Head of School

Chloe Street Tarbatt

I’m very proud to introduce our end of year show, curated and produced – as alwaysby the students themselves.

KSAP is a very special school, occupying a picturesque location in the Garden of England, overlooking the World Heritage City of Canterbury. It’s a beautiful campus with amazing facilities and offers the perfect setting within which to nurture our students, equipping them with the architectural sensitivities, tools and skillsets they will need to achieve their mission to become the future designers of great places, environments, and experiences in their future careers.

We are committed to the potential for architecture and design to help shape a better world; embedding social justice and sustainability through ethical design solutions and enabling our students to realise their own potential. We pride ourselves in helping our students to discover themselves and develop their own distinctive design oeuvre; providing the core academic, professional and technical skills that enable them to flourish as confident professionals. An understanding of the fourth dimension (time) and experiential design, is increasingly important in our fast-paced, blended contemporary age, and creative ways of mapping and representing 4D solutions are ever more evident in our student work this year.

Real-world experience is central to developing an understanding of the contemporary context that designers work within, and the complex political and economic structures that designers must navigate to achieve successful outcomes. As such, we are committed to using ‘Live Projects’ on our programmes, offering students exposure to real clients and stakeholders, while simultaneously allowing the potential to contribute to live debates and commissions. Through these, we tap into the rich regional context of Kent and have developed fruitful partnerships with Local Authorities and public institutions including; Medway, Swale, Thanet, Dover and Canterbury.

Our students have fully engaged with the challenges of these projects, and there are some fantastic design proposals on the walls this year, which also offer creative inspiration and tangible value to our regional partners:

• Our Stage 3 Architecture BA students have been working with Medway Council on a High Street Action Zone funded project at Intra Historic High Street in Chatham, culminating in a public event, publication and exhibition.

• Our Stage 2 Architecture BA students have worked with local stakeholders on a ‘Live’ waterside residential project in Sittingbourne.

• Our Graphic Design BA students have been liaising with Maison Dieu in Dover, culminating in a public exhibition of their work on site.

• Our Spatial Interior Design BA students have had the opportunity to operate as curators of the ‘Lovely World’ exhibition organised by Swale Friends of the Earth in Faversham, alongside local schools, businesses and charities.

• Students on our MSc in Conservation have enjoyed working with the Land Trust and consultants for Fort Burgoyne, near Dover.

• Students on our MSc in Sustainable Environments have been designing a flood responsive and sustainable community centre for a riverside site in Canterbury city centre.

Our capable and committed KSAP team have had a particularly busy academic year 2022/23; it’s not possible to mention everyone by name here but a massive thanks are due to all academic colleagues, professional service and technical support teams for helping us ‘move mountains’ in achieving our collective vision of a growing multidisciplinary architecture and design school; our expanding remit will be confirmed with a school name-change for 2023/24 (watch this space):

• In January 2023, the RIBA Visiting Board confirmed unconditional full validation for our Part 3 Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Practice Programme until 2026. Many thanks due to our PG Dip Programme Director, Peter Wislocki, for leading us to a successful outcome.

• Our new Graphic Design BA and Spatial Interior Design BA programmes have now completed their second years and are growing successfully under the directorships of Dr. Kate McLean and Jerome Tsui respectively. There is great interest from prospective students to join our third cohort, and we look forward to our first students graduating from these design-based BA programmes next summer 2024.

• Our MA in Urban Planning and Resilience led by Prof. Samer Bagaeen has received terrific input from regional Local Authorities and SELEP in support of our quest for RTPI accreditation. We anticipate this important programme growing significantly over the next few years to help support the planning sector with necessary upskilling.

• Dr. Ambrose Gillick has taken on Course Lead role for the MArch Architecture Part II and has been developing a new theme-based approach for 2023/24 delivery.

• In line with the shift to flexible and affordable models for HE, Peter Wislocki has led on development of our Higher Degree Apprenticeship programme combining RIBA Part II and Part III Architecture qualifications, due to start in January 2024.

• We’re setting up an ‘Architecture and Design Foundation Programme’ (Integrated Year 0) to support widening entry routes to our three BA programmes: Tim Meacham and Michael Richards have been developing this enticing new multisensory, craft-focused programme.

• Our ‘KSAP Graduate School’ is expanding under the directorship of Prof. Henrik Schoenefeldt, with a growing interest evident in our post-graduate taught programmes, which offer crucial skill sets for an increasingly consultancy-focused sector and benefit from research-led teaching and expertise.

• Our Director of Research, Dr. Silvio Caputo, is setting up a new Divisional Research Centre for the ‘Sustainable Built Environment’ providing an expanded base to support our globally renowned scholarly research across the spectrum of sustainability, heritage and culture.

Finally, we are really delighted to have been awarded £1million of internal funding from the University to upgrade and extend our studio spaces in the Marlowe Building. In September 2022 we appointed a well-known and esteemed architecture practice ‘Sam Jacob Studio’ who have undertaken an extensive period of consultation with KSAP staff and students to develop a distinctive design for our new studios using innovative sustainable materials. We look forward to opening the doors to our students in September 2023, and to our School’s creative studio culture flourishing within this carefully tailored environment at the heart of our picturesque green campus.

Chloe Street Tarbatt ARB, FHEA, Senior Lecturer and KSAP Head of School

Yours sincerely,

‘Public Exhibition of MArch Unit 1 student design proposals on the ‘Live Project’ for regenerating Chatham Intra High Street. Sun Pier House, Chatham, September 2022’

‘Stage 1 Presentations of portable shelters for the Folio module. Eliot College central hall, October 2022’

‘Chatham Intra Placemaking Symposium, co-organised with Medway Council and Historic England. St John’s Church, Chatham, November 2022’

First, we would like to congratulate every student for everything they have achieved this year through all the amazing projects created across all the year groups, as showcased proudly in this catalogue.

This year represented a new start for the society, coming out of a dormant state halfway through the year. In order to include the new Graphic Design and Spatial and Interior Design courses, we have added the letter D to the name. Kent Architecture and Design Students’ Association. Turning a new page, we also took this as an opportunity to rebrand the society and offer a new look for the catalogue (along with matching merchandise).

We had some memorable moments this year, such as the relaunch party and a fun pub quiz at K-Bar. And to wrap up this academic year, we are looking forward to the KADSA Summer Ball!

Thank you to all of the enthusiastic students who helped to get the ball rolling with the society and helped us set up a structure for the next cohort. And thank you to the hard workers that lent their time and effort to make this catalogue happen.

Raimonds Baukerts and Marcus Chik KADSA Co-Presidents 2022/23