legacies of modernism
stage 3 studio design brief 2019 - 2020 leaders: elizabeth baldwin gray + james longfield
above: 1965 - Norgas House by Ryder and Yates. left: 1952 - Children exercising on the rooftop of UnitÊ d’habitation by Le Corbusier.
studio summary Our studio asks students to engage with the role of theory and idea as driving forces in the formation and realisation of an architectural project. To ground this endeavor, and catalyse your own theoretical position, you are asked to undertake a close reading of two key movements of 20th Century architecture; early European Modernism, and the later British manifestation of Brutalism, and contend with their legacies through a series of analytical and propositional spatial exercises. You will then address the contemporary relevance of these (im)possibly linked movements, either through a continuation of their conflicted emergences or by reactionary contrast. By studying and adopting the processes that created them, you will develop a spatial awareness of scale, volume, and projection, to push beyond standard notions of style into an understanding of the modern project. The studio will be supported by a field trip to seminal Le Corbusier buildings in France and a series of contested modernist buildings/sites around the North East.
elizabeth baldwin gray Elizabeth Baldwin Gray was appointed Teaching Fellow in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape at Newcastle University in August 2016. Before moving to the UK, Elizabeth worked for several international architecture practices in Manhattan and the Greater New York City area, including Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and Woods Bagot. At Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, she helped design the Abeno Harukas Tower in Osaka, currently the tallest tower in Japan; at RAMSA, two new Yale Residential Colleges; and at Woods Bagot, the Gramercy Square residential development in downtown Manhattan. Elizabeth received her M.Arch in 2008 from Yale University and completed an MA in Art History at the Courtauld Institute, University of London in 2017, focused on German modernism. She is currently working towards a PhD about conceptions of the Gothic in the early modern.
james longfield James Longfield is an architect, researcher and educator based in Newcastle. In 2017 he completed a PhD by creative practice in Architecture at Newcastle University. His design and research interests focus on the possibilities of architecture as a situated practice - where building site, design practice and social engagement intersect - most recently explored through his overlapping identities as resident, activist and amateur practitioner in the Byker redevelopment designed by Ralph Erskine. James’ projects also explore the intersections between housing design, public space, participatory practice and social networks and infrastructures and cover a broad range of scales from urban strategies and relationships to furniture scale interventions. He also draws enjoyment from making things and engaging with material culture and the practice of crafting detail, and this ethic of working directly with material informs and directs his design practice. James currently works at local practice Dixon Dawson.
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1965 - Norgas House, Killingworth by Ryder and Yates.
1967 - Engineering Research Station by Ryder and Yates.
studio description This studio asks you to combine academic research methods with architectural analysis and the creative design process. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of the emergence of early European modernism and the history of British Brutalism through key readings and careful architectural analysis of prime examples of each movement. By adopting a creative process that borrows from those used by the generators of early modernism and later brutalism, you will not only gain a truer appreciation for the spatial complexities and scalar variations of the work they produced, but also hone your own design thinking and skills.
De Stijl and artists like El Lissitzky into the generative process of conceptual architectural design, through model building and axonometric analytic drawing. The Primer will culminate in the declaration of a theoretical manifesto (comprised of written and visual material) that distills your understanding of the ideas engaged with through the readings and exercises. This approach will provide you with a set of theoretical critiques and spatial tools that will be utilised in the development of your own design propositions.
Modern architecture could be considered to constitute a radically altered approach to design that emerged in response to the rapidly industrialising nations of Europe in the early 20th Century. Artists and architects sought ways to respond to and embody a ‘new spirit’ of the age, defined by the impact of technological progression on the social domain. Popular criticism of modern architecture tends to focus on the prevailing images of an identifiable aesthetic, however through the studio we expect you to develop a sophisticated understanding of the spatial and social processes that underpinned the emergence of modern movements in their varying guises, and to contend with their differences and complementarities.
In Staging you will be required to draw on the tools and approaches established in the Primer to engage directly with precedent and site, firstly on our field trip to france and then by translating your spatial exercises into one of three sites in Newcastle’s city centre - which will become your site for the Realisation and Refinement phases.
primer
You will be expected to respond to the analytical and propositional site explorations of the Staging phase and the theoretical manifesto of the Primer to develop a scheme for a new civic school for one of the studio sites. In the design development we expect you to continue to work with the spatial approaches introduced earlier in the year.
During the Primer you will engage with a series of spatial exercises and associated theoretical readings to develop a personal familiarity with the modern design process, by merging abstract painting and the spatial constructions of
staging
By engaging with contemporary legacies of modernist ideas and construction in the North East, we expect you to establish a critical position that will feed into the generation of new design propositions for these locations. realisation + refinement
top: 1957 - ’An Exhibit’ by Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton.
left: 1953 - ’Parallel of Life and Art’ exhibition developed by the ‘Independent Group’ which consisted of the Smithsons, Nigel Henderson and Eduardo Paolozzi.
architecture theory An architectural-theoretical approach is crucial to the design thinking of this studio. We see architectural theory and a critical awareness of contemporary and historic design as integral to the design process, not as a later add-on confined to the limits of the history lecture or theory seminar room. Throughout the studio, you will sharpen your awareness and understanding of a range of architectural movements, some historic, some current. There were a series of confluences in thought and design that intersected and diverged across the Europe in the emerging modern movement that we will address, however this exploration will be anchored by a particular focus on the writings and buildings of Le Corbusier. The studio will also explore the relationship between art and architectural ideas in addressing space, drawings on the connections in terms of spatial exploration between these two modes of working. The relationship between the abstract axonometric paintings of Theo van Doesburg and Gerrit Rietveld’s Schröder House as a product of the De Stijl movement could offer a potential point of reflection and way of developing your own designs, while the influence of artistic composition on the design of Peterlee by Victor above: 1955 - ’Man Machine Motion’ by Richard Hamilton
Pasmore, or perhaps less directly, the relationship between Peter Yate’s paintings and the designs of Ryder + Yates will give you a contextural reference point for this exploration. We will also consider the tectonics of modernism. These tend to be misunderstood; perhaps even wilfully misappropriated. Phrases such as “form follows function” have become slogans used to justify the cost-saving measures of “value-engineering” and to increase the profit margins of developers in the contemporary economic condition. This studio challenges you to consider carefully what principles such as “honesty of materials” and “expression of construction” meant to the early modernists. What replaced the gilded ornament Adolf Loos likened to “crime”? Mies van der Rohe’s use of marble, onyx, and other forms of expensive stone imbued his designs with an aura of craft, as well as luxury, and include by their very nature the kind of imperfections and gradations of scale beloved by John Ruskin, William Morris, and the Weimar Bauhaus. Legacies of Modernism challenges you to make use of and demonstrate the layered traces of memory held within the materials and construction methods you choose to employ, whilst also questioning their contemporary applicability.
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1966 - Wallsend Library by Williamson, Faulkner Brown & Partners.
1963 - A model of Newcastle City Centre as imagined in the Newcastle Development Plan of 1963.
a northern modernism Following the devastation of two World Wars, the potential of modern architecture to enable and represent a renewed civic vision, technical purpose or social agenda was wholeheartedly taken up in the North East of England, most notably by infamous politician T. Dan Smith, who alongside Chief Planner Wilfred Burns prepared ambitious plans for the centre of Newcastle along modernist lines in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At the same time, local practice Ryder and Yates developed a strikingly regional expression of modernism, particularly influenced by Le Corbusier - with whom Peter Yates worked in Paris in the 1940s - and his five principles of modern architecture. Brutalism was never just an architectural style. It was a political aesthetic, an attitude, a weapon—dedicated to the precept that nothing was too good for ordinary people. After decades of neglect, its buildings are now either ‘eyesores’ or ‘icons’, fine for the Barbican’s stockbrokers but unacceptable for the people who were always its intended inhabitants.” Owen Hatherley, 2010.
references: The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic by Reyner Banham. Something Concrete + Modern: https://www. somethingconcreteandmodern.co.uk 20th Century Architects. Ryder + Yates by Rutter Carroll A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley. Graham Farmer. Project Brief. 2014.
The later emergence of the more muscular - yet as Hatherley notes - socially charged movement of Brutalism was positioned in part as a reaction to reduction of early modernism to a ‘mechanistic and technocratic’ functionalism that lacked acknowledgement of place and social milleu according to Peter and Alison Smithson. At the 10th CIAM conference the Smithsons gathered a group of younger architects, who later became known as Team 10, who developed these critiques through writing and building. As Graham Farmer outlines; ‘The intellectual origins and many of the finest built examples of Brutalism in the UK owe their origins to a group of architecture graduates from Newcastle University (then known as Kings College, Durham) during the 1940s. Brutalism’s most famed protagonists,
Alison and Peter Smithson met whilst studying architecture at Newcastle. Peter, who was older than Alison, shared a class with Gordon Ryder, both of whom later came to teach Alison and her classmate, Jack Lynn. The Smithsons moved to London in 1949 having won the competition for Hunstanton School, whilst Gordon Ryder left his post at the university to work for Lubetkin at Peterlee. However, competition entries from the early 1950s show similarities between the work of Alison and Peter and that of their Newcastle associates, Gordon Ryder and Jack Lynn, then working together. Indeed the subsequent design for the Park Hill flats in Sheffield (1957-1961) by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith with its revolutionary streets-in-the-sky, was said to be inspired directly by the Smithson’s un-built competition entry for the Golden Lane housing scheme in London.’ Our studio will address two specific sites of northern modernism, the New Towns of Peterlee and Killingworth. Designed to attract new industries and house their workers, the New Towns were an opportunity to bring together radically modern architecture with a new technological society, capturing many of the key aspects of the modern movement. Today, this legacy is mixed, with responses to their progressive architecture ranging from veneration and preservation to dereliction and demolition. However, as many of these buildings are being demolished or altered beyond repair, the ideas and spirit can be identified in a series of recent buildings across the U.K. such as the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield by David Chipperfield, Nottingham Contemporary and the Wallsall New Gallery by Caruso St John. In addressing your sites we encourage you to engage with the past ideas and manifestations of this movement but also with its recent legacies in these new constructions.
Newcastle: Brasilia of the North
left: 1968 - The Apollo Pavilion by Victor Pasmore. 1955 - Housing at Sunny Blunts estate Peterlee by the Peterlee Development Corporation and Victor Pasmore. far left: 1955 - Compositional exercises by Victor Pasmore. 1955 - The site plan of housing at Sunny Blunts showing the clustering of units within a rolling landscape.
The redevelopment of the city centre of Newcastle during the 1960s was seen as a way no only to modernise creating a new masterplan to rival and compliment the 19th Century Grainger town - but also to create a political statement, positioning Newcastle as a regional capital devolved from London and with social, political and trade ties with the nordic countries across the North Sea. T. Dan Smith promoted the idea of Newcastle as a Brasilia of the North, allegedly inviting such illuminaries of the modern movement as Le Corbusier and Arne Jacobsen to design schemes for Newcastle. Sir Basil Spence designed a number of buildings, as did modernist local practices such as Ryder and Yates and Faulkner Browns. Alongside, and connecting this new series of Modernist building, a network of interconnected walkways were established through the city centre with the intention of offering generous pedestrian friendly routes through the city away from the rush and roar of vehicular traffic. Today only disjointed fragments of these walkways remain, while the major motorway infrastructure carves a scar through the city centre further complicates All three sites in the city centre have links to residual modernist buildings. In your design process you should consider to what extent should these buildings be preserved, in what manner and how might your designs respond to their presence compositionally and materially. If they are not able to attract positive uses, should buildings be preseved as museum artifacts, or should they be replaced having come to the end of their useful life, and how might you address them in your new proposals?
references: Apollo Pavilion Website: http://www.apollopavilion.info Something Concrete + Modern: https://www. somethingconcreteandmodern.co.uk 20th Century Architects. Ryder + Yates by Rutter Carroll
above: 1974 - School of Engineering by Ryder + Yates at Killingworth.
Killingworth: something concrete + modern While we will not be directly drawing on it as a site, Killingworth New Town is a site worth visiting during the course of the year as it is an area of importance in terms of regional modern architecture. The new town was first proposed in 1959 by Northumberland County Council as a means of regenerating a former area of open cast coal mining, and it was developed in the 1960s under the guidance of Roy Gazzard who had been chief planner at Peterlee and was familiar with the work of Ryder + Yates. Ryder + Yates would subsequently design a series of commercial buildings across Killingworth for the Northern Gas Board, including their headquarters, Norgas House, The Gas Council’s Engineering Research Station, as well as their own office on a site adjacent to Norgas House. Many of these schemes were technologically and materially advanced, in keeping with their technical modernist aesthetic and approach to spatial configuration, with large spans and open plans spaces.
references: Something Concrete + Modern: https://www. somethingconcreteandmodern.co.uk 20th Century Architects. Ryder + Yates by Rutter Carroll
In 2013 Norgas House was demolished, making way for a banal housing development. In 2014 the neighbouring Ryder and Yates office was granted Grade II listing, making demolition more difficult, however, listing alone will not protect the building, and so new uses/extensions would be required to ensure its useful preservation.
Peterlee: an experiment in total environment The Peterlee Development Corporation was established in 1948 under the direction of A.V. Williams with the Russian modernist architect Berthold Lubetkin responsible for design. Lubetkin’s original ambitious master-plan for towering blocks of flats was rejected as unsuitable, given the geology of the area which had been weakened by mining works.
left: 1968 - The Apollo Pavilion by Victor Pasmore. 1955 - Housing at Sunny Blunts estate Peterlee by the Peterlee Development Corporation and Victor Pasmore. far left: 1955 - Compositional exercises by Victor Pasmore. 1955 - The site plan of housing at Sunny Blunts showing the clustering of units within a rolling landscape.
Lubetkin resigned in 1950 and new designs that drew inspiration from the low-rise Garden City principles were submitted by his replacement Grenfell Baines. Recognising that the project was losing momentum A.V. Williams also appointed Victor Pasmore as consulting director of urban design. Pasmore worked with architects Peter Daniel and Franc Dixon to develop the Sunny Blunts estate of 300 acres within Peterlee. Pasmore’s brief was to consider both housing and landscape as a total concept, to contribute to the aesthetics of the Town and help the architects ‘lift their eyes to a new horizon’. Working with the plan as an artistic composition of buildings within the landscape, the housing was arranged by laying out scaled wooden blocks on the workshop floor. Restricted in height to two storeys, the houses were clustered to achieve a compact, urban density in contrast with the stark, open landscape and back gardens were completely omitted allowing the landscape to permeate between the houses. On the edge of the estate, Pasmore designed an abstract sculpture of interlocking concrete forms inspired and named after the Apollo space missions, the Apollo Pavilion. Together, the buildings and facades of the houses can be read spatially in a manner similar to one of Pasmore’s installations.
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1923 - Proun room by El Lissitzky. ‘Project for the Affirmation of the New’
1965 - Abstract in Black and Natural Wood by Victor Pasmore.
1924 - Theo Van Doesburg Construction in Space Time II
1934 - Apartment and Studio in Immeuble Molitor by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.
1 : wk 3-7 spatial exercises
theoretical manifesto
The primer will focus on the modern design process, drawing on abstract painting and the spatial constructions of De Stijl and artists like El Lissitzky to inform the generative process of conceptual architectural design, through model building and axonometric analytic drawing.
In tandem with the spatial exercises we will be setting a series of critical texts and manifestos from key protagonists of the early modern movement.
requirements:
You will be expected to reflect on these texts and discuss them with the studio before developing a personal response in the form of a manifesto.
1x 20x20cm spatial model
week 1: Pick a Theo van Doesburg counter-construction and use it as the starting point for three 10cm x 10cm study models. week 2: With the help of your tutor, choose the most successful study model from the previous week and develop it into a 20cm x 20cm final model.
3x 10x10cm spatial models
1x 2D composite drawing of plan/section/axo representations of 20x20 model 1:1 detail model of an abstracted space theoretical manifesto that captures your response to the critical texts.
week 3: Develop 2D representations for your final model. Combine plan, section, elevation, and axonometric drawings and go beyond simply representing your final model literally. week 4: In groups, create your own Proun Room based on El Lissitzky’s famous work in four dimensions, a 1:1 recreation of moments of your final model as details interacting with the human scale. The Proun Rooms produced by the studio will serve as an exhibition for the Primer celebration.
key dates: 11/11 Primer Celebration
right: 1924 - Theo Van Doesburg Counter-Construction
exercise 1
spatial languages
materials + scale
Pick a piece of two-dimensional modern art which implies three dimensions and therefore architecture as your starting point. Specifically, you will choose one of Theo van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren’s De Stijl counterconstruction axonometrics and use it to generate three 10cm x 10cm study models. Your task is to capture in physical models what is being expressed in these drawings/ paintings on paper spatially. Each of your study models will demonstrate a variation on what is to be found in the original counter-construction.
You will incorporate three different spatial languages: grid, plane, and volume in your three study models reflecting the particular counter-construction you have chosen. While the original axonometric counter-constructions emphasise a planar language, they also imply a linear irregular grid which can be understood to extend infinitely into the space beyond. They also imply volumes as being held between the planes, which can be understood as extending infinitely into space. Part of your task is to capture the visible and part of your task is to capture the invisible, implied but not seen literally in the paintings.
Use materials that reflect the properties of the three different spatial languages noted above. Plane: white or grey card, balsa wood sheets Grid: balsa wood strips/sticks of varying thicknesses Volume: Foam or cast plaster or concrete Although there is no definite scale assigned, you will imply one within your model by the way you treat the material of your model counter-construction. You are encouraged to work with multiple scales at once within your sketch models and to create your own scale figures.
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1961 - Monastery of Sainte Marie de La Tourette, France by Le Corbusier.
1965 - UnitÊ d’habitation in Firminy, France.
1931 - Villa Savoye, Poissy, France by Le Corbusier.
1 : wk 8+9 precedents + field trip The field trip will visit Paris in France and will pursue a close focus on a number of buildings by Corbusier, alongside a collection of more contemporary precedents. A full itinerary of buildings and times will be circulated closer to the trip. Before and after the field trip, we will engage in thorough precedent studies, documenting the buildings in plan, section, elevation, axonometric, perspective, and with photographs, as well as diagrammatic analysis of the key Le Corbusier buildings we will visit in France, going beyond representation into critical exposition of ideas. Each diagram should focus on one idea.
requirements: Research into key precedents Analytical spatial models and drawings of key precedents
key dates:
You will be required to explore the following buildings:
25/11 - 29/11
Villa Savoye - Le Corbusier
Field Trip to France
Villa La Roche - Le Corbsier + Pierre Jeanneret
13/12
La Tourette - Le Corbusier
Field Trip Presentations
UnitÊ d’habitation, Firminy - Le Corbusier Church Saint-Pierre - Le Corbusier When we return, there will be a series of cross-studio presentations outlining the experiences of the field-trip, you will be required to collate your group research and choose a selection of photographs and drawings to articulate your findings to the wider year.
site 1: Laing Gallery
site 2: Pilgrim Street
site 3: Carliol Square
1 : wk 10-12 site selection + brief Following the Primer exercises culminating in the development of a 20x20cm model and series of 2D spatial drawings you will be required to translate these abstracted spatial compositions onto one of three sites within Newcastle‘s city centre. Through an iterative exploration and application of these models onto the site you will explore and test design potentials, analysing potential configurations on site through propositional means. In tandem you will be expected to develop our outline brief that asks you to develop a civic school that hosts diverse and flexible ways of learning to expand educational provision out to the wider population whilst expanding understandings of what practices constitute education - adult learning, vocational training + part time courses - in a multi-disciplinary manner. You will be expected to refine the narrative behind this new facility in order to develop it from a series of spaces into a coherent proposal for a social and atmospheric reality. We expect you to consider possible users, and to declare a position on the social/political structure of such a building that addresses questions of development, realisation, ownership and management - who will run it, is it a formalised organisation or a informal/semi-formal collection of groups/individuals.
information
requirements:
Your brief will include a set of spaces that facilitate access to and sharing of information, this may be high-tech through access to the internet, or low-tech such as skill shares or teaching spaces.
Analytical spatial models
production Your project needs to incorporate a series of spaces of production, such as studios or workshops, and could include aspects of ‘knowledge production’ including archive space, labs and library facilities. display The building should have a public programme. This should include a series of gallery and exhibition spaces, but could also comprise more ‘commercial’ types of space. public space The building needs to provide an external public space within the town. This should be landscaped as a part of your proposal, but you should think about how the programme of the building might occupy the public space during the year. performance/gathering The project needs to include a ‘gathering’ space, such as an auditorium, or lecture theatre, or something smaller for community groups to meet or make decisions.
Compositional section/plan/axo site analysis 3x 1/20 threshold models Detailed brief declaration key dates: 06/01 Staging Reviews
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1986 - Sketch detail for the Menil Collection Gallery by Renzo Piano. The detail considers natural and artificial lighting, and services, showing an awareness of the inhabited qualities the detail will generate.
2012 - A cast material exploration by Grafton Architects, presented at the Venice Biennale in 2012. The artifact expresses the spatial qualities and design concept for a campus for UTEC in Lima.
2 : wk 1-6 thinking through making week
brief - building
Thinking Through Making will be facilitated through a series of practitioner led workshops that run through the term and culminate in a week of making at the start of term. These workshops will give you the opportunity to work directly with a particular material to help you think about detailing and assembly.
During the realisation phase of your project you will be expected to develop your scheme on multiple fronts, using the process of iteration - a cycle of constant production, reproduction of your design elements and drawings - in order to move your design from concept to a refined and resolved declaration.
requirements:
Through the workshops and the TTMW, we expect to see you develop a series of spatial models that begin to address your chosen site and possible approaches to new interventions in it. These models should draw from your work in Primer and Staging to and offer an initial expression of your design ideas to provide a touchstone to guide the later development of design proposals.
This process will be aided by a Realisation Cross-Review where you will be asked to pin your work up for reflection by yourself, your peers and tutors from other studios.
Brief-building:
The models can either function at site scale, 1/200 or 1/500, or at the scale of room and detail, 1/10 or 1/5, or perhaps express ideas and possible opportunities at both scales.
In particular, during this period, we will have frequent studio pin-ups and small group tutorials in addition to individual tutorials. It is our experience that students learn as much from each other in the studio setting as they do from the studio leaders and external reviewers. It is our hope that these studio pin-ups will encourage an atmosphere amongst the members of the studio of encouragement, dialogue, and even (diplomatic, tactful, and kind) debate about design.
TTMW: A series of spatial models that explore possible responses to your chosen site at strategic and detailed scale.
Weekly iterations of your designs drawing on the spatial exercises established earlier in the year. key dates: 27/01 - 02/02 Thinking Through Making activities 02/03 Realisation Reviews 16/03 Technical Reviews
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1952 - Proposals for new housing at Golden Land, London by Peter and Alison Smithson.
1960 - Sectional drawing of Monastery of Sainte Marie de La Tourette by Le Corbusier
2 : wk 7-12 requirements:
representation + final review In preparing your final drawings and presentation, we encourage you to look at the modes of representation we have engaged with through the year to ensure that there is a clear relationship between the ideas of the project and the mode of representation that you employ. Develop a critical perspective on the articulation of information and the best means of its expression.
These requirements are an outline guide. We expect emphasis to be placed on producing a few key drawings + models which best articulate your designs, supported by a broader range of drawings and material to be presented at A3. Extensive process information + background analysis of site, programme and materiality + key precedents and ideas. Primer explorations + manifesto
Often, each drawing will tell us about a different element of the scheme - no drawing is totalising in its declaration therefore you need to consider what each drawing is saying that is unique and how all the different drawings can also be read in a coherent fashion to represent a singular design.
Site plan
We expect to see a clear declaration of your design as well as process throughout the year, including the full range of spatial experiments and axonometric studies that your have developed.
Building plans 1/200 or 1/100
In anticipation of the portfolio you should be looking to present your work in a carefully considered way, paying greater attention to a few key drawings or fragments which express the narrative, programme, materiality and siting of your building best. These key pieces should be supported by a broader set of drawings which express the design in a rigourous way, presented at A3 to be included in the portfolio.
Site sections Models and axonometric explorations at a range of scales
Building section at a 1/100 or 1/50 through key spaces Inhabited detail at 1/20 Perspective views and atmospheric studies key dates: 11-12/05 Final Reviews 22/05 Portfolio Submission
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‘The Small Pleasures of Life’ by Peter and Alison Smithson outlining key moments of inhabitation in a domestic setting.
1948 - Drawing of the environmental principles of the Unité d’habitation by Le Corbusier.
tectonic
assessment + studio criteria
readings
Our studio will focus on three tectonic themes:
The two ‘Studio Specific Criteria’ are:
inhabited detail
theory - design
Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1927.
In their drawing, ‘The Small Pleasures of Life’, the Smithsons explore spatial arrangements that create key moments of inhabitiation related to daily activities. Taking inspiration from this approach, we expect you to demonstrate how a technical assembly of materials can create such a moment of inhabitiation in your design at 1/20 scale.
Our studio is centrally interested in the influence of theoretical ideas and approaches on the design process and its outcomes. Accordingly, we will be looking to see this relationship in your own work. We will be asking to what extent you have engaged critically and understood the ideas of the readings and precedents we have set, and we expect to see a clear connection between you position on this content and your own design process and declarations.
theoretical detail
Le Corbusier. The Modulor: A Harmonious Measure to the Human Scale Universally Applicable to Architecture and Mechanics. London: Faber and Faber, 1948. Ulrich Conrads, ed. Programs and Manifestos on 20thCentury Architecture. Boston: MIT Press, 1970. Alan Colquhoun. Modern Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
In the technical strategy and detailed resolution of your scheme, we expect to see a demonstration of how your critical reading of modernist ideas are reflected in the material approach. Your proposals should address ideas of material economy, philosopies of construction and environmental sustainability
In Primer this will focus more on the theory side, and how well you have grasped the spatial exercises, while in the Realisation phase we will be looking at its influences on your own design.
Rutter Carroll. 20th Century Architects. Ryder + Yates. London: RIBA Publishing.
spatial experimentation
Beatrice Colomina. Battle Lines. E.1027.
legacy
Throughout the studio we expect you to be ambitious in your approach to spatial experimentation through the production of models, sketches and drawings. Initially this will be informed by the spatial exercises we set, however as the project develops we will be looking to see how well you take control of these tools to develop new spatial propositions.
Reyner Banham. The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation
We will also be interrogating how your technical approach intersects and engages with the existing stuctures and materials of the site, with a particular interest in junctions between old and new.
Reyner Banham. The New Brutalism. AR 1955.
Colin Robson, Sam Gathercole. An Experiment in Total Environment: Pasmore and Paterson in Peterlee. Owen Hatherley. The New Ruins of Great Britain. London: Verso Books.