has been at the forefront of British architecture since we started in practice in 1976. Our design approach combines creative imagination and rational logic with empathy for our clients’ needs. We have pioneered and developed a series of strategies in relation to: membrane architecture and lightweight structures; energy-efficient design; the inventive use of traditional materials; the re-use of existing structures in conjunction with new buildings and the regeneration of derelict urban areas. Our practice, of 100 people, works from a studio campus in London. In addition to our large portfolio of work in the UK, our international work is increasing rapidly. www.hopkins.co.uk

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> Year 3 Unit 2 Ulysses/Laszlo/Luke Architecture = Experience ~ Experience = Meaning?! Architecture is the environment we live in. We make it and it makes us. What is the experience of spatiality? Our primary focus is the development of strategies to explore and address the possibilities within complex urban contexts by using a series of ‘techniques’ that allow insights into the given. Using these techniques to investigate physical, social and cultural clues, we attempt to find abstract drivers already concealed within the situation encouraging a positive tangency through the use of existing and emergent phenomena. Abstraction formulates the link between space, culture and experience. We explore spatiality as the interface between meaning and culture/society without the need to directly and

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easily cross reference symbols borrowed from Art, Philosophy or Language. Space becomes the material that shapes Experience. We propose an Architecture that is informed, appropriate and abstract. An Architecture that can be built and is unbelievable at the same time. An Architecture that is a result of an open ended rule based process that leads from a large complex context, through rigorous development, to a proposal that has the potential of having Meaning. Project 1 - Negative Space/Folded Surface/Constructed Element You should be developing a series of processes that you can apply to different situations that allow you to start with limited pieces of information and react to external stimulus in an analytical and intuitive way. There should be a clear understanding of different types of spatiality and the physical and material bias that these

‘types of space’ have. Project 2 - Geo-Spatial Project - a made/usable product/space. With limited resources and ingenuity/resourcefulness, you must demonstrate that you can design and build an actual habitable dwelling that is an appropriate for space for a social group of three individuals. Project 3 - Socio-Political Site Response – Process based project starting with mapping of an unknown context and ending with Architecture. You must clearly show the ability to a start a dialogue within the context of a new site. To be able to propose interventions that react spatially and sociologically with consideration for History, Geography, Culture, Sustainability and an understanding of related Wider Global Issues. You must design experience.

The Istanbul project began with 3 experiments developed from 3 discreet and subjective interpretations of space: money, head, and live. This diagram acts as an ananlysis of the set of money space data. attempting to understand the nature of street commerce I recorded spaces where pistachio shells appeared on the floor. To my surprise these were in almost uniform abundance everywhere. The street, I discovered is of inestimable cultural siginficance in Istanbul, serving as a domesticated space common to everyman. The power of this idea became a key aspect of the development of the projects design. As a group of 3 we were asked to design a shelter to sleep in which was temporary, easily transportable, lightweight and quick to construct on site. We chose to develop the brief further and set ourselves the requiement that our structure would suspend itself from the ground between three trees. The structure is adaptable so the trees need not be equilateraly spaced and can be up to 10 m apart Using only elemnts in suspension we were able to create a simple design which expresses in its form the three sleeping pods linked at the head to create a communal central end.

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The urban hybrid project (galata,Istanbul) serves as an experimental enquiry into the nature of contextual deisgn. An aggressive approach has been taken to enhace the existing cultural, social and physical environment.

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I'm interested in exploring how we perceive and experience our environment. In my explorations, I've tried to understand more about depth and perspective. In order to sculpt the environment, Solids can be sculpted (subtracted), elements can be constructed (added) and surfaces/landscapes can be folded (manipulated) to achieve form. Relating to this, every object is 2D surface wrapped and orientated onto a 3D shape in space. Visually, only transparent materials, such as water and air, are visible solids that we can truly gauge volume, whereas a wall or a floor only shows us surface. So in a sense we only see surfaces which are landscaped onto solids. With this idea of space in mind, I was interested in creating a large scale residential landscaping in response to the growing population of Istanbul. The existing building fabric has a set of particular characteristics unique to Istanbul, e.g. the density and disjointedness between buildings. If you were to perceive the edges of buildings like lines on a page, two points can define a line and three an area, in a similar way if you were to do this within negative space, your mind can begin to see imaginary planes between buildings which might frame a view or make a space. As a result it’s the lines of the architecture that define the space and not the buildings themselves. The way the Residential units fit into the landscaping will act like lines on a page, edges on a landscape.

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'A dwelling, place or home considered as a refuse from the elements - lasting, existing, effective for a limited time only, not permanent.' This lightweight shelter was designed to be capable of housing three people for 24 hours. Structurally it had to be simple and quick to put together, with the ability to reconstruct it again using the same materials and drawings. Environmentally it had to respond geographically and climatically, withstanding wind and rain.

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Having spent 24 hours inhabiting this space through varying weather conditions it satisfied the demands placed upon it. Its transparent nature allows interaction with its surrounding context and aesthetically complements it's accommodating landscape, albeit temporarily.

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Through the manipulation of plastic, gaining strength with each fold, the self-supportive form was created. Optional, detachable polystyrene panels could be interlocked to provide privacy and warmth as required. Ventilation holes within the waterproof plastic shell provided a breathable yet dry space.

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The Beyoglu MusicCity Plaza represents an urban generator for an intriguing part of Istanbul, uniting a marginalised neighbourhood with the vibrant city hotspots that flank it on 3 sides. Dilapidated Ottoman Tenements and a rare open site amidst the urban density are changed to serve as greatly desired public spaces. The renovated tenements serve as a music school and performing arts centre for the adjacent Alman Lisesi school. Teaching spaces are suspended above a spacious thoroughfare on the ground floor channelling people to and from the Istiklal Caddesi city centre. Outside, an expansive fibreglass enclosure captures a section of street, uniting the school with an outdoor music theatre at the opposite end of a sheltered public square. The square serves as a casual place to socialise, and hosts audiences for the music theatre’s performances. Above, the enclosure is fully accessible as a decked public space, perfect for recreational use. The sloped surfaces are intended as a place for all to escape city life, to enjoy musical performances in the lazy afternoons and evenings, with beautifully framed view towards the Sultanahmet peninsula across the Golden Horn water. To the South, the deck subtly blends away to the next street level tier, linking the plaza with the vibrant Tophane waterfront. The character of the scheme will then be that of a campus meeting a modern reinterpretation of the continental square.

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SPACE, LANDSCAPE, CONSTRUCT Exploring three different types of spatiality through three 30 x 30 x 30 cm solid cubes. Identifying the painting 'Watercolour with Red Spot' by Kandinsky, which allow us to use as an inspiration. 'Illusion', 'Depth', and 'Distance' are the abstracted qualities from this painting.

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Different materials are used to recreate these abstracted qualities in those three cubes.

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Storytelling as an oral tradition is a medium to entertain, educate and communicate knowledge. The storytelling centre aims to preserve the tradition and tie the surrounding communities together and induce the interaction between local residents, students, workers and travellers. The design is informed by the investigation into the situated livelihood, quality of light and the ambiance of the Galata region in Istanbul.

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The constrained footprint of the long narrow plot surrounded by buildings casting most of the site in shade has influenced both the vertical order of spaces and the opposite approach to allow light and views to the hotel to the north. Internally, the spaces for storytelling derived from the tradition of storytelling in Istanbul and other parts of the world, the storyteller gathers his audience around him in an arc forming an intimate space with different height relationships between the storyteller and his audience in different kind of storytelling including the meddah, ashik and shadow play. Ramps provide the height difference and form journeys through the different functional spaces as sequences, looped within and out of the building onto the rooftop garden which ascends into the café and the open theatre at the top.

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The district of Beyoglu, an area situated in the European part of the city, has been transformed this century and is becoming one of the new hearts of the city - a true downtown full of luxury shops, great bars and restaurants. However, children are rarely seen playing in safe places. This is a typical example of a problem found in developing countries. Despite growing in strength commercially they have poor educational development. Meanwhile, from the UNICEF's report, children continue to suffer from the geographical, economic and cultural disparities in the Turkish society. "A civilised society is one which struggles to make the world better for its children." - Stephen Kline My project tries to resist the conviction of a reappraisal of preschool care and education facilities. The indoor - outdoor dimension has become a theme in nursery school design. The belief that children would feel secure within the safety of their own semi-private space inside the building - surrounded by glass windows, whilst in the garden which represents 'wilderness' would enable the children to be adventurous. The project tries to achieve an environment of sensual variety with texture, sound, light and colour, which will hopefully provide cosy quiet internal spaces for withdrawal and security, as well as more open social places for group actiivities; and an exciting exterior space, for freedom.

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The Besiktas Interchange aims to address the current, chaotic arrangement of public transport in the area and the future expansion of Istanbul’s transport infrastructure. The Interchange will serve buses, ferries, the planned extension of the modern tramway and a proposed metro line. Linking the waterfront with the main road that runs along the shoreline of the Bosphorus Straight and increasing waterfront habitation also had to be addressed to maintain the area’s character.

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The proposal involves a series of meandering paths from the road to waterfront, arching out over the sea, providing a waterfront public space, with cafés and restaurants. The paths are conceived as a sort of landscape where the spaces in between overlapping landscapes are used for programmatic functions. One of the walls of the warehouse which currently occupies the site is retained to provide an axis and point of reference. The bus stops are in the lowered basement of the old warehouse, which is suggestively at the same level as the sea, whilst the tramline arches out across the sea, giving passengers a sweeping panoramic across the Bosphorous. The metro emerges from behind the street at high level, bridges the road, and then bursts through the existing trees to give passengers a high level view down the Bosphorous, whilst the ferries arrive at recessed quays, and appear to merge into the landscapes.

3 CUBES A project based on abstracting information from a source, the 3 cubes produced are a 3D expression of the qualities found from the original via the process. My 'abstraction source' was a text message I sent; the process divided the message into areas of volume and emotion. The coincidences (peaks) and differences (troughs) were mapped on a graph and the three cubes produced from the qualities the graph amplified for me. CUBE 1 - "SPACE"

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Cube 1 is a solid 30x30x30cm white polystyrene cube. It explains the randomness and unpredictability of the text, constructed with a garden fork and a tenon saw, equally unpredictable tools.

Cube 2 is one sheet of A1 paper. With no additional glues or construction materials, cube 2 must be folded. The abstraction graph shows transition between areas of coincidence and difference, developed through a series of small sketch models to the final solution. This cube switches from the calm outer regions to the crunched and scrambled centre.

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CUBE 2 – “LANDSCAPE”

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CUBE 3 – “CONSTRUCT” Cube 3 is made from one type of element and one type of connector. Using strips of balsa wood and wire, cube 3 explains the sudden burst of energy at the point in the graph before a coincidence. ��

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The wrap up dwelling is designed to sleep 3 people in 3 private sections at night, whilst providing a central communal area during the day.

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It uses cardboard tubes, corrugated translucent plastic and polystyrene board. The strength of the cardboard tubes was used vertically to form the sides of each of the 3 individual sections. The six walls slot onto the plastic base over wooden blocks, the plastic then curves over the tube ends to form headrests inside and fastened using velcro, allowing quick assembly. The 3 sections overlap each other in the centre to form the roof and continue down to create the doors opposite. The doors open upwards to provide 3 different views out of the shelter and provide semioutdoor spaces.

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The translucent nature of the plastic is explored through the use of strategically placed polystyrene. It is cut into blocks to allow a clean, crisp quality of light during the day, making the plastic appear to glow white on the inside. The polystyrene also blocks light from the inside at night, producing a patterned glowing object in its surroundings.

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The overall objective of the project was to produce a dwelling that would enable three people to live comfortably in for 24 hours during winter in Nottingham (but potentially to be used anywhere all year round), as well as being waterproof, easy to assemble and lightweight for easy transport.

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The inspiration for the design came from the hexagons and pentagons used in a football. The plastic tubing, fixed together with nuts and bolts for easy assembly, provided the structure while the inflated dual-layered polythene sheets provided the translucent insulation which allows the fragmented light filtered through the trees into the dwelling whilst also providing some privacy. The floor was made from polystyrene balls vacuumed between layers of polythene sheets to help resist heat loss through the ground but also malleable for comfort. Many small holes, protected by plastic coverings, were situated at half height to allow for sufficient ventilation. After an intensive development process the design was a success as it provided a very comfortable and thoroughly entertaining night.

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The site comprised of a small unspoilt dense copse with a small open space in the centre. The design took advantage of the trees acting as a wind barrier and as a light filter to allow maximum light in winter and restricted light in summer in addition to the trees offering some seclusion.

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In project one the idea of being caught between friend and and foe has been abstracted from a painting. Three cubes, a solid, construct and a paper become friend, foe and barrier. The solid friend is carved from foam and covered in wax to create an appealing texture that you want to reach out and touch. An attacking foe is constructed from sharpened bamboo skewers all pointing towards you. A paper barrier prevents you reaching friend or escaping foe.

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As a team of three we made a rebuidable structure and inhabited it for twentyfour hours. The wooden frame is constructed from six equilateral panels, with plastic sheeting for weatherproofing and polystyrene insulation. The shelter adapts to create more space by folding out a panel and placing a bubble wrap skin over the top. Turkish Think Space is located in inner city Istanbul. The site occupies a transition space between commercial areas and residential areas. A think space between the two creates a place to escape for a variety of users. A women only hammam, creates a space where for women to socialise away from the home. The hammam is located off the street in plan and in section. The street edge is cut into to create more corners and places for standing and drinking tea whilst watching passers by. Between the street and the hammam an open public space provides the opportunity to walk through cool, dark, courtyards of reed beds filtering the water from the hammam. ��

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A public forum for Istanbul, situated next to the government run VIth Department of Municipality the building creates private (vertical) and public (horizontal) spaces through soft and hard layers influenced heavily by its surrounding area, opposing and yet relating to the organisational principles of its neighbour.

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Three Cubed initiated with the abstraction of the words; Reappearance, Unity and Illusion, from Dali’s ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’, which were translated into spatial visualizations.

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Pursuing ‘Three Cubed’ further, I used navigation techniques to gather information relating to the Live, Think and Money space of Istanbul. Live space concerned external leisure activities within the immediate surrounding environment; Think space tested the memory from one destination to the next; Money space recorded the way music is used to heighten trade. I extracted the following design drivers from the findings: - Istanbul is highly built up, lacking space for leisure activities, many children play in the streets. - The degree to which a view is remembered lies in the order, irregularity and colour encompassed in that vision. - The smaller, hidden shops of Beyoglu’s shopping district play louder music to attract customers. These observations lead to a site in the hub of Istanbul’s built environment, adjacent to a large residential neighbourhood of winding streets and adjoining a buzzing shopping street. The proposal integrates park space with a music school; attention is drawn to the sounds of hidden practice spaces beneath landscaping, whilst the main concert space stands prominent yet silent. Overlapping curved forms create intriguing journeys through the complex, whilst order and irregularity is driven from the site context.

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The aim of this group project was to create a temporary dwelling that we would then inhabit for a twenty four hour period. Polystyrene was an obvious material choice due for both thermal and waterproofing reasons. Developing the dwelling with this material resulted in three distinct pods. The juxtapostition of the pods created separate communal or 'public' spaces that were covered by a canopy that hangs from the surrounding trees that form the site. This not only helps to define these spaces, but shelter thems, and provides additional waterproofing for the pods.

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1 choRa dock is a restaurant | bar| & club complex situated on the waterfront of Istanbul, Turkey. The design sets up a new language for the site; exploring the duality of a building typology; as the ground level bar space doubles as the new fish market. The forms of this new language take inspiration from the ship building trade, situated to the extreme west of the site. The design brings together people from opposite sides of the spectrum, at a unique site which is in itself a nexus between two realities of old and new. The proposal masterplan will act as an urban catalyst, sparking off further development along this prominent and beautiful site in the future to come. The Blue© design was intended to build upon the awe of its location; adding to the mystery and magic, especially at night. This formed the basic concept of its design; to shock passersby. How could this be done to maximum effect? By literally placing our design in their path, in order that they had to pass around and/or under/over it. The proposal therefore decided was a floating structure, suspended between 3 equilateral trees, on a central flat piece of land on the island over the top of a public footpath. Ambitious you may think? Well not for The Blue©.

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3cubed explores the assembly of 3 separate cubes manufactured using the three construction methods of: -subtraction [polystyrene], +addition [paper] and +/construction [bamboo skewers].

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The balloon shelter is designed to engage people. It creates visual and physical interaction between a user and its structure that blurs the sense of public and private space. The shelter acts as a high pressure pneumatic structure when deployed. It consists of inflated balloons sealed in transparent tubes that provide an inner and outer shell as well as a bed. ��

The shelter’s deformable form adds to its highly fascinating visual aesthetic and stimulating experience. Specific balloons on the external shell are inflated with laughing gas so that when they are inhaled by users a transparent void is created that provides a glimpse of the private space inside.

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In Istanbul, the atmosphere within the inner, winding streets tends to get claustrophobic. There a number of activities, and spaces functioning at the same time. It is common to find old, hollowed shells of buildings precariously standing between modern buildings. My site is surrounded by buildings on all sides and is accessed from four corners by narrow streets. A hollowed concrete housing block stands next to old Genoan stone ruins. It was chosen as it acts as a source of light and air for those living and working in the area. The design was aimed at trying to work with the levels on site, while respecting the ruins. Programmatically, the building tries to merge key social and urban issues in Istanbul. The city has migrants from rural areas and neighbouring countries coming into the city everyday to find work and live. It has seen an increase in illegal settlements over the years, and I thought it would be a challenge trying to improve on the tower blocks that are currently being built to solve the problem. The dense urban fabric around my site leaves very little opportunity for open, green spaces or squares to be provided. The narrow streets are where people mingle and children play. I wanted to provide a central meeting space for the area, and decided on a vertical park due to the limited space. The merging of the park with the housing was an opportunity to experiment with private and public thresholds.

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Translucent Dwelling: 3 of us set ourselves an ambitious brief for a 5 week project, of creating a hanging dwelling with a transparent floor and translucent body. We creaed a rigid and lightweight floor system out of extruded plastic and polycarbonate sheets which could then be set above ground using a further tension ring a pulley mechanism. We investigated and created protective measures from the elements and designed a comfortable and interesting space to inhabit. We then set about testing the dwelling by staying in it for 24 hours, getting first hand experience of our design implications.

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Highway Utopia: A field trip to Istanbul established the foundation for investigation of the project. One kitted-out ford fiesta with still and video cameras strapped in the front and the rear recorded driving the hectic roads of Istanbul. The site itself was chosen as a result of this research: "A gateway to Istanbul" it lies on the west side of the Bosphorus Sea, about 500m from the famous Bosphorus Bridge, a connection between the Asian and European sides of Istanbul. The first proposal tests the boundaries of a secondary function that a bridge of this kind can have. Including measures to reduce congestion and expand an automobile user's driving experience, the new development also attempts to connect the local community with the commuting population, reducing the abrasive nature that an expressway can take on its surrounding.

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This project explores the relationship between architecture and urban experience. It aims to retain the informal public nature of the site whilst intensifying the spatial qualities that are experienced along its length. Firstly the density of the existing tree canopy is increased in order to in fill the void of the site. Then the thin sliver of building zigzags across the site, intersecting the boundary between land and water and cutting voids into the canopy to define a series of open public ‘rooms’ along the water’s edge. Through a pre-defined navigation technique I had adopted in my journey through Istanbul, I observed how the balcony culture of the streetscape afforded it to become the social focal point of everyday life. This project subverts the boundaries between what is considered public and private space by taking a public landscape and merging it with a private residential program with the result that the building exists like a vertical street, with houses, public spaces and landscapes folded up within it. Drawing on the concept of ‘porosity’ the thin slab of building is punctured by an interlocking system of voids that exist as circulation routes, private terraces and public gardens which allow light and air to penetrate. The roof exists as a public walkway that allows views back over the site and out across the water to the horizon.

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I have proposed a European Union Information and Forum Centre for the Inhabitant's of Istanbul. The site is located in close proximity to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia on the Historic Peninsula. Surrounded by impacting architecture from the rulers of the past, I want The Centre to be a symbol of what the European Union will do for the people of Istanbul. Both political and economic change will come about from Turkey's membership, and it is important that The People both hear about this and can voice their views. Freedom of passage, attraction and focus on The People are some of the aspects I have tried to portray within my proposals. Turkey's membership to The EU is an effort that has been going on for more than 40 years and is one of the last steps of Turkey's strive for modernity.

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The fall of Konstantinople, the fall of golden dream…

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In order to optimize the social value of the historic site and to preserve it in a sustainable condition a complex is therefore proposed. The museum of Lausus’ palace, accommodates a museum of Greco – Roman relics, a lecture theatre, a Byzantine papery relic centre, and some workshops.

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Konstantinople, where is now Istanbul is such a fascinate polis that west and east impact. Palace of Lausus, a historic site of Byzantine ruin used to be a well known venue for its extraordinary collection of pagan statues, however, palace’s glory is no longer shine and statues’ magnificence is no longer in the shrine. The pain of bricks and the fragmentary marbles, the ignorance of passerby and the blasphemous graffiti hide the revelation of its great potential value of positioning within the heart of imperial capital where attract visitors from the whole world, and the value of its history of converted religion.

The use of grid shell as the main structure system has provided a large span of roof over the ruin without any support and meanwhile made the form to reach the original concept of continuity and ambiguity which are inspired from notion of history. There is also a link tunnel to the cistern basilica to make the whole area coherent.

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Temporary Lightweight Dwelling The brief was to design and build at 1:1 scale a dwelling which we could assemble ourselves and comfortably live in for twenty-four hours. We developed an expanded polyfoam icosahedron, inspired by Buckminster-Fuller’s geodesic domes. The form was decided upon because it had minimal external surface area compared to internal volume, making it efficient in terms of heat loss and the triangular structure made it structurally efficient. It also enabled easy transportation and storage because when disassembled it is relatively compact.

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Inspired by the geometric Islamic patterns I found around Istanbul, the form of the complex has been developed from examining the volumes created through the interplay of different layers of pattern. The aim is to create an exciting and active landscape that will revitalise the under-used square that borders the Egyptian Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. Level changes in the square will act as seats and tables for casual stalls that spill out of spice bazaar. Perforated glass protrusions up into the square will act as solar chimneys carrying up the aromas from the Turkish restaurants below and tempting passers by. The subterranean restaurants will be lit carefully to direct your attention to the cooking process and, once you are seated focus your senses on the taste and smell of the food.

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Square and Subterranean Spice Restaurant Complex, Istanbul

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The town of Kumkapi lies not far from the Aya Sophia and Blue Mosque, yet is quietly secluded at the Southern shoreline of Sultanahmet. It is predominantly a residential area, however also has its growing number of tourist visitors due to its proximity to the sea and port. The main problem with this site was despite the geographical proximity of the town centre to the sea, it was noticed that residents were hardly ever attracted to make use of this potential due to the number of barriers hindering safe movement between the two.

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This architectural intervention deals with the challenges of engaging Kumkapi's waterfront with its nearby residents, integrating a program that encourages social sustainability and a sense of public place. A Vocational Training Centre will be provided for the predominantly migrant population setting in the area, so that they can gain better skills to make a better living for themselves. This is integrated within the landscaped link between the town and waterfront. Moreover, a public promenade that begins from the town's main street, will bridge over the barriers of the busy road and railway tracks, and lead them back down right by the water. At certain intervals, the architectural proposal encourages social interaction by setting up 'chance meetings' such as between fishermen and shoppers to the market or even commuters that arrive at Kumkapi train station with local residents.

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We made a visit to the city of ISTANBUL in Turkey, choose the site and program individually. In this trip, I found that there are not enough connection between foreigners who live in the city and the locals.

Concept: Fairy Tale, the design is from both Italian and Turkish Fairy Tales, includes Italian’s “Adventure” and Turkish’s “Magic” world of fairy tale. Utilize the characteristics of Turkey, combine European and Asian culture. Let students interest in the building and their study, the building like a huge toy, includes fun inside.

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School which be supported by Italian Embassy, contains both Italian and Turkish Students, includes 220 students. And let them understand each other deeply. It also can be used as a community centre in the evening and weekend. The site I have chosen is in the new city of Istanbul, closed to the area which is a centralized area of foreigner, also includes some embassies, for example Italian and Russian Embassies.

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To utilize the site which has 3 steps, and 3m height difference between each one, I designed 3 buildings: an education building on the left side involves 10 classrooms, on the right hand side there are music and art room, offices, library and dinning room, we can see a sliding board connects library and café which is below the ground. The café is also the entrance of the community centre. The gymnasium is in the middle of school, and 3m above and 3m below the ground. ��

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A year which began with The Wobbly Windmills, created from spoons and smelling of incense and burning feathers. To a fascination with Treacle and my first collection of sticky door handles .This year has been unique.I have plastered both my hands, sawn cubes from trees and wondered blindfolded around cities I have never seen before. All this experimentation has concluded with a Poetry School within the sea walls of Istanbul. The wall Built under Theodosius in 413 is a remarkable example of Byzantine imagination but has become unused and no longer acts as a living part of the city. My project aims to take people back to the wall and give it a new use .This is done with 16 stories, each story based around and working with the Poetry School. The stories are expressed in various architectures from chairs and lights to a Restaurant and fishing shop. The architectures all have references to the past and at the same time deals with issues of sensory architecture from time and pain to sight and sound.

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My final project is based in Istanbul, where I started looking at changing perceptions and creating views. I devised a series of ‘tools’ for recording different spaces, money, think and live.

I have been looking at ways in which I can reinstate the Galata Tower, by creating views of it around the city. My building will wrap itself around the existing tower, and a tilting glass façade will create reflections of the tower. These glazed panels are positioned to create views of the tower and so break away into its surroundings, making the presence of the tower known everywhere.

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In 528 a tower was built for fortification of the city, a community started to grow around the tower, and as it grew the tower adapted to its needs. Buildings grew up and around the tower in an unstructured manner, until the tower became completely lost. The Galata Tower became a tourist attraction in 1991, however many tourists cannot find it, and the region of Galata has consequently become disjointed from the rest of the city.

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The craft workshop is a cooperative of workers from Turkey. It is a community hub, providing a centre for economic migrants to the city to come to live and practise their craft. The complex is centred around an indoor 'public square' which is surrounded by eight different workshops; metal, stone, wood, fabric, glass, pottery, food and calligraphy. The public square is landscaped to encourage pedestrian flow into and through the complex to draw people into its functions. Visitors can watch the products being made and buy them directly from the craftsmen. There is a rooftop space with views around the city, especially towards the adjacent park. The centre is an interface between the Old Town and the park area. Immigrant workers are given subsidised living and working accommodation for one year, to allow them to acclimatise themselves to the city, and then they must make their own way. The accommodation is on the ground floor, below the level at which visitors enter the building. The workshops are built from the traditional local materials of brick and stone, which are thermally heavyweight and allow the internal climate to be more steady. The public square is landscaped with trees and shrubs and enclosed by an over-arching mesh.

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My site in Istanbul was characterised by fantastic views, not only across the Bosporus and surrounding Sea of Marmara, but also towards the old town of Istanbul, including the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Although the site currently has no distinct purpose, it was seen by many locals and tourists as a retreat from the centre. The site was used as a place for observation and relaxation. With this in mind it was essential for me to enhance these views within my design. I have designed a thermal baths which incorporates relaxation and stimulation, as well as becoming a viewing platform for locals and visitors to observe the city.

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My investigations in Istanbul involved studying people’s interactions with water in and around the city. As a result I discovered how significant the water is to the residents, not only for survival but for religious purposes and entertainment. I also recorded changes in my heart rate and the stimuli for these changes, as I explored the city. I wanted to create an environment which facilitates human emotion and reaction, and incorporates water into the design.

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I was also inspired by an existing shipwreck which has remained on the site, untouched for several years. As a significant feature of the site I felt it was important to use the remains in some way. I have chosen to construct a restaurant based around the existing wreck.

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> Control Studio Three Architects

Control can be a double edged sword. The success (or failure) of a realised design project hinges on the careful balance of opposing controls (both internally and externally generated). Control is the key distinction between the work of an artist and that of an architect. The artist may impose self control, but the architect has many additional layers of imposed controls to consider.

smallest fixture and fitting. We seek order from chaos, symmetry from randomness and serenity from volume. But are we occasionally guilty of letting this control blind us to opportunity? Can we be sure that a dogmatic approach will always result in a fantastic solution? The definition of control is to “restrain”, “check” or “hold in” – this seems to contradict creative exploration.

Architects are often described as “control freaks”, and most would not disagree with this assigned title. We can often experience an almost obsessive desire to control every element of a scheme – down to the

Our practice is still in its infancy, but we are starting to develop an approach that allows a diversity of solution, whilst maintaining a logical strand of thought. This in itself is a form of control, but a measured control, which allows for individual solutions and diametric responses. We couldn’t think of anything worse

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than knowing what the next building is going to look like. External controls may take the form of: finances (budgets rarely meet aspirations); dimensions (the site’s only so big); materials and structure (we’re still waiting for the first skyhooks); the environment (both on a local and global level); politics (amazing how many planning applications are refused before a local election); time (deadlines can focus and reduce options); the list goes on. With all of these issues, there comes a point where the architect is no longer the expert in being able to plot a successful course for the project. We therefore rely on a number of disci-

plines to turn a project into reality – perhaps more so now than at any other time in the history of the profession. Most of these partnerships (if carefully conceived and managed) can result in an enrichment of the process and a more successful outcome. Architects have the ability to be centrally placed in these multi-disciplinary teams, but it seems that the control architects once had over the design and procurement of the built environment has been eroded to the point where we are no longer the first on a potential client’s list of contacts. Architects are often one of the last appointments on a design project, sometimes with serious implications to the process and even-

tual outcome. Control should be (and used to be) intrinsically linked to responsibility, but today we face a reality where pseudo-professionals act as a filter between the design team and the client. This filter mechanism began as a control measure to reduce the risk (usually financial) to the Client, but has become a control vehicle for those without talent, technical expertise, imagination and understanding to inﬂuence the process without taking responsibility. “Value Engineering” has become an escape mechanism for poor management and briefing. Architects have been too easily pushed into this new position of weakness, and examples of this erosion of the profession are plentiful in the press.

So how do we begin to address this situation? Despite our apparent humbling over the years, architects still have one important weapon in their arsenal, which consists of only one word: “no”. Unless we begin to take a stand against this erosion and dubious inﬂuence on the foundation of our profession, architects may (in less than a generation perhaps) become absorbed into an amorphous mutli-headed pseudo-profession, practising in large multi-national no-risk corporations, where control and return on investment are valued more than innovation and individuality. It’s very easy to say “yes” when a large fee is offered as a carrot, but a large stick will inevitably follow.

By saying no to working at risk, saying no to signing up to bespoke forms of appointment, saying no to not paying students, saying no to working all night, saying no to the white male stereotype, saying no to accepting poor design and leadership - we as a discipline can rebuild our core values and perhaps demonstrate why this is a profession to be recognised in society alongside medicine and law (to which we train for similar periods). Idealistic perhaps, unrealistic maybe, but we need to have a central passion for the profession we love and be involved at the core of how internal and external controls can inﬂuence it. If that passion dies, if it’s replaced by a monochromatic kneejerk response, something core to the architect in us dies with it.

STUDIO THREE is a young, energetic architectural practice comprising a team of committed individuals who believe in design without compromising function, and delivering projects with enthusiasm and imagination. A design project, whether large or small is a unique opportunity for both the client and the architect. Our projects are considered, logical and responsive to its particular needs, but most importantly varied; no two responses are alike. From the first meeting Studio Three will make the experience exciting and rewarding. Our commitment to design is carried through all aspects of the process from concept to construction detail. Call 0151 708 1802 or e-mail design@studio-three.co.uk for an initial consultation. Studio Three Architects Ltd Vanilla Factory, 39 Fleet Street, Liverpool L1 4AR t: 0151 708 1802 f: 0151 708 1803 e: design@studio-three.co.uk w: http://www.studio-three.co.uk Contact name: Mushtaq Saleri

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> Unit 3 Christopher Hill

The Flaneur was offered as a vehicle with which to challenge the enlightenment project. Conceived as a mobile, mechanical abstract probehead, the Flaneur found temporary form in lost domestic objects with potential for metamorphosis. The wardrobes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as the lost objects

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were known â&#x20AC;&#x201C; were redesigned, and developed into Flaneurs capable of interrogating a city, its inhabitants, and even the cultural premise upon which the city had been built. And so, from a convoy of transit vans, some thirty Flanuers were released upon the Scottish city of Edinburgh to bury their way into the fabric of the city and the psyche of its inhab-

itants. After three days of wandering the Flaneurs settled upon their own sites which were then adopted for architectural consideration. Bulging with captured data, the Flaneurs were returned to Nottingham for careful analysis. This raw data required interpretation if it were to reveal interesting aspects of the city under study. 3D CAD models that

mapped the routes of the Flaneurs were constructed to interpret the raw data and to capture the spatial, textural and temporal rhythms of the city. When deconstructed, these strange maps offered a critique or method to analyse, and develop the Flanuerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chosen site. What - if anything - is revealed is yet to be determined.

my flaneur is a frame that captures what people want to capture. its sliding panel would leave openings, the focal point of the image that one would capture. for example, a line of umbrellas in front of the post office, instead of the post office. my flaneur would capture images and move towards the image captured till it found my site, which eventually would be the union canal in edinburgh. upon finding the site, i then used the information that i had gathered from the flaneur to find a program for my proposal. after further developing my ideas, i came to a decision that my proposal would be a self-healing space. a retreat for the people of edinburgh. a space to 'run' away from their city life and problems. this transitional space is intended to allow the user to gain their peace in mind as they walk in and leave the space with a new sense of purpose, similar to the idea of the spiritual healing labyrinth. it could also function as a space where the user chooses to forget the problems and leave them behind as they leave the space.

this space induces the movements of the user. it leads you through many different rooms that would function in many ways to aid with the healing process. the circulation through this space should be treated like a unicursal maze. a single path that would lead the user to the various rooms. the idea is to give the user the impression that they are being led far away from the 'outside world'. also, the maze-like plan of this space, is intended to 'lead' the users, for the idea is that the people who would use the space would be 'lost' in the world. not knowing what to do or how to deal with the issues that they might be facing. therefore, once they have entered this healing space, they are not lost anymore. they have a navigated route. a route that tells the user to turn when they should, stop when they should and go up or down when they should. after moving from space to space, the user would end up at the exit. the user would then leave the space and back into reality, where they know that they have to face their issues no matter what. only this time they would have an insight on how to deal with them, hopefully. if not, this space should at least give the user a sense of excitement and entertainment.

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-this is my self-healing space-

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the flaneur is a solitary person that walks around aimlessly recording information. recording information by means of vision. what he would record would probably not be the same to what you or i would. you see, a flaneur maps the city psychogeographically instead of geographically. therefore he maps the city based on emotions and colours, rather than street names and postcodes.

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The site was determined by the Flâneur, a machine designed to identify two realities which co-exist in the same place, and subsequently bridge the gap between them. The first reality was the physical city of Edinburgh, which was used to map a second reality that was much more unknowable and difficult to see. The site became a ‘transition point’, a nexus where these two realities collided. The exercise provided tangible data for a concept which is based on issues lacking physical form; the city of Edinburgh and the mapped ‘alternate reality’ were representations of the conscious and unconscious sides of the human psyche. There is disorder between the conscious and unconscious minds. In order to provide stability, the transition point will be the location for a building designed to bridge the gap that exists between the general public and those who suffer from mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. This sector of society is difficult to see and understand, and so must be tackled and made visible to the city. This will be achieved through the medium of dramatherapy, a relatively new technique which allows treatment through activities, acting and singing. Here a direct link to general society is established: plays and performances allow these two 'realities' to meet, and by providing a space which both can inhabit, equilibrium is achieved, not just in the conscious city but in the unconscious mind as well.

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The perception of a musical centre is like a concert hall. However, I intended people to experience the sound space. The building reflects the natural environment of Edinburgh, making sounds by the wind from the East blowing to the West. Also, each separated buildings from the St.Giles to the ‘site’ introduced the ‘fish market’ which today is not frequently used.

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Architecture and Music is an interesting mix. The project is orientated according to the perception of the ‘Flaneur’. The flaneur is a wanderer who travels around, mentally or physically. In my case, the flaneur was a musical flaneur. The sound of Edinburgh was recorded through the physical flaneur model. As a result, playing with ‘wind’ became a critical point in this project. Pipe or tube construction strategy was suitable for the project, and the consequence was the building becoming an instrument. There was one difficulty that, what part of the structure becomes an instrument and what becomes a structure which supports the building. As a result, the wind (pipe) instrument; which was the invention of the flaneur, was attached to the building, so that the instrument does not carry any loads.

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The underground connections will introduce people the different quality of sound. Further more, different perception of the space in the darkness will influence people to hear the sound more precisely in the underground circumstances.

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I approach Edinburgh inspired by Walter Benjamin’s writings of his flaneurs’ movements through the city, allowing me to create a variety of exploratory devices. The starting point, the blustery, volcanic form of Calton Hill, allowing views across districts of historical, social, physical divides. I follow, enchanted by a feather’s movement in the wind, on eight different journeys, in eight different directions, crossing ghettoes of different cultures and nationality.

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The project animates, enlivens these routes, offering clarity, legibility to the urban environment, structuring itself on seasonal festival celebrations. Eight pilgrimages arise from all sides of Calton Hill: the historic old town, the new town and areas described by Max Gross as ‘no town’ Taking inspiration from pilgrimages to the Hajj, Kumbha Mela, resurrected Pagan festivals, the side of Calton Hill becomes an endshrine. The design burrows into the side of Calton Hill, rituals, myths allowed to come alive, creating a sanctuary and unifying point. Cut open to the elements, with a penetrating valley, allows ever-changing washes of sunlight and shadow. A lively central courtyard contains external seating, internal dining-spaces, overlapping grass-banks, and an external pool, all facing onto the main stage. While contrasting areas of sumptuous darkness create restful spaces with the glistening waterfilled pools revelling all over their high walls.

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HEDONISTIC REHAB is the architectural result from defining and creating a ‘Flaneur’, a sculpted piece of apparatus which was originally an oven.

‘Hedonistic Rehab’ is a retreat where two sets of people from society are brought together, both benefiting from their experiences in different ways. It is a criminal rehabilitation centre for those who have re-offended, with its primary aim to heal society and address the issue of overflowing prisons. People within the scheme will be taught new skills such as how to become chefs and hairdressers, and will ultimately run the businesses. In conjunction, it is also a health club; an idyllic retreat and a form of escapism where members of the public can enjoy the restaurant, spas, sauna, floatation tank and library.

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A Flaneur is an instrument which records how the mind learns and generates thoughts. It produces physical records of how the mind is influenced by its surrounding environment as well as bearings to guide it as it meanders around a city and eventually to a site, in this case in Edinburgh.

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The architecture, which was also inspired by reversing and exploding a Flaneur, houses an elaborate internal garden. This tranquil setting is centrally located between two parkland areas in the city, creating an opportunity to physically link them by a public walkway which flows directly through the building, establishing the scheme within a wider social context of Edinburgh. ��

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A Flâneur wonders aimlessly, exploring the city. His actions are purposeful. He is comfortable with what he does. My salvaged sofa was chosen due to its perceived comfort within a home environment. The first transformation it underwent was to turn it into a ‘Flâneur Trap’. The split Trap explores the perceived comfort of a sofa, and the true, actual comfort that can be produced. The capture of a Flâneur, who sits in dough and creates their personal comfort, creates true comfort. Using this process while travelling through Edinburgh, I found my site. My site is situated on the Cowgate Road, below South Bridge, in the centre of Edinburgh. What struck me about this area was the noise level differentiation throughout the day and night. During the day, there was very little activity so therefore little noise, but at night, the reverse was the case. This provoked me to start designing a building which would juxtapose these aspects. The dualism of night and day, noise and silence, is one where the mind and body are strongly connected. The choice of a dance performance space (body stimulus) and library (mind/intellectual stimulus) represents this connection. My building will explore the tension between these two activities and the comfort/‘uncomfort’ created through the simultaneous combination of the two. The intention is to energise the area during the day, and provide a ‘retreat’ at night. It is all down to Flâneur comfort.

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The flaneur travels through Leith searching for fear and the heartbeat of the city, guided by dwellers of the area. Upon finding the core of the fear and turmoil within Leith, the flaneur begins to deconstruct into the elements which guided it on its journey. It is these elements which live on within the project on the site. The project incorporates the concept of inverting this fear and taking the influencing factors and converting them into a productive force. Sections taken through the spatial journey of the flaneur become intertwined within the design of the architecture which now takes the form of a contemporary youth centre. The youth centre will consist of self supporting activity spaces (dance, music, art, film, photography....etc.) which pierce the roof skin of the structure like a tree sprouting through the rainforest. It is organic themes and references such as this that highlight the natural aesthetic intended for this project and which aim to achieve the reformation of this site away from fear.

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A Flâneur to observe and record… A Flâneur exposed and composing… A Flâneur to present and perform…

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Hidden behind a multitude of shop fronts, just seconds from the bustling Royal Mile lies the Edinburgh Cottonworks. The earth spews forth cotton fibres caught in canvas, inky syringes hang overhead, while walkways undulate playfully, intertwining between the transforming structure. Cellulose acetate cascades over the facades, an interface for the user’s own unique artistic input.

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Each visitor has their own contribution displayed and documented. Mechanised cotton farmers graft silently below the tiered surface, essential as part of the acetate production but unbeknown to the world above. At night the architecture takes on life as a performance, the physical fabric of the design parts to reveal shard-like atria, illuminated from the day’s sunlight, and providing a window to the systematic workings below.

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The light not only reveals a more complex structural archive, built upon regulated systems and experimental growth, but also highlights the architecture as an augmentation to Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival. The archive grows with further exposure to its users, as does its eclecticism. Every contributor determines and alters the form, light and materiality of the Cottonworks, as it becomes a visual representative of Edinburgh’s residents and visitors. ��

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The building’s primary function is to act as a flâneur. This has two aspects: the building itself will be a flâneur, i.e. it will observe the city and express its genius loci or ‘spirit of the place’; it will integrate with the city’s fabric and yet be detached from it; it will be a product of the city and the systems that created it and yet challenge the precepts of the city and its defining systems. It will also instil these qualities in the conscious processes of those who visit the building. In this it will echo the wardrobe flâneur, a machine that is an observer, an avatar, an integral yet incongruous presence and a philosophical catalyst and also a device that aims to encourage these ideas in those who use it.

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The flâneur can be both the observer and the avatar of industrial urban topography. He (the flâneur is usually seen as male) is aloof and often lazy, not necessarily acting on his observations. He is at once at home in, and out of step with, the industrial city. In an environment designed for rapid movement he strolls slowly, in an environment designed for purpose and utility he has neither function nor use. The flâneur therefore challenges the Enlightenment project, that is the project begun in the mid-17th century to break with tradition and servile obedience to religious maxims and prohibitions and to use reason and logic to solve the problems of society.

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Flaneur: a person who strolls aimlessly through the city. Through exploration, observation and collection, the Flaneur understands the living city like no other. The city changes everyday, the Flaneur's emotion differs everday. So who is the Flaneur? Simply, it is ourselves. It is a state of mind and it needs to be triggered. An instrument is created to aid this mind shift, and aims to trigger the Flaneur state within us. Similarly, I aim to create a building which acts as a tool for mind shifting. We are living in a very generalized and systematic society, which only provides for the general population, and not for our own individual requirements. We are bounded by this "average" person, and this sense of authority has prevented us from having the freedom of choice. My building aims to shift people's state of mind from being under authority into possessing freedom by creating an environment where people can have the Freedom in expression, but at the same time to have the opportunity for self-discovery. I propose a Performing-art school, as it possesses the essence of Freedom, and through performances and learning, people can gain a deeper sight of themselves. This mind shift is not permanent. At the end, the person would still return to his original state. However, the building has achieved its aim in allowing the person to have a break from the system. It acts as an oasis in this dry and repetitive life we are living.

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The concept behind my project stems from the Phenomenological idea that to fully understand something we must understand how it interacts with its surroundings. As I pushed my flâneur around factors such as rain and terrain caused it to collapse intentionally meaning it was influenced by its surroundings. The idea that something may appear stable on the outside but is collapsing from within is explored in the film ‘Metropolis’, in which a utopian world inhabited by the rich needs underground machines operated by poor workers to survive. This symbolises a society divided by class. My project is based in Leith, where historically there is a clear class division. As my site is located between two areas of a different class I wanted my building to break down the class divide and provide a valuable service to the surrounding buildings. My proposal is the provision of gardens and allotments for the neighboring housing which have no outdoor green space. There will be an underground theatre aiding integration within the community by creating opportunities to work together in music and drama. By locating the theatre underground and the allotments above ground I am reversing the Metropolis idea of hiding the working class aspects underground and the more intellectual features above ground, giving the functional aspects more importance in an attempt to break down the class division bringing the community together.

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My final project has seen the creation of a flaneur, a tool for perceiving the urban environment. It has been a guide through the cityscape and a means of collecting information. My flaneur was created from a found object, an armchair which I reduced down to its fundamental connotations such as comfort and domesticity as well as deconstructed it physically. Once the armchair was dissected I established that it had become a contradiction of its original concept and was now uncomfortable to look at and could no longer sustain the body. I constructed a framing system in order to retain the original orientation of each piece in the collection. I had come to understand that each component of the armchair cannot be viewed and recognised as the original object without being put in context of the other parts. It became a machine in an urban setting, employed to lead me to my site in Edinburgh, and prompt the general public to interact with the pieces and the space. Once the flaneur performed its function, I used the derived information to develop my project conceptually and then architecturally, the result being a building that unites the paradoxical and disjointed nature of the site of urban vs. rural, with a structure that represents the synchronization of the two. Additionally, the building serves the surrounding community by providing green spaces for recreational use, as well as urban territory in the underground chambers.

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This project started by creating a Flaneur; a travelling observer; to find a site. The Flaneur amplifies the user’s observational powers by isolating certain senses in order to heighten others. I used the Flaneur in Edinburgh and it led me right into the heart of the old town, to an area once devastated by fire. However, the site was far from barren, and had been given a vibrant new lease of life by an allied invasion of greenery and graffiti.

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The concept I came up with for the site is based around the Flaneur, the site and the country. I wanted to design a building which would take people on a journey through a fantastical environment. The building’s cube-like appearance and its rusting metal cladding purposefully give nothing away. There are no clues as to what may be encountered inside. During this journey, the traveller will be affected by a range of devices within the building, as well as by the building itself. Experiencing both stimulation and deprivation, both mental and sensory. Overloaded with information, the subconscious mind will be flooded with ideas and thoughts waiting to trigger new creativity and inspiration. The building nestles into the remaining graffiti as if it is itself a product of the fire and the land, a child of this new, remade environment. It creates an opportunity for people to step into the unknown. ��

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The focus of my work is concerned with the figure of the flaneur; a 19th century Parisian character noted for his idle wanderings and recorded observations whilst exploring the streets of Paris. I have transformed a park bench into such a character to explore Edinburgh and find a site with character suitable for a built project. The flaneur maps Edinburgh's terrain. Three inks, black, blue and red represent level, uphill and downhill terrain respectively. When pushed forward the wheels rotate, subsequently rotating a spindle via a chain mechanism to the back wheel. According to the nature of the terrain and incline a physical recording is produced through the pattern of falling ink on the roll. Together with the terrain maps, the flaneur recorded sound and picture through a camera arm for four days and a site was manifest through collating the most interesting results.The chosen site is located in the heart of Edinburgh’s old town and was chosen as it displayed a varied terrain map demonstrating exciting built opportunities in both plan and section. Through recording of sound and picture the site’s unusual history was also uncovered. In 2002 the site was subject to a fire and archaeologists have discovered that it sits upon 4 m of culturally rich material dating back 800 years. I propose to excavate this material into a 3d grid matrix, the older the artefact the lower in the matrix. Circulation develops around the matrix.

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Having escaped this ‘storm of progress’, the continued survival of Good’s Corner depends on it avoiding the trap of idleness, which is the bane of much historical treasure which finds itself out of its time. This site must become the Flâneur; this timeless dissenting wanderer, to continue the search for Urphänomen; not in the icons, but in the oppressed, neglected class of men, in the ‘scraps’ as it were. In the insignificant unconscious of the troubled child, lies the concentration of society’s truths – the real ‘history of everyday lives’. I have designed a terminal for the past identities of these troubled children. Child and parent undergo a journey through the building, with a phantom therapist as their guide, as they gradually work through their unconscious struggles, release their old persona and are able reintegrate anew with society, whilst simultaneously teaching it something of its true identity.

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The abandoned tram terminus of Good’s Corner, Edinburgh; seems salvaged by the ‘Angel of History’ (Benjamin). With her face turned towards the past, instead of a chain of events, she sees one single catastrophe which piles wreckage upon wreckage. The angel would like to stay, and join together what has been smashed to pieces – effectively ending history – but the storm of progress has caught her wings and propels her backwards into the future, while the pile of debris grows.

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The Flaneur is a machine for understanding the city / It will form a relationship with the city, empathetic and intimate / It becomes a part of the crowd, the terrain, woven into the fabric of the city, studying the constantly changing spectacle that parades before it. Everything in the city is a Flaneur / Everything in the city experiences the city and records it [marks and scratches] / A painting of the Flaneur’s experience is revealed.

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The site on Leith docks is discovered on the Flaneur’s journey. The 3-D spatial model of the Flaneur’s experience is explored, exposing the interface between Flaneur and city.[fig.2]

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The Flaneur shifts in scale becoming a waste management system. It gathers wasted time, talent, words, space, energy, opportunity, material and recycles these ‘wastes’ to create an architecture that breaks the boundary between Edinburgh and Leith. EXPOSING PROCESS: the function has been further defined to become a film studio. It exposes wasted talent and brings the Edinburgh Festival to Leith. Film is a medium reliant on the environment; hence an adaptable architecture is born one with a strong relationship between space and time - one which evolves as the seasons change. The film-making process is frequently taken for granted. The architecture will expose this neglected process. Like the Flaneur, the architecture will reveal the unseen – exposing the environment, hidden pulses, and unknown processes.

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My definition of a flaneur is an observer of urban life. It moves through space and among the people in a way that enables and privileges vision by allowing the surroundings to be perceived in a different way. This is achieved by the combination of magnifying lenses and filters which can be overlaid each other and positioned at varying distances from the observer.

The function of the building is a multi-cultural centre. The flaneur helped me to realise there was a limited interaction between the diverse cultures which inhabit the area. My building is an attempt to break down the barriers and allow the community to learn about the richness of culture which they live in through the universal language of food, music and art. One of the key elements of the building is the use of transparent and translucent materials to differentiate between the private, semi-private and public areas.

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The flaneur was taken to Edinburgh to be used as an instrument to aid me in navigating my way around the city and to eventually find a site (Leith Walk). This process involved people interaction by them moving the flaneur to different sites and seeing through the ‘eyes of the flaneur’.

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The project all started when I found an old desk on the street, which I then turned into a travelling box. The purpose of the box was to investigate the process of thought within the mind, and how the environment of the city could affect the imagination of the traveller. The flaneur, as it was called, was thus a time traveller, one which carried the user to experience the heart of the city. Our site was in Edinburgh and following the second brief, I used my flaneur in Edinburgh to find a site. I used the readings and the recordings of my flaneur as part of my site-finding process, which ended in the industrial part of Edinburgh. This part of the city is being redeveloped completely by the Edinburgh council, to increase its whole land value. I chose to build on the McEwan's brewery site, which is being completely demolished, and my concept was to create an area of social redevelopment over 3 parts of the site. My building idea sparked from the journey of my flaneur where I encountered many homeless people who were taking refuge on the streets of that part of Edinburgh. Among the population of homeless people there, the majority suffer from alcohol problems which is whyI decided to focus on them, as well as their rehabilitation and reintegration in a society which lives around them, as if they never existed. My proposal is a retreat for homeless alcoholics, in other words, The Ashram of the Invisible.

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A "flaneur" is one who steps out of the comfort and security of home and wanders aimlessly around the city. He stands out from the rest of the people surrounding him because his motion opposes those who are rushing to reach their destination. In order to survive his journey through unfamiliar territories, he allows his confident alter-ego to take over. With this self-assured persona, he's built with a high capability of losing his inhibitions in public, to show that he's not foreign to the place. Are there any flaneurs out there? This had been put to the test in Edinburgh with a machine that is a bed that represented comfort in private space, but what if it was placed in the middle of city? The bed was a tool to 'capture' flaneursin this context, flaneurs were those who dared to lose their inhibitions in public by sitting on the bed. However, these Flaneurs only responded due to the "do you dare?" sign posted on the bed. They need a catalyst.The challenge here is how to create a positive catalyst that does not require one to be intoxicated. Or do I create a positive consequence instead by having people lose their inhibitions to overcome a certain fear? Inhibition is a deception. I hope to liberate people from their inhibitions with the spaces that I have created which will allow them to express themselves positively and share it with not only their partners but also with the people surrounding them.

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The issue of social identity and is becoming increasingly apparent on a global scale and hence today’s world is marked by an extreme fragility and precariousness. It is now, if ever that the romantic views of a flaneur could be valuable to us. The design process I begun was very much concerned with extracting information about spatial relationships and function from the journey taken by the flaneur around Edinburgh. The drawings formed fractured environments, with interconnected shapes creating a sense of progression and process. I began to look at the shapes as if they were activity rather than spaces, and then started adding people, objects and spaces around them. The concept of an ‘articulated pavement’ (muf architects) seemed to encompass the feeling and the concept of a festival began to emerge. On the site, the visitor can rationalise the city, expose ‘what is there’ of social structures and comprehend the concentration of difference posed in the city. The aim is to enable someone to disentangle or decontexturalise them self from the city; thus allowing them to open up and extend their own horizons. The whole event will unfold as if it is ‘planned anarchy’ – so it will require flexible architecture necessary for a flaneur who will not necessarily follow traditional society trends. The built environment works better if the people who use it are directly and actively involved in its creation and management.

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The importance of a confession: a release, a spiritual awakening, a conversation with your soul. Given the current rapid pace of life this self reflection is important not for forgiveness but for self improvement; taking a ‘confession’ out of its religious context and applying it into everyday practice. My architecture is a space where anyone can undergo this transformation; a retreat that nourishes the soul. ��

The site, Leith Edinburgh, was found with the destruction of my flaneur, a confessions booth (drawn in the spatial narrative). The navigational device was constructed out of a filing cabinet (this represents my confession), embodying the emotional experience of a confession. Leith was once a strong industrial docklands area in the Victorian era until World War II when it declined and became an area of unemployment, poverty and prostitution. In the 1980s Leith came under regeneration housing the Scottish Executive leading to an influx of jobs, tourism and housing. The transformation of Leith has shaped my functions and design appealing to a range of people from locals to tourists. It houses thermal baths, Turkish saunas, massage areas and a café. There is a strong contrast between light and dark, over ground and underground spaces using smell, sound and water to create a harmonious spiritual space. The twisting metallic roof encapsulates the transformation of industrial Leith and the user.

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The project starts off with me searching for a piece of object to be resculptured into a recording machine. I stumbled upon a broken television which then is sculptured into a flaneur. With the use of adjustable mirrors in my model, my flaneur is capable of capturing a certain view inside the flaneur by adjusting the mirrors around. My flaneur is then taken to Edinburgh to record information as I go along a journey to find my site. My flaneur is then given several directions by the people in Edinburgh.

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After the site was found, the flaneur is then taken to the next transformation into a representation building. The television is then divided into 5 partitions which act as different layers of walls through my media gallery center. Each space will be projecting different elements media art in each gallery spaces and audiences get to experience different quality of spaces as they travel through the building. With adjustable mirrors in the building as well as glass walls, the audience is given directions to travel through the building just like how the flaneur experience the city of Edinburgh.

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The Cult of the Fifth Monkey is a drinking cult. The intention of the project was to design a bar/temple, which would draw people into the cult. The idea of the cult being focussed around drinking is to illustrate a parallel between the binge-drinking culture in Nottingham and that of a cult or religion through a central parody. As you progress though the cult's five tests and its architecture you are subtly self-initiated into the cult, finding yourself slightly inebriated (or not perhaps?) and searching for the meaning of the cult’s highest state of enlightenment, VERNUBULA. The bases for this project is to explore the ideas of evolutionary psychology, focusing on the idea that religion evolved as a social mechanism. The journey into the cult exposes this concept to its followers, being explored and illustrated through its architecture. The project aimed to strike a happy balance between the extreme and ridiculous parody and the image of the cult as a ‘cult brand’, in order to create a building, which would be as practical and convincing as a ‘cult'.

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The Origins About 4 million years ago a supreme being, who is called Yonph decided to send an ape named Tarbidarf to Earth. Yonph sent Tarbidarf in all his ape glory to evolve into mankind. Tarbidarf was given `thumbs. These thumbs would later become the staple of mankind allowing them to do wonderful things such as gripping tools, writing, and drinking cocktails.

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The attempt of recreating the National Monument on top of Calton Hill as the Parthenon was to allow the intellectuals to exploit their vision of Edinburgh as a utopian city as well as gaining for themselves immortal prestige. It depicts the fictitious symbol of mankind’s civilisation and the idealistic desire of a liberal world.

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On top of Calton Hill, there seems to be a lack of anticipation and a lost of its intended idealistic value. We are now in an age affected by global terrorism of which the situation seems to be deteriorating. This conflict occurs due to differences in cultural beliefs and judgement value. It consists of several exhibition spaces: the Reflection Chamber, the Entrapment, the Trust Space, the Choice, the Long Walk, etc. Each of these chambers is used to invite different perceptions towards the exhibitions through various mental and physical experiences. Visitors are provoked to reflect, question and discuss prevailing issues that are affecting or affected by us. The architectural proposal is to blur these boundaries where both global and individual issues are experienced and debated. The public including the minority sector (Boolean function) will anticipate within these debates, which are later fed back into the Scottish Parliament.

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This proposal would generate new public spaces for both meeting and leisure. It would provide new meaning and function to this forgotten site. ��

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The Ephemeral Artscape is an architectural intervention like no other. It is born from the humbling ambition to create a space for unbound expression through art, sculpture, dance and song for professionals and amateurs alike. In the short space of one week a vibrant city mushrooms in Holyrood Park, after which the city is dismantled and little evidence tells the festival ever took place. The proposal provides necessities for inhabiting the site as well as performance spaces and two long specialized boardwalks. It is along these two boardwalks that the true nature of the scheme is realized. Partakers are presented with the task of setting up a series of dividing walls along the boardwalk, over which a canopy structure binds every unit. The simplistic part straw bale and part prefabricated design of the units makes the construction process radically inclusive, an experience in itself for everyone. Each unit is essentially a flexible open space which the individual may adapt to his/her own expressive needs, i.e. an artist may create a gallery, or a performer may create a lodge to retire to. That is not to say the city sleeps at night however. It is a 24 hour festival, and so while some stalls turn in, others will just be opening. This constantly evolving environment creates a rich site-specific, time-specific space that will undoubtedly draw a variety of crowds and maintain their interest throughout the week.

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Breathing Space for Fur Coats Brief Manifesto

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My proposal in Edinburgh is a ritualistic journey for the body, soul and mind. Its’ story begins with the word ‘Flaneur’ and through the discourse of discovering and building the meaning of this ambiguous word, it has helped me to discover, a need in Edinburgh, for a place of relaxation and reeducation. Fundamentally it is a place to breathe and a space to strip away burdens.

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Inspired by a passers-by comment “people in Edinburgh wear Fur Coats but underneath no knickers”, suggesting that people in Edinburgh like to flaunt everything they had for example money in order to fit into the social norm of the city, I decided to call my project ‘Breathing Space for Fur Coats’. This name is in promotion of the manifesto to produce a building which would try and distil the notion of the site’s contradicting reputation but also to propose a building which would serve as a space for people to remove this ‘Fur Coat’ element of their personas, a space for people to relax and to breath free from constraint.

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> Hawkins Brown Architects The traditional perception of an architect is perhaps a slightly eccentric, often middle-aged man wearing a brightly coloured bow-tie, swirling his cape and delivering the design solution with a natural air and confidence such that no-one will challenge any of the preconceived ideas. Such beaux-arts attitudes are fast disappearing and the modern architect needs to learn different skills. Fundamentally as a team player in a multi-disciplinary arena where understanding the needs of others is key. The architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is to motivate and negotiate with the team which will include stakeholders, user representatives, other professional consultants and the contactor. A good architect will seek to demystify the process of design and actively involve as many individuals as possible in the creative process. The approach will be to establish a clear framework for the decision making and enable the whole project team to establish a shared vision. Obviously this needs to respond to a firm foundation of design skills. Signature architecture focuses on design excellence sometimes at the

expense of client relationships. This might produce award winning buildings and plaudits by other designers, but for whose benefit? It may be that going for gongs is in the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original brief and certainly it is in the architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job to raise client aspirations, but how far? Very few so called signature architects get repeat work from clients. It is possible to create really exciting and remarkable buildings by engaging with the users, funders and the community rather than by merely refining a house style. Architecture is not an exercise in drawing that remains an empty vision. Architecture must be a real, built, experience that can only come

to life as people explore and inhabit a building. is a pragmatic, negotiated, commercial, mediated and compromised art. Architecture Buildings are truly a collective effort with the architect acting as a critical figure in inspiring and motivating the different players in each stage of the process. Listening to understand not just listening to respond is key mantra at Hawkins\Brown. The education of architects needs to encourage good communication within a multi-disciplinary team. Our experience is that students from Nottingham University have experienced architecture across a wide platform and have been exposed to issues that require good communication skills.

Hawkins\Brown 60 Bastwick Street London EC1V 3TN Telephone 020 7336 8030 Facsimile 020 7336 8851 mail@hawkinsbrown.co.uk A recognised name but no house style. Hawkins\Brown is a London based architectural practice of 80 staff, led by directors Roger Hawkins, Russell Brown and David Bickle. From our studio base in Clerkenwell we work across the UK and are beginning to work internationally developing projects in Syria, Ireland and USA. Hawkins\Brown have never limited their architecture to particular markets or scales of work and we have won awards and press coverage for offices, universities, schools, transport, arts, housing and community based projects. This determinedly broad experience of building has given us the skills and design vision to guide complex mixed-use schemes like Park Hill in Sheffield, Castle College in Nottingham or the Bottle Store in Stockwell, London to successful results.

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> Year 3 Unit 4 David Short

Dancing Shadows – Essential Spaces

Tutors David Short, Tughela Gino, Amanda Harmer, Hugh Avison

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The unit focuses on the duality between imagination and reality. Within a pluralist approach students are encouraged to follow their own vocabulary through research and testing, and not to glibly follow or make ‘set–piece architecture’. “The stuff of angels” as Ted Cullinan called it last year. The simple presence of things, the poetics of materiality and making have been at the core of the year’s work.

Project 1: The Narrative: Drawing from the text ‘The Necessary Angel: Essays on the Imagination and Reality:’ by Wallace Stevens physical interpretations, scenarios/situations were constructed. Working with pieces made in Project 1, spatial narratives were tested by Project 2 against site, context, form and/ or programme, in the landscape of the river Weir. Finally in Project 3: ‘Dancing Shadows - Essential Spac-

es’, city landscapes were studied and the rhythms exposed, established territories manipulated and fresh topographies evolved. Students composed their own briefs found their own sites set within Prague to design their final projects which sought to conclude the studies of the whole year. Our aim has been to support original work of high quality.

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Inspired by Wallace Steven’s poem ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’, a landscape of the imagination was produced for the River Weir, Sunderland. As a focal point of the city it was formerly a thriving ship building port. Now however, the area is much changed and regarded as somewhere people can seek refuge from the monotony of modern life. They can come to the construct and create their own place of retreat or hideaway, as individuals or in groups; space mirrors their needs at that moment in time. It encourages people to use their imagination to bring order to a chaotic world, where the individual oscillates between unconsciousness and the real world. By creating a space which encourages people to interact more effectively with their surroundings, the city may once again thrive. This notion of transformation and change forms the basis for my final project. Prague is the gateway to the East, a city which experiences a vastly fluctuating population throughout the year. Influenced by the story of the Czech legion, the site is the Most Legii Bridge, in the heart of the city. The building will transform and change influenced by the stresses and strains imposed on the city. Moving along the side of the bridge, it flows like a curtain into the Vltava River and Strelecky Island. It will be a place for visitors and local people to congregate, share thoughts and celebrate all that this wonderful, historic city has to offer.

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"The absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar to heights, take leave of the earth & his earthly being, his movements free as they are insignificant." Milan Kundera, Unbearable Lightness of Being "No freedom can approach that obtained by the mastery of dance, dance raises us up to supernatural heights." Norodom Shanouk ��

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The woman in white, of old Czech legend, now dances across the rooftops of Prague, her feet touching down in pockets of space within the city. At each of these sites the woman introduces lightness, a structural intervention which provides a stage for the performance of contemporary dance. The structure mimics the disguised strength of athletic dancers, and is erected and used before being deconstructed, to then carry on its journey through the city, following the trail of the woman in white. The steel framed structure has the abililty to change its form for each new site, mimicking the movements of the dancer and adjusting to the size and shape of the space available. Additionally, the outer facade layer is dynamic and can altered to achieve optimum environmental conditions for those enjoying the space.

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Be it the structure, as it dances its way through summer time Prague, or the dancers who weightlessly perform in its space, a lightness is brought to those passers-by who notice; whether they enter and sit for a while, or simply pass with a curious fleeting glance. ��

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Imagination and reality existing as two separate entities, in which our minds transfer between the two in order to remain stimulated. Reality is our physical surrounding in which mind and body engage with each other on a daily basis performing physical tasks to sustain the body. Imagination is used by the mind to escape from reality abandoning the physical restrictions of reality distorting and manipulating them to create new environment to exist within.

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Sunderland Hideout: - A construct to stimulate the mind providing a place of escapism from the mundane and repetition of Sunderland urban environment, reducing the necessity to travel outside the city. The urban environment is removed from the view of the user allowing the mind to relax and disregard reality aware only of the sound of river. The Weir, which is used as a tool for imagination in the lower space with its acoustic properties of water, acts as a timer controlling the user progressing through the construct by flooding the lower spaces resulting in the user having to move to the higher spaces returning them slowly back to reality, which is revealed to them by the large opening, in the higher spaces. I have taken this notion of creating a restorative environment in an urban context into my final project in Prague. With the intention of creating more sustainable cityscapes in which we can live and interact within.

If reality is a glass, then imagination is the water contained with in it. They are completely interdependent and rely on each other to fulfil their purpose: without water, a glass would have nothing to contain, without the ability to contain water it is useless to us. Looking through water, objects appear warped and distorted and so we are forced to look at the smaller details in order to understand the whole. These details are elements of the soul. ��

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“Containing the Soul” The construct provides a place for exploring the soul of both the self and Sunderland. The common sights and sounds of the city are manipulated and distorted through the glass walls resulting in an acute awareness of the different elements of the city after the experience. The openings in the glass wall fracture the view through and so the users’ attention is focused on smaller units, building a greater understanding of the city’s complexities. As the user progresses up through the construct, different senses and emotions are isolated or triggered beginning an exploration of their own soul in parallel to their exploration of the soul of Sunderland. The beacon interacts with the river Wear, which for centuries has been seen as the soul of Sunderland; it allows water to flow in and out of the building dependant on the tides and the glass walls capture any light to create a glowing beacon welcoming home weary sailors.

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The Purifying Laundrette stems from two themes of weight and lightness taken primarily from Milan Kundera’s book “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. Weight and lightness are taken as routine and free concepts respectively, and influence the chosen functions of the building as a mundane laundrette and an unconventional spa. A laundrette is traditionally seen as an unexciting, ordinary space by its users, and it was the aim of this project to bring a fresher slant to the routine nature of the process of washing clothes. The buildings users enter a public laundrette before moving through to a private spa, where they undergo a similar washing experience to their clothes in the mimicking of a washing machine cycle. This physical cleansing process is tied with a spiritual cleansing and a purification of the site in Prague. The cleansing of the spirit stems from the baptismal ideas of aspersion, infusion and immersion which all feature in the washing stage. The site cleansing is achieved through the use of reed beds and filters to purify the river water into clean drinking water which is then used throughout the design.

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The project has developed from a number of conceptual ideas shown in timber block models that have informed the design of the interior and exterior spaces. The theme of layering (tied to the idea of stages of washing) is shown in these models with a variety of timber and stone layers used in the final design. ��

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The starting point for the project was Milan Kundera’s book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Set during the tumultuous time of the Prague Spring of 1968 the book documents the intertwining lives four fictional characters during this time. A continuing theme of the book is the surveillance techniques of the secret police in Prague to undermine and discredit members of the political opposition. The project, based in Prague, picks up this point and tries to subvert it. It aims to bring people together through the creation and manipulation of sound. The site is along a city wall that divides the hard urban fabric of Prague with a soft, hidden, secret garden. Already a linear, dynamic element, the wall provides the backbone for the journey along it. As people walk along the wall they will enter into sound chambers that can be used for practise and performance. The narrative of surveillance is explored by using the path as an auditorium; the people on the path unknowingly become the voyeuristic audience. As you walk along the path sounds will come and go, ever changing and clashing, creating a new soundscape. Sounds will be allowed to permeate through to the street causing intrigue for the passers-by. The poetic nature of the project will be balanced with more ‘mundane’ functions so that the building itself will make sounds. Spaces for markets, catering and the park groundkeepers will help embed the building in its location.

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This Recording Studio and postproduction facility is linked with the School of Music, Lakeside Arts Theatre and Broadway cinema, as it aims at improving on the University of Nottingham's public and commecial arts performance facilities. Located at the edge of the lake, the isolated nature of the site provides the optimum environment for music production and creative editing. The fully glazed south-facing aerodynamic facade seems to merge with the surrounding tree canopies, giving the user a close contact with nature. With emphasis laid on the possible long term environmental impact, sustainable strategic design principles were derived from detailed site analysis along with general usability design issues involving human factors and ergonomics which aimed at intricate spacial planning. The most technically challenging aspect of the project was in the design of acoustically performant recording studio spaces, the building fabric had to respond to several aspects of noise transmission from various sources be it internal or external and at the same time exhibit inspirational aesthetics with minimum impact to its environment.

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Inspired by Czech Theatre of the Absurd, the Parasitic Homeless Street Theatre aims at creating a unique theatrical experience, in the form of a 'walk-through' theatre, providing entertainment for passersby. Different performances would be active simultaneously, a notion of 'plotlessness', where viewers can choose what to watch. In the same way that Theatre of the Absurd was a comment on Communism, this project addresses the modern-day problems of capitalism in Prague, by providing both shelter and performance spaces for the homeless. In a sense, this project is similar to 'street performance', which also provides entertainment to passersby, and relies on the notion of transience. Located on a busy shopping area the very capitalism that caused homelessness - the project is a 'parasitic' structure part-suspended from other buildings over a street and feeds off the area. In this respect, it is benefiting from local structures, from donations of visitors, rainwater collection from adjacent roofs, and also draws its building materials from the shopping area - plastic bags. This reflects the inventiveness of the homeless and temporary shelters, and answers to issues of sustainability. The project opens up theatrically and operates as a theatre during the day, where it is in direct dialogue with the street below and relays light from above. At night, it closes up to provide accommodation, and 'sleeps'.

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_Sunderland has a history and culture formed by its connection to the sea. Built up on either side of the River Weir, its main economy was established courtesy of heavy industry and import and export via boats.

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Sunderland, it seems, is struggling to reorganise radically in response to the effects of deindustrialisation, the growth of suburbs, globalisation and the emergence of new technologies. It’s fading relationship with the river calls for a reconnection and with its identity rapidly disappearing, need for recording this change seems essential. The mechanical proposal is in the form of cog driven mechanisms. The fishing boats activate the roller systems setting in motion the large water displacers, which in turn erode copper sculptures representing the past, the present and the future_

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The project begins with a constructed poem which spatially realises Wallace Steven’s poem ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’. The piece reflects the nature of the site in Sunderland through the use of rebar as the sole material, referencing the immediate flotsam’s materiality and allowing the site to influence the end result through weathering and layering.

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The Writers’ Block extracts themes from ‘Blackbird’ and integrates them into a physical commune for Prague’s literary community; it draws on themes from writers themselves such as George Perec, and Orhan Pamuk, and concentrates on the nature of the observer, and the writer’s rooms as abstracted spaces located within the square. These spaces are then connected by a raised walkway, which shelters parts of the square and aids the creation of new public spaces below. The scheme is set in context by the archive of forgotten books created during the Soviet occupation, an archive which forms the link between the commuters and the writers as an underground monument. Much of the project is underpinned by a materiality which references the weight of the underground and the lightness of the page, reflecting the beginnings of the project in the text ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’, where the nature of the author as an unseen observer initiated many of the relationships seen in the spaces. See the project at www.ben-hopkins.com

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The Year has seen the development of two main projects. The tracks of the tear that doesn’t fall The first semester concentrated on the Sunderland based project designing a memorial for those lost at sea. Looking at the sensory perception of space whilst taking themes of ‘togetherness and belonging’ from earlier work. ��

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The hope that lies within the scar of the past

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The final project of the year based at Strahov stadium in Prague, continues some of the themes in the earlier work and looks into defiance over oppression. In particular looking at the tale of Masin brothers in contrast to that of Jan Palach and how both, as heroes of defiance against the communist rule, are viewed differently in the Czech mind. The project attempts to remedy the scar of the past and ills left my communist society through a communal growing area in the stadium and general master plan of the stadium. The design will also act as a memorial to the little acknowledged Masins.

Based around Prague’s extensive metro system this raised urban intervention taps into the very artery of the city. A secular confessional for a 21st century agnostic society filters Prague of its sins, heralding the concept of a sin free city. Taking an almost subversive look at religion, the system radically redefines the process of absolution, revising it for a contemporary urban society. Having confessed, a compulsory blood donation signifies the sinner’s absolution, a purging of their sin; those that are not willing carry the burden of their sin and shamefully exit the system. For the absolved the system culminates in a communal recovery zone, a public display of their redemption.

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The age old conflict between science and religion is addressed in the medicinal approach of the absolution; science prevails in a secular society. In juxtaposition the early Christian classification of vices resonates through the system; seven confessionals, one for each deadly sin. These spaces differ in height according to the severity of the sin, glowing when occupied with a corresponding colour. Encased in layers of varying opacity, the elusive qualities of the building add to its ethereal nature, while maintaining the anonymity of the sinner. Dramatically puncturing the roof line, the confessional spaces act as beacons, a constant reminder to Prague that a secular society can be absolved of its sins.

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'Keeper of Secrets' is a project based on providing accommodation for abused children who have been removed from the custody of abusive parents. The children are organised into 5 family units, consisting of 4 children of mixed ages with 2 foster parents, each living within a separate house.

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Dealing with issues of PROTECTION and PLAY, it strives to move away from the associated notions of an institutional orphanage and address the long term needs of the children. A natural sense of protection is achieved through the presence of a 9.5m high wall which bounds the large public park within the city of Prague. The houses sit within the park against the wall. Inspired by 'dens', the house provides opportunity for 'structured' play and the park encourages creativity through 'free' play. Play therapy is also used as a form of rehabilitation. 'Debris Filter' is a project based upon studies of objects, involving the dismantling and reconfiguration of a drill and clock with the aim of finding the essence of the objects' memory. The subsequent parts of the drill were reconfigured to create a machine situated in a bay of the River Wear in Sunderland. The concept was to change the essence of the object in order to maintain the essence of the site. The machine's function was to prevent debris from the river being washed up on the beach and collect it for future use.

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The ceremony of the absinthe and the preparation of ones mind, dripping of iced water or hot fire into the green liquid, pearly opalescence in contrast to the dancing of flames, a structure that embodies each phase. After preparation comes the consumption of the dose, the continual rebirth of the senses. Each visit describes a unique poem, the scents of the processes, the light as it shines through green and clear bottles, the taste and the sounds of this internal world. A ritual process in the pursuit of the green fairy, absinthe.

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This project is an exploration of poetry, a place to write and read the words of ones soul. It is a search for the muse and as such a place of inspiration. The intentions of this project are that the processes that create absinthe and the poetry that comes from it are expresses throughout the structure and as such the structure of the building is expressed poetically. It is a hidden space, with the expression on the outside hinting at the space within, but with no clue as to the secrets it contains.

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Jan Palach [1948 – January 19, 1969]

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On a cold winter’s day in 1969 Jan Palach set his body alight in opposition to the communist occupation of Czechoslovakia; sacrificing his life in protest. The 21 year old student stands as a national hero in a country that worships martyrs. However although he is held in the hearts and minds of the Czech people, all that physically represents his sacrifice is a small shrine placed where he fell and a square bearing his name that sits on the banks of the river Vltava. This project seeks to rejuvenate this square; creating a floating city garden, standing in remembrance of Jan Palach; protecting underneath it a mediatheque, a symbol of the free and democratic Czech State. The building acts as a social hub within the community, not only providing traditional library services but new recreational spaces. The stratified building rises from the north of the site to meet the river bank before subsiding into the existing square; layers of concrete creating a landscape that weaves between the existing urban fabric. Glass channels carve through its mass, carrying light and people into the building and exposing the depths below. Views stretch out from the glazed northern façade and the terraced gardens above; with Prague Castle, Petrin Hill and the government buildings of the Czech Republic all in view. A space which was formerly a pedestrianised roundabout is given a new lease of life.

The three images are based on the three projects in the year. The 3 cubed project was insipred by Salvador Dali's painting 'The Metamorphosis of Narrcissus', where he uses symmetry, double image and reflection to potray the image. The model has been made by weaving together strips of paper to produce the idea of 'negative and opposite spaces'. ��

Project 2 was a group project based on the idea of producing a easy to build 'flat-pack' dwelling that can be re-buildable. The Tudor Tetra was formed by a series of triangular frames that expands for the night to sleep and folds back on it's self during the day. The Final Project is an Art's, Dance and Advertising studio based in Istanbul. The facades and the spaces between the buildings have series of display areas that project and exhibit art work and images of dancing figures for the public to view. The Building acts 'Blank Canvas' to communicate with Istanbul through Art.

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"You find it driving to work, alongside all those other people, but alone with your thoughts, the car has become a secular sanctuary for the individual, his shrine to the self, his mobile Walden Pond." Sociologist Edward McDonagh Mass living is not nearly as homogenised as it is often said to be. Much individual activity is carried out privately, undemonstratively. Countless people pursue their private crusades and aspirations. There are many subcultures. Creeds and races live unto themselves, often by choice. Parents and children often live worlds apart. There are innumerable social islands of different interests, occupations, tastes, hobbies, snobberies and ethics. I wish to provide a vital middle ground between the two extremes of a chaotic agglomeration of isolated individuals on the one hand and a totally regimented society on the other. A privacy in the mass can be achieved. There is a francisian garden in the hub of city centre life in prague, yet it is a peaceful space. It is here that I am situating a building where people can reflect, recuperate, relax and be raised to new spirits. In their own world. I am utilising the entire site through landscape design. The building itself is a guestbook for Prague, a sanctuary for tourists. A place people are drawn when arriving in the city, vulnerable and clueless. This guestbook will give information from other tourists about the events and historical sites to visit.

Twenty years ago the people of Czechslovakia (now Czech Republic) were united in one cause - the struggle against Communism. Their aim was to overthrow any form of rule that stood for the oppression of individuality. They fought with dignity and wit, never succumbing to the brutaility of their oppressors. They fought and won.

The Project aims to design a Roma Consulate situated alongside the Czech Parliament in Malostranska. The Consulate will be served by six satellite sites located in the heart of Roma communities throughout the country. There Roma issues will be collected using the traditional embroidery on the 'Rabari Cloth'. This information will be transported to the Malostranska headquarters where it is transcribed and presented to the Czech Advisory Committe on Roma Affairs, by Roma professionals. This project aims to gradually integrate the Roma in to the law making process.

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Now all too soon their cause is forgotten when the cloak is adorned by another - the Romany. The Roma originating from northern India have travelled through Bohemian nations for a millennium. As Czech writer Milan Kundera stated, the Roma live 'as foreigners walking a tightrope high above the ground without the net afforded a person by the country where he has his family... where he can easily say what the has to say in a language that he has known since childhood.' They share in the country's wars, woes and victories but never as equals.

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Taking inspiration from the prose: Imagination as Value by Wallace Stevens, the wheel’s intent is to be a device to aid imagination, by giving users an obscured view of reality; an alternative view and a means of escape.

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It was found that even when obscured, mans impact on the natural environment was overriding. The wheel takes water from the River Weir and with it defines spaces with walls of water, providing opportunity for people to engage with and interact with their natural environment. In addition to an opportunity to test water quality, there also exists opportunity to observe and examine the wildlife that inhabits the river. Principal ten, decided at the Rio Summit (1992), stated that the public should be aware of and participate in the process of change towards sustainable development; and that each individual should have the information and opportunity to participate in the decision making process. The wheel aims to raise awareness of the importance of water quality and its impact on biodiversity of marine life. In the past the natural environment surrounding the river Weir has been subject to damage, in part as a result of the hard engineering solutions that have been implemented to support the once thriving shipping industry. However, in order for this and other industries such as fishing and tourism to coexist, issues such as biodiversity and water quality should be considered.

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My project tackles this issue by creating an urban retreat on the course of the River Vltava. The project gives the locals the freedom to do what they want to do and allows them to occupy the space whenever and however they want. Adaptation becomes integral to the project; no one wants dead, empty spaces during the night or uncomfortable, uninviting spaces during the day. Through the development of models, I have created spaces which evolve and can be easily manipulated with movable facades, walls that become ceilings and windows that become floors. The spaces are changed by the user, adapted to their requirements giving the concept of “flexible space” a new dimension. With a series of linking pavilions the occupier has the chance to explore the scheme at different heights and experience each internal space whenever they feel the need; whether that is to fish, read, or even just relax next to the waters edge.

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In recent times the historic city of Prague has seen a sudden increase in tourism. Now overtaken by boozy English stag parties at the weekends, and standard tourists during the week, the city has become lost to its own citizens. With it now being widely accepted that tourism is needed to sustain the economy little is being done to give the locals a place that they can call their own, to use as they wish with without consideration of the tourists.

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ablution is a ritualistic cleansing of a person, to initiate aim to a higher state of being. in the czech republic, public bathing is an inherent part of the czech culture, and the ablution chambers brings this tradition into the 21st century. the bathing experience in the ablution chambers consists of a series of four spaces; the screening chamber, the filtration chamber, the disinfection chamber and the storage chamber. by journeying though these chambers, the experiences of the different spaces will give the bather a physical lightness of being. the distraction of the moments of physical lightness will enable the bather to achieve moments of mental lightness as well.

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the ablution chambers also works as a water purification system. water from the vltava is pumped into the building, cleansed, and then used within the ablution chambers. the process of purification ties together with the process of bathing that the bather experiences in each chamber. the architectural language of the ablution chambers is made up of components that are designs of the different parts of the water purification process.

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The path is designed to respond both to the frequency of its use and to the tides of the North Sea. Carbon fibre beams extend pneumatically and support a rubber mesh which provides the path surface. Weight applied from both the accumulation of sediment and daily use extends the path width. As a result the surrounding aluminium cage is also extended, such that in locations where people stop to admire the view, the sense of a tight linear space encouraging movement is replaced by that of a vast unenclosed space. Self colonisation of the mesh sediment creates a juxtaposition between the homogenous technology of the structure, and the tactile, natural result, where its eventual form, colour and texture all derive from human and environmental influences.

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The project aims to celebrate the sea view of a beach on the mouth of the river Wear in Sunderland. The beach is valuable recreation land yet is currently underused due to poor access. To address this a responsive path links the adjacent university and marina areas, cantilevering from the sea wall allowing passage even at high tide, providing a pleasant alternative to the current path through a housing estate.

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Three strangers walk in a bridge far off the roker beach in Sunderland in the middle of the day, all wanting to get out of the everyday life for a while and be on their own, but they do not know that the bridge has so much more, waiting for their exploration... As they are walking through, they soon realise they have entered a space that promotes voyeurism, and could not resist the temptation of intruding others privacy...

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However, what they will never know, is that, when they think they are secretly watching at one person, they are also being watched by another... When they are still enjoying this voyeuristic inter-personal relationship, they have come to the end, where they do not see each other any more. They feel they have lost something valuable, and start to watch at people in distance, but that does not help to fulfill their needs. So they all go back into the bridge, wanting to experience it again... what will happen at their second round, will they find out the truth that they are all being manipulated, and none of them is in control of the game? Or will they be addicted to the game, and never want to go back to the real world...

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In this age, more people prefer making friends and chatting with others through internet. The city is becoming social disconnect and lack of human contact. People are distant and less concerned about each other. Sometimes, a hug is all what we need to bring warmth and love back to the city..

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I want to create a building full of love with romantic atmosphere. The central space of my building is for dancing because when they dance, they are embracing each other. There are places for people to make wish and post their love letters and also places to sitting down and enjoy the surrounding views. There are outdoor ramps people can walk around and embrace together if they feel cold. If a church is for people who respect God, My building is for those who respect Love.

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Hence, the concept of my building is about embrace. Firstly, I was studying on how people embrace, when people will embrace and embraces in different situations. Then I set up a series of diagrams about the movements of the embrace from which I find the form of my building.

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a missing kitchen...for men

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a refuge for abused men based in ⁄ i kov, Prague where males meet in groups for meals. Here, individuals take it in turns to cook for the group and immerse themselves in the Czech tradition of good conversation over the meal of soup, main course, salad and dessert. By this process an abused male can gain confidence by improving and exploring his culinary skills. Discussions could take place over dinner. The rehabilitation culminates with St. Václav Day around the 28th September, whereby the people of Prague hunt for the Václavky mushroom. This may mark the end of the process for the male in collecting these mushrooms. Collected mushrooms can either be sold in markets or reintroduced back into the refuge.

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it is necessary that the building is not recognisable from the outside, as being any sort of refuge or eatery and it should reflect the destroyed nature of the men that reside there. The men are able to sleep in transportable “spores” which start off by being attached to the main building, but as confidence is built up, the male may venture out into the city. In this way the identity of its members can be protected in some way.

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odour is key to the communication of the refuge with Prague whilst being able hide its identity. Odour is dispersed across the city during meal times and when food isn’t being cooked, stored odour is released in a spurt from the “odour ��

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> Multidiscipline What is the true meaning of design for the evolving role of the architect? As students we learn to develop concepts on paper, to communicate ideas through sketches, to harness CAD as our primary design tool. We learn a set of design principles – responding to context, understanding client need, creating public and private realm, innovating solutions through design. Armed with these principles I jumped gung-ho straight out of my 6 years of architecture “boot camp” straight into the spotlight of 2012 Olympic Masterplanning team. I remember my feeling of elevation the first day I landed the job – words of Seb Coe and Ken Livingstone distantly echoing, that the ODA have a commitment to create high quality London 2012 design proposals – if there was ever a test bed for world class architectural design this would be it. Lo and behold I arrived in the office almost 2 months after we won

the bid and was introduced to the team who would become my second family for the following year of my life… and not a single one of them was an architect! I felt like the only human being on planet Mars – suddenly all my “design principles” felt like a foreign language. I cannot explain it any better than this – my assumption that everyone, everyone meaning highways engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers and stakeholders, should be able to have the tiniest inkling of what a plan may look like in 3 dimensions, was completely wrong and I found myself back at school again on many occasions, yet having to explain the basics. Sometimes it proves fruitful, but sometimes it doesn’t. If I’m permitted to use the language metaphor again, as an English speaker on holiday in Morocco, I don’t try to persuade everybody I meet to speak a language they are not familiar with, rather the opposite – I have to

give up on my own language and try to speak their languages as this will help me read road signs and such. In other words, I was starting to abandon the language of design. My first few months were quite cumbersome, and I found myself forgetting the language I had learnt at university. I was doubting the importance of design and aesthetics which, after 6 years of learning hard architectural design, can be hard to quantify against unseen forces such as cost, programme and legislation. Its very easy to start slipping into this mode of thinking and many “fallen angels” indeed have! Of course this was all a test of my faith – it was like the university had paid for these opponents manifest as highways engineers, project sponsors, stakeholders and quantity surveyors – to see if I was career worthy in my life after university. I now no longer think it was educational conspiracy, but it was perhaps an educational shortfall that I hadn’t really been prepared for all shuttlediplomacy that my real job would entail. Architecture comes down to team work with all the parties involved

with designing and erecting a building, and that means good negotiation skills with related consultants – this is something they don’t teach you at university! The point I’m trying to make is that the design begins to happen when everyone learns to speak a common language. If the person I meet in Morocco made the same effort to learn my language, as I do theirs, then this could formulate a friendship. What is important to remember is that all sub-consultants are put out there for a reason, to achieve the best possible product for the client. Once everyone realises this common goal then the team can adapt to achieve it and the process no longer becomes a hindrance or a watering down of design. The architect is possibly the only person with the overall vision of all the components and it is his or her job to adopt a universal language between the multiple disciplines to ensure the design is driven towards this vision. This is how we control design. It’s a matter of give and take, you win some arguments, you loose others. This key skill will warrant the success of architectural design within the myriad disciplinary field of the 2012 Olympics Masterplan.

By Elvin Chatergon Allies and Morrison Architects

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> Year 3 Unit 5 - Nicola Gerber CITY PROJECTIONS This unit is a CITY UNIT as architecture is the face of our cities and the natural environment a city’s alter ego. The nature of our cities is changing, as is our perception and experience of it through modern media, instant information technology, mobility and international migration. The complex nature of cities makes them real, authentic and truly contemporary, therefore only an architecture that understands and explores the city, it’s history, it’s programme, it’s projections and relies on it as an inspiration and a laboratory can be real, authentic and therefore contemporary.

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“…landscape replaces architecture as the basic building block of contemporary urbanism… (and) …has become both the lens through which the contemporary city is represented and the medium through which it is constructed.” Charles Waldheim in A Reference Manifesto, The Landscape Urbanism Reader, New York 2006 This unit explores factual and actual aspects of our city today and investigate how to invent an architecture that is truly contemporary. In times of simultaneity we live fast and slow, here and away, tomorrow and yesterday. Nomads in space, in time and in identity, migration is

our nature, change the only constant. image and perception | LANDscapeCITY In project 1 we will discuss the idea of a utopia, the image of the city between built form and natural environment and approach this through the creation of a city of your imagination in form of a collaged panorama. generic multiples | URBAN PROTOTYPE Project 2 will focus on an architectural object that uses its programme as its concept, explores the condition of the generic and the multiple as well as the quality of adaptation to various situations. programmatic plug-in | CITY

PLUG-IN The main project 3 will build on project 1 and 2 and develop their ideas into a complex and reflective architectural project, which will be site specific and generic, programmatic and adaptable. The project will link into many layers of the city, its physical and virtual infrastructure, its cultural and social make-up, its dimension of time and speed, its experience of events and routine, its promises…the architecture will plug-in to all these dimensions and generate its form rather then styling it. The architecture reflecting the city’s nature will flow, accelerate, slow down, change, memorize, respond, initiate and form a new cityscape for exploration. Adaptability and change in form, size and programme along with response-capabilities to the natural environment will inform the architecture. We are not building cities, but we will integrate our architectural projects like pacemakers into a living being, which will change its destiny.

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When major routes of travel converge there is a need to facilitate the users’ desire to either change their direction or to continue straight. As a solution we have simply ignored this point and created a void around which the veins of the cityscape must now flow. The traffic surrounding these forgotten areas creates a distinct boundary which isolates the enclosed spaces and separates them from the urban environment_The urban void sits in a unique position. Touching but separated from the city one can step away from it and observe the urban atmosphere from an exceptional vantage point_These non-existent spaces are thus freed from stereotypical boundaries-as Rem Koolhaas suggests,“they are independent of each other, of the external envelope, of the usual difficulties of architecture, even gravity”. It is therefore necessary to reinterpret context and find what affects them most_While absorbing the atmosphere created within these urban voids, the importance of sound leaps forward as crucial contextual element that surrounds one when inside these spaces and increases the sense of isolation_I intend to use this medium of sound to break down the sense of isolation. Sound will be produced from within the most extreme urban void in East London and broadcast from the same site. When you turn on your radio you walk into that studio–when you turn on your radio you break down pavements and stroll casually into the middle of a roundabout.

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The project arose from investigations into the relationship that exists between the urban and the natural, and in what way their relationship must evolve to create a sustainable co-existence. Concentrating on the potential effect of varying sea levels on the cityscape, the vulnerability of the built environment became immediately apparent. In a time of rising sea levels and unpredictable weather patterns, it is essential that river-side developments are designed appropriately.

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An increased demand for inter-city transport and recreational space in the east-end has been fused with an educational undertone for the public and developers, producing a landscape that morphs typologies. Functioning as a ferry terminal the landscape will effectively plug the east-end and Olympic village into London, exploiting the underutilised connectivity resources of the River Thames and River Lee. Artificial embankation of the Thames has led to a loss of respect for water; the tides power being forced vertically denies water any horizontal spread. The landscape aims to highlight the power of sea, and the vulnerability of the coast, consisting of a combination of static and dynamic spaces. Platforms which move with tidal rhythms produce an urban environment reflexive of the natural. With available areas and circulation options within the public space dependant on the sea, the landscape forces and encourages the respect of nature.

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Medium is the starting point _ Architecture is the expressed development Medium _ a substance through which an effect is transmitted _ the combination of many mediums produce an environment

The surrounding context is present in many various forms of medium. These mediums react to a current situation in a variety of dimensions; it sculpts form. Manipulation of medium via various planes stimulates investigations. Knowledge is gained. The adaptation of the specific medium enhances understanding. The surrounding context of the East London based project is water. Experiments of manipulating water using solid boundaries are documented through line and 3dimensional form. The various planes create spaces to facilitate the ‘practi-cation’ programme_ PRACTICAL EDUCATION_ new skills in brick laying, carpentry, plumbing and mechanical engineering are brought to the job deprived area of Bow, East London. NATURAL ENVIRONMENT TEACHING_ to coincide with the Lea Rivers Trust and national curriculum teaching, younger children and teenagers discover small habitats whose life source is various states of water. CURRENT RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES_ the growth of the environment provides a much improved quality of life for walkers,

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‘Medium shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action.’

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Situated in the centre of Stratford, East London, the academy is geared towards the local youth and uses video game design and development to excite and inform about alternative careers and instil in them a positive self image. It is situated next to an existing secondary school and provides extra facilities for its pupils. After school programmes and weekend activities help keep the youth engaged in productive activities.

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The building is anchored by 3 important axes taken from existing buildings and features of the site. The form of the spaces inside is driven by the programme. There are three parts to the programme: activity spaces for the youth, studio space for professional game developers and spaces for pupils as an extension to their school. The bulk of the programmers are kept separate from the youth. They sit and work in an ivory tower that is visible from many parts of the building below, providing a sense of aspiration for the pupils. The rest of the building is based around a linear trajectory of ramps and stairs, where users are taken to and fro from the outer edge of the building and its centre. The series of spaces, each holding increasingly complex tasks relating to video game creation gradually rise in floor level, winding round a central courtyard and climaxing where they join with the tower. The visual connection between each space means the pupils will be constantly assured they have made progress.

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We are all living in the shadow of globalization nowadays, a complex matrix of Demand and supply even beyond 4D spaces. We enjoy and become increasingly rely on these fast exchanges of goods and information by benefit from vast possibility, diversity, and simultaneity. At the same time, the world is being generalized by sharing similar contents of the globalization. Starts from language and currency, Globalization will celebrate its total triumph when it reaches UNculture… We experience our urban spaces familiar and strange; real and fake, fast and slow; simultaneously shifting in the global, local and personal domains. A Selfridge is an interface to store and communicate with memory, in different scales of global, local and individual. Input: Personal memory such as items, smells, colors, textures and images, interact with information displaced from different area. For instance, culture, news, events… Output: an ever change space forms by the public among the contexts of global, local and personal. The structure is formed from regular spacing grids which provide better flexibility for rearrangement and relocation by the public for reinterpretation. Selected locations Culture mixing areas Schools Transportation Hub such as airport

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A sensual intelligent medium to house memory relating to the history, the personal and the Olympic. The following diagrams represent the stories through history on the River Lea Mouth Peninsula, East London.

www.Sensearchitects.com --------------------------

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When does architecture begin and where does it end? My work explores the depths of spatial experience in its episodic and continual capacities. Subsequent investigations were tested through a series of urban interventions that created a dialogue between space and time through action. The work culminates in “Shift Facility”, a library that re-writes its contemporary brief, to amplify space and archive history in a rapidly changing urban landscape. It explores the excitement and curiosity a building can command before it is finalised, and the identities it can bring to life in its continuation.

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The project is based on the concept of an 'urban camp site.' The 2012 Olympic games will be key to the regeneration of East London, and in particular Stratford. Located just 50 metres South of the proposed Olympic Park South Entrance, it will provide a form of affordable accomodation. Tourists and visitors to London can come and stay within a close proximity to the games at a far lower cost than alternatives available in the area, contributing to making the event itself something that people of all incomes can consider. As part of the 'legacy' of the 2012 olympics the site will become part of the Stratford regeneration scheme, re-using the basic structure to create low-price apartments. The 2012 olympics will be a catalyst for great change in the area, and the urban camp site will employ the same principles as the regeneration scheme but on a smaller scale to transform a site, through an event, into a successful development.

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Fossil fuel will run out in 50 years. Aqua lab works to improve: *Tidal energy production *Water quality *Public awareness The site is located along the tidal lea valley of london. Water enters site during high tide filling up reservoirs for power generation and experimental purposes. ��

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The Olympic Development is happening now, in the heart of East London, a thriving multi-cultural community. Yet the apparent lack of connection between the the two events is undeniable, as if there is a void separating the surrounding boroughs and the 2012 Olympic Developments. Intrigued by this I chose a site, which I feel, cuts directly through this evident void and have endevoured, through the creation of new architecture, to knit this void back together, sustaining both the existing and the new communities.

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The Plug-in Urban Surface acts as a new public space. Public space is in the process of evolving from the 19th Century bleak hard landscaping into a vibrant, active meeting space, in which diverse cultural groups can come together. The Urban Surface creates this public space through its form and textures, its prime site location and its ability to cater for various users. The primary program, however, is to provide outdoor temporary event space. An idea that the local communities will be heavily involved in the production of events that will take place on the surface provides a great opportunity to pull in the local communities and make them feel part of something. Having a selfbuild aspect to the events which will 'plug-into' the Urban Surface will have a strong, positive impact, socially sustaining the communities of East London. The Surface will be a vibrant hive of activity and events.

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Architects must not give up. We must continue taking on the responsibility of communicating the vision of a utopian world. We must educate our audience and bring forth the importance of true sustainability. Sustainability refers to an existence which does not jeopardize the survival of another. In order to really achieve sustainability, not only must we be environmentally sustainable, we must also be socially sustainable. This relies heavily on the creation of an environment which accommodates different life stages, generations and cultures. This is the theme which I have devoted my final year projects to. I wanted to take this as an opportunity to investigate, particularly, the subject of social sustainability. Through this series of projects, I aimed to examine issues of community segregation in the city. Moreover, I hoped to gain further insight into the real issues behind the social problems which our society faces today. ��

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Architects today face challenges that previous generations have never witnessed before. The amount of dysfunctional social phenomena that exist in our society today is absolutely absurd. We live in a society where the mass culture’s interests evolve around celebrities’ affairs, plastic surgery and fashion labels. How, then, do you address an audience like that? How are you to present your argument of the beautiful when the definition of the very word is coloured by superficial assumptions?

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Each city is made of a million individual viewpoints, a million attitudes, and a million experiences. We have the opportunity for infinite encounters in our multicultural urban environment, woven from people of very different backgrounds and societies. The city Plug-in creates a forum for collaboration in the most universal language, and something that particularly inspires me to create – the language of music.

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Music and architecture are common to all; the elements of rhythm, melody and harmony are as omnipresent in every culture as the floor, the wall and the roof. The consistency of their foundations means that no matter how disparate cultures may be, they will always be able to communicate on these common grounds. And the more disparate they are, the more exciting the collaboration. The musical creation spaces can function as individual acousticallysealed practice rooms, but also interlock with other spaces to create larger collaborations. Moving vertically through the building, they provide access to a library of instruments, internal and external environments for creating music, and plug-in elements to affect the internal acoustic performance of the spaces. The building culminates in a performance hall, with a shell informed by a diffusive acoustic design, that has the flexibility to create innovative musical concerts for audiences inside, outside, on the roof, in the lobby or even in the lift.

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The third year city project includes three parts: 1.LAND scape CITY 4D CITY 2.PROtoTYPE ROOM CODE RELAX 3.CITYplugIN G.F.S GREEN CROSS

The ideas of the second part are from the cell. It’s a small block, but contains all the facilities for human beings to live. This specific cell leans more to the relax dimension. This single unit will provides peace in the noisy city environment, its thick insulation keeps the noise away; solar bubbles keeps continuous power supply; waved roof structure keeps enough nature lighting and shadowing; soft inner layout gives the comfortable feeling at any where of the cell.

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The first part - Landscape city, it shows the dream city which cross the time dimension. There will be no deconstruction; every unit will be kept and proved, which means all the cultures will be mixed there passed, present, future. It also shows the shadow of the following parts. (The cells, the unused areas between the space and the connection to the outer space are the future direction of design.)

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The third part, site is side by the Olympic, a very important junction. This G.F.S Green Cross will change the current horrible pedestrian and safety condition, make a better local communication, also helps the local economy. All my designs are based on two aspects, simple and comfort and I believe success will come when conditions are ripe. ��

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The project explores the duality of urban land use, weaving together an industrial and public landscape. The site diagnosis explores the historic industrial nature of the site and the present environmental conditions, by recording, storing and analysis. The connections between, site, city and existing industries by use of the river, rail, road and footpaths provides an opportunity for an industrial plugin. The workability of the River Thames is reinstated though a complex system of floating Hydroponic Greenhouses growing fruit and vegetables, rotating fields of Canola (A yellow corridor through the Thames) and factory processing on site, producing Jam, Juice and off site Bio-fuel. Floating market stalls disperse along the Thames to public sites selling goods as plug-in enterprises. The connection to land through a processing building becomes a dynamic hub of activity, unfolding out of the landscape to combine both public activity and production. Connective walkways and functional spaces weave through the building with the factory carved underground, all processes and experiences are programmatically exposed. Every detailed connection within the programme feeds into and through the building as systems combine to create a transitional and dynamic idea for the future of urban industry.

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We have a need for a new urban language, one that understands the dynamic shifts & movements of the modern city. A language that can bring together the complex functions, cultures & societies of a city. We rarely have the opportunity to build in virgin fields as our predecessors did, today we fit into areas with processes & movements already in place. We need to be able to understand all these processes thoroughly to mould them into our new city. Not doing risks getting lost in the ever growing complexity of the urban environment. It is from placeless areas that I believe we can show this language coming through. The landscape of dross is changing. As cities expand outwards, the natural is reacting & is impregnating itself into the city. Rather than diluting itself into the landscape, it mixes itself into places of high strength & influence. This creates a strong force that has the ability to manipulate its surroundings & morph the landscape around it. Architecture as surface has huge potential for understanding all the forces surrounding the site by treating them all as a single surface. This surface is complex, yet temporal, well-built yet dynamic. The fragments of this surface can assume different functions, geometries & appearance. By moving away from the approach of adding interventions on top of the city surface, we can create something that effortlessly flows into the landscape that is dynamic.

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With a site near to the future Olympic park in Stratford, London, I tried to create something that would relate to the existing typologies and rich history of the area. My scheme makes use of the main auditorium of the derelict 'Rex' cinema which exists on the site, and forges connections with the area's history of education in the creation of a 'film school' for young people. The DLR's proposed re-opening of the Stratford Market station adjacent to the building will open the building up to the whole of London allowing sustainable travel to filming locations, and a range of 'chroma-key' or 'greenscreen' studios incorporated into the program allow for the creation of artificial environments within the walls of the school.

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The form was derived following the study of film theory and modeling of the way in which objects on screen come into view, rotate and change their orientation, before disappearing from view again. Principles of acoustic isolation also became an important driving force due to the sensitive nature of the recording spaces within. Liquid crystal display glass and 'MediaMesh' technology was used to create a dynamic facade to the South-West, which allows external screening of film projects to users of the DLR station and of Stratford High Street.

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It is noticeable that when two parties interact, they cannot leave each other unaffected. In fact, the shear presence of an entity has an impact on the surroundings as well as on the entity itself. There can be no such thing as an entirely passive existence. Nothing can and would exist in the same way if its surroundings undergo a change. The environment impresses itself upon us so much so that there are those who make it a task of their life to capture the beauty and form it possesses through various media. If such an effect can touch those few of us so deeply, surely even the hardiest of men at least feels the lightest breath of compassion towards their surroundings. Our mood is almost synonymous with our location at the time and the prevailing atmosphere of the space we are occupying. The intervention of the Urban Rehabilitation Centre into the industrial landscape is intended to bring a new sense of harmony to the locality. Focusing on mental and physical restoration, the spaces are configured to create a journey in which the architecture and materials have time to positively influence the user. Based around the conceptual elements of transition and shift, the site and structure create a flowing transformation of the waters edge. This architecture, which pays respect to its surroundings, will in turn connect with us at a deeper level and convey stronger emotions, in the pursuit of an ultimate contentment.

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This architecture will be a catalyst for life. It will create an environment containing an abundance of vitality and intrigue. It will be a direct attack upon the dull neglect/lifelessness/monotony that afflicts much of Britain’s urban environment. The architecture will not stop at the exterior skin of the building[s] created, but will plug into the urban environment; inseparably weaving itself into the existing urban fabric.

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In order to do this the architecture must create a landscape that caters for both the users of the building[s] and the inhabitants of the surrounding neighbourhood. To stimulate this vitality, a diversity of uses will be required. This will increase the spectrum of the population who will be interested in the activities occurring in and around the site.

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The action of being a catalyst is not an instantaneous event. It is a process. This process of bringing vitality and interest to the area will operate on varying timescales. Therefore the architecture will have varying degrees of adaptability and mobility in order to allow successful evolution.

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Downwind and downstream of the main city, Abbey Mills in East London has always been a destination for waste. The site is home to the famous sewerage pumping system designed by Sir Joseph Baselgette in the 1800’s, as part of his solution to the great stink of London. It is bordered by the London Northern Outfall sewer, and perhaps fittingly, was also once the home to the first Big Brother studio.

Mudlarking is as relevant in contemporary architecture as it ever has been to the Mudlark. The architect who is prepared to sift through the detritus may discover something truly beautiful in an area where most would simply turn up their nose.

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Perhaps the greatest charm to the area is the colourful yet gritty nature of not only the urban landscape but also the people who inhabit it. One such character, known in Victorian times as the Mudlark, would wade through the river mud flats at low tide, searching through the vast quantities of silt and muck for items of value; which he would extract to earn a living. The process was suprisingly rewarding for those willing to do it, and has even been observed in modern times.

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It is by uncovering and distributing a locality's unpolished gems that the contemporary Mudlark not only earns his keep, but delivers something back to the community that might otherwise have simply passed by; lost in time. ��

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The Cycle-In Center will situate 15 minutes’ walking distance of Stratford Station, next to the A11 roundabout and connects to the cycling network, which allows visitors arrive easily to the centre easily. The Cycling Centre will provides different facilities to encourage local residents involve more in cycling, hence improve their environmental lifestyles and health conditions. A leisure route from the Cycle-In center to Victoria Park (where a barbeque area will situate) is provided for visitors and cyclist.

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"Sustainable Cycling" is the concept of the project, therefore the form, interior space and materials used of the center are designed under this concept. The idea of interior space is to allow cyclists cycle-in to every part of the center. Wooden materials are used for foundation, structures, interior and exterior finishing. The roof’s form is generated from the idea of aerodynamic and heart rate changes during cycling. In addition, water and wind turbines are installed in several places, therefore the center generates its electricity.

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Facilities: Rent & Return, Maintenance Service, Lecture Room, Workshop, Fitness Room, Museum, Supermarket, Shop, Cafe, Outdoor Learning Track, BMX Track and Cycle-In Cinema www.Sensearchitects.com

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London is experiencing change. Global sea levels are rising, southern England is sinking and we are experiencing higher rainfall, resulting in potentially major impacts to London’s waterways and surrounding ecology and social life. The impact of flooding and sea level rise is real. It is a major crisis of today which is not really addressed or fully realised – least of all by the public who are unaware of the potential danger directly affecting them, with the view that “if it’s not happening on my doorstep…”, but it is.

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The possibility of such a disaster is high, and certainly enough to warrant such a strong vision of London as a ‘new coast’. – I wish to layer this coastal image upon an area of London, introducing a quality of the new, unexpected and special; by way of poetic coastal elements which are not currently associated with London. Thus offering renewed perceptions of the future conditions we are facing. My site exists potentially over the entire identified new coastal stretch of London. The programme primarily looks to offer awareness and support in the Area of Stratford, East London. Here I will be introducing observation, reference, education & research centers, exhibitions & events; heightening public relations and acknowledgment in the theme of sea level rise and the environment, whose interventions and presence will be infiltrated and integrated into the wider urban fabric. ��

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A busy stretch of the A1261 dividing the houses of Poplar and office towers of Canary Wharf provides the focus for my investigation. Railway lines sweep across the site cutting through the space overhead; weaving, overlapping and forming a dense jungle of concrete. A hub of transport connections, the site pulsates with energy, speed, movement and directional shifts.

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Using the analogy of the heart to summarise the site’s characteristics, I will create a design informed and influenced by these conditions – a building which pulsates, moves, relates to the ever-flowing nature of the site and contains many functional layers. Long and narrow, flexible and transient, vibrant and glowing, it will sit opposite the cold glass and steel towers of Canary Wharf like an alien in a grey urban landscape.

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Workshops, practise rooms and storage spaces form the building's backbone, along its north edge, protecting the main areas from excess fumes and vibration. In the workshops, local artists can create original artwork to be displayed in the gallery and auditorium space, which expands and contracts to meet capacity demands. Folded planes run the length of the building, allowing visitors to walk from ground up to roof level, continuing into the building where they can look down into the auditorium, thus blurring the boundaries of what is perceived as a wall, a roof or a floor plane and creating a kind of urban observatory. ��

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The Music Lab will be a focal point for the musical society of the East London area. It will transcend all boundaries and differences between music-makers in order to host a variety of genres in one contemporary building. The main aim is to provide a suitable learning atmosphere where students can connect with their history and culture. The project is a soundscape that takes inspiration from and echoes the varying rhythms and volumes of its surroundings. ��

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The site was chosen for the differing levels of activity and the rich variations of movement patterns. Studies were done regarding chosen elements of the landscape such as its tone, rhythm, tempo and volume. This was used to create a musical site plan. The building itself was then derived with a spatial rhythm around and within it that would not only fit into the overall tempo of the site but would contribute an additional melodic layer to the counterpoint of the area. The centre accommodates practice and tutorial rooms, a library, an exhibition space, a cafe and an auditorium. The ramp acts as a promenade along which a visitor may observe the various activities happening in the centre while progressing towards the auditorium. Grass terraces provide a suitable environment for interaction between students and the public. Old access routes have been retained in order to preserve a sense of connection with the activities and movement patterns of the past.

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For my Urban Plug-in at Iceland Wharf in East London, I wanted to respond to the way in which the city is changing around the arrival of the 2012 Olympics. As the belt of land along the River Lea starts to shift its typology from historically industrial to gentrified residential, my Urban Plug-in acts as a tourniquet to stem this loss of character and heritage. Surrounded by proposed housing developments, my Plug-in provides workshop spaces for businesses that are relevant to the area. By also providing accommodation for people who would work as apprentices, a sustainable workforce is generated whilst simultaneously providing an opportunity for disadvantaged school leavers who might otherwise find it hard to further their education and leave home. Adopting the theme of a geometric shift taken from the different patterns of industrial presence over the past few centuries, my Plug-in appears as a complex pattern of over-lapping and intersecting volumes and materials, referencing the site’s eclectic and chaotic character. My Urban Looking Glass acts as a sculptural display screen which is adaptable due to its modular construction. It can be used in emergencies to relay vital information or direct people, or it can be used at recreational events such as festivals or street performances to interact with the crowd and allow them to contribute and express themselves by ‘uploading’ an image or recording from their mobile phone.

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The brief was to develop a generic and programmatic urban object, which could be set into diverse territories. The UP is limited to 500m3 but could be programmed in multiples.

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My aim was to provide the viewer with a cross-section through the entire process, in which they can observe it in its functioning state. This was achieved by splitting the building into two surfaces, treated like conveyor belts of a production line. One was dedicated to the viewer, the other to the processing of the chicken. Great attention paid to how the public were delivered to this world and vice versa. In particular the aim being to avoid the dramatising or diluting the topic and just present it in its raw state. The projects socio-programming relied to provide a shock of knowledge, to be temporarily placed in a public space, within a dense urban fabric. Its gravity is generated by the media interest it creates, once exhausted it moves onto the next space.

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For this project I became focused on the disconnection of the city citizen from the origins of what they eat, as the program developed it became focused on the meat industry and in particular poultry. Through design the prototype evolved into a cage-like cube evoking cage-like cladding with a rusted finish. Inside it contains a battery farm, slaughter house and poultry butcher shop.

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'Urban FreeFlow' a technical centre which pushes the boundaries of FreeRunning through advanced training and education. Teaching that can be passed on in other training situations.

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As well as outdoor facilities there will be an extensive indoor training environment allowing the practice of many of the more advanced manoeuvres that would be very difficult to practice safely outside. 'Urban FreeFlow' will also accommodates a physiotherapy area, as this type of movement activity can be extremely demanding and sprains and more serious accidents if not properly treated can serious damage someones sporting ability for life.

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This training facility allows people of any social background and ability level to train in one area, bringing like minded people together, forming friendships and more importantly communities, that otherwise would not have existed. 'Urban FreeFlow' will not just be for FreeRunning it will also appeal to people who are interested in the sport merely as a spectator. Therefore and cafe & bar will be incorporated allowing the center to stay active even in the evening.

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Physiotherapy is the provision of services to people and populations to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan. The method of physical therapy sees full and functional movement as at the heart of what it means to be healthy. The site is located in Newham, East London and is currently rather static and neglected following many years of housing a thriving ship building industry. It is my aim to literally and metaphorically ‘apply physio to the site’ by creating movement and activity on and around it through the introduction of a physiotherapy centre. As it will be a place for all sections of the community, it will be a place, which supports the idea of a ‘sustainable community’ as it will be a facility that people can use regardless of health, wealth, race, sex or social class. For the building, a simple and minimal architecture without ornamentation will be used so that the emphasis is placed firmly on physiotherapy and the treatment of the patients. Also the River Lea, which runs adjacent to the site, will play an integral role in creating a relaxing and tranquil environment. Similarly, the River Thames is close and magnificent views of the London skyline will be offered in the areas of activity like the swimming pool.

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A CITY’s identity is constantly reinvented – East London is gradually being consumed by new needs, new programs, its industrial past torn down, disregarded, erased. But there are some structures that captures the spirit of its era, has become iconic and landmark, has come to represent the zeitgeist and ambitions of its age and seeks to remain as testament to its epoch.

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PLUGGING cultural program into delerict industrial leftovers – megastructure landmarks of lowrise London urbanscape – mementos of the past, places of rediscovery and recovery. The abandoned gasometers are here and everywhere, discarded structures to be colonised and reinvent, to be given a new identity, a new program, a new sense of place.

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The DEPOSITORY of FORGOTTEN BOOKS AN architecture of delight: a place of abandoned books, discarded books, unread books, books intentionally left for others! A place of pages filled with the multitude languages of the world – foreign knowledge, mesmerising epics, exotic ideas. The depository is about walking through wall-toceiling stacks of books begging to be picked up, read, treasured. THE depository reflects the diverse interests, cultures and languages of the people of its area. The Depository is community, identity, culture, knowledge, and delight!

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REcycle is an insight into a community struggling to find its place in society following the loss of many local industrial assets. The community needs a new method of light industry to provide employment and restore pride to the neighbourhood. Bow used to be renown for its locomotive works and became a major influence in the industrial revolution. Land became carved out by the new transport routes creating unbuildable areas. Bow triangle has an isolated feel due to its location at the intersection of three railway lines. It has become home to a travelling community. Isolation has led to the success between the travellers and the local residents. In many areas conflict arises but here the idea of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ seems to prevail. The term ‘recycle’ has many definitions. Usually it involves a process requiring a lot of energy that changes the form of the object. I decided to define my own interpretation of recycling following a study of the form. For me recycling is REuse REpair REmanufacture. The order is determined by the amount of energy required for the process. The programme aims to promote cycling. REcycling of old bicycles involving the production of bike furniture and art bikes. A conceptual model was made from a disassembled bicycle that reflected the disassembly process of formchanging recycling but then shows the idea of a mechanical process to create a REuse REpair REmanufacture method of recycling.

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Urban green is a design to bring the green back to the city. It is a surface comprise of dozens of timber and metal triangles which can be put on any structures. While we have neglected the importance of nature as part of architecture, journeys between these triangles allow you to experience the true essence of nature by five senses.

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www.sensearchitects.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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By employing the natural and urban environment to harvest energy, my urban plug-ins aim to relieve problems inherent in our society today, but at the same time exist independently, reacting and developing as autonomous devices.

The Rain Reaper | Substantial new developments in East London will result in a large influx of people, increasing the strain on the mains water supply; a diminishing resource. In response, my proposal attends to the supply and demandside of water distribution through the implementation of a rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling plant driven by the power of consumers themselves. By relating their exertion directly to the water purification and distribution process, their appreciation of the world’s most valuable resource will intensify.

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Sponge | A compact shelter for the homeless that attaches itself onto a host building recovering its waste heat and drawing on its drinking water supply.

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My final project is regeneration of the existing Billingsgate Fish Market at the Isles of Dog in East London. This market is sitting in a physical, social and economical ‘gap’ between the new financial center of UK – Canary Wharf and its surrounding boroughs, which is a mixture of undeveloped industrial and residential districts. The site now only stays active for a few hours in the early morning for wholesale. The market regeneration aims to bridge the existing physical, social and economical ‘gap’ by introducing new programs to the site. A daily 24-hour schedule has been designed to attract people from both sides of the ‘gap’ and retain the site occupied with assorted activities hourly, daily, monthly and yearly. Two connected market spaces are located in the void created by two lines of buildings that contain all kinds of other programs related to fish, such as a Seafood Food Hall to serve the 82,000 working population in Canary Wharf, or a Seafood Training School to recruit the unskilled residents in East London area. The changing activities in various spaces of the building create diverse energetic atmospheres within and around the site.

Architects are often far too anal about architecture. There is more to life. Take time out and enjoy life’s countless riches: for example, lounging quayside in the idyllic Atlantic port of La Rochelle, savouring a generous bowl of moules marinière and a chilled glass of Chablis, with the ocean as your soundtrack. Ingredients

> Moules marinière By UL Architects

Fresh mussels, ½ to 1 kg Large onion, finely chopped Garlic, 3-4 cloves, chopped A glass of white wine Crème fraîche Fresh parsley Wash the mussels thoroughly in cold water, discarding any with shells open. Gently fry the onion and garlic in a little butter, until softened. Pour in the white wine and bring to the boil, then add the mussels and cover. Once the mussels have opened, introduce two tablespoons of crème fraîche and a handful of fresh parsley. Shake and simmer for a further minute, then season to taste. Serve in the pan, with loads of crusty bread to mop up all those lovely juices. Voila.

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> Practice and Management Good practice and management allows and facilitates the transfer of the idea and technical resolution into a successfully completed project for both client and architect alike. Within the Institute of Architecture the subjects of practice and management are introduced at Year 3 level, consolidated at Year 5 and then developed by the Part 3 Course at Year 7. These taught courses lead into and inform the minimum two years of relevant work experience at Years 4 and 7. Successful completion of the Part 3 Course leads to registration as an architect. The Year 3 module, Introduction to Practice and Management, prepares and sets the context for the yearout. Students are taken through the year-out professional requirements and guided on securing jobs, preparing covering letters, CV writing, portfolio content and attending interviews. In addition lectures cover the context for architectural practice and the RIBA job stages. External contributions to the Year 3 / Year 4 ‘in practice’ courses include “The Role of the ARB” (Elaine Stowell), “Professionalism” (Past RIBA President, Paul Hyatt), “CV’s and the Year Out” (Richard Rogers Partnership’s

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Tracey Mellor), “Practising from a European Perspective” (Past ARB Board member, Christopher Stead), and “The Disabled Discrimination Act” (John Davenport & Paul Day). The Year 5 module, Management and Law, focuses on procurement routes and contract types as well as the rudimentaries of construction law. An academic Lawyer (Jessica Pacey) and a practising Architect (David McCormack) deliver these lectures. The module seeks to build on the knowledge and experience gained in practice during the year out. The Part 3 Course is delivered by a combination of academics and practitioners. This is the final step in the process of qualifying as an Architect. External contributions to the Part II course include “The Construction Industry” (Edward Cullinan’s Robin Nicholson), “Contract Administration” (QS Stuart Bates), “Arbitration” (John Eaton), “PR & Marketing” (Daphne Oxland) and “The Developer’s View” (Westfield’s John Morgan).

On successful completion of the Part 3 course Nottingham Diploma graduates may be able to convert their Diploma into a MArch in Practice and Management. Other candidates may achieve the MArch by electing to continue their studies by way of a dissertation. Increasingly our graduates are working in the top practices in the country (some of which are indicated on the right). Pleasingly, these practices contact us each year to replace existing placement students with graduates from the next cohort. Internal Tutors: David Short, Jonathan Hale External Tutors: Christopher Stead John Morgan David Peel Robin Nicholson Paul Hyatt Ken Shuttleworth David McCormack Jessica Pacey

> Diploma in Architecture

The two years Diploma in Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part II) course is structured to achieve two key aims; design that is informed by research and a teaching programme that provides student choice and enables the pursuit of specialist studies. During the first year of the Diploma (Year 5 of the professional programme in architecture), students select from a number of design project options in each semester. These design ‘packages’ reflect staff research interests or expertise and students thereby benefit directly from the variety of research carried out within the school and from the specialist knowledge of individual design tutors. Each design package consists of a studio design module and an associated lecture / seminar course and this year students have had the opportunity to select from a total of ten themed studios that draw on the school’s design and research strengths in architectural theory, urban design, environmental design and sustainability and architectural technology. The fifth year students undertake their design packages in conjunction with Masters students (see ‘Masters Courses Overview’)

with whom they also share studio spaces. The shared teaching context gives an international dimension to the programme and helps to foster a studio culture where cross-cultural and cross-discipline encounters are possible adding to the richness and variety of the teaching environment in Diploma. The ability for students to tailor their educational experience to suit their interests and career aspirations continues within the final year of the course (Year 6). Here each student undertakes an individual, selfgenerated design thesis (see ‘Year 6 Overview’) that they develop across two semesters. The students produce their own design brief, select

their own site and conduct in-depth research into their chosen thesis theme. The broad range of subject matter and design approach suggested by the work contained within the following pages serves to demonstrate the unique character of the Diploma at Nottingham and is evidence of the school’s support for a pluralist approach to design that is underpinned an open, critical and reflective attitude towards the solving of design problems. The key objective of the Diploma is to develop well-rounded graduates who can make a positive and relevant contribution to architectural practice and this relies on the commitment and dedication of full-time staff and on the invaluable inputs of external tu-

tors, critics and consultants who provide the students with a direct link into the world of practice. The pedagogical aims of the Diploma would appear to be wholly supported from practice and industry and in addition to the large number of practices who regularly seek our Part 2 graduates for employment we would also like to acknowledge those sponsors who choose to declare their support through student prize sponsorship and through the Part 2 student bursary scheme.

History & Theory - Exhibiting the Recent Past (Project) - Laura Hanks - Explorations in the Depiction of Space - Raymond Quek - Building Project - Jonathan hale Urban Design - Design for City Living - Tim Heath - Architecture & Urban Design Project - Taner Oc Environmental Design - Environmental Design in Architecture - Brian Ford/Benson Lau - Sustainable Housing Design - Michael Stacey/Swinal Samant Technology (Structures & Construction) - Advanced Technology and Design - Stephen Van Dessel - Tall Buildings - David Nicholson Cole - Virtual Reality in Architecture - Benachir Medjoub

Dr Graham Farmer Course Director

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> Urban Design

> History & Theory Exhibiting the Recent Past

Explorations in the Depiction of Space These modules examine, in the practical and theoretical domains, issues of Visualisation and representation in the creation of Architecture. In the studio, students will explore techniques involved in the depiction of space, as both knowledge and manifestation of gestation and imagination. Students are expected to have some knowledge in the history of architectural treatises, circa Trecento to the present. Raymond Quek

This module calls for the ‘redesign’ or adaptive reuse of a post-war building erected within Nottingham between 1945 and 1990. Maligned in the media for its high violent crime rates and areas of social deprivation, Nottingham is being re-imagined - or at least re-branded - and this project asks to consider what form this new civic image should take, and how this identity can be communicated through architecture. Architecture is inextricably linked to both place and time, and the negotiation of Nottingham’s past, present, and future as an important element in its identity formation is the key theme of this project. The seminar module introduces the theoretical background to issues of identity - at national, ethnic, civic, and individual scales - and the application of these issues to architectural form. Laura Hanks

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Building Project ‘the Invisible City: A Museum without Walls.’ This project involves the design of a guided walk and exhibition installation in the centre of Nottingham on the theme of the invisible city. The teaching is done in collaboration with a team led by the Austrian artist and choreographer Willi Dorner, together with the Mixed Reality Lab of the School of Computer Sciences. Beginning with a research and mapping process recording the hidden, neglected and forbidden spaces within the city, the project develops a sound and video guided walk presented on a hand-held computer (PDA) along with the design of a temporary exhibition installation and accompanying website and publicity material. Some of the ideas generated during the project will also be developed by the artist team for a public exhibition to be held in the autumn as part of the Radiator Festival of new technology arts. Jonathan Hale

“Urban design draws together the many strands of place-making, environmental responsibility, social equity and economic viability, for example – into the creation of places of beauty and distinct identity.” English Partnerships, Urban Design Compendium, 2000. Urban Design teaching within the School bridges the gap between architecture and planning and is based around the seminal text ‘Public Places – Urban Spaces’ of which Tim Heath and Taner Oc are two of the co-authors. The approach adopts a broad understanding, which involves the making of better places for people. Research undertaken by the four internal tutors in areas such as city living, urban regeneration, safer cities and conservation heavily informs the teaching programme. The urban design modules available to DipArch and Masters level students consist of two design modules and two theoretical modules. The Dwelling Place (MArch) / Design for City Living (DipArch) examines the design of a sustainable city centre residential environment and the Urban Project (MArch) / Architecture & Urban Design Project (DipArch) involves the sensitive master planning and creation of a positive public realm for a large urban area. The lecture/seminar-based modules are Urban Design and Regeneration and Urban Design Control and Evaluation, which examine the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the urban design process and thereby inform the design modules.

Perspective view of masterplan for Leicester Waterside by Zhuo Chen, Yuanlin Dai and Abhinav Manikanta Kurup.

Urban Design Project

The Dwelling Place This year, the Dwelling Place module focussed upon the sensitive redevelopment of a prominent site adjacent to Nottingham Castle. The site currently accommodates a further education college developed in the 1960s alongside the city’s infamous inner ring road Maid Marian Way. The project required students to consider how to recreate connections between the city core and the Castle through the creation of a mixed-use residential neighbourhood. Students were required to engage in teams with the issues of area-based revitalization and with detailed residential design at an individual level.

The aim of this module is to provide participants with an opportunity to exhibit, in one major showcase project, the full range of urban design skills, techniques and knowledge, built up over the whole course of their study. In completing it students will also further their existing urban design knowledge base through addressing the multi-layered complexities involved in the repair of a large and complex urban site. Students also undertake costing of their project.   The Urban Project focused on the master planning and regeneration of the ‘live project’ The Waterside  Quarter of  Leicester . This Quarter  which is currently being proposed by Leicester Regeneration Company offers the opportunity for experimentation, creativity and design in order to enable the area’s potential. The objective was to create new and vibrant urban places and to facilitate development activity within this Quarter, which offers multi-layered complexities. Students were required to consider the social, economic, functional and economic implications of their urban design interventions and to relate their proposals to the wider planning framework moving from design at the spatial scale through to a more detailed investigation. External perspective of Oliver Higgins’ University Library, Stoke on Trent.

Design for City Living The module used the Corus Student Competition ‘H2Ouse – living on water’ as the vehicle for understanding and designing contemporary homes in sensitive locations.  Groups of students identified problems and suitable sites to explore the issues of how in the 21st Century people can live in harmony with changing water levels. Architecture & Urban Design Project This module implemented  the ideas and principles developed in Urban Design Theory. Students first undertook a Master Plan of an Urban Campus  in Stoke on Trent for the University of Staffordshire  to demonstrate design within an urban context  through the creation of  a safer and vibrant environment. In the second phase they undertook a detailed design of a single  university building from the Master Plan, again demonstrating their understanding of Urban Design Principles.

Perspective view of Ouse River ‘living development’ in York by Tom Osborne.

Internal Tutors:   Professor Tim Heath & Professor Taner Oc External Tutors:   Nick Ebbs, Simon Hayward, Mani Lall, Nitesh Magdani, Martin Smart

Masterplan for University of Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent by Rebecca Few and Oliver Higgins.

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> Environmental Design > 166

Environmental Design in Architecture The built environment has a growing impact on the natural environment. Knowledge of environmental design principles and how they can be applied is essential to the practice of architecture. The integration and application of this knowledge from an early stage in the design process is not only relevant for practicing architects, but has also become a pre-requisite for students wishing to demonstrate competence in design. However, the acquisition of this understanding is a problematic element of architectural education. Environmental design principles should, but rarely do, provide a springboard for invention in the design studio. This module – which builds on core environmental modules undertaken during the undergraduate degree

– demonstrates how this can be achieved by providing a stimulating introduction and guide to the principles and practical integration of environmental design in architecture. The objective of this module is to investigate a problem which requires the integration and resolution of particular environmental control issues, as part of the architectural programme. The purpose is to explore the implications of integrating environmental control strategies at the formative stages of a design proposal, to test strategic options, and to refine the proposal in the light of critical analysis. The parallel lecture based module provides the theoretical background to the principles of environmental design. Before Edison invented the electric light bulb and Carrier developed

mechanical air conditioning, internal environmental control was mainly achieved by manipulation of the form and fabric of the building, the relationship of one space to another and the distribution of openings to allow light and air into the building. However, over the last 80-100 years, architects have increasingly required environmental engineering to make good by ‘brute force’ what they have failed to achieve by design. With the need now to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, architects and engineers must work together to regain an understanding of how building form and fabric can help to moderate the internal environment, to minimise reliance on mechanical intervention, and to create a higher quality built environment. This year’s design project involved master-planning the renewal of the Sneinton area of Nottingham, adja-

cent to the City Centre, and then developing and ‘testing’ proposals for an individual building. The location is currently the subject of redevelopment proposals by developer ‘Blueprint’, and we were very fortunate in having Nick Ebbs, the Chief Executive of ‘Blueprint’, to brief students and take part in review sessions. Internal Tutors: Brian Ford, Benson Lau, David Nicholson-Cole. External Tutors: Maureen Trebilcock, Nick Ebbs images by: Adam Chambers & Alex Dale-Jones

Sustainable Housing Design The aim of the module is to facilitate, through design and research work, engagement with issues of sustainable design and techniques for the prefabrication of architecture. This is structured as research based design studio with the title Zero Carbon Architecture Studio or ZCARS. The design research promotes the integration of the knowledge and understanding of the use of materials, structures, sustainability, environment and services through the design of prefabricated architecture and components. The project entails design of a housing scheme on an urban site in Nottingham. An important objective is to design spaces

within the homes and between the homes that are beautiful and desirable. It will also involve the creation of design/products that are sensitive, beautiful and appropriate, and celebrate sustainability and prefabrication. The seminar module explores theoretical background to issues of prefabrication and environmental sustainability in architecture. Michael Stacey & Swinal Samant image by Emil Osorio Schmied

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> Technology (Structures & Construction) Tall Buildings ‘The Bioclimatic Skyscraper’

Images by Matthew Phillips

Advanced Technology and Design This studio and its accompanying seminar will focus on the emergent topic of living on water. This semester, students are asked to reconsider and transform the National Water Sport Centre and Colwick Country Park in support of floating programs for housing, work, and leisure. As an alternative to sedimentary settlement, various sites will be reconfigured and equipped in support of an expanded program for the site. The studio will result in the development of innovative and sustainable

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schemes for living and working on water (urban > community > individual unit > Detail) Focusing on technology and design, the design effort will start with an in depth analysis of various ship building technologies. The objective for this exercise is to stimulate innovative thinking and development of concepts for living on water, and inspire alternative design and manufacturing processes for creating new environments. In order to become familiar with advanced manufacturing technologies, students will fabricate physical models of various ship designs using CAD/CAM equipment. These explorations can also inform the development of appropriate material and

tectonic languages. This module aims to provide students with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of structural principles and construction techniques. The studio aims to enable students to learn from various nonarchitectural structural approaches and construction techniques, and to leverage these into architectural design approaches and applications. The module further aims to expose students to cad/cam manufacturing techniques (water jet and laser cutting), and to use such manufacturing techniques creatively during the design process. Steven Van Dessel

This module investigates the design and urban setting of tall buildings and their role in future cities. The World is seeing a huge growth of interest in tall buildings. Our challenge is to create a new urban vision, to see bioclimatic design as part of a Green strategy in cities of the future. Each student group designs a tower on a separate site, and this relates to the work of colleagues on adjoining sites. The bioclimatic tower changes the old paradigm of ‘glass office tower in a car park’ to Ken Yeang’s paradigm of a connected city, in which the towers are multifunctional and connected, and reach to the sky to harvest wind, water and sunlight as well as increasing the residential density near transport nodes. The finished group is a display of what could take place over a 20 year timescale. The seminar course examines the urban and design issues of high rise, including structural, fire, facade and mechanical engineering, environmental, operational performance, with case studies of high rise precedents and technology. David Nicholson-Cole plus guest tutors

Virtual Reality in Architecture This module aims to examine how to apply the emerging digital and media technologies to produce and communicate architectural design ideas. In a digital real environment, the representation of ideas and concepts will be encouraged as well as the integration of a virtual 3D building in the real environment. This module will provide a practical experience of mixed environments, CAD modelling, and the associated technologies of computer graphics, multimedia, animation, and digital video editing. The seminar module aims to provide students with the opportunity to understand the various components of computer aided design and virtual reality, and their increasingly prominent role in Architecture. Benachir Medjoub

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> You Are Not An Architect... ……alone but also an individual within the larger energy consuming collective. The two identities are not mutually exclusive and cross fertilize, the philosophy of Wabi ‘the acceptance of transience’ promoted through the aesthetics of Minimalism ‘richness through reduction’ is a pertinent example. But are you using both identities effectively to promote sustainability. The opportunities open to us as energy consumers can easily become subservient to the solutions promoted by us as professionals. As architects our influence on the built and wider environment is a lot less than we would like to think. To properly apportion our efforts let us review this influence by beginning with the professions position within the construction industry. 25 - 35% of the UK’s CO2 emissions relate to the building, running and maintenance of structures, 2 - 5% of the energy consumed through the lifespan of these is related to that embodied in its materials and consumed in its original construction. 85% of the UK’s annual construction does not involve an architect. By Amin Taha

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1.0% of the UK’s total CO2 emissions at best can therefore be reduced by architects collectively if as is currently estimated design has an

influencing factor of 15 - 20% on energy consumption. Being able to achieve even this will depend on the client/consumer/ pension fund/you and I paying the extra 10 - 20% financial cost and ensuring the multidisciplinary team are fully engaged with the task of reducing energy consumption. As specialised professionals, the team will be led by the client’s brief which in turn will be somewhat limited by physical, economic and statutory parameters. Generally to achieve such reductions there are principles that range from internal and external orientation, material specification, encouraging high density mixed-use and socioeconomic balanced tenure. It will be the economic realities as well as the statutory regulations policed by local authorities that together with the design team will form a matrix from which the preferred solution is borne. Not every structure should necessarily meet the same benchmark, oneoff public buildings could have their full energy efficiency set at a lower rate; a carbon trade that may be no different within statutory building regulations than fire prevention requirements within different building types. In light of the statistics above this as a whole although positive is still a limited influence that can only become greater with growing statutory intervention.

By contrast let us for a moment remind ourselves that as individuals our energy consumption on average is related to the activity, delivery or production of (broken down as follows), 25% food, 25% consumer products, 20% transport, 15% working (energy consumed in the workplace) 10% gas and electricity, 5% air travel and others activities, Our ability to reduce CO2 emissions in these areas is considerable to the extent that we could without a great deal of inconvenience limit our consumption to 70% of this. Collectively that is potentially a reduction of 20% of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. In more detail we also find that if we breakdown this average statistic into socio-economic sub-divisions then, not unlike international energy consumption, it is the upper 1% of the population and more specifically men earning more than £100,000pa that consume a disproportionate high level of energy. If Carbon Tax is applied on a sliding scale like Income Tax then naturally the reduction of energy consumption will not have to rely on the ongoing actions of individuals. We would need however to promote and vote for it, ultimately determining some of those statutory regulations that as architects we would need to implement.

It is not intention to diminish the opportunities available to architects and design team members to ameliorate the environmental impact of the building industry. Instead, that we review and put these into perspective with those available to us as individuals or more accurately those open to us as the collective inhabitants of that environment. This is our greatest bearing on the environment and should not be limited by our relationship as architects within it but widened to remind us of our

individual behaviour within this social collective. Making us aware of our role within the greater social network that is driving this impact. In this way our efforts can be apportioned to alter the structural social and economic fabric in a manner that engenders mental and material well being outside an intensive consumer society. If our personal philosophies and aesthetics cross over so that our architecture promotes a wider lifestyle change then all the better.

AMIN TAHA ARCHITECTS LTD 4th Floor Studio 35 - 39 Old Street LONDON EC1V 9HX T. 020 7253 9444 F. 020 7253 9555 E. info@amintaha.co.uk

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> Studio Year 6

Visiting Tutors & Critics: Luis Matania - Foster & Partners George Clarke - Clarke Desai Architects Mark Hines – Our Architect Design Tutors: Graham Farmer Prof. Michael Stacey Guillermo Guzman Jonathan Hale Laura Hourston Benson Lau David Short Bradley Starkey Steve Platt Specialist Inputs: Mauro Overend Mike Rainbow (Arups) Sergio Altomonte

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The final year of the professional programme in architecture provides the freedom and opportunity for students to explore and research those aspects of architecture that are of special interest to them. The year involves the generation, investigation and realisation of a design thesis that is expressed through a comprehensive design submission at the end of semester 2. Students develop their brief for the design thesis in the first semester and this process is supported by the production of a design dissertation that records and declares the outcomes of research into their chosen topic and site. During the second semester each student works with a personal design tutor and with specialist tutors on the development of the design thesis and during this period they also produce a special emphasis study that records a process of in-depth research into a key aspect of the thesis. Whilst there is no universal model for the design thesis it is common for students to develop themes that they have explored within specialist modules in year 5 and to often combine this with a wish to intervene in places that they know well or that they care about. In many of the projects it is encouraging to note that the design process and its outcomes have been generated by a desire to address and explore a range of relevant design, environmental and social concerns. Whatever the source of inspiration and underpinning logic for the the-

sis the work shown on the following pages certainly demonstrates a healthy diversity of design methods and approaches and provides a small glimpse into the energy, vitality and creativity of the students. However, the finished drawings and models in the exhibition and the designs described within this book can never fully chronicle the experience of a year that always provides a significant personal challenge to the students. Behind each project lies an ‘invisible’ process of organising, questioning and testing themselves that should prepare the students well for their subsequent careers. In acknowledging process I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the tutors for their contribution to the year and in particular our visiting tutors and critics who give up their valuable time to engage with the students. Images from last year’s presented at the 05-06 exhibit!

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The initial line of enquiry for the thesis concerned the relationship of memory, trace and nostalgia to architecture. This took in a range of issues and provided a critique of the heritage and nostalgia industries as well as questioning the way in which we currently assign value to objects from our past, with particular reference to historic buildings.

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The architectural response to the thesis takes place in an abandoned warehouse in the Liverpool Docklands. Much of the warehouse is left relatively untouched with only minimal infrastructure inserted to support the artifact archive and open this area up to the public. The scheme then acts as a final processing facility for any object or artifact that is no longer part of an active collection in one of the many museums and institutions around the country. Upon delivery to the facility, the artifacts are then dispersed to appropriate parts of the building where they may be sold on in the auction house and flea market, reused and exhibited by artists or added to the rooftop scrap yard, thus creating a new exhibition through the artifacts’ decay. The main functions themselves exist within a parasitic core which embraces the edge conditions along the buildings North façade, with its many broken windows and damp, leaking surfaces. The new insertion symbiotically works with these existing spaces of decay to enhance the strong kinaesthetic qualities present within the building.

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Far more than just a pile of bricks, steel and glass, the built environment is an entity that shapes and defines our everyday lives. This environment is comprised of a series of sensory experiences, a dialogue between man, the world man has created and the world in which man exists. Subject, Culture and Nature in co-existence. The forms, functions, spaces, colours and textures of the world influence a user’s perception of their immediate environment. This perception in turn directs the way an individual interacts with their surroundings. Psychology directs Physiology, thought directs feeling.

Located on a lakeside site in Bestwood, Nottinghamshire, the scheme provides a series of specialist treatment spaces which maximise the potential of daylighting, materiality and a strong connection to nature in order to provide a soothing environment in which the healing process can occur. The journey through the healing process is mirrored in the journey through the site. Treatment, Education and Activity spaces engage with the landscape in different ways, in order to allow for levels of privacy, connection and interaction to adapt, dependant on the function of each space. ��

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Nowhere is this phenomenon more relevant than in the healthcare environment. The aim of the thesis is to propose an alternative approach to healthcare, delivered through a healthy lifestyles centre focussing on issues such as stress, exercise and nutrition.

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Our world is full of lost spaces which were once integrated into our society and played important parts in our lives. Now they lie dormant, rich with intriguing stories and layers of history. Beneath The Botanics displays the potential in disused lost subterranean layers of cities by case studying Glasgow's lost subterranean layer.

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This thesis questions what it really means to be below ground and how this has been changed over time. Once people are underground, their habitual points of reference and orientation techniques are removed, increasing the need for clarity, guiding systems and above ground reference points.

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Light is an integral part of our everyday lives. When exploring the essence of light with theories such as Plato's cave one begins to discover a parallel world of projections and what the absence of light can provide. Beneath The Botanics provies a visitors centre and an artists community of workshops which specialise in photography, cinematography and light art. The tradition of selling art on the railings of the gardens is celebrated through an architectural ribbon which plunges down into the original Victorian railway station to create an arts market promenade down to the river. The architectural corten steel ribbon weaves into the ground and guides people along their journey, at times piercing up through the ground to provide places where the world above and below can communicate.

Gridlocked Britain is grinding to a halt! Over the past 25 years, the number of vehicles on Britain’s roads has risen by about 70% to more than 32 million, and according to official statistics almost a third of households own two or more cars. This thesis project works at two scales, firstly to masterplan a waterbus service stretching from Manchester City Centre to Salford Quays and effectively introduce the ‘blue line’ of sustainable urban transport that will provide reliable, efficient and congestion free routes for locals, workers and tourists alike, allowing its users to re-engage with Manchester’s waterfront.

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Throughout this thesis I aimed to provide a vision that would help outline the future of both Manchester’s Waterfront and the Pomona Docks whilst incorporating and introducing the various sustainable transport systems offering a more integrated and efficient solution to the car.

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Secondly, the Project aims to show how the Pomona Docks site will act as a transport interchange for waterbus services running on both the Manchester Ship Canal and the Bridgewater Canal whilst also operating as an interchange for passengers of the metrolink and the walkers, cyclists and bus users of the roads. ��

By flooding life back to the once vibrant Ship Canal, this will literally pump regeneration back along Manchester’s primary artery from Salford all the way into the heart of Manchester. ��

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‘Can learning ever make up for the shortfall of immediate experience?' The relationship between the design process and material understanding continues to drift apart. With technology today replacing the requirements for skill, much of the intrinsic understanding of materials and their characteristic qualities are lost. I aim to look at creating an institute that will combine scientific inspection of materials, the design techniques appropriate to those materials and workshop experience in using the materials. The institute will concentrate on a single material that relates to its environment. In this case the site is set within a rock covered landscape and so with this in mind it will take the role of an institute of masonry. The symbiosis encouraged by this institute is one where traditional techniques work and develop in tandem with new ones. The old techniques usually embody a deeper understanding of how materials work in practice; the new ones open windows onto new materials, new approaches and new possibilities. Both these elements have a value in their own right, but used together they can take the final result well beyond where either would go on its own. The Institute would promote new techniques and relate them to traditional ones, providing a broader picture of the design and the materials from which those designs would be executed. These ideas will be reflected in the construction of the building itself.

TecEx, the Technology Exchange utilises this, redeveloping the site into a research facility where military technologies are discussed, developed & tested before entering civilian society. The proposed building scheme is one component, & houses the public interaction with the facility through Forum, Test, & Learn. Discussion of technology potential, market research, & library are enclosed in a building fabric encompassing former military technologies. The scheme centres upon opening the site to the public with a large ramped plaza cutting through the building with accommodation floating above. The octagon houses the Forum, with support facilities divided over 3 floors, which is then severed by the harsh addition of public services. The redundant concept of camouflage is explored through detailed design.

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With strength of arms insufficient to overcome opponents, military hardware redundant, information is now the new artillery. The demilitarized zone has become part of the landscape, the WWII munitions base, ROF Featherstone one example. Military R&D consumes excessive capital annually, with little benefit ever felt by the tax payer. Thermal imaging, nuclear science & GPS were born from a desire to destroy or defend, but technological transfer has applied them to a domestic context. Just like the derelict brick buildings of ROF Featherstone, it is not these technologies that society should fear, but their implementation.

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My proposal is for a Woodland Learning Centre: A resource facility, for schools and the wider community, to educate on sustainability and the natural environment. To transform the learning experience of environmental education. To reconnect communities and green space and increase awareness and respect for nature.

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Imagine all people understand their connections to the natural world and to other humans, know where products and services come from and where wastes go, and know how to measure and minimize their ecological footprint. “If one enjoys nature, one naturally grows to love it. If then, one is informed that what one loves is threatened, it is a natural human response to come out fighting for it.”(Richard Louv, 2005) Bestwood Country Park (BCP) is within 5 miles of Nottingham City Centre, on the doorstep of a number of county and city schools, many of which are underachieving. As a regenerated natural landscape, the park is an excellent nucleus to practice sustainable and environmental education. With such proximity to local schools, it is possible to reach a wide variety of children and communities, addressing pressing local problems within health and education, whilst highlighting global issues of sustainability. The provision of a resource facility providing outdoor and environmental education will provide an alternative learning platform for an evolving academic system.

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'In Britain we have come to both demonise and fear our teenagers; the yobs, the hoodies, and the street gangs - the ASBO generation which terrorises neighbourhoods. 'Kids hanging around' is now regarded as the greatest social nuisance of our age'

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Located within a green pocket of St. Ann's and orientated around a new community square, the centre will encourage residents to sit, drink, explore and engage with the facilities, creating new bonds between different generations. All aspects of the centre are designed to a tight charity budget. The facility will be constructed from recycled and sustainable materials; utilising tyres from local scrap yards, rammed earth, green oak structures and living walls. All of which produce an elaborate contrast - The interactive backdrop to the performance within.

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My final year thesis provides a local Radio Centre run by the Youth in St. Ann's. It incorporates Recording, teaching, broadcasting, and performance facilities, focusing on youth culture, new black music, fashion, dance, and graffiti. The centre will allow the youth to express their creativity, gain valuable skills, and present their work to the local community in a variety of ways.

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The seaside is a liberating place; the ‘edge’ or place on the margin has a liminal quality and provides a dramatic interface between land and sea. However, at Scarborough amenities are migrating further inland, activities on the seafront do not add to the sense of place and it seems the maritime location is irrelevant.

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By reintroducing the pier but challenging its typology for the 21st century, the project aims to embrace the town’s environment and heritage and bring life back to the seafront. The scheme provides low cost flexible housing for young people with typologies such as beach hut studios, live-work and group-share units. These interlock to create multilevel and dual aspect homes, optimising views, outdoor space and light. In addition, a range of public facilities are provided including leisure activities, bars and a nightclub.

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The project, using the grade II listed East Pier, is self sufficient, utilising its unique setting to extract energy from the wind and waves. An innovative structural system minimises the scheme's impact on the landscape, responds to the industrial aesthetic of the harbour and ensures the accommodation avoids contact with the existing pier, allowing unobstructed access along its entire length. People engage with the landscape, town and new development, which dramatically wraps around and above them as they walk to the end, where an adaptable floating raft links them with nature.

Southall, in Ealing is an example of a place which acts as a base for new immigrants into the UK. The face of the local populace is constantly changing, with settlers from around the globe. These people feel isolated from their immediate neighbours, and rarely venture out, which is largely to do with the fact that their public realm is in desperate need of a ‘face-lift.’ Reasearch shows that the good design of public spaces within a city leads to better integration of its citizens. The lack of civic pride is obvious in Southall and they need a kick-start to make them proud of their town and pleased to be classified as British Southallians.

This building proposes to set up an infrastructure for community activity to take place. The main building will provide an education facility for young entrepreneurs striving to set up business in the UK. As an offset to this, part of the building will provide business incubator units, enabling these young businesses to blossom. This will allow Southall to grow economically and improve its desirability within Ealing borough. The building will be positioned around a public square and provide the back-drop for group community activities. This public realm will become a platform for Southall wholesale and livestock market. It will create landscaped auditoria for community dance, theatre and celebration, including performance rings for Martial Arts displays during Hola Mahalla. It will create a procession route linking the town centre to Southall Park, to include 80,000 Sikhs who gather to celebrate Vaisakhi, and it will become the site for the UK’s only annual Bollywood film festival, building on Southall’s South Asian film heritage.

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At present in the UK we live in a vastly multicultural society. Together we live under the umbrella of “British Citizens.” Many first generation immigrants however do not feel part of their new surroundings and have little, if no connection to the British way of life. They struggle to integrate with people from their own and other communities.

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My project has a health, sport and recreation theme which is focused on the regeneration of the current National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont. Whilst promoting this theme, the intention of my proposal is also to create a meltingpot across the site in which the surrounding communities can integrate and attract more people from further- a-field as a unique and attractive destination. My solution to the design-problem is to create a link, which is the key to unlocking the potential of the site, forging a connection between two currently separated waterorientated parks; the NWSC and Colwick Park. The link is meant to be a journey across this water-scape and crucially it has been designed to engage people with the different qualities of water and landscape traversed. Therefore the link not only connects the two areas but also serves as a central-nervous system, infesting the park with a number of sport and recreationally themed ‘stations’ which compliment and enhance the character of the site.

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My project as an architectural tipping point, focuses on changing the use of derelict or brownfield sites into community bases providing macro regeneration. A series of these develop over time to provide more widespread urban regeneration. Through ecology based design, the buildings help to provide a biodiversity network, greening the city. To apply a tipping point to this area would encourage a change in attitude to situation and community, what in essence urban regeneration should be about.

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There is a tendency within all of us that says the solution to all life's problems is to come up with a comprehensive answer, applying lots of effort and money. The difficulty we face is that this effort and money is not always available. So what's required is quick, simple resolution, which has a knock on effect in resolving a problem. The tipping point is that point where a small change suddenly makes a big difference. A good tipping point is the creation of an idea epidemic which realises its potential for rapid change. The mobile phone exhibited a tipping point when it rocketed in use from 17% in 1996 to 78% in 2004/5.

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The East Anglian Fens are a unique landscape, nowhere else in the British Isles can such a distinctive flat landscape be found. Many people think of the fens as dull, and on first glance this is an easy mistake to make. To the casual observer fenland with its vast expanses of open country stretching into the distance can seem under-whelming. If the same casual observer were to take the time to have a closer look, they would see that the fens are a highly complex series of natural and artificial systems working alongside, and often against each other.

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This thesis provides a solution to the un-certain future fenland faces; dealing with issues ranging from climate change and flooding to social cohesion and urban sprawl. Central is the creation of an entirely self sustaining community for five thousand people set in a wet fen environment. The new community utilises the unique fen conditions to provide: heat; power; food; water; waste-water treatment; flood protection; and local employment through a co-operative agricultural system, re-instating the tradition of common lands which existed in the undrained fens of the middle ages. The focus of this new community is a masterplan for a new town, Kettlesworth. The masterplan provides an urban framework within which a mixture of residential, commercial and community buildings and public spaces can be established, drawing on the unique identity and traditions of the fens.

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My thesis explores what it is that makes a dwelling a ‘home’ through a consideration of the key characteristics of ‘home’. By questioning the reasoning behind current trends in housing design I aim to go beyond the conventional solutions of mass house builders and propose a model that will successfully create the essential characteristics of a ‘family home’. The suburban home in its many guises forms a central part of the analysis as the assumption still prevails that in order to make a ‘home’ one must move away from the city. The project is explored in an urban environment, which can fully test the assumption that dwellings in cities cannot be ‘family homes’, creating a model for urban family dwelling. The focus of the design is the ‘inbetween’ spaces, the relationships between people and between spaces. By considering the ‘inbetween’ spaces at varying scales within the dwelling, between dwellings and between neighbourhoods - the design addresses negative preconceptions of urban housing. The design aims to provide all the benefits of a traditional family home with careful consideration given to privacy, individuality and personalisation, ownership, community, safety and security, (green) space... - to all the factors that make people feel ‘at home’. Consideration is also given to the wider community and issues of density and sustainability are central to the design.

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Cotton is commonly perceived as a natural and environmentally friendly fabric; however, it is actually one of the most environmentally damaging crops grown in the world today. The manufacturing of cotton from fibre to cloth includes many stages of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing and finishing. This uses yet more energy and causes even more pollution, much of which comes from the global transportation between the many different stages of production.

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The aim of the thesis is explore how cotton can be grown and processed on one site, to address these global issues and form a narrative of the emotive journey and experience of cotton from field to final product.

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The small town of Ramsbottom, Lancashire is the setting for a proposed organic sustainable cotton plantation and mill. The cotton is germinated and grown on site in an artificial environment, heated using biomass technology and is grown in rotation with other crops which are used to make natural dyes and starches for the final weaved fabrics. The skin of the cotton growing area responds directly to the plants’ height, reducing the heating load required to maintain a constant temperature. The cotton is processed and loomed using machinery driven by the power of the River Irwell. Fabrics flow along and weave through the site to form the skin of the building as well as providing solar protection to specific areas, responding to diurnal and seasonal conditions.

STOP. LISTEN… I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU A WAY. Stop reading for a moment. Clear your mind. Start from a clean slate. ARCHITECTURE is lost. It’s been lost for a long time…inside itself. In this place you will never find the way.

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THE WAY is a PRISON. …LOST!

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Lost behind 4 walls. Blank... devoid of life. All life removed… YOU ARE NOW OBSOLETE. A servant to the MACHINE. A pawn in someone else’s game. A HIRED HAND. You’ve lost all you ONCE LOVED. …BUT WAIT

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THERE IS A WAY. Toward a new architecture? NO. Toward a new life? YES. Don’t worry little leaf. Don’t feel a need 4 grief For if you let go and fall. You’ll know that after all We too can rest in peace. ��

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This project deals with the everworsening traffic problems within the city of Bath. It aims to reduce dependence upon the private car by encouraging the use of existing alternative methods of mass transport. At present, the site at which these services are delivered to the city does nothing to promote their use. The existing bus station and Bath Spa railway station are located in the Southgate area of the city, just south of the historic city centre. This key entrance and departure point of the city is disorientating for visitors, discouraging to pedestrians and is desperately in need of regeneration.

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My proposal is for a new modern transport interchange for the city that, as part of a redevelopment of the Southgate area, would encourage the use of the city’s good existing public transport services and provide a suitable entrance to the World Heritage City for visitors. The new transport interchange is set around a number of new public spaces that aim to give this new gateway to the city a distinctive sense of place and to give this part of the city back to the pedestrian. The new railway station is accommodated within an existing series of railway arches, with the adjacent bus station facilities located on the site of a former car park. These two elements of the scheme are linked by a continuous ribbon-like canopy that shelters the platform areas and promotes interchange between the services.

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The fire of Ilkley Moor in the summer of 2006 destroyed almost a quarter of the moor, insufficient funding has been accepted as a factor for such devastation to wildlife. An attraction on Ilkley Moor which would raise revenue for its own management without privatising this popular local asset would ensure the moors long term future. The town of Ilkley developed as a hydrotherapy spa town from the 1840's and the moors springs were used for drinking. A spa facility sourced from a spring historically used for drinking could become a popular destination for locals, walkers and spa finders.

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The site was selected and the design conceived so that the spa linked between the differing scales of panorama reservoir and black beck. The man made reservoir marks the edge of the town so the design acts as a transition from town to landscape and also an exploration of water therapy poignantly set between a large resting body of water and energised water.

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The transformation of one of London’s busiest underground station’s into a transport interchange to facilitate the movement of the users of a proposed new line along with the station’s existing users.

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The thesis focuses on the conversion of the over congested Tottenham Court Road Station at St Giles Circus, into a transport interchange, linking; the Underground, buses, taxis, cyclists, trams, pedestrians and Crossrail new proposed rail lines providing a train service right across the capital. The project is about looking deeper into the relationship between the users and the links between the different modes of transport, focusing on the movement of the people that interact with the interchange. It will not simply consist of these direct links between the different modes, but of a well integrated network of paths between them. A key decision made is to pedestrianize Oxford Street and create a new tram link between Tottenham Court Road and Marble Arch. A new lower ground public space will aslo be created with deployable canopy structures and a long media wall. The bus and tram interchange shelter structures, along with the entrances to the lower ground level will be forms that invoke a sense of movement. The new station will have a deep underground box providing access to the train lines. It is positioned directly in front of Centrepoint tower to create breathtaking views up the tower when emerging from the station.

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York has a vast history in the craft and trade industry. I look to bridge the gap between the history of the trade and craft industry and today, by educating the traditional ways of making in a, fun, creative and interactive way. I am looking at what space, ambiance, and life style is required to create pieces of art and craft. By creating a small community based development for the living, learning, making, creating, watching and every aspect craft; for the craft masters, local residents, visitors and tourists, of all ages and ability.

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This thesis will incorporate several live/ work units for the different crafts, a large exhibition area, a small night school, and a restaurant/ bar with a public viewing platform and a large public square with improved pedestrian access to existing buildings.

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A multifunctional space where the ambiance and artistic expression can be enjoyed, which in effect will add to York's vast tourism appeal, all within the process of creating a fun, exploration throught the history of craft in one of York's most historic locations.

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Place of EX.CHANGE

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Following the rise of obesity in recent years, it has to be questioned if urban design can have a direct result on obesity and related health issues. It is argued that supermarkets have a direct influence on consumer's buying habits and the quality of food that is provided within cities - for this reason the thesis aims to develop a strong generic strategy for the exchange of food within the city and the test site should be a catalyst for the development of similar schemes in cities across the country. The scheme will provide a well connected walking landscape where people are able to flow easily into and out of the city, inter-connected by walks, cycle routes and public transport links. It does not seek to demolish existing urban tissue, but to build upon existing characteristics within the city by overlaying a multi-user landscape strategy across existing and newly reclaimed open space. It will be productive in many ways, providing leisure and recreational facilities whilst the most important grounding factor will be its ability to grow food within the open space for urban agriculture. It will be designed primarily for pedestrians, bicycles and engine-less vehicles so as to allow healthy vegetation and varied occupation whilst maintaining safer streets to walk & cycle along. It will have the ability to change commuter lifestyles and reduce environmental damage through less congestion in the city.

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Thorpe Marsh is a largely demolished coal fired power station located to the north-east of Doncaster; a market town located in South Yorkshire approximately 12 miles from Rotherham and 20 miles from the city of Sheffield. Since decommissioning in March 1994 the brownfield site has seen the majority of its structures and buildings demolished in preparation for redevelopment. Only the former power station’s cooling towers remain maintaining its landmark presence and historical heritage.

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New parkland provides a place to take a walk, run, play sport or picnic while each tower investigates new and exciting typologies, activities and different architectural approaches; providing places to work, learn, rest, live and to play.

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Currently sitting idle waiting for redevelopment the brownfield site remains vacant and left to deteriorate. The project aims to explore the redevelopment potential of the site and the adaptive reuse of the remaining cooling towers; re-imagined as a sustainable landmark mixed use community.

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Within the sports tower athletes compete to ascend the entire height of the building along a continuous helix running track; their reward a drink at the top floor juice bar before a leisurely descent in the glass elevator. Far below swimmers leisurely gaze at the stunning view of suspended playing courts while climbers scale the internal and external building facades. ��

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Residual Space

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This thesis began with a consideration of the urban environment as a continuous process of destruction and construction, alongside an appreciation of its fabric as a shifting material phenomenon. Along boundary lines of inner-city developments the fabric tears to reveal unconsumed spaces that are suspended between the constructive and destructive processes of building. Over time, these residual spaces become layered places of remembrance for the past activities of the city. As we inhabit the world through acts of architecture it has the unique ability to reveal and expose the inherent latency of a specific context. The project suggests a method for an urban intervention that is conscious of recycling these “waste-of-space” places as an additional resource for understanding the city.

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Moving Image Archive [MIA] The MIA is concerned with collecting, preserving and making accessible the moving image heritage of the East Midlands. By applying the metaphor of accessing an archive to a form of urban intervention, memories of the city are revealed to the user through the unwinding of moving images and new views of the site’s context. The fence; an architectural element for screening and restricting, was used to develop an inhabitable façade which provides entry to the site and facilitates the viewing of material, whilst concrete rooms are placed within existing archways to conserve the original film stock

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site – former ore processing plant, botallack, near lands end, cornwall. context – due to the massive decline of its major industries (mining, agriculture and fishing) north cornwall is now one of the most deprived areas of britain with employment based mainly in the low paid seasonal unemployment of the tourist industry. therefore the scheme needed to use local resources in a contemporary context while providing a range of good employment and training that would keep skilled people in the area.

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theory – the projects philosophy is based within deleuze and guattari’s idea of the rhizome which talks about ‘variation, expansion, conquest, capture and offshoots’. this goes against much contemporary architectural thought as most interventions are designed as finished objects rather than unfinished fragments that can allow, and even promote, evolution. the proposal is therefore only the initial insertion with the idea of the unfinished expressed through the architectural language of the locality by using its inherent sense of robustness, simplicity, ownership and tectonic accretion.

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scheme – new research and teaching facility that investigates the theory and practicalities of alternative energy harvesting. the project will also incorporate a visitors centre to explore the areas new world heritage site status as well as offering part time courses in practical skills and artisan techniques.

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ANTI·SO·CIAL > > From youths emotionally starved state the act of violence is an emotional expression. It is the mere act of violence that represents an act of hope, of emotion. To reduce this violence towards society we need to harness this act of violence and channel it to more positive ends. Through the development of an urban academy which addresses environmental, social, cultural, interpersonal and personal relationships a controlled emotional state can be achieved. An emotionally therapeutic academy founded on the relationship between carers, child and society, an emotional relationship. TI·SO·CIAL > > The proposal needs to be presented as an integral strategy, which allows for the fragmentation and differences to be absorbed into a coherent and continuous approach, a fused space, meeting place. The development of an Urban Academy (meeting place) fostering communication and new relationships between the city, individuals and residents. The site represents an opportunity, an invitation to adventure the possibility of crossing boundaries and modes of ownership and transferring mental banners, identities. The site becomes characteristic of an autonomous territory with respect to the urban context. To develop a kids space as an urban package to act as an infrastructural link. Creating zones of attraction, space and exhibition free from territories, it becomes a meeting place.

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Daily life is becoming increasingly dependent upon technology; based on the misconception that this will liberate the user from the constraints of time. Society is becoming increasingly disconnected from reality. The working class still exists but is now hidden behind a cloud of routine and apathy. Society has been led down a path of isolation, believing that individual prosperity and financial wealth is the key to happiness. This misapprehension has been propagated by the new ruling classes as a means of suppressing the masses.

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These social injustices and misapprehensions require revolution. A revolution to change the world: a revolution to change time.

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The original task of a genuine revolution… is never merely to "change the world", but also - and above all - to "change time" (Giorgio Agamben) This project proposes the reinstatement of the town centre as the spiritual hearth of the community. The proposal will try to change people’s perception of time, so that time is no longer viewed as money but as life and joy. It will look at the creation of a temple to time; to experience the purity of time. It will become a secular gathering place for the community, a place to reflect, to study one’s inner self and to elevate the human being beyond the role of machine. ��

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Why must a typical basket of 26 groceries travel 241,000 miles before we buy it? Why do many 12 year-olds not know where a carrot comes from? Why must consumers rely upon a third party machine to massproduce, import, sanitise and shrink-wrap away the joy (and flavour) of food, and with it our respect for the practices and personalities that bring it to our plate?

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As such, through subtle changes and interventions to the existing covered market in Leeds, Horti[culture] attempts to answer some of these questions and reintegrate 'growing' as an integral part of the consumer's remit. The market roof-covering is removed and the existing spaceframe thickened with new structural members which support the additional weight of new steel caissons of soil and lightweight timber walkways. In this way the vast, ugly roof-scape of the market 'shed' is reinvented as a giant urban market-garden.

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New self-sufficient 'cores' are introduced at intervals throughout the market providing a visual and physical dialogue between what is grown at roof level and what is sold at ground level, as well as improving natural ventilation and daylighting within the existing market space. The market is animated by constant flows of people and produce as food is grown, bought, sold and consumed in a sustainable way.

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The thesis is a live project working alongside a charity called Mat-toFore to provide a nursery and primary school in a deprived rural village of tropical Ghana. In doing so the project seeks to address the broader issues of the impacts of architecture and urban planning on third world development. The scheme provides an antithesis to the local authority’s development plan that emulates a Western suburban model. The implementation of this approach across much of Ghana has resulted in car and resource dependant, filthy, sprawling cities that lack any relation to the place or culture of the people they seek to serve. Instead the scheme attempts to provide a design that is based on a sensitive masterplan, use of appropriate technologies, a celebration of local culture and a sustainable response to the tropical environment. Fundamental to the design is the desire to provide a children’s centre that is welcoming to the children and stimulates their development in creative and playful ways. The village is to be revisited this summer and it is hoped that, by further collaboration with the local authority and the people of Kotei, issues apparent in their current masterplan may be addressed.

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Synopsis

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Constructing an urban bridge facilitating connections and movement between two key transport hubs in one of Hong Kong’s busiest and most dense regions; Mong Kok.

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The essence of the thesis stems from forming a series of elevated routes of shifting and vacillating objects including fish farms, flower gardens, bird aviaries, perfumeries etc. The bridge connects the hubs through a labyrinth of interlinked machines, programs and spaces that feed off the existing territory, simultaneously constructing new environments, thereby forming a more cohesive landscape. Challenging the traditional concept of the bridge as connector and mediator between two locations, the bridge itself is a location, and is capable of forming new cinematic spaces for interaction.

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Rather than treating it as the generic Master-planning exercise that many cities fall victim to, the aim is to explore the specific interactions between these systems of objects. Through a multitude of shifting components that can tune and amplify the spaces within the territory, the bridge discusses the poetics and phenomenological experience between these machines. The project aims to draw the connections between these elevated urban mechanisms exploring how they can communicate with one another, forming the very fabric of this 'Cinematic Bridge of New Ecologies'. ��

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Notion of community merge with the desire to connect or reconnect, that connection or reconnection which will occur to both the land and to the new family/community structure. The search for what is held in common, for unity, manifests from the existing local community level. To further reinforce the desire for linkage to the local community and the increased acceptance of the new community structure and conception, the design proposes the direct inclusion of the local population via traditional families. Theses various people be t existing, new or temporary will hold a thread which will weave an evolved fabric for the community.

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The concept and the act of weaving will form the basis of this project. It speaks towards the tradition of weaving in Sera. For this work, it has both formal and metaphorical aspects. Sera will physically and conceptually weave nature with natural and built systems into the village and family structures. There will be weaves of spaces, places, people, systems and programmatic components. This is articulated, for example, through the design of a mixture of building types and programmatic elements, and through the merging of natural and human made components.

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The programme focuses on the poetics of the journey and revealing the conditions found on this maritime site. The project comprises of a carefully choreographed route which is punctuated by natural and man-made events with supplementary facilities for tourists and locals alike. The route acts as a narrative, perambulating through the landscape in response to the existing topology and archaeology.

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The route discusses liminality or the concept of threshold through coastal territory and creates an architectural language that embraces shoreline erosion over time and the poetics of space. Sat on the rugged coastline at Hell’s Mouth bay, North Wales the site acts as a point of cultural exchange between land, sky and sea. The landscape is one of two extremes; the forces that have shaped it and the resulting ecology that exists. The project looks to protect and encourage the delicate ecology whilst contending with harsh environmental constraints on both a natural and human scale. The project challenges the archaic response to coastal architecture and uses a strong authenticity in its materials to reflect its direct relationship with time; this is architecture not fixed with object but with space, event and temporality.

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The occupant adjacencies that arise from an investigation into the hotel typology and the specified site are also of interest. The project seeks to multiply the opportunities for such adjacencies through a reconfiguration of the standard hotel’s shared space strategy. The on-site densification of the hotel population and other visitors to Scarborough is maximised by the provision of facilities serving immediate user needs, as well as the introduction of additional programmes into the hotel’s territory. Furthermore, the new hotel possesses a fluctuating capacity as it accommodates varying degrees of residence. The regency house, which makes up a considerable proportion of the town’s built stock, is re-interpreted and utilised within the scheme.

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Investigating themes of domesticity, displacement and transience, the thesis uses the typology of the hotel as a vehicle for experimentation. Similarly, the investigation is given an added dimension by the nature of its location. The fluctuation in population experienced by Scarborough, as well as most other seaside resorts, is the result of a large transient population that operates on a seasonal basis. The hotel, as the architecture accommodating the transient population, plays a key role in these towns. Full in the summer, yet unoccupied and of limited use in the winter.

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In the UK, 275,280 persons were diagnosed with cancer in 2002 and according to current figures, 1 in 3 people will suffer from a form of cancer at some point in their lives. This emphasizes the need for cancer support facilities throughout the country. The treatment of cancer used to involve a uniform approach through which patients were told which treatment they would receive, now there are many options available and medical professionals try to involve patients in the decision making process. My design aims to create a haven, in which this decision making process and the pressures of dealing with cancer are facilitated. The impact of a cancer diagnosis to a patient, family and friends manifests itself in a variety of ways. The proposed facility fulfils many of the various needs of all touched by cancer. The support centre will have bright and inviting interiors and exteriors that are both functional and stimulating, inducing an optimistic outlook. Its of a scale that is small and intimate enough for the user to consider it to be their own personal space. The design encourages curiosity and imagination whilst ensuring the patient feels cared for and secure. It is surrounded by a therapeutic landscape that aims to give a sense of control back to the patients. The site is at the Nottingham City Hospital, allowing the centre to integrate itself and work alongside the existing oncology department and cancer services.

Looking at the way land artists have interpreted the land has illustrated the importance of engaging with lines of flux in the historical development of the land, the interaction of natural materials, how they erode and decay, and where one material or feature may be pushed back or cleared to make room for another. The land is not a random collection of materials, but a series of patterns and orders that have built up and developed over time. The scheme will use natural crafted materials to create both the workshops and galleries, and engage with the developed patterns of use within the landscape. Beaten paths within the land will act to tie the workshops and galleries together, and natural clearings will be recognised as important features, letting light and views into the workshops and galleries. The shoreline will also be important in providing light and views, using the level change down to the water to add subtlety, reducing the impact of the scheme. The scheme will re-create new sections of an old ha-ha wall on the site, which had been associated with a demolished old hall; to explore light and level changes in the public and private spaces within the locating and design of the gallery and studios. As the artists find inspiration in the landscape, they will also build upon current conservation initiatives in the park, implementing and illustrating the education and understanding of its needs and importance.

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The studio incubator scheme will provide a stepping stone for graduate artists, to follow their university education as they work towards establishing their careers. The studios and workshops are located in a country park, arranged besides, and near to Hartsholme Lake, and being adjacent to the pre-existing Victorian garden landscaping, with shared gallery spaces between. The scheme will encourage rural art and conservation, using the teaching and practice of traditional craft skills and techniques to explore and depict the artists’ encounter with nature and the world around them, building a rural artist community within the park. The scheme will comprise workshops for wood, stone, clay and metalwork, as well as traditional studios. Each will have an associated gallery space which may also be shared between crafts for mixed media and themes. The studio-workshop and gallery installations are clustered into a small campus to provide a sense of community, whilst encouraging engagement with the landscape in moving between the different crafts. Associating gallery spaces with the workshops gives the artists opportunity to design with precise knowledge of where and how their work can be displayed. These gallery spaces will be designed to engage with the beautiful contrasting topographies within the site, to enable work to be displayed in the environment that inspired its creation.

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A city dweller is framed by everyday routine; getting to work; rushing for a quick lunch; dashing for afterwork shopping; chasing after buses... at the end of the day, exauhsted and worn off in bed. Wake up in the morning, the cycle begins again. It is a cycle of stress, the mind of a city dweller is constant in tension. 'He' is always bombarded with information and yet how much can he is taking in with such occupied mind? The city needs a place for its dwellers to relax, to get in touch with the pulse of city living, to get a good look around its urban fabric, a breathing space. The project aims to create a balanced mix of commercial, business, work, and leisure activites within an enclosed public space at Trinity Square in the city of Nottingham for such purposes.

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A portion of the public space is enclosed within a glass box. Inside is the bathing facilities and a openair leisure pool. The structure is designed to simulate the overcasted lighting enviornment of a forest to create a scenery of bathing/swimming under trees. A strip of building along North Church street supports functions of the bath house. Other building strips facilitates different activities within the courtyard, with adaptation of modules these buildings are to be evolved through time with new 'plug-ins' for more functions. The external courtyard is opened up for relaxation and walks, with facilities for cycling. At night, it can become a performance space by projecting movies and images onto the walls of adjacent buildings. Trinity Sqaure will be transformed into a place of gathering. Not only gathering people, but also gathering cultural, commercial, business... and also a convinient place for city dwellers to retreat into a different enviornment. It is a leisure corner within the city towards a healthier city living style.

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The ephemeral organic language of the new birth centre flows through the existing hospital empowering the structure that has been abandoned for demolition. In sharp contrast to the monolithic and rational structural grid, the conversion aims to create an environment designed specifically for the emotional and physical comfort of the mothers and families who visit the centre regularly throughout pregnancy, birth and for postnatal recovery. The dialogue between the old and new is intended to reflect the relationship between an architecture that is domestically relaxing but institutionally competant.

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Despite the majority of births taking place in intimidating hospital rooms, birth is not a sickness. Hospitals have evolved from buildings based upon the healthy influences of daylight, fresh air and proximity to nature to huge machines founded upon technology. Loughborough's new birth centre aims to replace the planned sterile women's hospital nearby. This alternative will restore these first principles of healthy architecture whilst celebrating the miracle of birth, all within the historic fabric of a nineteenth century hospital.

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A healing garden of 'eden' in the south lit courtyard seeps along the inhabited garden wall spine in the form of embracing delivery pods into the central atrium that provides a navigational social space overlooked by shuttered rooms and balconies.

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Housing in the UK is dominated by a few mass house building companies providing a limited supply of limited choice. This project has attempted to address some of the problems associated with housing in the UK. The main issue addressed has been the question of sustainability in housing.

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The site forms part of a much larger housing estate and is one of the last plots to be developed. It is situated in Lichfield which is 15 miles north of Birmingham.

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In the past, sustainable housing has been aimed at making the houses themselves zero carbon emitters. However, in the average family’s carbon footprint only 1/3 of their carbon comes from the house itself. The rest comes from food and transport (1/3 each). This has been addressed by a communal ‘growing’ garden which has been designed to run through the middle of the scheme. This should help to provide fruit, herbs and vegetables throughout the year and reduce the residents’ food miles and consequently their carbon footprint. It also provides a place for ‘chance social encounters’ and will help to counteract the lack of community feel in a large number of new housing estates. The elevations of the dwelling also have the potential for plants (especially fruit and vegetables) to grow up them. This can help provide a sense of identity to individual housing which is often lacking in traditional housing estates and help with solar shading in the summer months. ��

The project asks a number of questions and seeks to find solutions to the problems inherent when a road cuts through an urban area: 1) If a road cuts through what was once a community, how do we cross the road? 2) If a road is elevated in part, what activity occurs underneath it? 3) How do we reconcile the conflict between the car user and the pedestrian?

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5) How do we create special places, out of left over and unconsidered spaces? The project deals with a section of city along the M32 in Bristol and attempts to re-stitch the urban grain and looks specifically at the two conditions of going over and under the road. It uses the vision of a creative quarter set within an urban park as a new insertion and structuring medium for this part of the city. It creates a reaction to the severing strip of the motorway by introducing additional strips and surfaces below, along and over the road which create connections and landscapes and define buildings along their routes. These strips provide an appropriate scale and context for the surrounding buildings, and their uses generate activity and a sense of place.

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4) How do we create an environment that is legible and able to be experienced by both those travelling at 60mph through a neighbourhood and local people travelling at walking pace?

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Why are we building in the present day with little attention to the past? Layers to the urban landscape are regularly sealed over, often trapping a layer of history below us. As we walk through the streets of Nottingham, hidden beneath our feet is a collection of over 400 manmade caves.

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By reintegrating the caves back into society a significant historical layer can be explored, creating a rich context to the city. If the caves were appropriately addressed the city would benefit from a historic structure that could create tourist opportunities for the city increasing its wealth and reputation.

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Nottingham sits on a large sandstone cliff that cut across the city. The site that I am using for my thesis is that of the Drury Hill caves underneath the Broadmarsh centre. Currently the Broadmarsh masks the cliff and potential of the caves. I am proposing to prise the large shopping centre away from the cliff opening up a canyon between the sandstone cliff and a new architecture that will be my proposed museum and archaeological centre. The museum will be a building for a city that sits as a subtle yet important reminder of the presence of the caves sitting beneath the city. The architecture will highlight the beautiful tactility of these dark forgotten spaces, playing on light and the process of hiding and revealing history through the way you view the sandstone cliff and caves. ��

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The Urban Sports Centre recognizes the need of the emerging popularity in playing activities in the city, providing a hub in a prominent location in Nottingham City Centre next to the railway station where Free-Runners and Skateboarders can practice freely.

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Circulation at ground level is free and open, encouraging visitors to enter the centre as well as skateboarders and free-runners leaving to explore the city with minimal physical boundries after practicing their new moves in a safe environment.

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By linking the roof tops of two existing buildings to the sixth level of the existing multi-storey car park, a large horizontal plane is formed to provide an elevated Urban Plaza for public use. At the back of the site there are affordable living units for both permanent residential use as well as short term rental (an alternative to the typical hotel). At the top level of the car park is the restaurant and bar with panoramic viewing of the city, taking full advantage of the site which has been largely unused previously.

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> The commodity of design The very name of our practice, the space* studio, suggests a fundamentally different approach to architecture than many more-traditional practices. We consider ‘space’ to be our commodity, a raw material which we manipulate to provide design solutions to our clients, just as a sculptor moulds clay or a blacksmith hammers metal. As such, our team is equally split between architecture and interior design expertise, and we make no distinction between the inside and outside. Therefore, in one sense we consider ourselves to be multi disciplinary. But what do we mean by multi disciplinary anyway? Perhaps architects should question their traditionally anxious view of it. In the truest sense of the phrase, it suggests that different people with different skills come together to achieve a common aim, certainly nothing wrong with that. Where architects often get nerv-

By Kevin W Singh RIBA Space studio

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ous is when other consultants start to tread on our toes and chip away at the services we have traditionally offered – for example where did the whole project manager thing come from?! Design is still the architect’s greatest asset and is something to be treasured and not given away by doing speculative projects. If we give our designs away what do we have left to offer? The emerging multi disciplinary context will mop up the pieces that’s for sure. What we have to do though as a profession is make sure that our design abilities reveal that we have had 7 years of design education, and that they are not comparable to, for example a Building Surveyor’s (they are skilled in other areas). The responsibility must be shared between Schools of Architecture pushing for a strong, contemporary, design agen-

da, and the students themselves when they enter the professional arena. Graduates must hold onto their wide-eyed aspirations and not be ‘dumbed-down’ by cynical colleagues, developers, planners, and other consultants. In this instance, the profession suffers but also you may start to ask yourself were all of those years, all-nighters, and debt really worth it? Fortunately we have been able to retain our design beliefs and ambitions. Most of our work is for end users who seek us out, meaning that we are very much in control of the design, design team, and procurement. Therefore, critically in a multi disciplinary context, we are able to choose the consultants we work with, which is often not the case in large commercially driven projects. We pick carefully, working with people who are prepared to contribute to our design beliefs and ambi-

tions, and therefore never feel under threat. Rather than multi-disciplinary, the most challenging aspect of modern day practice has to be legislation and regulations. Although often socially, morally, and practically hard to argue with, they do make the job of a designer harder and harder. We try and embrace these challenges and use them as opportunities by using such issues as design generators. It requires a different mindset to the one encouraged at University, but

satisfaction can be found in the detail and the logistical! However, as teachers of architecture ourselves we do not advocate a totally â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;realisticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environment for students, but rather one that encourages them to be thinkers and problem solvers, so when they hit real world problems they are able to take them in their stride.

Kevin W Singh RIBA is a co-founding director of the space* studio (*architects & designers), and is also the course director for the PG Diploma course at The Birmingham School of Architecture.

So, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support a multi disciplinary environment, but one where the architect is leading from the front with quality, aspirational design.

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> Masters Degrees The School runs a number of innovative taught postgraduate courses, including the well established and successful ‘MArch (Master of Architecture) in Design’. This 12 month programme offers the opportunity to concentrate on architectural design, humanities and technology to an advanced level, providing time for studio-based exploration and innovation across a broad range of projects, while also encouraging the development of sophisticated communication skills. Other specialised Masters courses offered by the School include: ‘MArch in Architectural Technology’: This programme focuses on the role of technology in contemporary architecture, providing insight into recent technological developments

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in the fields of structures, environmental control, energy optimisation, thermal and energy simulation and materials and construction. ‘MArch in Architectural Theory and Design’: This course explores the potential contribution to the design process of an advanced theoretical input, drawing upon knowledge from other disciplines and introducing a range of critical techniques from outside the traditional domain of architecture. ‘MArch in Architecture and Urban Design’: This course is grounded in an understanding of the past, the present and the pressures for future change to deliver well-designed places that put people first and make efficient use of available space and environmental resources. ‘MArch in Architecture and Computing’: This multi-disciplinary Masters

course is intended for practitioners in the building industry who wish to broaden their knowledge about the state-of-the-art in computer aided design, as well as for students who wish to pursue research careers in this area. ‘MA in Architecture and Critical Theory’: This interdisciplinary programme focuses on the interface between architectural theory and contemporary philosophy / cultural studies. In the Institute of Building Technology, the popular ’MSc in Renewable Energy and Architecture’ multi-disciplinary programme examines the integration of passive and active renewable energy systems into the fabric of buildings. Students are introduced to the use of simulation techniques and laboratory/engi-

neering methods for analysing environmental performance. The ‘MSc in Energy Conversion and Management’ has a strong emphasis on science, technology and engineering within the context of renewable & sustainable energy technologies in the built environment. It also uniquely provides effective management skills and an understanding of the current policies and regulations that are applicable at UK, EU and international level. Several of the design modules that are undertaken on the above Masters courses are shared with the Diploma in Architecture course. Fore more detail on these design modules, see the Diploma in Architecture section of the Year Book.

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Fieldtrips are a valuable part of the academic curriculum at Nottingham. A number of building / site visits (usually in the UK) are undertaken throughout the year in each year of the course â&#x20AC;&#x201C; usually tied into studio design projects. In addition overseas fieldtrips to study the architecture and culture of international locations have been taken, traditionally, as part of the Year 2, Year 5 and Masters Curriculums. In the academic year 2005/06, this was expanded to include a Year 1 overseas trip. The intention for future years is to open up fieldtrips for all years / courses. Destinations in the past 3 academic sessions have included: European Destinations: Amsterdam/Rotterdamm Athens Porto/Bilbao/Barcelona Berlin Paris Scandinavia Prague/Vienna Switzerland Verona/Venice/Florence Further aďŹ eld: Brazil Chicago Philadelphia New York Boston Shanghai Hong Kong Istambul

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> Fieldtrips Scandinavia Edimburgh paris Bilbao Chicago Los Angeles New York/Philadelphia Porto Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro

Amsterdam/Rotterdamm Berlin Prague/zagreb Switzerland Shanghai Hong Kong Athens/Istambul Venice/Florence/Rome Barcelona

> Overseas Study Opportunities

There are exciting opportunities to spend a semester studying abroad, usually at either Year 2 or Year 5 of the architecture course. The main facilitator of this is the Universitas 21 network, of which the University of Nottingham is a member. Universitas 21 (U21) is an international network of research intensive universities which fosters close collaboration on a wide range of projects and initiatives, including student exchanges. In the past five years students from the School of the Built Environment have spent a spring semester studying at one of the following overseas universities:

Australia / New Zealand: University of Melbourne University of New South Wales University of Queensland University of Auckland Asia: University of Hong Kong National University of Singapore

The School have recently signed a separate exchange agreement with Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, which will run alongside the U21 scheme from 2006/07. The School also receives students from other universities in Europe and worldwide for periods of up to a year.

USA / Canada: University of British Columbia McGill University University of Virginia

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> Rojkind Arquitectos How much control do you have over what you design? As much as I can!!!!â&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;Ś..it is no excuse that someone does a mediocre building just because he did not have total control. It is our jobs as architects to oversee the project until it is built as we designed it, and even if in the middle of the process some problems appear and there is a cut in budget we redesign to have the building that we want! There can be NO EXCUSE! (And no one is saying that it is easy)

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Is design compromised as a result of the increasingly multi disciplinary nature of architecture? There has always been an interdisciplinary process in architecture (even do in past years architects would keep the credits to their own office and it was not as recognized as now!) But I would say that it is in the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nature to compromise even if they are interdisciplinary. I have learned and am still learning that the more I collaborate the more tools I have to stand up for the right reasons in each project. It is like putting together your dream team, and choosing whom you want to those to be so that you never compromise and never stay short of what a project could be! Does the education of architects need to be encouraged to be more multidisciplinary or focused more on pure design?

The education of architects should be encouraged to act at REAL problems not utopic ideas in a class room, cities are facing real problems, and students need to learn to create strategies that involve a large group of actor that go from the private and public sector, to government, to communities, etcâ&#x20AC;Ś. each of these have a key role in each project and by putting together an interdisciplinary group of thinkers (THE BEST TEAM POSSIBLE) we can reach all of these actors to fully take on the complete understanding of a project, and react not with what we like but what needs to be done!!! Architecture does not happen by some client knocking on your door and asking for a house (or at least is has not happened to me) we are facing a time that we need to create diverse strategies that can ignite a series of projects that bring together different interests and benefit the city and its users! The more we are opened to collaboration, the more we are likely to never stop learning and see things in different perspectives! By Michel Rojkind Arquitecto Campos Eliseos # 432 COL. POLANCO MEXICO,D.F. 11560 t.(525) 5 280 83 96 / 52 80 85 21 f. (525) 5280 80 21 michel@rojkindarquitectos.com www.rojkindarquitectos.com

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> Tongue & Groove Handover Page What a year!! Biggest ball on record, break dancing socials and a lecture line up made up of the most successful practices in the country. Tongue and Groove has as always provided the students with opportunities to socialise outside of the course, broadening perceptions, upping the pace and contributing to the profile of the school.

Tongue and Groove wanted to contribute to this book inviting some of those speakers from the evening lecture series and that have a connection to Nottingham’s architectural education, to discuss the book’s theme. Here we can tie together student’s, professors and professional’s thoughts in a unified publication. So enjoy the story.

We hope that you enjoyed our evening lecture tour around the country, exposing up and coming regional firms, shifting the emphasis onwards from London’s dominance. Tongue and Groove felt it was important to introduce this theme of 4 corners of the country to highlight the exciting architectural communities around the UK. Virtually every speaker has commented on how good the atmosphere was at the weekly events, and as a result the lectures have been fantastic! As for the ball……… What a party. We had cowboys, Indians, gangsters and saloon girls drinking the night away playing on the casino, bucking bronco and vodka luge.

Good luck to all those graduating this year, and to those of you back next year enjoy the summer! Remember supporting a voluntarily run student society that is dedicated to you is so important, we hope you have enjoyed the results of all our hard work and good luck to the T&G 07/08 team!

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Lizzie Webster T&G 06/07: Lizzie, Bhav, Catherine, Joe, Jim, Shel, Fran, Al, Harsh, Lumby and Ref.

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> Structures & Construction Learning by Making One of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s structure and construction projects undertaken by 2nd Year BArch and MEng students was the design and construction of a timber podium for the exhibit! 07 end of year show. The year-long project was set in 3 phases. In the first phase students were grouped in 44 design teams and each team produced a scheme design and a 1:10 scale model of their design. The top eight designs where short listed for the 2nd phase where the students had to progress their design further to detailed design and build a 1:5 scale model. The best podium was selected from the excellent finalists shown. The full-scale version was built by the winning team with the collaboration of 1st year students and guidance from staff and technicians.

Winning Team: Anna Michael, Emily Thurlow, Nisha Vekaria and Charlotte Freeman Project directed By Mauro Overend, Lecturer

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I N V I T E

exhibit! 07 School of the Built Environment End of Year Show

Programme 5.30pm 6.00pm

Gather at the school quad

7.00pm

Opening Addresses by Deborah Saunt and Alistair Guthrie followed by Presentation of prizes

8.00pm

OfďŹ cial Exhibition Opening

8.30pm

Party with Live music and Refreshments

To be opened by distinguished architect

Deborah Saunt of DSDHA and eminent engineer

Professor Alistair Guthrie of Arup

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exhibition opening / prize ceremony / guest speakers / food, drinks & entertainment till late

exhibit! year 3 (ground floor) years 1, 2 & 5 (1st floor)

exhibit! LANE outdoor exhibition food pods

foo d

Welcome from Professor Brian Ford followed by Exhibition Preview

exhibit! year 6

exhibit! SHOW stage bar year book sale

pod

s bar

stage

School Layout 225 <

> Collaborative Agreements with Overseas Institutions Joint Awards School and School Contact

Summary of scheme

Award

Saffa Riffat Built Environment

Dual ownership, awards will be offered in each name.

MSc in Sustainable Building Technology

Tokyo Polytechnic University

Saffa Riffat Built Environment

Dual ownership, awards will be offered in each name.

MSc in Energy Conversion and Management MSc in Renewable Energy and Architecture

Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile

Guillermo Guzman Built Environment

Joint studies programme

MSc in Renewable Energy and Architecture MArch in Technology

Type of Course / Partner Xiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;an University of Architecture and Technology, China Xiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;an Jiaotong University, China Donghua University, China Harbin Institute of Technology, China Shandong Jianzhu University, China Southeast University, China Kyung Hee University, Korea Sudan University of Science and Technology; and Physical Environment Centre of Khartoum (PECK).

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> School of the Built Environment Staff List Academic Staff Ford, Brian Prof Stacey, Michael Prof Heath, Tim Prof Riffat, Saffa Prof Oc, Taner Prof Etheridge, David Dr Farmer, Graham Mr Gadi, Mohamed Dr Gan, Guohui Dr Gillott, Mark Dr Hale, Jonathan Mr Platt, Steven Dr Van Dessel, Steven Dr Wilson, Robin Dr Wood, Antony Mr Yan, Yuying Dr Altomonte, Sergio Boukhanouf, Rabah Dr Cooper, Ed Mr Guzman, Guillermo Mr Hall, Matthew Dr Hanks, Laura Dr Lau, Benson Mr Liu, Hao Dr Medjdoub, Benachir Dr Omer, Siddig Dr Overend, Mauro Dr Quek, Raymond Mr Riganti, Patrizia Dr Rutherford, Peter Dr Samant, Swinal Ms Starkey, Bradley Mr Su, Yuehong Dr Wu, Shenyi Dr Zhao, Xudong Dr Zhu, Jie Dr

Administrative Staff Head of School (IA) Chair in Architecture (IA) Chair in Architecture/Urban Design (IA) Chair in SET (IBT/ISET) Chair of Urban Design & Planning (IUP) Associate Professor (IBT/ISET) Associate Professor (IA) Associate Professor (IBT/ISET) Associate Professor (IBT/ISET) Associate Professor (IBT/ISET) Associate Professor (IA) Associate Professor (IA) Associate Professor (IA) Associate Professor (IBT/ISET) Associate Professor (IA) Associate Professor (IBT/ISET)

Heery, Allyson Dr. Amante-Roberts, Zeny Merrills, Angela Clews, Emma Dickinson, Steve Giberson, Helen Hardwidge, Claire O’Reilly, Kim Shaw, Lyn Theaker, Adrian Thomas, Robert Mike Fairclough Jamie Carter Robert Clarke Patrick Hodgkinson

School Manager Personal Assistant to Professor Riffat PA to Head of School Office Co-ordinator, Exams Secretary Accounts, Purchasing Secretary Secretary Admissions Secretary, Course structure and Module administrator Secretary Institute of Architecture Receptionist/Administrative Assistant Research Administration Manager IT Technician IT Technician Technical Services Supervisor Technician with key responsibility for the Model Workshop and Store

Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (Whitbybird) (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IA) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IBT/ISET) Lecturer (IBT/ISET)

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> Diploma Student Bursary Scheme During the academic year 2006-7 the School of the Built Environment at the University of Nottingham has established a student bursary scheme. The aim of this scheme to forge closer links between the school and practice whilst supporting selected students through the final stages of their education to become architects. The practices range is scale and approach, some are local and many practice architecture internationally, but all are committed to architectural education. Student Bursary The basic bursary offered by all practices in the scheme is £1000 per year for students undertaking fifth year and sixth year at the School of Built Environment, Nottingham. Each practice also offers employment during the summer vacation

between these two years. If the bursary recipient is successful in their studies and within the practice it is the intention of the practice to offer the bursary recipient a salaried position and support them through Part 3. For many practices the preferred starting point is to engage a Year Out student from Nottingham and then nominate them for a bursary at the end of their successful year out on their return to Nottingham. The scheme is also open to students joining the School of Built Environment to undertake their Diploma [Part2]. The specific offer of each practice may vary and will be made explicit during the application and interview process. Application forms are available at www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe. Scheme coordinated by Professor Michael Stacey.

Nine practices are part this partnership programme: BDP Benoys Grimshaws Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson Hopkins Architects Paul Davis & Partners PRP Architects Scott Brownrigg Westfield Design

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www.bdp.co.uk www.benoys.com www.grimshaw-architects.com www.hcd.co.uk www.hopkins.co.uk www.pauldavisandpartners.com www.prparchitects.co.uk www.scottbrownrigg.com www.westfield.com

Building Design Partnership (BDP) is a firm of professionals in building design, embracing all the skills needed to provide an integrated, comprehensive service. Our key disciplines are architecture, civil, structural and building services engineering; other professions include town planning and urbanism, transport planning, landscape architecture, interior, product and graphic design, lighting design, acoustics and sustainability. BDP has over 1000 people in the UK and Ireland, making the practice the largest architect-led firm in the UK. Turnover is about £68m per annum.

We have recently been short listed to design the new Media Centre at the heart of the 2012 Olympic games, which reﬂects our progressive approach to what we do and how we do it. After more than 170 years in business we have established a solid commercial portfolio with Clients who return to us again and again. By continuing to attract commissions for some of Britain’s most ambitious and high profile projects we are able to develop more diverse and challenging areas of expertise that makes us stand out from the crowd. If you are interested in sharing our vision for the future please get in touch.

Architectural Practice of the Year (Building Awards 2007) and winner of the Low Energy Building the Year (Sustainability Awards 2006), PRP is the UK’s most renowned practice specialising in residential design. Our 360 employees work in four offices in London, Surrey, Milton Keynes and Manchester to deliver projects across the UK as well as in Russia, Spain, France, Montenegro, Ukraine, China and India. We also design care homes, schools, health facilities, leisure complexes, mixed use and commercial buildings. We are accredited as an Investor in People and offer a unique learning and development programme to help staff develop their careers and skills at PRP.

Benoy is an international architectural practice specializing in regeneration and mixed use development. Our work takes us across the UK, Europe and further a field. With offices in Nottinghamshire, London, Hong Kong and India, Benoy has established a worldwide reputation for creative solutions, borne out of a real understanding of clients needs and responding with a fast moving, collaborative working style. We constantly seek input from all our designers, encouraging them to explore new ideas, use initiative and grasp responsibility. Benoy is a great environment for self-expression, fast learning and career building.

We are a well-established award winning international architectural practice with 130 staff in London plus 60 split between our New York and Melbourne offices. We work in many sectors including transport, the workplace, education, leisure and the arts. We care passionately about the craft of building. We also try to advocate the green agenda with our increasingly aware clients. Our growing New York and Melbourne offices are an integral part of our organisation, not separate worlds. By discussion placement in either location could form part of the year out experience should bursary students so wish.

An 80+ strong London-based practice with a national and international portfolio. The practice is well known for its skilful integration of new buildings within historic environments, and for its expertise in high-end residential, commercial and mixed-use projects. The firm’s long experience of designing award winning buildings and creating master plans for many of London’s historically important central areas has proved invaluable for developers seeking to create appropriate and sustainable new developments in historic cities around the world. Paul Davis + Partners is currently working on substantial projects in London, Japan, Hong Kong, St Petersburg and Italy.

Scott Brownrigg is an award winning architectural practice embracing Architects, specialist town planners, urban designers, masterplanners and interior designers. With lively office locations in London and Guildford we offer good salary and benefits with excellent careers prospects. We have a continuous learning programme and offer the opportunity to work on a wide range of design-led projects within a supportive and creative environment. Our active sports and social calendar includes a wide variety of events such as staff parties, sporting occasions and cultural opportunities.

Westfield is one of the leading retail development groups in the world. With assets of some £23 billion it’s behind some of the most exciting initiatives in the UK today. Working with the best architects from Michael Gabellini, to Martha Schwartz, Westfield is at the forefront of design innovation, and, with eight major development initiatives across the UK, including regeneration projects in Nottingham, Derby and Bradford, provides its people with the chance to work at the very cutting-edge of retail architecture.

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> Industrially sponsored studentship scheme The MSc in Energy Conversion & Management is an exciting and timely new course that covers all forms of energy conversion including renewable energy technologies, biomass & combustion, heating & cooling technologies, materials science and CHP systems. This coincides with the huge demand for young, highly trained engineers who have a strong enthusiasm for sustainability and the environment. The industrial studentships are sponsored by several market leading companies working in this field and are each worth £3,000 towards the tuition fee costs for the student. This also offers the unique opportunity for the student to work closely with the company sponsor over the Easter and summer periods on an individual dissertation project connected with the company’s current research & development activities. The scheme has proved highly successful amongst students and sponsors alike. For the 2006/2007 academic year these sponsor companies have awarded the following industrial studentships:

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‘The E.ON Studentship’ awarded to Amy Salisbury E.ON UK are part of the E.ON Group; the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas company. They are the UK’s largest integrated energy company, generating and distributing electricity, and retailing electricity and gas.

‘The ProLogis Studentship’ awarded to Jeff Fox ProLogis is the world’s largest owner, manager and developer of distribution facilities such as manufacturing plants, retail outlets and transportation complexes ‘The Kingspan Metlcon Studentship’ awarded to Trevor Keeling ‘The Kingspan Insulation Studentship’ awarded to Yang Xiao Kingspan Group plc is a building products business focused on establishing leading market positions by providing innovative construction systems and solutions with a global reach.

‘The Buro Happold Studentship’, awarded to Ruvini Dharmadasa A large UK-based consulting engineer company offering fully integrated structural, building services, infrastructure and environmental engineering solutions.

‘The Austin Company Studentship’ awarded to Victor Orts The Austin Company UK provide a broad range of Consulting, Design, Engineering, Management and Construction services, producing solutions for complex and challenging projects

‘The Brian Warwicker Studentship’ awarded to Matiwaza Ncube The Brian Warwicker Partnership PLC provides sustainable and intelligent awardwinning designs and innovative engineering consultancy solutions.

> Prizes Awarded at exhibit! 06 End of Year Show Prize Title

Awarded Student

The Dykes Associates 1st Year Design Award

Emma Matthews

The BDP 2nd Year Design Award

Stephen Hodgson

The Broadway Malyan 3rd Year Design Award

Yifan Liu

The E.ON UK BEng in Architectural Environment Engineering Award

Thomas Spalton

The Canal Engineering MEng in Architecture and Environmental Design Award

Aylin Ludwig

The Davis Langdon Architectural Studies Award

Clare Nugent

The Halsall Lloyd 5th Year Design Award

James Alexander

The NDSA (Notts & Derby Society of Architects) 6th Year Design Award

Rachel Harmer

The Simon K. Hegarty Award for Design Excellence at 6th Year

Julien McGuiness

The Benoy Masters Design Award

Qin Pang

The SCALA (Society of Chief Architects in Local Government) 3rd Year Student Travel Bursary

Laura Lockwood

The Richard Rogers Partnership Drawing / Presentation Award at Diploma / Masters level

Tim Boxford

The Franklin Ellis Drawing / Presentation Award at Undergraduate level

Emma Eagleton

The Beetham Architectural Structures & Construction Award at Undergraduate level

John Tim Robinson

The Carillion Architectural Structures & Construction Award at Diploma / Masters level

Paul Foster & Darran Oxley

The Arup Environmental Design Award

Simon Cantrell

The Marsh & Grochowski History & Theory Award

Amanda Taylor

The Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson Architectural Management & Practice Award

Weikai Gong

The CPMG Urban Design Award

Samantha Worrall

The Canary Wharf Tall Building Design Award

Nicholas Green & Matthew Hayhurst

The Djanogly City Academy Architectural Conservation Award

Gareth King

RIBA Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Medal Nominations

Awarded Student

Bronze Medal / Part I (Year 3)

Tim Robinson

Bronze Medal / Part I (Year 3)

Emma Eagleton

Silver Medal / Part II (Year 6)

Julien McGuiness

Silver Medal / Part II (Year 6)

Oscar Lawrence

Dissertation Medal

Clare Nugent

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> Prize list for exhibit! 07 end of year Show Prize

Sponsor

Contact

Best use of Timber

North East Timber Trade Association Prize

www.netta.org

Excellence in Urban Design

CPMG Architects

nick.gregory@cpmg-architects.com

Integration of Renewal Energy Technologies in Architecture

Stephen George and Partners

www.stephengeorge.co.uk

History and Theory

Institute of Architecture

www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe

1st Year Best Design Portfolio

Dykes Associates

www.dykesassociates.co.uk

2nd Year Best Design Portfolio

BDP

www.bdp.co.uk

Most creative integration of innovative environmental design (UG)

Scott Brownrigg

www.scottbrownrigg.com

3rd Year Best Design Portfolio

Westfield

www.westfield.com

Structures & Construction (Undergrad)

The Beetham Organisation

www.thebeethamorganization.com

Arup Environmental Design Prize

Arup

www.arup.com

Architectural Studies Prize

Institute of Architecture

www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe

3rd Year Student Travel Bursary

Soc. Chief Archts Local Gov.

www.scala.org.uk

BEng Best Portfolio

E.ON UK

www.eon-uk.com

Masters Best Design Portfolio

Benoys

www.benoy.com

Excellence in Architectural Research Methods

Cambridge Architectural Research and Michael Stacey Architects

www.carl.co.uk

Excellence in Component Based Architecture

Grimshaw

www.grimshaw-architects.com

Management & Practice

Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson

www.hcd.co.uk

Use of Computers in Design (Undergrad)

Paul Davis

www.pauldavisandpartners.com

Tall Building Design

Canary Wharf

www.canarywharf.com

5th Year Best Design Portfolio

Halsall Lloyd

www.hlpdesign.com

6th Year Best Design Portfolio

NDSA

www.ndsa.info

6th Year Design Innovation

Family of Simon Hegarty

Drawing / Presentation (Diploma / Masters)

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

www.rsh-p.com

Reid Architecture prize (confirm name)

Reid Architecture

www.reidarchitecture.com

Most creative integration of innovative environmental design (G)

Scott Brownrigg

www.scottbrownrigg.com

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The editor would like to specially thank the following people for their contribution in the production of this book: - Francesca Bailey and Lizzy Webster for their valuable time in the production of the book’s structure & theme. - Professor Michael Stacey - The School office - Course directors & module conveners for their contribution in the book’s contents - The practices that kindly accepted our invitation to write in this book - Pyramid Press - Jigsaw Systems - Alphagraphics for setting up the web based portal for collecting graduating student’s pages - My family for the patience and support during the endless nights of work in this book

Design Year Book 2007 The School of the Built Environment University Park Campus Nottingham NG7 2RD UK

Tel: 44 (0)1159514184 Fax: 44 (0)115 9513159 architecture@nottingham.ac.uk www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe