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Welcome to the Bartlett School of Architecture. Another extraordinary year has come to an end with a remarkably varied production of drawings, models, installations and text — a clear demonstration of what the Bartlett is so well know for: boundless creativity and inventiveness, critical rigour and prolific productivity. This year’s busy timetable was highlighted by a number of public events that reflect the vitality of the School: the annual PhD Research Projects conference; the RIBA Climate Change Lecture Series; Sexuate Subjects: Politics, Poetics and Ethics — an international interdisciplinary conference that took place across UCL; and Fabricate — the School’s peer-reviewed international conference focused on digital fabrication. All this happened along with our well-celebrated Bartlett International Lecture Series, which hosted over 30 international speakers. Academically, the School enjoyed a period of introspective thinking due to an Internal Quality Review and a successful RIBA visit. Simultaneously, the appointment of the new Bartlett Professor of Architecture reflects a new phase of forward thinking, growth and new ambition for the future. The School today offers students a mix of experience in design, innovative technology, manufacturing, professional studies, urban design and history and theory. This range of approaches allows for the individual development of students through interdisciplinary and collaborative work and fosters an understanding of the responsibility to contribute to the more social and environmentally aware role of the architect. Students are embracing global cultural and social themes more than ever before and are considering real changes in our world when designing and producing their work. At the same time our students are developing technical skills in new and emerging technologies, especially in the fields of digital fabrication and environmental design, this allows the students to embrace innovative practices in architecture. Bartlett students are increasingly more participatory both in the life and the running of the School and elsewhere in the wider community. Students are also pro-active in joining the profession through a more diversified range of careers in architecture. We would like to express our gratitude to all our staff and students for their dedicated efforts to realising this year’s Summer Show and ensuring its success. We would also like to thank our critics and examiners, along with our sponsors for their remarkable contributions to the School. As always, it has been an extraordinary privilege to work with you all.
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Professor Frédéric Migayrou Bartlett Professor of Architecture Dr. Marcos Cruz Director of the School of Architecture
CONTENTS
6 Prizes 9 Sponsors
17 BSc Architecture
18
BSc Architecture Year 1
24
BSc Architecture Unit 1
30
BSc Architecture Unit 2
36
BSc Architecture Unit 3
42
BSc Architecture Unit 4
48
BSc Architecture Unit 5
54
BSc Architecture Unit 6
60
BSc Architecture Unit 7
66
BSc Architecture Unit 8
72
BSc Architecture Unit 9
78
BSc Architectural Studies
Project X
Dissertation
84 MArch | MA | PCAAR | MPhil/PhD
86
MArch Architecture Unit 10
92
MArch Architecture Unit 11
98
MArch Architecture Unit 12
104
MArch Architecture Unit 14
110
MArch Architecture Unit 15
116
MArch Architecture Unit 16
122
MArch Architecture Unit 17
128
MArch Architecture Unit 20
134
MArch Architecture Unit 21
140
MArch Architecture Unit 22
146
MArch Architecture Unit 23
152
MArch Architecture Year 5 Thesis
154
Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Architectural Research
156
MArch Graduate Architectural Design
162
MArch Urban Design
168
MA Architectural History
170
MPhil/PhD Architectural Design
172
MPhil/PhD Architectural History & Theory
177 Professional Studies | History & Theory | Technology 179
Professional Studies & Part 3
180
History & Theory
181
Technology
184
Summer School
187
Bartlett International Lecture Series
188
DMC London
191
Staff
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The Bartlett School of Architecture would like to thank Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for their generous support of this year’s catalogue.
P ri ze s
PRIZES Summer Show The Summer Show Opener’s Prize, selected by Itsuko Hasegawa. Awarded at the opening of the Summer Show
BSc Architecture Year 1 Bartlett Sessional Prize for ‘good Honours standard’ work Chiara Barrett Joshua Stevenson-Brown Chengqi Wan
BSc Architecture Year 3 Donaldson Medal for ‘distinguished work’ Charlotte Reynolds Environmental Design Prize for ‘distinguished work in the integration of engineering and architectural principles in Environmental Design’ Charlotte Reynolds Fitzroy Robinson Drawing Prize for ‘best drawings or models in the year’
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Charlotte Reynolds Sandra Youkhana History & Theory Prize for ‘distinguished work in History and Theory’ Arub Saqib Jonathan Holmes Making Building Award Alastair Brownings Professional Studies Prize for ‘distinguished work in Professional Studies’ Max Dowd Narinder Sagoo Drawing Prize Brooke Lin Dean’s List for ‘students achieving a first class degree’ Charles Blanchard Alistair Browning Naomi Gibson Tess Martin Nicholas Masterton Charlotte Reynolds Emma Swarbrick Nada Tayeb William Tweddel Sandra Youkhana
MArch Architecture Year 4 History & Theory Prize for ‘distinguished work in History and Theory’ Sinan Pirie Leverhulme Trust Bursary Negin Ghorbani-Moghaddam
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Bursary William Fisher
MArch Architecture Year 5 Ambrose Poynter Prize for ‘distinguished work in the Diploma Thesis’ Aleksandrina Rizova Fitzroy Robinson Drawing Prize for ‘best drawings in the year’ Michael Dean (Hand Drawing) Jonathan Gales (Digital Drawing) Sir Banister Fletcher Medal for ‘highest marks in Diploma in Architecture final examination’ Christopher Lees Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Bursary Rina Kukaj Merit in Thesis Sarah Alfraih Steven Baumann Richard Beckett Elia Costa James Crick Matthew Eberhard Fernanda Fiuza Brito Thomas Jones Christopher Lees Emma Matthews Hugh McEwen Ammar Mirjan
Justin Randle Aleksandrina Rizova Anthony Staples Daniel Tassel Emma Tubbs Kin Yeung Dean’s List for ‘students achieving a Distinction in Design’ Steven Baumann Michael Dean Costa Elia Fernanda Fiuza Brito Jonathan Gales Omar Ghazal Meor Mohd Kamarul Bahrin Haris Rina Kukaj Adam J Lansdown-Bridge Christopher Lees Paul Legon Na Li Emma Matthews Paul Nicholls James Palmer Justin Randle Aleksandrina Rizova Asako Sengoku Gregory Skinner Catrina Stewart Erika Suzuki Daniel Tassell Kibwe Tavares Boon Teo Spencer Treacy Jen Feng Wang Georgina Ward Kin Bong Yeung Richard Young
P ri ze s
Professional Studies Part 3 Ross Jamieson Memorial Prize Ian Hazard Jasminder Sohi
MArch Graduate Architectural Design Distinction Johannes Muentinga Juan Oyarbide Pascual Yin Zhou
MArch Urban Design Distinction Olga Banchikova Daniel Comerford Lok Liang Francesca Pintus Yun Wang Silu Yang
MA Architectural History Distinction Gabriela García de Cortazar Miriam Delaney Claudio Leoni Guiomar Martin Dominguez Nathan Moore Sophie Read
MPhil/PhD Architectural Design
MPhil/PhD Architectural History & Theory
AHRC Doctoral Award Emma Cheatle Polly Gould Sophie Handler Ben Sweeting Neil Wenman
AHRC Doctoral Award Wesley Aelbrecht Nicholas Beech Edward Denison Anne Hultzsch Torsten Lange Jacob Paskins Nina Vollenbroker
Bonnart-Braunthal Scholarship Mohamad Hafeda EPSRC Doctoral Award Rachel Armstrong Ruairi Glynn IKY Scholarship Christiana Ioannou Christos Papastergiou Onassis Foundation Scholarship Adam Adamis UCL Overseas Research Scholarship Katherine Bash Igor Marjanovic UCL Overseas Research Scholarship Alessandro Ayuso UCL Global Excellence Graduate Scholarship Polly Gould UCL Graduate Research Scholarship David Roberts
LKE Ozolins/RIBA Studentship Anne Hultzsch UCL Overseas Research Scholarship Lea-Catherine Szacka Thomas-Bernard Kenniff Brent Pilkey Royal Thai Government Scholarship Pinai Sirikiatikul Taiwanese Government Scholarship Yi-Chih Huang Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia PhD Research Grant (Portugal) Ricardo Agarez Colciencias (Colombia) Maria del Pilar Sanchez Beltran
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The Bartlett School of Architecture would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support Bartlett International Lecture Series Fletcher Priest Trust Bursaries Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners The Leverhulme Trust • Summer Show Grand Supporter 2011 Foster + Partners Summer Show Catalogue Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Supporters of the Summer Show BDP NBBJ Private Reception HW Lee Associates LLP Adrem Rogues & Vagabonds Adrem Additional Sponsors Mace John McAslan + Partners Arup
The Bartlett School of Architecture would like to thank Foster + Partners for their generous support of this year’s Summer Show.
BSc Architecture —
BS c A rc h Ye a r 1 Frosso Pimenides, Patrick Weber, Margaret Bursa, Johan Hybschmann, Lucy Leonard, Karl Normanton, Brian O’Reilly, Gill Scampton, Nikolas Travasaros
(RE)MAKING SOANE An introduction to (an) ARCHITECTURE (School) The Bartlett’s BSc degree programme aims to develop a creative, diverse and rigorous approach to architecture and design from the outset. Year 1 is centred on the design studio and is taught to the year as a whole. Students learn to observe, draw, model and design, through a series of creative tasks before embarking on an individual small building project sited in the context of London. The main intention of the first year at the Bartlett is to explore ‘ways of seeing’ — understanding and interpreting objects/events/places and learning to p. 1 8
look beyond the visible into the unseen and ‘absurd’ qualities of things and places. In this way, a place can also be seen as something with its own identity, which each student can personally interpret. The importance of ‘character’ and ‘personality’ is emphasised throughout the design process whether it concerns analysis, site interpretation or architectural vision. A number of recording techniques are used as a way of clarifying the subject rather than as purely graphic representation. Through being aware of the possibilities and limitations of various techniques, each student is learning to express and then develop critically and appropriately, through their own intuition, an idea for an architectural proposition.
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In the first year architecture is explored individually through cultivating ideas, exploring imagination and nurturing curiosity. Students explore, describe and communicate their ideas through a range of two- and three- dimensional techniques. The aim is to be serious, passionate and ruthlessly experimental — always pushing the boundaries of possible realities. Being open and naïve in their working method, students are encouraged to take risks — not being afraid of making mistakes forms the basis of the approach as they often form the basis of a new idea, a different way to see the world around them. It is the path to new possible architectures. Students started their year with an initial set of projects centring on
each student’s passage to London and the adjustments made in their personal life during this transitional period. This was followed by a collective group installation set in front of Sir John Soane’s Country House Pitshanger Manor in Ealing. After that students embarked on a one-week study trip to Porto and the Douro region, exploring the social and cultural topography of the city. These projects form the basis for each student’s personal building project set around the Vauxhall area in London – the original site of Tradencant’s Ark, the first Curiosity Cabinet and museum open to the public in London.
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Previous Spread: Fig. Y1.1 Year 1 Installation in front of Pitshanger Manor House in Ealing. This Spread: Fig. Y1.2 Loggia: The Alignment Cabinet. The installation links the loggia at the Sir John Soane Museum and Pitshanger Manor House. It does this by aligning certain parts towards the Museum at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The steps and the door are directed towards the Loggia and raised by 400mm to elevate the viewer to the level of the raised ground floor of Pitshanger Manor. Fig. Y1.3 Crypt: A Soane Passage. The Crypt is a play on light and darkness, confinement and openness. Entering the space evokes feelings of confinement and anxiety. The central area is taken up by Pharaoh Seti’s sarcophargus. From here looking up feels like being immersed in Soane’s fragments with the space caving in giving you controlled glimpses
up and through the rest of the museum. Fig. Y1.4 Soane’s Dressing Room: In Sir John Soane’s dressing room, getting dressed is not necessarily the prime objective; situated behind the study, Soane’s obsession with theatre shines through. The room appears as a corridor from outside, and would have visitors believe that he emerges the perfect scholar from his study, however, when inside, the room evolves: Ceilings look like walls, skylights function like windows, and windows act as walls. Following the movements of Soane’s dressing process, the observer will see both the views seen by Soane in his same routine, and parts of Pitshanger Manor that echo Soane’s collections. Fig. Y1.5 Soane’s Study: The study in the Soane Museum is a passage with a desk; the installation is a desk with a passage. The structure is an outdoor cabinet of curiosities. The fragments inside the wall of the cabinet move to align with the facade of Pitshanger as soon as the viewer pulls
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Sir John Soane’s GHOSTS When the architect Sir John Soane died in 1837 he left his house and office to the nation. The Soane Museum in London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields is a rich curiosity cabinet and an inspirational resource giving us an insight into the mind of one of most original British architects. It is not only a family house preserved as a museum — it represents a testing ground for the manipulation of public and private spaces, still filled with his IDEAS and his SPIRIT. Right from the p. 2 0
start Soane used the house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields as an architecture school, an office, a social venue in London, and a treasure chest holding his memories and artefacts of his travels. For the last three years the Sir John Soane Museum and Soane’s country house Pitshanger Manor in Ealing have been continuing his legacy by collaborating with the First Year Course. This year the groups followed the idea of ‘Soane’s Ghost’ through the echoing of a series of ‘rooms’ placed on the foreground of Pitshanger.
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out the desk to begin writing. The movements of the pen are connected to these fragments which controlled by the viewer individually turn depending on the turning of the pen. The movement of the pen is amplified by the movement of the fragments, which results in a projection of these rearranging fragments onto the facade of Pitshanger Manor.
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INSTALLATIONS – Adjusted Space Architectural ideas and qualities can’t be fully experienced solely through a set of plans, sections and elevations. They can only be fully tested and explored through the actual construction of a one-to-one space. Installations can only exist in dialogue with an existing site, a specific place or a special situation. Architects often use installations to test out new ideas. Their temporary nature offers freedom to experiment with a new understanding of space, different
uses of materials, and ultimately with the actual processes of making and crafting. Installations are not buildings as such — they should be understood as temporary structures adjusting a given place. In order to adjust a place you need to read, understand and interpret it from the social, urban, historical and cultural context. This context is the datum and reference between ideas and the crafting.
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BS c A rc h Ye a r 1 The value of MAKING When Richard Serra drew up his ‘Verb List Compilation: Actions to Relate to Oneself’ in 1967/68 he demonstrated that all objects are the result of actions on materials. A potential success of a project rests on one (or more) of these pre-determined actions: ‘to roll, to crease, to fold, to store, to bend, to shorten, to twist, to dapple, to crumple, to shave, to tear, to chip, to split, to cut, to sever, to drop, to remove, to simplify, to differ, to disarrange, to open, to mix, to splash, to knot, to spill, to droop, to flow, to curve, to lift, to inlay…’ Students joining the Year 1 course have very little past experience with real processes of making and manufacturing. They have the luxury of being naïve and unrestricted of what might be possible. Limitations are discovered and often broken rather than used as an excuse for not trying. Experimentation is at the very heart of the installation project. Right from the beginning a group of students are introduced to the idea that mind and hand should work in parallel to explore and test ideas. Architecture should not just be dreamed up on paper and put into the real world by a group of builders following a set of instructions in the form of plans, sections and elevations. In the context of our installation project students are encouraged to challenge preconceived conventions about what materials should be used and how they are appropriated. This freedom allows them to investigate and invent new possible realities instead of conforming to established real possibilities. p. 2 2
In this project students learn to get to grips with the scale of reality. They use the historical, cultural, and social as well as their own personal context as a departure point for their project. In the end it is down to the alchemy of the joy of making of things with their own hand, the learning of the necessary skills, the delight of working towards the highest possible standard of craftsmanship, and the magic of a finished piece capturing the essence of an idea. Caitlin Abbott, Nadia Arkhipkina, Robin Ashurst, Tahora Azizy, Chiara Barrett, Ben Beach, Vittorio Boccanera, Leo Boscherini, Matt Bovingdon-Downe, Hannah Bowers, Arti Braude, Zion Chan, Jacky Chan, Ziqi Chen, Qidan Chen, Joanne Chen, Melanie Cheng, Nicolas Chung, Jessica Clements, Katie Cunningham, Malina Dabrowska, Rufus Edmondson, Finbarr Fallon, Agnieszka Filipowicz, Charlie Fox, Max Friedlander, Xiang Gu, Qiuling Guan, Georgina Halabi, Han Hao, Stephen Henderson, Sonia Ho, Carl Inder, Jackey Ip, Tom James, Yu-Me Kashino, Arthur Kay, Alishe Khan, Jaemin Kim, Min Kim, Suhee Kim, Pavel Kosyrev, Vanessa Lafoy, Him Wai Lai, Yolanda Leung, Wenhao Li, Kathrine Loudoun, Matthew Lyall, Martyna Marciniak, Vasilis Marcou Ilchuk, Lauren Marshall, Huma Mohyuddin, Aiko Nakada, Phoebe Nickols, Tim O’Hare, Isabel Ogden, Qianwen Ou, Cheol-Young Park, Isobel Parnell, Chengcheng Peng, George Proud, Julia Rutkowska, Jack Sargent, Daniel Scoulding, Peter Simpson, Helen Siu, India Smith, Alexia Souvaliotis, Jasper Stevens, Josh Stevenson-Brown, Saijel Taank, James Tang, Jake Taylor, Carina Tran, Joseph Travers-Jones, Corina Tuna, Panagiotis Tzannetakis, John Wan, Henrietta Watkins, Anthony Williams, Miljun Wong, Vivian Wong, Carolyn Wong, Jamie Wong, Camilla Wright, Zhanshi Xiao, Yixian Xie, Lucy Yang, Yanhua Yao, Andrew Yap,Tung Yeung, Tae-In Yoon, Yoana Yordanova, Laura Young, Alexander Zyryaev
involved in opening out the walls, transforming the tiny gallery and revealing new, unexpected spaces. These walls move effortlessly on large, brass hinges and only one set of planes can open at any one time. The installation echoes the motion of the hinges, with the planes rotating on a central pole and locking together to restrict each other’s movement. The installation is a purely tactile experience, which contrasts with the current preservation of Soane’s collection but draws parallels with its initial intention as an interactive learning tool for his students.
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Fig. Y1.6 Monks Parlour: Father John, in the Parlour, with the Rope. This installation is based around the key concepts that can be observed in the Monk’s Parlour: detachment – as the room itself is the most out of context in relation to Lincolns Inn Fields, the journey from the point of entry to the Museum to the monks parlour disorientates the visitor; narrative – as Soane would invite guests down to his basement to participate in the story of the fictional monk, Padre Giovanni (Father John); and engulfment – as reality merges with the reality of the monk one becomes completely immersed in Soane’s created world. The levels of the room and the transformation of the space when the picture room doors close give a sense of being enveloped in the room. Fig. Y1.7 Picture Room – Soane’s Resting Vessel. In the Picture Room, what is more intriguing to Soane is the room itself rather than the collections of famous paintings. Soane marvelled at the engineering feats
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B S c A rc h U ni t 1
DIGITAL DREAMS OF A FLOATING WORLD
Dr.Penelope Haralambidou & Michael Tite
The Japanese term ukiyo or ‘floating world’ describes the pleasure-seeking urban lifestyle of the 17th century Japanese capital Edo, the antecedent of modern Tokyo. Ukiyo illustrates an impermanent, evanescent existence, one that appreciates fleeting beauty in nature and the realm of entertainments and which is divorced from the responsibilities of the mundane and the everyday. Accordingly ukiyo-e, or ‘pictures of the floating world’, is a genre of famous wood-block prints of the same era. Early ukiyo-e depicted enchanting urban scenes of Edo’s red-light district, inhabited by kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers and geishas, but later period prints evolved into complex descriptions of Edo/Tokyo as a dreamlike realm, where human occupation, weather, landscape and constructed environments were entwined. Today Tokyo is the largest metropolitan economy and the most densely populated city in the world. Although suffering from serious environmental and overcrowding problems, the city retains its appreciation of the ephemeral and the transient: a floating world immersed in a sea of electronic media, described by Arata Isozaki as ‘hazily flickering like fog’. Digital technology also gives form to a phantom-like future city, which Isozaki imagines as airborne, underground, or on the ocean’s surface; a superimposed virtual city that coexists with, but also counteracts and contradicts, the real. p. 24
Inspired by the cultural and pictorial nuances of ukiyo, and through a focused study of Japanese culture, this year Unit 1 explored the boundaries between reality and dream and the relationship between technology, habitat and the senses. The aim was to conceive new ways of designing, drawing, building and occupying by challenging the assumptions of time and space, which form the basis of Western aesthetic and constructed environments. While in Tokyo we became immersed in the technologically enhanced rhythms of the city. We critically questioned the role technology plays in shaping the citizens’ physical urban experience of the city and how this affects attitudes towards the environment and the relationship with the past. Marrying traditional techniques and materials with new technological inventions, the unit’s work addresses socio-economic issues experienced by the city, and offers speculative glimpses to the other side of the future. The earthquake of March 2011 has not been directly addressed in the students’ work, as the scale of the trauma was so unfathomable and overwhelming. We would like to thank all of the kind people of Tokyo who guided and helped us on the field trip — especially Souhei Imamoura — and offer our warmest wishes to them for the future. Year 2: Charles Dorrance-King, Samuel Douek, Ashley Hinchcliffe, Ting-Jui Lin, Lauren Shevills, Marcus Stockton, Nicholas Warner, Nadia Wikborg Year 3: Luke Bowler, Alastair Brownings, Emily Doll, Ryan Hakimian, Frances Heslop, Ashleigh James, Joanne Preston, William Tweddell
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Fig. 1.1 Charles Dorrance-King, Electromagnetic Interference Installation. Fig. 1.2 Nadia Wikborg, Memory Theatre and Market, Shimokitazawa. Model. Fig. 1.3 Lauren Shevills, ‘Way of the Tea’ Installation. Fig. 1.4 Nick Warner, Tsukimi (moon festival) Installation Fig. 1.5 Marcus Stockton, School of Visual Arts, Film and Gaming, Chuo, Tokyo Bay. Long Section.
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Fig. 1.6 Brook Lin, Fish Laboratory and Bath House, Harajuku. Model. Fig. 1.7 Sam Douek, Foreign Residence Advice Bureau/Visa Application Centre, Ichigaya. Plan. Fig. 1.8 Emily Doll, National Map Library, Ueno Park. Long Section. Fig. 1.9 Joanne Preston, Love Hotel and Post Office, Shibuya. Cross Section. Fig. 1.10 Ashleigh James, Forest Wedding Island, Tokyo Bay. Fig. 1.11 Ashley Hinchcliffe, River Revival Institute, Nihombashi. Long Section. Fig. 1.12 Luke Bowler, Cloud Banks in Tokyo. Triptych.
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Fig. 1.13 Ryan Hakimian, Retirement Community, Ueno. Axonometric views. Fig. 1.14 Frances Heslop, Department of Urban Agriculture, University of Tokyo, Kanda. Long Section. Fig. 1.15 Alastair Browning, Haneda Virtual Cemetery, Tokyo Bay. Model with digital projection. Fig 1.16 Harry Tweddell. Centre of Bodu and National Spiritual Development, Shinjuku. Model.
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BS c A rc h U ni t 2
INFILL & OVERSPILL Unit 2 is interested in inventing and constructing complex spaces and buildings. We are concerned with creating architecture which is dynamic, architecture which plays with different qualities and takes the user through a journey of functional and joyful spaces. This year the unit focused on two locations, London and Los Angeles. We tried to understand and explore these two locations and use our experiences to invent new architectural and urban typologies, programmes and concepts for metropolitan living.
Ben Addy & Julian Krüger
Term 1 – London The year began with a small, experimental infill-building project in London. Three sites in west London with different spatial possibilities and constraints were given to the students who recorded and analysed the sites and invented particular programmes for a small infill building. The students were asked to explore techniques of organising space and were encouraged to experiment with different ways of representing architecture in drawings, models and other media such as film and photography. Third year students were working on programmes that were demanding and tightly integrated into the context, while second year students were encouraged to work with simple functional requirements whilst maximising the spatial possibilities. p. 30
Term 2/3 – Los Angeles The field trip in November took us to Los Angeles, a place that has only ever been about progress and development; a very young metropolis, with its instant architecture it is a city of edges, of automobile-driven growth and horizontal expansion. During our trip we explored, analysed and recorded L.A., its life and its urban and suburban spaces. We experienced the Californian lifestyle, drove the freeways, saw amazing architecture, enjoyed the beach culture and finally went on a road trip through the Nevada desert to also learn from Las Vegas. On our return to London our time was devoted to the main building project in London. The unit was interested in the frayed edges of the city, between the planned and accidental, where the physical ease with which development can take place is often tightly constrained by policy. The unit explored how these areas can be developed to maximise the potential of the infrastructure in place — combining a resolved attitude to the extra-urban landscape with a robust understanding of the site, programme and construction method. Year 2: Muhammad Abd Rahman, Taimar Birthistle-Cooke, Jianhuang Chen, Nuozi Chen, Sarah Edwards, Kawai Ho, Yin Lee, Rebecca Li, Amalie White Year 3: Jae Ahn, Yll Ajvazi, Charles Blanchard, Frederick Lomas, Stanley Hanjie Tan, Li Grace Zhou
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Fig. 2.1 Grace Li Zou. Mosaic workshop. Infill building project on Golbourne Road in west London. The site is located next to a disused public house. The image shows a model of the building where colourful mosaic tiles are produced. The tiles will, over time, cover the adjacent buildings. Fig. 2.2 Charles Blanchard, Police station on the union canal in west London. Parts of the building are used as a counterweight for a balance footbridge which provides the access. Fig. 2.3 Grace Li Zou, Conceptual illustration of mosaic workshop on Golbourne Road. Fig. 2.4 Charles Blanchard, Section of police station on union canal.
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Fig. 2.5 Carmen Lee, Papermaking factory and printer with hidden editorial office for the production of political pamphlets and fanzines. The pamphlets get secretly disseminated to shops in and around London through the distribution network of the paper factory. Internal view. Fig. 2.6 Jianhuang Chen, Retreat for a wildlife guardian on the union canal in west London. The facade of the building provides shelter and nesting opportunities for wild birds. Fig. 2.7 Taimar Birthistle-Cooke, Musselfarm and restaurant on the river Thames near Dartford bridge. Section. Fig. 2.8 Carmen Lee, Elevation of papermaking factory. Fig. 2.9 Stanley Tan, Diving centre located in an abandoned chalk quarry in Kent. Fig. 2.10 Yll Ajvazi, Bowling lane on Portobello Road in west London. The infill building sits in between the westway and the Hammersmith and City tube line and provides two bowling lanes and a small bar.
Fig. 2.11 Yll Ajvazi, Conceptual illustration of the bowling lane in its context, visualising the speed of the traffic around the builidng.
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Fig. 2.12 Charles Blanchard, Open prison (category D prison) on the river Thames near Dartford Bridge. The project is located on the marshland by the river and uses water to control the prison environment. Camera view of canals leading through the site. Fig. 2.13 Charles Blanchard, CCTV view of canal at high tide, flooded with water. Fig. 2.14 Charles Blanchard, Model photo showing bird’s-eye view of the prison. Fig. 2.15 Charles Blanchard, CCTV camera view, category D prisoner accommodation and communal allotments. Fig. 2.16 Charles Blanchard, Model photo taken from the riverside showing the pier with high security accomodation. Open prison accomodation and allotments for category D prisoners in the background. Fig. 2.17 Charles Blanchard, Plan of the open prison.
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BS c A rc h U ni t 3
MAKING DO ‘It’s not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, so we are no longer conscious of its presence. The utopia of the technological order is virtual immortality.’ Godfrey Reggio
David Garcia & Jan Kattein
There is nothing more disquieting for the urban trendsetter than last year’s iPhone. Faster, brighter, newer, better. Or is it? In the wake of recent flood catastrophes, oil rig explosions and near nuclear melt-downs technology is becoming an ever less reliable partner in the fight against atmospheric warming and rising sea levels. In spite of a widespread understanding of the implications of our excessive lifestyle, progress marches on relentlessly. Will hybrid cars, urban wind farms & biodegradable shopping bags really halt the melting of the ice caps or are they a mere excuse to continue on a road of exploitation? The global economic crisis provides an opportunity to reassess. Is fast really better than slow? Bright better than dim? High-tech better than low-tech? Extreme environmental conditions have become a living reality for most of the world’s population. The resulting spatial consequences are not only the reality we must live in, but those we might have to create simply to survive. What is the role of the architect in light of these challenges? In their book Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation, Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver advocate a spatial practice that p. 36
relies on local resources, trial and error and creative engagement with materials at hand to solve an architectural problem. The unit’s theme, Making Do, can be understood in this way. Like Adhocism, Making Do suggests engagement with a local culture resulting in an architecture that is responsive to the changing rhythms of its site while realising the creative potential of its occupants. Project 1 is sited on Fish Island, a forgotten part of a post-industrial wasteland bordering the northern edge of the Olympic site in East London. The island is home to a new type of community, in tune with the fluctuating site conditions and aware of the spatial potential of its decaying structures. Amongst former abattoirs, fleets of rusting ice cream vans and derelict factory buildings, a group of makedoers has set-up shelter. Luscious pot gardens, bacon sandwiches with home-made relish, experimental living communes and makeshift rave venues mark the scene. In November 2010 the unit went to Venice. Here, in the last ten years, the Acqua Alta has become a daily occurrence during the winter months. With water levels rising to 1.8m above the normal tide level, inhabitants have had to adopt a new lifestyle. Book repositories made from redundant boat carcasses have replaced the more common shelving unit in ground floor bookshops, floating market stalls serve customers in their Wellington boots during the morning hours while temporary bridges set up by civic guards convey tourists around the town centre unimpeded by the high water levels. While the EU’s most ambitious flood defence project, the Moses gates currently under construction at the
inlets to the Laguna, is expected to cause a collapse of local eco-systems, the students’ projects suggest a much more contextual engagement with changing environmental conditions. Madiha Ahmed’s sea farm proposes the introduction of new farming techniques that allow local farmers on the Lido to re-settle onto a floating infrastructure in the Laguna as land-borne farming becomes unviable due to salt contamination. Ruthie Falconer’s floating islands are designed to evacuate bird populations from the areas affected by the Moses Gate construction works. Arub Saqib’s hotel for the 2015 UN Climate Change convention exposes delegates directly to the implications of rising sea levels, using floodwaters to animate her building to create novel spatial arrangements. Unit 3’s work responds to a real brief. Innovation occurs where the architecture recognises the spatial potential of irrevocable environmental changes, rather than defending against them. Sustainability is the result of Making Do, a practice that responds to its local context and generates an environment that can adapt and transform in response to the needs of its occupants.
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Fig. 3.1 – 3.3 Arub Saqib, tests with a dead fish and liquid nitrogen, for her promission crematorium project.
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Fig. 3.4 Chohee Sung, Amateur Film Festival facilities at the Lido. Fig. 3.5 Roma Gadomska-Miles, Club and Bathhouse for the Society of the Last Venetians at Lido. Fig. 3.6 Arub Saqib, Flood reactive Hotel in Giudecca, Venice. Fig. 3.7 Madiha Ahmad, Seagrass Farming and Weaving community, Lido, Italy.
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Fig. 3.8 Alice Haugh, Archive of Hydrological Study, Torcello, Venice. Fig. 3.9 Xin Lin, Sailing School for Children at the island of Certosa, Venice. Fig. 3.10 Rhianon Morgan-Hatch, Williamsburg Alternative Fuel Park, Brooklyn, New York.
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THE WILD BLUE YONDER ‘We ought to be grateful that the Universe out there knows no smile.’ Werner Herzog
Mike Aling & Luke Pearson
Unit 4 investigated the manner in which the evocative imagery and technologies underpinning mankind’s attempts to escape the earth’s atmosphere are intricately woven into our public consciousness. Werner Herzog’s 2005 cinematic interstellar voyage, The Wild Blue Yonder, subverts the notion of the exploratory spirit. Through the adaptation of stock documentary footage of locations (relatively) easily accessible to us on earth, he blurs the boundary between what exists on our doorstep and what we perceive to be otherworldly. The film-camera is used as a device for the drawing of duration. The unit proposed architectures that functioned in a similar fashion, holding within them edge conditions between the real-world and the other-world that exist concurrently within a space. The Wild Blue Yonder triggers distant collective memories of an era when the public looked on in wonder at buildings of such unfathomable scale as to appear otherworldly. The era of the space race also produced constructions for staged transitions into different states, enclosures moulded to the body and designed for survival in the most inhospitable of conditions, contraptions used to test man and his senses to known limits and beyond, and situations that forced mankind to renegotiate the ways by which we represent spaces. p. 4 2
We have investigated what the architecture of duration is — how a building may be reasserted many times over through revisions and remodellings that are also understood to have been produced at an identifiable point in the building’s life. We believe that drawing should not simply be understood as a static vehicle used to represent architecture. A drawing can be used to interrogate architectures that constantly alter, that call out to be read through vectors, azimuth, altitude, and velocity. The drawing encompasses the modelled, the photographed, the filmed and everything in-between — these are not distinct paths. Moreover, the drawing can become the link between architecture and the wonderment Herzog encourages us to experience. Unit 4 constructed architectures that embraced this wonderment. If wonderment is dissipated by familiarity, then its creation relies on an architecture that constantly updates itself, that keeps on transmitting information. Taking in the otherworldly terrains, plasticised cities, test sites and installations of Nevada and Arizona we instigated a series of architectures that operated as border controls between familiarity and wonderment. Year 2: Hoi Chau, Mai Hitomi, Samuel Mcgill, Philippa Shaw Carveth, Richard Smith, Tao Wei, Shou Wu Year 3: Connor Cunningham, Naomi Gibson, Sophia Kelleher, Anja Kempa, Aaron Mann Howe Lee, Nicholas Masterton, Nabi Masutomi, Adam Peacock, Alexander Zhukov
suspicious mind of a rogue architect obsessed by Mount Pleasant sorting office. The architect builds his own obsession into his apartment block directed by data gleaned from site visits, covert photography and sending tracking devices into the postal system..
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Fig. 4.1 Anja Kempa, London Bridge Armature — Taking advantage of the ever-changing floorplan of London Bridge station undergoing renovations, the project reuses discarded constructional material to provide an evergrowing access spine for confused commuters. As the station changes, the elevation of the armature grows to reflect this. Fig. 4.2 Aaron Lee, Extendable Rover — mapping a lost London site through an articulated point cloud field derived from readings made by a ‘rover’. Fig. 4.3 Adam Peacock, Lag Simulator — an instructional facility for 1960s diners preparing for their first meal on board the Post Office Tower’s rotating restaurant. Inspired by vintage footage of dinner service’ simulations’ the Lag Simulator explores public Health and Safety training for a pleasant rotational dining experience. Fig. 4.4 Nick Masterton, The Curious Case of Arthur K - tracing an architecture of paranoid parametricism through the
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Fig. 4.5 Aaron Lee, CPO Training Facility — an architecture that trains bodyguards in Las Vegas through the surreptitious monitoring and tracking of patrons within the restaurant and bar that comprise the front of house. A series of interchanges and articulations keep trainees in a constant state of alertness, and circulation allows people to filter into and out of the choreography of protection. Fig. 4.6 Anja Kempa, Windsurfing School — an Argon distillery providing gas for neon signs uses the by-product components of air to articulate an artificially enhanced landscape for windsurfing on Lake Mead, Arizona. Fig. 4.7 Navi Masutomi, Unpacking Primrose Hill — an occupiable device that allows the user to recreate the qualities of Primrose Hill in a multitude of other locations. Features include the visual enhancement of green vegetation through complementary colours, the production of a gentle breeze, and the elimination of
middle ground through an ersatz ‘tree line’. Fig. 4.8 Sam McGill, Journey’s End — A resting place for hikers in the remote Arizonan village of Supai. Fig. 4.9 Connor Cunningham, Court of Last Resort, Tucson — Through a dissection of the Western film, comparing the contrasting styles of directors Sam Peckinpah and Anthony Mann, the Court of Last Resort creates a pre-trial journey which unfolds as a classic cinematic standoff between the plaintiff and defendant. Through analysing the clichés of the western, as well as particular scenes in the films of Mann and Peckinpah, an architecture emerges that striates the border between Arizona as actual site, and as site representing other places and other points of history through cinema. Fig. 4.10 Tim Shou-Hang Wu, 1% Clubhouse — Providing a social hub for Hell’s Angels in Las Vegas, sitting across the road from the plasticised Harley Davidson Cafe on the strip.
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Fig. 4.11 Naomi Gibson, The Conservation Officer — developing a drawing convention for reading buildings on a site as a conglomeration of history. Fig. 4.12 Naomi Gibson, The Conservation Officer — a device for reading the historical and archaeological makeup of buildings on the site. Fig 4.13 Naomi Gibson, Bankruptcy Hotel — Deriving an architecture from the economic flux and flow of the Las Vegas casino hotel, the constant intake of money from hotel rooms to the huge spikes of spending on the casino floor and associated shops and bars. Fig. 4.14 Naomi Gibson, Bankruptcy Hotel — section through the entrance and introductory rooms. By using five key elements of the motivational speech, the architecture seeks to define moments of reflection and hope within its fabric that help to get families affected by the recession back onto their feet.
Fig 4.15 Nick Masterton, Neon Spa — Using manipulations of neon and natural light to help alter the circadian rhythms of Las Vegas’s overworked service staff. By focusing on delivering light from certain angles, and through a controlled circulation, the architecture allows patrons to have a ‘blast’ of light therapy, along with a carefully controlled strategy of heat delivery through the structure to promote wakefulness. The result of these manipulations is a building that at once subverts the nature of Las Vegas as artificial lightscape, while producing an original architectural approach that would not look out of place on the Strip itself.
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BS c A rc h U ni t 5
VANISHING POINT 'The past itself, as historical change continues to accelerate, has become the most surreal of subjects — making it possible … to see a new beauty in what is vanishing.' Susan Sontag
Julia Backhaus & Pedro Font Alba
Places, cities, buildings and landscapes are in constant flux. Climate, culture and politics force them to shift, grow, emerge or even vanish. Often places are dissolved by globalisation, the local vernacular replaced by international conformity. Are we not losing sites of distinction and incomparable atmospheres? This year, the unique situation of Cuba has been the unit’s point of departure. Isolated and cut off from the capitalist world until the end of the cold war, and hit hard by the economic crisis that followed in the collapse of the Soviet Union, this frozen utopia is on the verge of radical change. With the US Embargo likely to be lifted in the near future and recent plans to lay off huge numbers of state employees to revive its struggling economy, the Cuba we have come to know will soon vanish. Intrigued by this climate of uncertainty, the unit focused on that magic moment of transition in a bid to fire the imagination for future development and celebrate the triumph of Cuba’s culture over its politics. Havana is a city brimming with a zest for life and displays a chaotic yet touching vitality. In the first project we studied this city from a distance p. 4 8
with the help of literature, film and art to formulate an architecture of survival that battles the dilemma between progress and preservation, the focus of the work being a contemporary application of Cuba’s heritage. We aimed to create a sustainable solution to help those cultural markers to survive without becoming a caricature. Scarcity of goods together with low monthly wages has spawned a nation of hustlers and micro-capitalists. As the situation further deteriorates a majority of Cubans will be forced to form their own businesses. The investigation resulted in the design of a small enterprise or an individual architectural strategy that is immediate and blows vitality into Cuba’s numbed economy. Following on from a field trip in Cuba that explored Havana as well as the lush tobacco valleys to the north, the main building project speculated about the country post-embargo. Again the focus was on manifesting Cuban cultural identity in the design whilst providing new developments that seek to help enhance Cuba’s future trade prospects in the global market. Year 2: Fergus Knox, Harriet MiddletonBaker, Asha Pooran, Andrew Slack, Deniz Varol, Angeline Wee, Alec Scragg, Gary Edwards Year 3: Natalia Eddy, Aaron Shun Wing Ho, Rachel King, Maryna Kuchak, Tess Martin, Sirisan Nivatvongs, Aimee Salata, Sandra Youkhana, Kun Bi
landscape providing ice cream refreshments and a social space for free political debate located in close proximity to the governmental buildings of Havana. Fig. 5.5 Fergus Knox, Reconstructive Performance Structure, the plazas of Old Havana. A Cuban strategy for recycling scaffolding structures after the restoration of Cuba’s crumbling facades. Structures may be reused as performance pavilions with a canopy that echoes the previous facade.
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Fig. 5.1 Angeline Wee, Music Pavilion and Electrical Charging Point, Malecon. A pavilion that utilises the power of the waves of the Malecon to generate music that celebrates Havana’s outdoor culture whilst providing a space in which to charge small electrical items. Fig. 5.2 Alec Scragg, Mobile Hotel Lobby, Plaza Vieja, Havana. Responding to the separation of locals and tourists economically and spatially, the project tests this boundary by taking the typology of the hotel lobby into the public squares providing an information point for tourists and a shop selling hotel lost property to the locals. Fig. 5.3 Andrew Slack, Community Dance Centre, Casablanca, Havana. The dual programme includes a Santerian church and dance school to help bridge communities through a common interest in dance. Fig. 5.4 Harriet Middleton-Baker, Ice Cream Parlour and Free Debate Park, Il Capitolio, Havana. An articulated urban
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Fig. 5.6 Rachel King, Tropicana Car Wash and Casting Workshop, Havana. The memories of classic 50s cars are preserved in this labour-intensive car wash facility, casts of redundant car body parts nestle beneath the arcades to become street furniture. Fig. 5.7 Sirisan Nivatvongs, Agricultural Research Facility, Pinar Del Rio. Conducting a range of research on modern farming techniques, including organic, hydroponic, floating and vertical agriculture. The building generates a self-sustaining environment for its occupants by both growing its own food on site whilst generating its own energy and introducing a new agriculture to the surrounding areas. Fig. 5.8 Marina Kuchak, La Regla Fish Market, Havana Regla. Taking into consideration the Master Plan Congress of the XXI century on Havana’s redevelopment, the building aims to respond to the ideas of this congress and the general infrastructure of the city. The proposal is for a fish market that aids
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regeneration of the local area by attempting to link it to Old Havana. Due to the climatic conditions of the area, the project introduces a self-cleansing system that responds to the daily waste of a fish market. Fig. 5.9 Natalia Eddy, Hurricane Boatel, Havana. The design proposal reinvents the notion of a motel. Catering for sailors, the site becomes a series of plug-in islands enabling the boats to integrate and become part of the architecture. The hotel structure provides the additional facilities that boats are limited in offering. The scheme takes advantage of its coastal position by integrating a series of devices, which not only protect the architecture but extract energy from the waves. Elements such as a pivoting harbour wall are used to dampen wave height and extract energy. The scheme has enabled the design of harbours to be challenged and reexamined. Fig. 5.10 Aaron Ho, In-between House, Havana. Responding to the Cuban government’s restriction
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on the buying and selling of houses, the proposal provides an agency for the swapping of properties and includes configurable temporary living units for ‘swappers’ in transit between accommodations. Fig. 5.11 Aimee Salata, Light Pavilion, the Plazas of Old Havana. Acting as a stage set, the structure transforms and adapts to different times of the day, manipulating light, drawing it into the camera obscura during the day and illuminating the square at night. On an urban scale the pavilions serve as an orientation device for tourists lost in the old part of the city, creating a network of light above the rooftops.
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Fig. 5.12 & 5.13 Tess Martin, The New US Embassy in Havana. In the future world of post-embargo Havana, the US and Cuba are allies. While the new Embassy presents itself as a gift to the city and a gesture of friendship, the history of conflict casts an inescapable shadow on the newly reinstated relationship — the Embassy is prepared for an attack. The project explores the tension between the need for security and a US message of transparency and diplomacy. The Embassy holds a comprehensive catalogue of security devices — subtle takes on traditional defence mechanisms; from the moat and drawbridge, to escape pods and water cannons, which take advantage of its position on the Bay of Havana. Fig. 5.14 Sandra Youkhana, Pelican Palace. Havana’s damaged ecosystem has made survival of marine wildlife impossible. Resting upon the cheek of the bay on safer waters, the site stands as a green belt – an untouched stretch of coastline on
the brink of becoming Hiltonised in the emergence of the post-embargo situation. The proposed scheme is Pelican Palace, a pelican sanctuary and resort, preserving the land and protecting pelicans by diverting them towards the site through the release of fish, with interactive lodgings dotted amongst these constructed habitats in a resort setup. A series of water scenarios within the excavation of the undulating landscape create an interface between man, bird and fish. The aesthetic intentions rely heavily on an ongoing theme within my work of composite architectures — displacing functions through the intervention of technical components concealed within seaside follies.
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B S c A rc h U ni t 6
HOUSING 192060
Professor Christine Hawley & Paolo Zaide
Within the next 50 years our way of living will change in ways that are now unimaginable … or are they? The development of the electronic highway in the last 20 years has revolutionised the way in which we receive information, work, travel, shop and socially interact. In the next 50 years technical, infrastructural and social change can and should radically affect the way we think about the use of architectural space. In the 1960s Archigram speculated about floating, walking and drop cities, while the social realists at Narkomfin developed a housing model that was the embodiment of the communist dream; and E.M. Forster and George Miller saw a darker future in 'The Machine Stops' and Mad Max. This year the question we would like to ask is, how radical is your picture of the future? And we suggest alternatives to a housing model that has remained largely unaltered for the last four centuries. The first term the programme offers an opportunity to look into the future on a much smaller scale. The aim is to design a ‘house’ that must address the logistics of everyday living, incorporating spaces nuanced by the owner’s pre-occupations and dreams. This is a dwelling that addresses both the mundane and the extraordinary and acts as a springboard for the more strategic agenda of the second project. The lepidopterist, the astronomer, the underground archivist … will reside in a place that accommodates the peculiarities of their activities. p. 5 4
There are of course existing examples of residences that are designed around thematic obsessions and extreme practical needs: the Casa Batlio in Barcelona and the Matharoo House in Ahmedabad are instances of intellectual and practical requirements shaping extraordinary places. The site for the first project is on the perimeter of Regent’s Park where the town meets parkscape and water. Influenced by the first exercise the second project may ask questions about the possibility of customisation rather than the current preoccupation with standardisation. The unit trip took us from Madrid to Barcelona to study eccentric houses and collapsed housing markets. This project should push the boundaries of all possibilities, creating a balance between the practical and the poetic, the real and the unreal. Year 2: Nichola Czyz, Yoonjin Kim, Christopher Worsfold, Songyang Zhou Year 3: (Julia) Ran Chen, Haeseung Choi, Max Dowd, Alicia Gonzalez-Lafita, Yu Chien Wendy Lin, Amanda Jayne Moore, Michael Pugh, Tian Qin, Charlotte Reynolds, Charlotte Moon
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Fig. 6.1 Sunny Qin, Tailored living in 2060, In 50 years’ time, with the matured technology of prefabrication, people are able to live in the tailored home — a home which is made up of a series of slices; each slice is selected by the occupant according to their specific needs. Fig. 6.2 Nichola Czyz, GMT-4 Greenwich Self-Cleaning market, External Fishmongers Hostel, Olfactory Ice Garden, Oyster Steam Bar, Tilapia & Oyster Farm, Fishbreeders House. The Space is reconfigured throughout the day to suit the Fishmongers who exist in their own timezone next to the Greenwich Meridian; the market seeks to take advantage of the diurnal tidal shift.
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Fig. 6.3 Max Dowd, The Frozen Zoo Project, Regent’s Park. A cryogenetic archive of the species residing at London Zoo in a 7-storey water tower in response to the threat of rising sea levels. Fig. 6.4 Alicia Lafita Gonzales, Softening Transitions. An architecture for Alzheimer’s disease reducing ‘Sundown Syndrome’ through the manipulation of natural light. Fig. 6.5 Amanda Moore, Edible Park and Housing Complex, Greenwich, London (2060). Housing for 1000 residents and an integrated farm which provides 200 residents with all of their fruit and vegetables. The project questions current problems of fuel usage in producing food and suggests using localised sources. Fig. 6.6 Chris Worsfold, Housing with cooking school. Anticipating a dramatic demographic shift the project seeks to aid integration. Each apartment is provided with an external green space that acts as a hybrid between allotment and balcony, functional yet providing a platform for temporary
inhabitation conditioned by the British weather. Fig. 6.7 Haeseung Choi, Car Breakers’ Yard and Housing. The upcoming post-oil generation has slowly begun to make the automotive technologies of today redundant. The housing project integrates repurposed elements from the car and places them within the house. Fig. 6.8 Michael Pugh, Urban cattle farm + housing scheme: Deptford Creek, London 2060. Adapting to a major climate shift with the shutdown of the Gulf Stream conveyor, the building responds to depleted imports and exports due to poor transport in the winter months. The building safeguards food security by moving agricultural typologies into areas that require it. A mutual symbiosis is then formed between man and beast to weather the cold season.
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Fig. 6.9 Wendy Lin, A ghostwriter’s house. The project explores filmic motifs of ghosts, shadows and ambiguous space. The building is underground and everything within it floats. Taking a journey through the building is like reading a ghost story slowly unravelling until one reaches the climax. Fig. 6.10 Songyang Zhou, Library of the Future. The building preserves the artefact of the book, at a time when technology challenges our current forms of reading. A central tower houses more valued books, with the rest of the building acting as reading spaces interwoven with water. Fig. 6.11 Ran Chen, The Therapeutic ‘Slowtown’ for the Elderly. The project is a study on how to create a therapeutic landscape for the elderly in 2060. Throughout one day residents could capture different sets of sensorial experiences of the natural environment outside the building, with water channels meandering through the building and horticultural plots growing over the roofs. Fig. 6.12 Sarah Edwards, Housing for narrowboats’ owners
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and temporary mooring facilities, Bethnal Green Gas Works, Regent’s Canal. The house is an extension to a cramped life on a 20m narrowboat but continues to implement its space-saving devices. Fig. 6.13 Yoonjin Kim, Housing for Multigenerational living, Deptford Creek. The Thames waterscape activates the reconfiguration of the scale of communal areas between typologies. It aims to be conceived as if everyone lives in the same ‘house’, and at the same time, each one has a very individual ‘home’ in the same space. Fig. 6.14 Charlotte Reynolds, Deptford Peninsula Riverboat Station. The project links the poorly connected Deptford Creek site with a citywide waterbus network, powered by energy harvested on site from algae. It provides a riverbus transport station and also a boatel: short-term accommodation for both business travellers and tourists alike. The key influence of water and the relationship between the macros scale of the landscape and the micro scale of the domestic house are key.
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BS c A rc h U ni t 7
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES 'We are drawn by desire — a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction.' Edward Burtynsky
Scott Grady & Tomas Stokke [Haptic Architects]
Unit 7's work explores the artificial landscapes that exist in modern civilisations, their relationships to urban communities and the natural environment. Often paradoxical in nature, they fulfil human need but have substantial impact on the land. From shipyards to stone quarries, oil fields to super-highways, these are the world’s manufactured landscapes. The processes and spaces are often epic in scale, but rich in detail — layering, colour, texture, stains, scars, smells, light and shade. This detail, scale and un-natural environment raises questions about culture, context, beauty, reuse, waste, ecology, inter-dependency, architecture … The theme of manufactured landscapes was explored in two, very different contexts; the Lea Valley area of London, and in Mumbai, India, one of the most populated urban regions in the world, home to Bollywood and Slumdog Millionaire. With Mumbai’s rich cultural, architectural and historical context, each project had to relate to a complex set of physical and nonphysical issues. Sites and briefs were p. 6 0
developed in tandem, where projects tackled real-life issues: educational projects next to Mumbai’s largest slum (Angela Lo), a spice garden and floating market in Southern Mumbai to reinvigorate the spice trade (Yin Hui Chung), and a speculation on the remanifestation of the world-famous Dbobi Ghat (Augustine Ong Wing), to name but a few … Year 2: Yin Chung, Ivie Egonmwan, Emma Kitley, Tsz Lau, Carmen Lee, Jamie Lilley, Anna Mcsweeney, Rachel Pickford, Sophie Richards, Kate Slattery Year 3:Yuan Gao, Stanley Siu Lun Ho, Angela Lo, Augustine Ong Wing, Samson Simberg, Alexander Sutton, Jaymar Vitangcol, Glenn Wooldridge
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Fig. 7.1 Sophie Richards, Jainist residence and temple, Mumbai, Ground floor plan. Fig. 7.2 Lisa McSweeney, Bollywood cinema and film festival site, Bandra Mumbai, Model Fig. 7.3 Ivie Egonmwan, Asthma treatment centre and Attar distillery, Bandra, Mumbai, Model Fig. 7.4 Jamie Lilley, Vangasakra Cricket Academy, Mumbai, Roof Model/ Drawing Fig. 7.5 Glenn Wooldridge, Marine life preservation centre & restaurant, Mumbai 7.6 Emma Kitley, Pigeon & keepers rest & Olympic surveillance facility, Lea Valley, London, cross-section
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Fig. 7.7 Augustine Ong Wing, Reimagining the Dhobi Ghat; an augmented landscape of laundry, Dhobi’s washing place visualisation Fig. 7.8 Augustine Ong Wing, Reimagining the Dhobi Ghat; an augmented landscape of laundry, aerial visualisation Fig. 7.9 Janice Lau, Rickshaw transportation hub, Mumbai, Model Fig. 7.10 Stanley Ho, Fish bone porcelain making and fish restaurant, Sassoon Docks, Mumbai, Model Fig. 7.11 Alex Sutton, Western Railway Film Studios, Mumbai, Long section Fig. 7.12 Kate Slattery, Fish market installation Fig. 7.13 Samson Simberg, Mumbai Shopping Promenade, Model Fig. 7.14 Sandy Lee, Coral preservation facility and pier, Mumbai, Long section [part] Fig. 7.15 Rachel Pickford, Hindu wedding venue and marigold-growing fields, sectional model exploring key moments within building
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Fig. 7.16 Angela Lo, Dhavari Primary School, Mumbai, Long section exploring water collection and recycling strategy. Fig. 7.17 Yin Hui Chung, Spice Garden and floating spice market, visualisation of spice gardens. Fig. 7.18 Angela Lo, Dhavari Primary School, Mumbai, Ground Floor Plan +4m.
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3D Unit 8 is shifting. We are becoming increasingly interested in the tools we use to design, and the reasons for using them. We feel the need to stress the importance of architectural speculation beyond the usual plan and section. Not so much in terms of learning how to produce information for the construction of buildings, but as part of a critical and analytical design process. Buildings are three-dimensional constructs, occupied in four dimensions by their users. It seems odd that so little design work takes place in these dimensions. But we are not completely ignoring the unit themes that have been developed over recent years. The relationship between the act of drawing and that of making is one of these, and the love for model making is another. We see our current focus as an addition to these themes, and we hope that the work of this year’s student group is more varied and explorative than ever before!
Johan Berglund & Rhys Cannon
BRIEF SUMMARY The relationship between the digital and the physical became the starting point of the year. The unit built upon its longstanding tradition of producing evocative, intricate models through a set of initial workshops exploring 3d modelling and digital production techniques. Concepts of craftsmanship were challenged and pieces produced integrating manual drawing and modelmaking techniques with components manufactured through a digital interface. Small and medium scale inhabitable spatial propositions were located in sites remotely selected from fictional p. 6 6
depictions of Los Angeles. The sites bearing both a physical and temporal context that challenged the notion of the traditional architectural site, normally being nothing more than an empty plot of land. Our field trip took us to Los Angeles, a city unlike most others. The term ‘Los Angelisation’ refers to the homogeneous urban sprawl that makes up LA and as a result of its depiction in films and media, the flat and sprawling nature of LA has become an icon for the cardependent, low density, endlessly expanding American City. In recent years however, LA has started to densify through a number of planning initiatives and a higher influx of residents, and is now one of the densest cities in the United States. We were interested to examine this trend further, and proposed inventive and unexpected ways for the city to grow and expand in a 3dimensional way, while at the same time generating sustainable ideas for how this could happen in an age where the petrol car is becoming more and more taboo. Unit 8 would like to thank Andrew Best and his colleagues at Buro Happold for the invaluable technical support. Year 2: Tzen Chia, Kacper Chmielewski, Dean Hedman, Matthew Lucraft, Luke Scott, Simran Sidhu Year 3: Charlotte Baker, James Bruce, Emma Carter, Siyu Frank Fan, Yue Mollie Gao, Jonathan Holmes, Chun Yin Samson Lau, Joseph Paxton, Antonina Tkachenko
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Fig. 8.1 Dean Hedman, Santa Monica Institute of Fish, Rendered overview drawing. An exploration into the edge conditions of the city, where the building takes on natural properties (in this case a delta) to mediate the fragile boundary between city and nature. Fig. 8.2 Frank Fan, Venice Vibes, sectional model. The project studies the potential medical and aesthetic benefits of an architecture of vibrations, located in Venice Beach. Fig. 8.3 Antonina Tkachenko, Disaster Pop-up Hotel, Santa Monica. Acknowledging the fragile earth surface that makes up Los Angeles, this project seeks to implement a new kind of architecture that lays dormant under ground until activated by seismic activity.
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Fig. 8.4 Mollie Yue Gao, Archive Silencio, Model. Taking its cue from David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, the project is sited in a derelict downtown theatre, where the architecture (like the film) occupies both real space and the space of dreams. Fig. 8.5 Simran Sidhu, The Laugh Factory Theatre, Rendered view of the fly tower atrium. Hidden away behind a hedge-like row of trees, the project is an exploration of the potential to create an architecture that uses its natural surrounding as a second facade. Fig. 8.6 Samson Lau, Seed Towers, model view. The project investigates the green policies of former Governor Schwarzenegger, and proposes a series of solar chimneys which will aid in the cleansing of the smog ridden freeway areas of downtown L.A. Fig. 8.7 Kacper Schmielewski, Surfers’ Retreat, Roofplan. A playful study of the lives of surfers, and their requirements for cheap accomodation in the Venice Beach area. Fig. 8.8 Charlotte Baker, The Los
Angeles Cathedral of Water, Fragment model. The proposal investigates the tectonics of the folds and frills of the natural landscapes surrounding L.A., and the dependence on the supply of (almost holy) water. Fig. 8.9 Matt Lucraft, Culver City Film Museum, interior view. Using film editing techniques such as montages, overlays and jump-cut, the project forms a rich and cinematic architectural sequence through the history of film. Fig. 8.10 Luke Scott, Rift Market, model view. Situated in two crossing rifts (the boundaries of the Crips and the Bloods territories, and an underground tectonic faultline) the project playfully creates a market where the activities of the area collide to form a dynamic and shifting urban environment. Fig. 8.11 Joseph Paxton, Hollywood Dreams motel, model installation. The landscape of Hollywood hills is re-imagined as a lightscape of fluctuating light sources, illuminated by a motel set within the hill. As such it
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suggests an organic counterpoint to the ever-present illuminated city grid below. Fig. 8.12 Jonathan Holmes, Hotel Cult, Fish eye perspective view. A satirical take on the chateau culture of Hollywood, and the emergence of celebrity sects. In the proposal, light is treated and manipulated to illuminate, as well as obscure spaces and views for the occupants, allowing only the highest ranking members to fully grasp the building interior.
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Fig. 8.13 Emma Carter, Beverly Hills City Farm, model view. Situated in a context where the clash between American fast food culture, and organic produce is at its extreme, the project suggests a dense form of urban farm housing, where the productive aspects of the land becomes as important as its aesthetic qualities. Fig. 8.14 Luke Scott, A clinic for R.V. users, plan. The Rehabilitation Clinic embeds itself in the context of Venice beach, where it is at once beach, public plaza, parking, car repair shop and rehabilitation home for R.V. residents. Fig. 8.15 James Bruce, Recycled Water Lifeguard Training Facility, sectional model. The building, which is carved into the cliff dividing Santa Monica and the beach, and the place where the legendary route 66 meets the sea, forms the home of both a water recycling plant, and the training ground for the future stars of Baywatch. Fig. 8.16 Mollie Yue Gao, The Hollywood Chamber of Fame, section through the
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main auditorium. A highly adventureous investigation into cosmic geometries and their potential to form an architecture of stellar delight. The section shows the main auditorium chamber, where the celebrities of Hollywood finds themselves truly in the center of the universe.
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ADHOCRACY ‘The word is a portmanteau of the Latin ad hoc, meaning "for the purpose", and the suffix -cracy, from the ancient Greek kratein, meaning “to govern”’ Bob Travica
Max Dewdney & Chee-Kit Lai
The idea of Adhocracy is interesting because it sheds new light upon the contemporary political and cultural context of architecture. The historic strength of nation states as brands is increasingly challenged by forces that operate outside and beyond them, from terrorists to oligarchs, NGOs to international financiers. This puts pressure upon the familiar iconography of nationhood, calling it into doubt. Traditionally the identity of the state is built upon military, religious and political/legal structures and manifested through a familiar iconography — from crowns, passports, myths, monuments, skylines, cultural artefacts, and of course architecture. Adhocracy is in many ways an opposite form of expression which is why it can be deployed as a critical tool to explore the current cultural context of architecture. One example of an emerging Adhocracy is perhaps to be seen in unrecognised microstates, such as the Principality of Sealand, a former defence platform in the North Sea turned into an independent sovereign interest by an eccentric British family, or Transdniestra, a breakaway region in the state of Moldova. Micronations such as these can vary in scale from a 1:1 portal to an entire city territory. p. 72
Project 1 entitled ‘Microstate’ was sited in London. The project focused on the physical and metaphysical boundaries of The Corporation of London. Project 2 entitled ‘Archetype’ was sited in Shanghai, which the unit visited in December 2010. Shanghai is the world’s largest trading port and China’s most contemporary face. The city has free trade and comparative independence from central government dictate. It is a city of adhocracy, with varying political controls between districts such as the French Concession and Shanghai International Settlement. Unit 9 would like to thank Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning for their generous help and support during the field trip. Whilst in Shanghai the unit participated with Tongji in a symposium about historic and contemporary urban fabric. This formed the basis of a number of site investigations and led to the identification of key strategic areas of current governmental development in Shanghai, which was fundamental to the programme of a number of the students’ proposals. Year 2: Amy Begg, Samuel Dodsworth, Geethica Gunarajah, David Hawkins, Jiatong Hu, Elzbieta Kaleta, Wei Ler, Hui Ng, Shiue Pang, Lok Siu Year 3: Georgina Goldman, Grace Mark, Ami Matsumoto, Louis Sullivan, Emma Swarbrick, Nada Tayeb, Rebecca Thompson
Shanghai government’s efforts to revive the traditional sport. The building creates an urban water landscape linking the traditional and the contemporary, aiming to provide a model for reviving the life of Shikumen houses and a community now under threat.
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Fig. 9.1 Sam Dodsworth, ‘Shanghai Cycle Complex’ is an urban transport hub. It connects raised train platforms, motorway and pedestrian thoroughfares. The building acts as a centre for maintenance, innovation and spectatorship. It creates a layered environment that invites examination of the bike in its many uses and enduring cultural significance. Fig. 9.2 Nada Tayeb, ‘Bonfire Night Garden Party’, see Fig. 9.10 for more details. Fig. 9.3 Amy Begg , ‘Cinema and Ad-Agency for Chinese Films’ promotes the enigmatic yet distinctive Chinese Film Industry. The scheme curates space to strategically evince advertising concepts of speed; the creation of desire and need evolved into rich immaterial architecture. Through controlled movement the building is ethereal — sometimes near invisible and at others aglow along key sightlines. Fig. 9.4 Shiue Nee Pang, ‘Dragon Boat Centre + Urban Waterscape Landscape’ provides a training facility for dragon boat racing in response to
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Fig. 9.5 Emma Swarbrick, ‘Baoshan Rehabilitation Community’ is a bespoke facility for the treatment of incarcerated drug offenders, which runs the filtration of industrial canal water and rainwater. The scheme is about refinement and purification, physical and physiological, of water and bodies. It represents a desire to challenge stigma and encourages a more enlightened approach amongst the public and welfare agents towards rehabilitation of substance abusers in China. Fig. 9.6 Hui Zhen Ng, ‘Dumpling Emporium’ is a multilevelled steam dumpling restaurant in Shanghai. The building is an architectural translation of the actions of chopping, wrapping and steaming. The dining experience ranges from ground level street food, to private banqueting suites. The design aims to react to the often dramatic seasonal changes of the Yangtze delta. Fig. 9.7 Amy Begg, ‘Courtship and Seduction’ is a mechanised building component that
toys with and evaluates the movements associated with pausing, shyness and blushing. Inspired by the perambulations and dance of courtship displayed by Shanghai Mitten crabs (now inhabiting the Thames) the proposal also mimics the Chinese concubine performance of fan dancing in its exploration of seduction and spatial allure. Fig. 9.8 David Hawkins, ‘Laoximen Carpenters Guild’ forms part of a government initiative to preserve the vernacular architecture of Shanghai. Located between the old and the developing city, it acts as a vessel between the two by using traditional craftsman’s techniques and materials in order to produce a complex contemporary architectural language, which forms the urban marketscape. Fig. 9.9 Louis Sullivan, ‘Shanghai World Trade Organisation Affairs Consultation Centre’ is a walled free trade market complex in Laoximen, central Shanghai. Contained within its boundaries is a rich architectural
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landscape that utilises stereoscopic optical illusion. It provides users with a dramatic encounter with a renowned depiction of 11th century Chinese trade: ‘Along the River during the Qingming Festival’ scroll in three-dimensional form. Overleaf: Fig. 9.10 Nada Tayeb, ‘Bonfire Night Garden Party’ is a subversive event architecture, which aims to deconstruct the codes of conduct of the Inns of Court on Middle Temple lawn. This explicitly and implicitly orchestrates a politically poised garden party, which tests the metaphysical boundaries of space and conduct. The architecture is a complex negotiation between events and programmes, actions and transcripts.
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BS c A rc hi te c tu ra l St u di e s
BSC ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES
Course Directors: Dr. Ben Campkin & Dr. Barbara Penner
The Bartlett offers a BSc (Hons) in Architectural Studies. This is a unique course that allows students to follow modules within the Bartlett in conjunction with modules in other departments of UCL. The programme has been running since 2002–3 and now has over 80 graduates and a well-established track record. Graduates have gone on to postgraduate studies and professional careers in a wide variety of fields including: journalism, landscape design, lighting design, documentary film, conservation, photography, sculpture, print-making, arts education and management, event management, planning, law, medicine, marketing and the media, property valuation, construction management, the charity sector, and heritage institutions. They have pursued further studies at places from the Royal College of Art to ETH in Zurich as well as in various UCL Masters programmes. The great strength of the AS programme is its multidisciplinarity: students are able to tailor their own course of study to suit their particular interests and future postgraduate and career plans. It suits highly motivated, independent students who are interested in architecture and urban studies and who wish to take advantage of electives on offer elsewhere in UCL. Popular choices are Art History, Management, Language, Economics, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, Anthropology, Law, Archaeology, Biology, and Geography. p. 78
There are two specially tailored course modules for Architectural Studies students within the Bartlett. The Dissertation is an independent written project focusing on an architectural subject of the student’s choice and resulting in an investigative in-depth written report. Project X is an independent creative project in which students research an architectural idea or series of ideas through visual and other architectural media — including drawing, photography, model-making, casting, sound, film, new digital media, installation and performance — in conjunction with a short creative written piece. Examples from both Dissertation and Project X are reproduced on the following pages.
Year 2: Nuozi Chen, Amber Fahey, Azuki Ichihashi, Patrick O’Callaghan, Seth Pimlott, Hong Miao Shi, Leonie Walker, Muhammad Abd Rahman Year 3: Karen Au, Jia Chen, Su Jin Kwon, Wai Kin Lam, Ekaterina Minyaeva, Shireen Mohammadi, Rushda Morshed, Simone Persadie, Francesca Seal, Jonathan Tipper, Congjing Yao, Jingru Zhang
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Fig. X.1 Francesca Seal, Copper Deposit. Fig. X.2 Azuki Ichihashi, Paper Choreography.
PROJECT X Project X aims to help students build a creative and reflective practice of their own. It enables them to undertake a mode of working that particularly interests them and an independent practice-based project in which they can research and pursue a subject of their preference. Students are asked to think of architecture in interdisciplinary ways, explore alternative approaches to design, and situate their work within a broader cultural context. The work is developed in conjunction with a short written piece. A series of key questions confront students at different stages of the year concerning the nature of their practice, the contribution of their work to the broader field of architecture, the originality of their project, and the selection of appropriate media for the ideas pursued. Year 2: Amber Fahey, Azuki Ichihashi, Patrick O’Callaghan, Seth Pimlott, Leonie Walker Year 3: Karen Au, Wai Kin Lam (Ryan), Shireen Mohammadi (Bahar), Francesca Seal
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Fig. X.3 Leonie Walker, Anomalous Candle Stick (wax and wire frame). Fig. X.4 Shireen Mohammadi, Envision Delusion. Fig. X 5 Ryan Wai Kin Lam, Stem Engine Mainframe. Fig. X.6 Amber Fahey. Weather Preserves. Fig. X.7 Patrick O’Callaghan, Austerlitz: An Epilogue
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BSc ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES DISSERTATION Module Coordinator: Dr. Ben Campkin Year 2: Hong Miao Shi, Seth Pimlott Year 3: Karen Au, Su Jin Kwon, Ekaterina Minyaeva, Shireen Mohammadi, Rushda Morshed, Simone Persadie, Fran Seal, Jonathan Tipper The Dissertation in Architectural Studies enables students to undertake an independent research project of 10,000 words. The emphasis is on conducting original research and producing an in-depth written report, supported by appropriate visual and textual documentation. This course is taught through individual or small group tutorials, supplemented by occasional seminars and group meetings. The aims of the Dissertation are to enable students to conduct primary research, to think critically about issues with architectural implications, and to develop and showcase practical writing and presentation skills. We would like to congratulate Isabelle Priest, whose dissertation from 2009–10, "Gilbert Bayes and his Partnership with the St. Pancras Housing Association, 1927–1939", won the Henry Moore Institute BA Student Essay Prize.
Extract from Rushda Morshed (3rd year) 'Political Agenda and Public Space: A Study of the Relationship Between Public Space and Politics in Karachi, Pakistan' Pakistan’s lack of stability, and growing tensions between different political and ethnic groups, has resulted in many public demonstrations. A large percentage of the population lives below the poverty line and rely on public spaces, not only as recreational spaces but at times as living spaces as well (for people who cannot afford to buy or rent property, the streets often become their homes). This makes the way people interact with the spaces important. I am interested in examining how urban conditions could enhance the insecurities between different communities. This study seeks to understand the relationship between p. 82
political groups, the local population and public space. When talking about ‘public space’ I am referring to streets, parks, media, internet, shopping malls, and local neighbourhoods. Public space refers to a range of forms — from a very personal scale, like the common area in someone’s apartment block, to a much more communal area, such as the junction between two busy roads. This dissertation will look at three different types of public spaces and how they create tensions and become subject to demonstrations. The use of three scales of public space will help to highlight the different dimension of their use, by both the government and the citizens who interact with these spaces. The study will focus on Karachi, one of the largest cities in Pakistan. I have chosen this city as it has been subject to intense inward migration from all corners of Pakistan. With such a diverse population it has also been a centre for political unrest and confrontation. Erik Swyngedouw describes in Divided Cities (2006): 'Justice cannot be seen independently from the urban condition, not only because most of the world’s population lives in cities, but above all because the city condenses the manifold tensions and contradictions that infuse modern life.' […] Over the years architects, geographers, anthropologists, and urbanists have written about public space as an area of interaction, however, only in recent years have they started to look at how the spatiality of public space plays a role in how people interact with these spaces, not only by looking at the activity related to the use of the space but also the built-in tensions and potential conflicts. To get an understanding of how urban space can become a tool for manipulation I will study theories described by Edward W. Soja, Don Mitchell, Richard Sennett and Neil Leach. These authors explain the relationship between public spaces and the local population in Western societies. Given that the social structure of Karachi is very different to those described by the theorists,
Extract from Jonathan Tipper (3rd year) 'Geospatial Simulacrum: How is Our Interaction with the Built Environment Affected by Spatial Virtualisation?' The modern urban world is being mapped and virtually rendered at an ever increasing rate. Interactive, multifaceted types of information in the form of custom made maps, texts, images, videos and instructions are creating a ‘hyper-image’ of the built environment. Much in the same way hypertext html revolutionised text-based communication by allowing the dynamic linking of text to text and other media such as tables and images, the ‘hyper-image’ created by these different media forms is changing the way information about the world around us is accessed. The form of the built environment has begun to adapt to the infrastructure required for these technologies, but the further impacts that such a complete geospatial simulacrum will have on it have not yet been addressed. The individual’s spatial perception of the outside world has previously only been through primary senses. Since the creation of virtual simulacrums of the built environment —
with their own rules, architecture and infrastructure – our perceptions and interactions with it are changing. The emergence of this approach – previously confined to static web browsers – in mobile communications, leads towards an enhanced interaction with the built environment. The level of detail and information accessible through this ubiquitous, mobile media has allowed the creation of a series of virtual representations of our own world whether as near facsimiles or abstracted renderings. For many in the developed world, this approach has merely been viewed as a tool; but with its use growing in developing countries, could this spatial virtualisation affect our interaction with the real, tangible built environment? […] In this dissertation I will address what implications this ‘hyper-real’ form of simulacrum may have on the way we perceive, interact with and design the built environment. To do this I will be investigating what the terms ‘place’ and ‘space’ mean and what constitutes the perception of a sense of place. Accompanying this I will examine studies about landmarks and how we navigate using them in both real and virtual environments. I will look in depth into various forms of virtual environments and how they represent space using different methods with various outputs. As part of my argument I will look at how spatial virtualisation affects our social interactions, within the built environment and in augmented realities. The case study I intend to use at the heart of my research will be the Google Maps and Earth projects. Google’s history and development will provide an insight into the origins and potential effects of geospatial virtualisation.
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I will only use their work as a starting point in trying to understand the effects of public spaces in Karachi. In particular, I will use the framework described in Postmetropolis (2000) by Edward W. Soja to focus on certain aspects of public space that I would like to build upon in my work. Due to the layers of Karachi’s development I will analyse three different public spaces. The first part of the dissertation will look at public space on a small, intimate scale, a park ‘Baghe Ibne Qasim’, the way in which it was built, the history of the area and the restrictions put on it which have created animosity. The second will be the neighbourhood; looking at how and why different political groups lay claim to different districts of the city by marking buildings and lampposts with their flags, this being a more extreme way to try to exclude certain groups in a public area. Lastly, I will look at a famous roundabout “Theen Talwar” and how it creates a platform for, sometimes violent, demonstrations.
MArch Architecture — PCAAR — MArch GAD — MArch UD
MA Arch History — MPhil/PhD AD — MPhil/PhD H&T
M A rch A rch U n i t 10
AN IMAGINARY GUIDE TO LOCALITY ‘The lawn is a collection of grasses — this is how the problem must be formulated — that includes a subcollection of cultivated grasses and a subcollection of spontaneous grasses known as weeds; an intersection of the two subcollections is formed by the grasses which have grown spontaneously but belong to the cultivated species and are therefore indistinguishable from them. The wind blows, seeds and pollens fly, the relations among the collections are disrupted…’ Italo Calvino
design for nature in man-made cities. Can decentralization foster qualities unique to people and place, and increase community self-sufficiency? Is sustainable regeneration the answer to the bland gentrification that makes cities look alike? These are questions to explore models of community mentorship, integration of local values and slow living to create sustainable and visionary architecture and urban design. Year 4: Carmelo Arancon, Cristine Castilhos Balarine, Kwan Kit Chan, James Kitson, Joyce Lau, Savan Patel, Edward Scott, Man Fai Tang Year 5: Rachel Wanyu Guo, Qidi Hu, Chantanee Nativivat, James Redman, Marcin Sztyk, Jen-Feng Wang, Xin Yu Xie Unit 10 would like to thank Simon Dickens for his teaching of the Design Realization module.
Professor CJ Lim & Bernd Felsinger
Local qualities are not served well by simple preservation of the status quo. Like nature they must be fluid, adaptable and permeable to new ideas, people and ecology. With globalisation, we find values of heritage, tradition and culture to be increasingly endangered by global market forces, mass production and increased mobility. As a result global communities are increasing alike, without any idiosyncrasies of the local individuality and identity. Our core interest lies in urban sustainability of localisation in the context of globalisation. We are interested in exploring the extraordinary richness of our everyday local diversity and idiosyncrasies, the amalgamation of the imaginary upon history, and the
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Fig. 10.1 Martin Tang, ‘The New Arcadia’, In a response to global warming, natural resource depletion and environmental pollution, Regent’s Park in London is re-constructed as the Renewable Energy Centre of biodegradable waste.
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Fig. 10.6 James Kitson, ‘Symbiotic Cities’, A city for the abandoned, a city embracing the old and used — the renewable energy city hosted at the Serpentine Lake, London cultivates algae to aid self-sufficiency. Fig. 10.7 + Fig. 10.8 James Redman, ‘The Eternal City’, A self-contained community within an iceberg on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, the city exists in a delicate balance: hydropower is created to keep the ice frozen for the structure to float. Fig. 10.9 Carmelo Arancon, ‘Sanctuary City of Saints and Sinners’, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London is the epicentre of an outreach program providing refuge to sinners, and celebrating women as mythical beings.
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M A rc h A rch U n i t 11
ARCADIA VS. UTOPIA W.J.T. Mitchell’s Landscape and Power examines landscape as an instrument of cultural force. On the opening page, the author makes contrasting readings about the ambiguity and status of landscape, stating, ‘Landscape is a natural scene mediated by culture. It is both a represented and presented space, both a signifier and a signified, both a frame and what a frame contains, both a real place and its simulacrum, both a package and the commodity inside the package.’ These polarities go a long way towards defining the complexity of our relationship with landscape. Unit 11 continues to enquire into architecture that synthesises landscape and its relationship with culture and environment. This year we focused on Los Angeles, a megalopolis where the urban panorama is composed of an unremitting parade of anonymous mid-rise buildings scattered amid a fabric of low-density neighbourhoods and a miscellany of popup ephemera and drive-in diner kitsch. LA’s rapid development seems the ongoing consequence of a melange of unconscious acts, serendipitous discoveries and short-sighted civic strategies — ‘with each development boom, massive industry transformation and gentrification of its urban landscape, LA has reinvented itself and willed itself into a city unburdened by history’. Its expansion has been described as the result of ‘two competing mythologies of place and space, one of an acquired Arcadia —
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a found natural paradise — and the other of an invented Utopia — an empty space inviting development’. The bucolic valley that first invited modern settlement and formed a footing for the agricultural and industrial infrastructure that followed, provided a formidable challenge to the city’s development. The region is prone to forest fires, drought, flash floods, noxious fog, landslides, debris flows, climatic extremes, seismic activity, surface oil seepage and methane clouds. This tacit connection with nature, even in the most apparently manufactured landscapes, together with our human urge to manipulate and control our environment, formed the focus of our studies this year. The unit was energised by the Landscape Futures Super-Workshop organised in collaboration with writer and blogger Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG) and hosted by Los Angeles’ Centre of Land Use Interpretation, where we explored the San Gabriel Mountain remediation structures, debris basins and domestic storm modifications, urban oil fields, tar pits and camouflaged rigs, diverted water courses, dry lakes and dust storms, urban agriculture and disaster preparedness. Many thanks to Geoff Manaugh, BLDGBLOG and Nicola Twilley, Matt Coolidge (CLUI) and John Lyall our practice tutor. Year 4: Janinder Bhatti, Marcel Croxson, Emma Flynn, Theodore Games Petrohilos, Victor Hadjikyriacou, Amy Hiley, Jon Kaminsky, Daniel Marmot, Marcus Todd Year 5: Ioana Barbantan, Sigrid Bylander, Rina Kukaj, Adam LansdownBridge, Justin Randle, Spencer Treacy
M A rc h A rc h U ni t 1 1 11.1 Fig. 11.1 Justin Randle. The California Co-op. Based on open admission, democratic decision making, barter and exchange, the free flow of information and employing the skills and technologies of recently redundant industries, the Co-op provides work, shelter and the necessities of life to all amongst the wreckage of Haynes Generating Station, Los Angeles.
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11.4 Fig. 11.2 Janinder Bhatti. Los Angeles Children’s Asthma Clinic: Cultivating Air Fig. 11.3 Marcus Todd. Medical Marijuana Farm and Treatment Centre, Eaton Wash Reservoir, Pasadena, CA. A hybridised productive landscape forms a new ground above the flood line. A treatment centre and dispensary hovers over a gridshell pleasure garden. Greenhouses with respite care cabins are held on solid rafts between thin trays of hydroponic trenches. Fig. 11.4 Adam Lansdown-Bridge. Pattern Book Los Angeles explores the new architectural language emergent in the prototypal landscape of LA. Fig. 11.5 Amy Hiley. Each year LA’s Department of Public Works relocates approximately 300,000 cubic yards of sediment and debris which collects in the debris basins at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. The scheme proposes an alternative to trucking ‘waste’ to sediment
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placement sites in the form of mountainous pastoral landscapes in the urban sprawl. Fig. 11.6 Spencer Treacy. Shangri-la in Shittesville, Compton, Los Angeles, aims to amalgamate the residential with industrial, olfactory with visual, philosophical with financial and the urban with agricultural. Located on the site of a decommissioned brick quarry. The ‘Olfactory Factory’ combines the process of waste water treatment works with an urban residential scheme. Fig. 11.7 Theodore Games Petrohilos. The Petrol Powered Music Exploring Machine ‘Barry’ explores the streets of Los Angeles powered by the engines that pollute the city. It attempts to overcome the lack of tactility that comes with an automobile-obsessed city and thrives off the touch of Los Angelenos. Fig. 11.8 Victor Hadjikyriacou. ‘Anemos’ Wind Scanning Device, Owens Lake, CA. An unmanned device harnesses the wind energy from the
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11.10 noxious Keeler Fog with the aim of revitalising the polluted desert landscape of Owens Lake. Fig. 11.9 Emma Flynn. The Carbon Hoarding Bank is a rogue financial centre, capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere in response to the increasing market demand for carbon credits and trading schemes and turning an environmental imperative into a lucrative commercial opportunity, Puente Hills Landfill site, Los Angeles. Fig. 11.10 Dan Marmot. The Animal Emporium, Culver City, Los Angeles, embraces the fiction of LA, as monkeys swing from a pet hire tower, a landscape of mausolea for a pet crematorium hovers above a dog hotel, and a church-like aviary wraps around an existing building, creating a piece of urban theatre.
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11.14 Fig. 11.11 Sigrid Bylander. Liminal Wonderland, Fantasy Island, Loz Feliz Reservoir, Los Angeles. Fig. 11.12 Jon Kaminsky. ‘Land Rig’, Seal Beach, Los Angeles. The benevolent scheme houses Texaco Chevron’s retired oil workers and provides work and profits to afford them better health care and living conditions. Fig. 11.13 Ioana Barbantan. The Next 50 Years at Dodgers. A communityled proposal for a series of public spaces in the form of microclimatic pavilions on the extensive concrete skirt of the Dodgers car park informs, inspires and warns users of LA’s environmental present and possible future. Fig. 11.14 Theo Games Petrohilos. The SIG Building, Santa Monica, State Route 1, is activated by the cars that choke LA and acts as a modern-day victory arch of commerce and roadside communication. Fig. 11.15 Rina Kukaj. A ‘purification blanket’ of air
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remediation structures acts as a distributed atmospheric filter for the city of smog.
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M A rch A rch U n i t 12
HYBRIDISATION AND THE AIR AND INDUSTRY OF LONDON ‘Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.’ T.S Eliot The Future of the Past Unit 12 investigates contemporary and historical trends that emphasise the interrogation of historical discourses and styles as a means of design. In particular we examine how these practices sample, adapt and then hybridise preexisting references to illicit new significance. Such a hybrid can be a means of criticism as well as production, both in terms of what is proposed and how it is communicated, so that individual architectures explore and expose understandings of site, time and history.
Matthew Butcher, Elizabeth Dow & Professor Jonathan Hill
Modern Romanticism The term ‘romanticism’ is often applied pejoratively, suggesting disengagement from contemporary concerns. Instead, collaborations and conversations between painters, poets and scientists characterised eighteenth-century romanticism, which valued intellect as well as emotion, invention as well as history, time as well as place. Unit 12 identifies the romantic origins of an architectural environmentalism that has
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had a profound influence on subsequent centuries. Today, anthropogenic climate change ensures the increasing relevance of this evolving tradition. The Air and Industry of London Recognising a ‘Hellish and dismall Cloud of SEACOALE’, John Evelyn proposed a number of practical and poetic remedies in Fumifugium, 1661, the first book to consider London’s atmosphere as a whole. Coal-burning trades, butchers and burials were to be relocated east of the city so that the air and water would be unsullied. Evelyn’s proposal was only instigated centuries later and London continued to be known as the “Big Smoke’ until the mid-twentieth century. London is now the cleaner, functionally segregated city envisaged by Evelyn. But to create a compact and sustainable city, MArch Unit 12 proposes that London’s industries—breweries, brickworks, cemeteries, power plants—are once again integrated into the city as long as they do not pollute its air and water, responding to Evelyn’s poetic intentions. Year 4: Feras El Attar, Emily Farmer, Patrick Hamdy, Benjamin Harriman, Anders Luhr, Yifei Song, Amy SullivanBodiam, Olga-Maria Valavanoglou, Gabriel Warshafsky Year 5: Steve Baumann, Christopher Cox, James Crick, Omar Ghazal, Geraldine Holland, Michael Hughes, Thomas Luke Jones, Na Li, Dijan Malla, Hugh McEwen, Catrina Stewart, Erika Suzuki
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12.3 Fig. 12.1 Omar Ghazal, Frame House, Battersea, London. Functioning as an allegory and critique of the historical, and continuing, militarisation of the child in Western society, ‘The Frame House’ proposes a new Boy Scout headquarters next to Battersea Dogs Home in London. The project explores architecture’s role in constructing notions of the self and nationhood. Fig. 12.2 – 12.3 Chris Cox, The London Brickworks, City of London. Utilising the waste clay excavated from building sites across the City of London, The London Brickworks proposes a new model industry, which reintroduces brick production into the heart of the metropolis as the building material for new housing that will significantly increase the City’s residential population.
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12.7 Fig. 12.4 The monastery houses both the Tibetan Dalai Lama and the Chinese Panchen Lama, each occupying the building according to particular rituals and needs. Two means of construction — fast industrial production and slow laborious craftsmanship — are combined so that the building assumes a hybrid state that can be read politically, programmatically and architecturally. Fig. 12.5 Na Li, Monastery of the Himalayas, City of London. Fig. 12.6 James Crick, The Threadneedle Boxing House, City of London. Incorporating a boxing club on the site of the Royal Exchange, the building’s programme and architectural language are both literal and allegorical, with references to the raw aggression and discipline of boxing and the translation of roughly hewn timber sections into carefully crafted timber joints. The building houses the performance of the boxing match and is itself
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a performance. Fig. 12.7 James Crick, The Threadneedle Boxing House, City of London. Fig. 12.8 Erika Suzuki, Her Majesty’s Paper Factory, City of London. Utilising the vast quantities of waste paper produced by the City of London, the building recycles and manufactures paper for use in both print production and building construction. As a speculative and experimental building material, paper generates an architecture that is industrial in structure, form and surface articulation. Fig. 12.9 Michael Hughes, The Reformation of the General Post Office for the Digital Age, City of London. This project proposes a new model for the Royal Mail, in which airships and rockets replace traditional modes of transporting mail. With the implementation of this new infrastructural system the skyline of London is transformed into a high level performance stage in which airships pirouette and rockets’
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12.11 vapour trails frame the night sky. Fig. 12.10 Catrina Stewart, The Farm House: Colour for a Greener Architecture, Southwark, London. The Farmhouse Tower is a new model for urban farming and self-sufficient communal living, powered by the energy created from waste. Twin programmes — intensive agriculture and energy production — require the towers to be densely planned and personal space is limited. Those who abide by the tenancy rules are rewarded with additional space and privacy, allowing this colourful architecture to be more sinister, with its punitive overtones an allegory of contemporary sustainability. Fig. 12.11 Hugh McEwen, Aylesbury Town Hall, Southwark, London. A new town council is proposed for the existing but neglected Aylesbury Estate community. The first building for this new council, the Town Hall aims to encourage increased engagement between the
community and council. Aylesbury Town Hall uses a pop aesthetic with vernacular patterning, allowing the architecture to be approachable and inclusive, yet also politically and socially propositional.
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12.15 Fig. 12.12 Luke Jones, The Intellectual Commons, City of London. Initially formed from a series of rogue university departments, all of which were axed due to economic cuts, ‘The Intellectual Commons’ references the Arcadian aspirations of 1950s welfarism while it presents a new prototype for intellectual debate and cultural discourse, in which buildings alter, shift and grow in response to diverse demands. Fig. 12.13 Geraldine Holland, Bathing House, City of London. Constructed from chalk, steam and glass, ‘The Bathing House’ presents a new typology for the housing tower in which extensive communal and public rooms balance private apartments. Drawing water from London’s rising water table, the building seeps, steams and weeps, continually evolving a system of lakes, waterfalls and bathing pools as spaces to aid social interaction. Fig. 12.14 Dijan Malla, The College of Faith and Reason, Russell Square, London.
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Informed by the fusion of the arts, sciences and spirituality in late seventeenth-century England, the College of Faith and Reason facilitates academic research amidst an eclectic and allegorical collection. The architecture works playfully with the occupants’ preconceptions of the relationship between private and communal spaces, engaging all the senses as a means to encourage and increase communication and collaboration. Fig. 12.15 – 12.16 Steve Baumann, The New London Necropolis, City of London. Combining the programmes of necropolis, power station and orchard, this project seeks to readdress our contemporary relationship with death and its role in planning the contemporary city. Utilising the energy capacity and allegorical potential of the three programmes, ‘The New London Necropolis’ is self-sufficient, independently managing the relentless cycles of life and death that are housed in its fabric.
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DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY This year we looked at disruptive innovation, developments in technology that are culturally, artistically and technologically straightforward, offthe-shelf components put together in a way that is often simpler than prior approaches. This sense of ‘disruption’ is positive; offering less expectation in established fields and as such, are rarely employed. Disruption in this context can range from an augmentation that eclipses a host, to a curve ball innovation completely redefining a previously accepted field. The program remained true to, and built upon, the core values established by previous iterations of Unit 14, The Bartlett Interactive Workshop. We aim to explore the systemic and the interactive, whilst looking at the relationship between the man-made and the natural. We started the year with a live group installation project, divided in set groups, each taking the role of performers, observers, trackers, learners and disruptors. The installation took place at the Londonnewcastle project space on Redchurch street EC2. The Unit then went to Mumbai, touring sites such as the Dahavi slum and vast ship yards, looking at recycling/dissembling/re-appropriation from the micro, to the macro. Our 4th years then looked at the integration of interactive system behaviour in the world of performance spaces. Spaces that are woven into the fabric of the everyday, from speakers’
corners to national opera houses. They can be representative of the establishment and also forums for, and expressions of, disruption, either positive or negative. We asked our students to design a ‘performance space’, spatial and functional. However, the notion of ‘performance’ was not prescriptive; students were free to explore notions of expression and performance within a spatial and unit-based context. Our students in year 5 had complete freedom to establish their own areas of interest and their own approach to techniques of representation and testing. We feel strongly that ideas about contextual response and perception are best examined by constructing 1:1 fragments or complete installations. Where appropriate, students were encouraged to do this. Practice Tutor: Daniel Wright Unit 14 would like to thank: Stephen Gage, Paul Finch, Bob Sheil, Ruairi Glynn, David Roesenberg, Simon Bowden, David Di Duca, Sam McElhinney, Elie Lakin, Chris Leung, Ben Godber, Peter Allen, Rob Soning, Ross Philips, Stefan Dzisiewski-Smith, Jonty Craig, Eva Rucki and Sam Ellis. Year 4: Jonathan Cohen, Matthew Donkersley, Shao Jun Fan, Benjamin Gough, Eleanor Hedley, Lewis James, Alyssa Ohse, Kaleigh Tirone Nunes Year 5: Tim Bradford, Mo Huen Chong, Lei Guo, Caroline Lundin, Ammar Mirjan, Heechan Park, David Scott, Asako Sengoku, Elena Thatcher
Paul Bavister & Jason Bruges
Fig. 14.1 Group project. Performers. A series of independently actuated inflatable units, with behavioural qualities. As occupants moved within the field, the objects responded to their presence with subtle movements and gestures.
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14.6 Fig. 14.2 Tracking. Group project, A series of responsive machines tracking ‘presence’ creating drawings made by mark marking on charcoal pages. Fig. 14.3 Elena Thatcher. A project dealing with the design and speculation of a network of ‘sonic place bridge’ installations. Each installation allows an occupant to bridge spaces within our memory and imagination. The resultant effect of this is a dual existence within both the physical place and literal time and the memory space and time. This dual occupation will help open up unforeseen possibilities within the immediate urban environment, whilst simultaneously creating place and an understanding of space. Fig. 14.4 Helen Chong. Helen’s work looks at and speculates on the idea of creating time with architecture, by slowing down movements and rhythms of people and reinforcing responsive behaviours through the use of interactive objects and
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notations. The idea was put into test in a form of an installation, which took place at St.Pancras Church. A series of six performative objects was designed as a mean of choreographing movements and behaviours along a designed journey of the site. Fig. 14.5 Lei Guo. The translocation of immateriality. Lei has focused on the translation of the colours generated through real time web cam feeds into inhabitable installations. Fig. 14.6 Learning. Group Project. Users ‘played’ with computer visualisation through a tactile interface. The host system monitored behaviour, rejecting repetitive or boring patterns made by the player, encouraging new behavioural routines. This relationship was then represented in a woven pattern, created in real time. Fig. 14.7 Alyssa Ohse, Alyssa’s work has focused on relationships between performance and observation, and the mechanics of
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14.11 ‘proscenium’. Fig. 14.8 Matt Donkersley. In this image, virtual simulation is used to explore and inform the potential application of future adaptive (bio-synthetic) environments seeking performative goals and responding to social issues, principally through the disruption and enhancement of patterns of occupation and conditioning of social interaction. Fig. 14.9 David Scott, David’s project presents a contemporary interpretation of the Panopticon as a responsive environment and dataveillance system. As visitors interact with the space, a computer vision ‘gaoler’ observes and analyses their occupation of the site. The traces they leave are used to animate the ‘prisoners’, kinetic automata, physical manifestations of our ever proliferating digital representations or ‘data-doubles’. Fig. 14.10 Tim Bradford. Machines in conversation. Tim’s work has focused on the spatial dynamics that can be
created from the output of two machines in a co-operative dialogue. The output of the machines creates soundfields that can be occupied and interacted with but occupancy. Fig. 14.11 Caroline Lundin, Architectural Apparel. Caroline’s work is a study of a body and space. Instructions for performers are given, with the resultant performance being further instructions for the development of an indeterminate new architecture.
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14.13 Fig. 14.12 Hee Chan Park An architectural time machine. Hee’s work explored the relationship between machines and architecture. The machines developed, created a time based architectural experience blowing smoke and scent into a space. The resultant yet fleeting phenomena can be interacted with in physical and spatial terms. Fig. 14.13 Ammar Mirjan, Soft Boundaries. Ammars’ work investigates the dynamic relationship between intensity and extensity and the intersection between attraction and repulsion. A long-standing interest in time-based inflatables culminated in a 1:1 installation with a series of hybrid devices performing temporary occupations. They are soft and sharp, flexible and hard, inflated and deflated, open and closed, attractive and repulsive, indeterminate configuring and reconfiguring the spatial situation. Fig. 14.14 Asako Sengoku. Encounter Weaving
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Conversations. Asaco’s work deals with the architecture of conversation. Can a space respond to the subtleties of local conversation, and can this response be read in a meaningful way by the occupants of a room? This was answered by a full sized weaving machine that responded to localised behaviours, creating differing patterns of fabric, defining the history of the conversation.
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M A rc h A rch U n i t 15
UNIT 15 On the development of various methodologies, tactics and skills which try to inform the production and realisation of a wide range of architectural forms, concepts and practices in order to promote survival and happiness in uncertain times. The key concept for Unit 15 this year was uncertainty; uncertainty has been embraced as a positive as well as a negative term. Uncertainty forced us to be creative, speculative and critical. Uncertainty also made us sceptical about the architectural profession and any so-called experts who profess certainty. We questioned traditional architectural certainties, specifically traditional forms of orthographic representation through the use of film, animation and motion graphics and traditional value systems through the deployment of spec-ulative narratives and extraordinary visual imagery. We questioned the certainties of form, function, structure and programme and we created open and contingent forms of knowledge that allowed us to flourish as designers and as people. The year started with a series of short exercises that enabled students to develop ideas, interests and skills through which they were able to creatively map and explore their own uncertainties. Throughout this process students were expected to develop agendas and tactics that will last well beyond the Bartlett and prepare them for the ‘real’ uncertainties to come. The work has been developed through the construction of a series of short films in which students created spatial propositions that articulated their
individual values and practices, these ideas were continually developed as part of an on-going critical process. The early spatial explorations formed the basis of the subsequent Year 5 Thesis Projects and the Year 4 Building Projects. Each of the projects used highly individual means to generate, develop and represent the particular subject areas. Throughout the year the film and animation work has been supported by the extensive use of computer generated visualisations and experimental graphics in which speculative forms of drawing practice augment and disrupt conventional forms of orthographic projection to create hybrid ‘chronograms’ whose aim is to communicate the narrative of the project while mapping out the stylistic and philosophical implications of the spaces that have been created. These ‘time based’ drawings att-empted to communicate the immersive and synthetic nature of the projects. All students maintained individual blogs as a way of recording and disseminating their own work and in conjunction with various screenings, exhibitions and publications produced collectively we sought to maintain a public dialogue around the work of the Unit as a whole. Year 4: Indre Baltusyte, Daniel Dale, Sahar Fikouhi, Sanghwa Kim, Ifigeneia Liangi, Rui Liu, Gordon O’Connor-Read, Hannah Sharkey, Aristeidis Theodoropoulos Year 5: Wing Man Cheung, Jonathan Gales, Douglas Harding, Katharina Hieger, Christopher Lees, Paul Nicholls, Daniel Tassell, Kibwe Tavares, Richard Reginald Young
Fig. 15.1 Jonathan Gales, Megalomania.
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15.4 Fig. 15.2 Paul Nicholls, The Golden Age: Somewhere — Parkifice. Fig. 15.3 Chris Lees, Funland: “Wasps are your fiends! They build our city!”. Fig. 15.4 Chris Lees, Funland: Surface of Earth Master Satellite Receiver Dishes. Fig. 15.5 Paul Nicholls, The Golden Age: The Simulation — Chronogram. Fig. 15.6 Kibwe Tavares, Robots of Brixton.
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15.10 Fig. 15.7 Richard Young, The Un_Reel: The Simulacrum. Fig. 15.8 Richard Young, The Un-Reel: Recurring Domesticity — Case Study House. Fig. 15.9 Dan Tassell, The Battersea Experiment: Roofscape. Fig. 15.10 Dan Tassell, The Battersea Experiment: The Experimental Arboretum. Fig. 15.11 Richard Young, The Un_Reel: Synthetic Skyline. Fig. 15.12 Ifigenia Liangi, Kipseli, The Story of a Lost School. Fig. 15.13 The Chapel of Collateralized Debt Obligations. Fig. 15.14 Dan Dale, A Network of Lines That Enlace: The Fall. Fig. 15.15 Vivian Cheung, Consuming Spaces. Fig. 15.16 Katharina Hieger, Design Synthesis in Cognitive Spaces.
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M A rc h A rch U n i t 16
…THIS IS NOT A GATEWAY! Picture an image, good even tonal lighting, balanced contrast, clearly defined shadow structure, a scene of simple domesticity or perhaps romantic abandonment? Table and chair, carefully aligned, all the basic equipment needs of the absent protagonist hardwired into the ether. An uncompromised staged landscape; Workbench assorted tools, various small wires and pieces of equipment. Distant technical vistas skilfully arranged as a contemporary still life of the near future. The New Society, benevolent capitalism repackaged as the Market Leveraged state. Mass deregulation, finance, health, law and order, education, planning, outsourced government everyone’s a consumer now! Banking failures, double dip recession, economic stagnation, rising social unrest, leads to unprecedented urban flight, tax-starved, abandoned London falls into protracted decline. Around the Peripherique, latent memories of Abercrombie plan, the incorporated new towns of the M25, a borderland of corporate consumer driven dreams. Last year we crossed the Midwest of America from Chicago to failed city of Detroit. The unit explored the origins of the Common-Wealth, examining the instruments of wealth and power. This year the unit will draw from its experiences of Detroit, applying these lessons to the City of London. This is not a Gateway is a collective call to challenge and re-imagine the utility and function of the City of London,
rejecting traditions, by proposing new futures. At its peak London’s population reached approximately 7.5 million, revised estimates suggest a core population of around 2.4 million remain, although accurate figures are somewhat speculative. Like Detroit, inner London is less city-like, more a series of dispersed rural settlements, semi-autonomous neighbourhoods, locally generated, predominantly unregulated experiments in social organisation. 42 Mile Road… The A13 seen as slices of time and space, skilfully staged as a still life, contriving a compelling scene of uncompromised unnatural beauty, the mother road, from Aldgate, to Shoeburyness. ‘Crazy silhouettes of twisted steel from piles of broken masonry, memorials to the chaos of the old town. A fine building in ruins and we turn away sadly. But we should be thankful for much of the destruction — challenging opportunity confronts us.’ Ralph Tubbs Special thanks to our critics and guests: Luke Chandresinghe, Joerg Majer, Paul Monaghan, Graham Shane, Philip Turner, Liam Young Year 4: Ariff Abd-Hamid, William Fisher, Jerome Flinders, Nurlina Marof, Thomas Richard Smith, Yeung Piu So, Chris Thompson Year 5: Tsui Yan Chik, Michael Dean, Michail Floros, Shanaver Hamid, Sun Woo Hwang, Meor Mohd (Harris) Kamarul Bahrin, Nobuhiko Maeda, Kate Marrinan, Kyu Sik Shin, Greg Skinner, Yi-Tung Su, Bong Yeung Hamid, Michael Dean
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Fig. 16.1 Michael Dean, The Watchers House at Blakeney Point.
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16.9 Fig. 16.8 Jerome Flinders, St. Dunston’s Parallel A13, Essex Marshes. Fig. 16.9 Yeung Piu So, Hunting Lodge, Isle of Dogs, London. Fig. 16.10 Meor Haris K Bahrin, Canvey Island Engineer’s Palace, Essex.
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M A rch A rch U n i t 17
DO UNDO DO
Niall McLaughlin & Dr.Yeoryia Manolopoulou
Architecture is doing and undoing, filling and taking away, showing and masking. It is a way of thinking and an act of communication. This year Unit 17 developed practices of doing which were continuous, reiterative and critical. We made large physical models and performative installations which we occupied in the space of the studio. We produced rooms within rooms, inhabitable objects and relational spaces between projects. Drawing was a supportive and reciprocal activity throughout. This persistent process of doing, undoing and redoing was seen as analogous to inhabitation, everyday rhythms, cyclical repetitions, the rituals and irregularities that determine the social life of places. In January we went to Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, to study historic and contemporary situations, woven between old palaces, mosques, souqs, khans, new Kurdish settlements, the modern city, an extremely dry climate and the nearly lost Barada River. We travelled through the desert to Palmyra, Aleppo, the Dead Cities, and the castle of Krak des Chevaliers. We saw how the land has been formed by the constant making and erasing activities of previous and contemporary cultures and tried to develop a critical understanding of the manner in which each reiteration of the relation between landscape and human activity has thrown up unforeseeable variations. This year’s projects are in themselves processes of trial and error. They accept contradiction and physically manifest
the gap that exists between desire and outcome, between the previous and the next, the one and the other. They express doubt about the new politics and poetics of local environments. Doing again and again is about testing, staging, rehearsing, and shifting your point of view. As an architect, you are not outside the thing that you make; you form a part of it and with it you change. Many thanks to our critics: Jessam AlJawad, Johan Berglund, Anthony Boulanger, Murray Fraser, Olivia Gordon, Rob Gregory, Tilo Guenther, Mohamad Hafeda, Jonathan Hill, Will Hunter, Jan Kattein, Dean Pike, Sophia Psarra, Adam Richards, Felix Robbins, Michiko Sumi, Mike Tonkin, Nikolas Travasaros and Victoria Watson. For her great suggestions and help in Syria many thanks to Anne Marie Galmstrup. Design Realisation Tutors: Simon Bishop, David Hemmingway and Maria Fulford. Year 4: Pooja Agrawal, Alexandra Brooke Canzy El-Gohary, Chiara Hall, Katherine Hegab Gaafar, Emilie Henriksen, Danielle Hodgson, Mathew Leung, Paul Sidebottom, Richard Wood Year 5: Matthew Eberhard, Fernanda Fiuza Brito, Yong Lik Lee, James Palmer, Eleanor Stevenson, Emma Tubbs, Georgina Ward, Christopher Wong
Fig. 17.1 Emma Tubbs, Hajj Hotel, Mardje’s Square, downtown Damascus. An average of 400,000 Shia pilgrims reach Damascus for the ‘hajj-al-fuqara’ and on their way to Mecca annually each year, after having traversed hundreds of miles in packed minibuses and coaches. These crowds occupy the streets as large solid ‘black masses’ on a daily basis but Damascus lacks an infrastructure to support them. As an extension of the journey and like a modern day Khan, the hotel allows the buses to enter into and up the building, taking the travellers and their things directly to their rooms. Luggage comes into big quantities and is arranged vertically as a screening device. Two monolithic shrines are in the center of the circulating ramps, providing the structural core for the roads and two ‘courtyard’ spaces within.
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M A rc h A rch U n i t 17 17.2 Fig. 17.2 Georgina Ward, Serjilla Centre of Nuclear Medicine, Dead Cities, Northern Syria. The project lies within a limestone desert where massive stones from collapsed ancient structures litter the ground. Placed in this desolate environment is a Centre of Nuclear Medicine, where patients come to be scanned and undergo radioactive treatment for cancer. The project considers the idea of a ‘fragile architecture’ in terms of landscape, history, aesthetics and the human condition. Fig. 17.3 Fernanda Fiuza, Independent Town Hall, Old Ottoman Prison, Jaffa. Jaffa used to be the economic capital of Palestine until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947. Since then the city has lost its autonomy and has become a dilapidated neighborhood of Tel Aviv. The project considers the continuous erasure of the identity of Jaffa, as the Palestinian Arabs have been pushed out.
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Strategically sited on the boundary of the Jaffa hill, it aims to support new political projects for the local population. Fig. 17.4 Matthew Eberhard, Al-Hariqa Mall, Old City of Damascus. The site is situated at the point of confluence between the ancient walled city and modern Damascus. It is named al-Hariqa (‘the fire’) in remembrance of the bombardment by the French in 1924 during the Syrian Uprising against French Mandate control. The building is designed along a modern European-style grid in stark contrast to the surrounding medieval-style souqs and alleyways. It extends the souq vertically and uses the display of cloths and mannequins as an integral part of the architecture. Fig. 17.5 Yong Lik Lee, Eye Hospital, Jewish Quarter, Old City of Damascus. The project focuses on different uses of light and a variety of micro spaces within a flexible open plan clinic.
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M A rc h A rch U n i t 17 17.6 Fig. 17.6 Eleanor Stevenson, As Salhiyya Women’s College, Sha’laan Quarter of Damascus. The College shares its site with a ruined Ottoman House built in the early nineteenth century by the leader of the Ruwalla tribe. The building is designed as a backdrop to facilitate three social groups: female rural communities, male family members who require that they inspect the facility before permitting their own female family members to attend, and international scientists. Experimental photography is used to explore the relations between architecture, theatricality and staging. Fig. 17.7 James Palmer, Rehoused Mixed Use Development, Western edge of Damascus. The site is on a fault between the geological regimes of the mountain and the basin of Damascus where the Barada River encounters the new gigantic development for the five star Kiwan Hotel Complex. The project takes the Kiwan program and
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rehouses it in a set of buildings made by rammed earth and poplar. It critiques the generic air-conditioned environment being built next door by proposing an alternative architecture which better considers the local ecology. Key: 1: Main entrance, 2: Hotel administration, 3: Staff courtyard, 4: Guest courtyard, 5: Cinema, 6: Internet cafe, 7: Terrace, 8: Intercontinental, 9: Barada, 10: Hotel towers, 11: Conference rooms, 12: Creche, 13: Restaurant, 14: Health club, 15: Hotel tower, 16: Mall. Fig. 17.8 Christopher Wong, Language School, Salihiyyah, Northern edge of Damascus. A series of large and nearly inhabitable models propose labyrinthine spaces which use ornamentation as a mnemonic device. Given Syria’s censorship of foreign culture in the national curriculum, the final project accomodates a pilot programme for language education which will help the country’s recent move towards a services economy.
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M A rch A rch U n i t 20
UNBALANCED BOUNDARIES, UNDEFINED LIMITS, UNCERTAIN EDGES Unit 20 has formed a particular interest in crossing boundaries of traditional architectural practice, while envisioning innovative conditions in design. By looking into advances within a wide range of sciences and art — bio-medics, smallscale intelligence, light structures, advanced fabrication and digital poetics — students are supported to develop an individual research field. The projects, on various scales, develop an architecture that is built up by many different strata of applied scientific knowledge, software-based morphologies, micro-worlds and intelligent environments, as well as local and global policies, traditions and cultures.
Dr.Marcos Cruz & Dr.Marjan Colletti
Boundaries (Unbalanced, Environmental …) In a time when environmental preoccupations dictate our daily agenda Unit 20 is interested in testing the ecological equilibrium involving our internal and external architectural boundaries. The unit looked in depth at Wates House, our educational setting here at The Bartlett, and questioned the existing spatio-environmental constraints of the physical building, while proposing an overall different interface between its varied environments and users. Students designed a variety of smallscale artefacts and components, working on 1:1 experimental prototypes.
Limits (Undefined, Urban …) Simultaneously, the limits between the urban and rural landscape, centre and periphery, high and low density, global technological sophistication and local traditions are increasingly blurred and undefined. The unit travelled to Taiwan, one of Asia’s most fascinating spots, and analysed the already consolidated, yet still changing urban scenery, where once large flows of people from Mainland China reached its shores. Students studied the indeterminate cityscape of Taipei, Taiwan’s booming capital. Edges (Uncertain, Architectural …) The unit also looked at different notions of uncertainty in architecture, a term of significance in a number of fields, including philosophy, economics, physics, and engineering. It also applies to the prediction of future scenarios, to physical measurement and to unknown conditions in architecture. Students investigated the distinctive typological features of Taiwanese traditional architecture and its rich wooden ornamentation, exploring future trajectories for contemporary and visionary buildings with uncertain tectonic, technological, aesthetic edges. Year 4: Juhye Kang, Maria Knutsson-Hall, Chun Fatt Lee, Sheung Hok Lim, Jiro Munechika, Barry Wark, Sam Welham Year 5: Amanda Bate, Richard Beckett, Sam Clark, Linda Elizabeth Hagberg, Marcin Kurdziel, Aleksandrina Rizova, Luca Rizzi Brignoli, Boon TingWendy Teo Unit 20 was supported by Justin Nicholls and MACE.
Fig. 20.1 Aleksandrina Rizova and Richard Beckett, Infrastructural Ecologies, Neihu District, Taipei — integrated pervious urban system. The urban strategy is focused on minimising the amount of newly built impervious surface in this developing area of Northern Taipei. A porous, multi-layered network of circulation routes, integrating transport infrastructure with sports fields and commercial, educational and residential units on different levels, is proposed. This results in a complex permeable urban fabric which maximises ground surface. Vertical algae bio-reactors and a horizontal strata of hydroponics offer a new agricultural urban ecology that is intertwined with the city fabric. Simultaneous movement of cars, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as recycled water used for irrigation, is encompassed within the fluid system.
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20.4 Fig. 20.2 Chun Fatt Lee, Danshui Waterfront Cultural District, Taipei A convolution of transport infrastructure, urban courtyards and sedimentary banks integrates the new Taipei Opera, several museums and art galleries. Fig. 20.3 Maria Knutsson-Hall and Barry Wark, Turbulent Recursivities, Luzhou City, Taipei. Intervention on the industrial Danshui river-front, integrating a mixed use transport interchange, research institute, street markets and housing. Fig. 20.4 Luca Rizzi Brignoli and Marcin Kurdziel, Taipei Daan Urban Park-scraper. Intertwining of interstitial public and private spaces — merging architecture into nature. Fig. 20.5 Amanda Bate and Sam Clark, The Hydrating Fringe, Sanchong City, Taipei. New industrial waterscape created on the western bank of the Danshui River. The programme includes aqua-ponics, leisure facilities and housing. Fig. 20.6 Sheung Hok Lim,
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Xinyi Cancer Centre, Taipei. By applying the complexity of triangulated tessellation, the building defines space through the hybridisation of structure and circulation. Fig. 20.7 Sam Welham, Xinyi Qu Allergy Centre. Located on the eastern foothills of Taipei the project explores a site-specific materiality creating an interface between the urban and natural landscape. Fig. 20.8 Wendy Boon Ting Teo, Taipei Main Train Station. A preliminary model that investigates the tectonic complexity of algae production in roof structure — hybrid techniques of rapid prototyping, CNC milling and laser-cutting. Fig. 20.9 Juhye Kang, Hydroponic Farm, Shezi Island, Taipei. Sited along the embankment of the Keelung River, the project suggests a striated network of hydroponic allotments that interpret the surrounding agricultural morphologies.
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20.15 Fig. 20.10 Richard Beckett, The new Life Science Department, Taipei University. The urban fabric of the northern Neihu District of Taipei is redesigned according to the biotic and climatic conditions of the site. By utilising the natural variations in soil fertility and porosity it creates a geomantic approach that maximises the productive potential of the urban surface. Fig. 20.11 Amanda Bate, North Shun Temple Extension, Sanchong City. Adaptive paper architecture establishing Taoist festival routes to the Danshui River in Taipei. Detail model of roof structure influenced by traditional temple constructions, integrating digitally generated paper components. Fig. 20.12 Luca Rizzi Brignoli, Museum of Rare Books, Daan District, Taipei. The building exhibits the vast collection of antique books of the National Palace Museum. A complex stepped floor system displays the permanent archive that contrasts with
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the ever-changing environmental conditions of the upper museum space. Fig. 20.13 Sam Clark, The Unfinishing School, Sanchong City, Taipei. Located amongst three existing schools, the project merges public and private, establishing a structural manifold of invisible boundaries that creates connections in the city through the schools. Fig. 20.14 Marcin Kurdziel, Bereavement Market and Meditation Park, Taipei. The project is located at the gates of the Western Taipei Cemetery. It explores notions of randomness as a design methodology where complex urban settings are generated through the iteration of abstract digital models. Fig. 20.15 Linda Hagberg, Taipei Herbal Baths and Aquatic Sports Centre. Preliminary building model that illustrates the distribution network of heat and water in the building. Fig. 20.16 Wendy Boon Ting Teo, Taipei Main Train Station. The proposal generates
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20.18 power through transforming redundant heat and air exhausted from the underground transport system. Algae and hot water flow through the building skin expressing fluctuations in energy production. The scheme acts as a city gateway recalling the ephemeral qualities of Chinese landscape paintings. Fig. 20.17 Aleksandrina Rizova, Convergent building territories — School Academy, Taipei. A system of inhabitable urban interstices converges on a complex network of sports academies with adjacent dormitories and fields and shared subsidiary facilities with the urban fabric. Fig. 20.18 Aleksandrina Rizova, Convergent building territories — School Academy, Taipei. The core of the proposal plugs into the surroundings through a multi-layered arrangement of spaces and circulation paths integrated in a pervious structural mesh.
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PORTMANTEAU Istanbul is the only major city that straddles two continents. This geographical split is the first and most obvious of a multitude of cultural, political, religious, social and historical layers. No single description or account can adequately describe the city. ‘At this point I could no longer tell if I was in Byzantium, Konstantinopolis or Istanbul. I realised that I made a trip where I traversed three civilisations and three periods at the same time. But this city with three names and three histories was in fact still the same. I thought that it was perhaps not coincidental that amidst the city walls, bearded church fathers had discussed to the point of exhaustion the secret of the trinity, that is how “one thing” could be at once “one” and “three”.’ Umberto Eco
field trip. Students constructed their portmanteau from information gleaned from remote or mediated versions of the city, that were based on received notions that predated their experience of Istanbul. The remainder of the year was spent pursuing and developing the ideas generated by the portmanteau and sites in Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul. For further information on the unit visit — www.unit21.ashtonporter.net Unit 21 would like to thank our critics: Prof Christine Hawley, Prof Stephen Gage, Prof Colin Fournier, Godofedo Pereira, Tom Holberton, Narinder Sagoo, Charlotte Bocci, Holly Lewis, Dr Rachel Cruise. Year 4: Mina Gospavic, Chun Ting Gabriel Lee, Tia Randall, Yi Zoe Su, Ayaka Suzuki Year 5: Sarah Alfraih, Oliver Bawden, Beatrice Beazley, Alicia Bourla, Paul Broadbent, Sarah Bromley, Naomi Bryden, Costa Elia, Maiia Guermanova, Paul Legon, Roger Molina-Vera, Lucy Paton
This year, the unit continued to explore the idea of collage as a means to construct the city. It is as likely that the material of any such collage is defined by the lost geometry of an earlier incumbent as it is the physical material of a new object or the multitude of wireless information and hidden systems. Illusion and composition of the physical and the mimetic have continued to be a preoccupation within the unit. The unit was initially asked to ‘construct’, ‘make’ and/or otherwise design a portmanteau; this was a 4-week project and acted as a precursor to the Abigail Ashton & Andrew Porter
Fig 21.1 Sarah Bromley, Theatrical Pleasure Ground, Located on the old site of the great Byzantium Cemetery in Istanbul. A series of models exploring the physical and non-physical create a time-based landscape. The landscape comprises theatrical machines that are split into three time-based categories: Automatic, Reactive and Interactive. Each of the categories relates back to one of the three 18th century travel writers that instigated my year’s work: Gerard de Nerval, Mark Twain and Edmondo de Amicis. Fig 21.2 Sarah Alfraih, Museum Of Identity, Situated in Istanbul the Museum of Identity is an architectural intervention that is proposed to be built along the parameters of previously defined ‘Portals’ that investigate the spatial considerations of identity production. Here, the city of Istanbul becomes a site for the exploration of a philosophical inquiry into place which
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questions the very way in which we locate ourselves within it. Once we recognise that space and social relations are made through each other, we can ascertain that the production of identity becomes central to spatial discourse.
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21.4 Fig 21.3 Alicia Bourla, Floating Library Istanbul. A floating library for women and children, the Library celebrates the need of women for social encounters outside of the household. Fig 21.4 Lucy Paton, El Malecon Reanimación. Cuba is in a transitional phase. Assuming that it is transforming into a free-market economy, it is inevitable that there will be increased foreign investment and construction. With little development over the last 50 years much of the urban fabric is in a dilapidated state. Proposed is a Regeneration project for the Malecon, the seafront boulevard of Central Havana. On 9 sites left void from collapsed or demolished buildings community-based projects celebrate Cuban culture, and create a transitional architecture that prevents the Malecon becoming a characterless strip of hotels. They aim to reanimate the ‘City’s Living Room’ and provide new facilities to stimulate
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community regeneration. Fig 21.5 Paul Legon, City Hall Istanbul. This work focuses on creating an architectural Portmanteau of Order and Disorder by using anamorphic techniques. Each anamorphic construct conceals its organising geometry from all positions appearing abstract and disordered except from a unique invisible coordinate where the ‘eccentric observer’ is able to discover the hidden order/system.
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21.7 Figs. 21.6 – 21.10 Costa Elia, The Istanbul Pogrom Museum. This year’s work has been an architectural investigation into a particular event in Istanbul’s history — the Istanbul Pogrom, a large-scale riot directed against the minorities of the city that took place on the 6 September 1955. This event forever changed the demographics of the city, transforming it in the following 50 years from the traditionally multicultural site it was, to the relatively monocultural city it is now. The major proposal of the year was for a museum dedicated to the event based on the island of Buyukada off the coast of the city centre. This island was the former religious centre of the lost Greek population of the city, and the site that the museum is based on is the first piece of confiscated land returned to the Greek Church since the event. The project began with the design of five exhibits, 3D forensic reconstructions
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of particular spaces of the pogrom as shown in the photographs (Exhibits ‘B’ and ‘C’ shown in Figs 21.7, 21.8). Five exhibition halls were then designed around the exhibits to allow visitors to assume the photographer’s position and view these exhibits framed exactly as they appear in the images (Figs 21.6, 21.9, 21.10). Furthermore, visitors are guided around the exhibits in particular ways to allow them to gain new perspectives on the reconstructions that aren’t shown in the photographs and in the process are ‘framed’ themselves in particular ways. The intention of the project is to give the Pogrom a new relevance to modern society, through the questioning of what ‘objective’ evidence — whether forensic, or photograhpic — can really be constituted as.
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(IN-)WATER DWELLING AND SOME OTHER CLUES
Izaskun Chinchilla & Carlos Jiménez
Water’s essential nature makes it a strategic natural resource globally. Riparian water rights have become issues of international diplomacy, in addition to domestic and regional water rights and politics. World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin predicted, ‘Many of the wars of the 20th century were about oil, but wars of the 21st century will be over water.’ The causes are many and varied; they include local scarcity, limited availability and population pressures, but also human activities of mass consumption, misuse, environmental degradation and water pollution, as well as climate change. Fresh water — now more precious than ever in our history for its extensive use in agriculture, high-tech manufacturing, and energy production — is increasingly receiving attention as a resource requiring better management and sustainable use. Water is, therefore, a whole REAL issue. For many other pedagogical techniques, the evaluation of the students’ work depends principally on academic facts — representation, beauty, material ability. In contrast, Unit 22 tries to measure the value of architecture observing how it improves and rearranges reality. This blurring of the academic goals in the final object of design will encourage the student to define what is necessary and desirable, achieving what we will call Meaningful Learning (Asubel,
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1963), which drives the students to realise that their decisions have real and sometimes outstanding results and consequences for reality. The students’ design produces not only statements and reflection but also informs social and political realities. Reality has been conceptualised as a wild field of crossinfluences not previously classified in typologies or styles in which everything is possible and everything is problematic. Reality has not been a previously fixed system providing limits to the action of the student, but the complex result of the highly defined student action and proposal. Adam’s giant water canopy establishes a shared use of wet domestic activities, allowing to dramatically reduce time assigned for housework and coining the expression Water Socialism. Jawad housing towers and soap factory make it possible to maintain, irrigate and plant seasonally stripes of lavender fields over all roofs looking south-east to downtown Marseilles, competing with the southwest visual identity of the Mediterranean blue. In Tony´s houses you can watch your baby oysters from the living room and the whole neighbourhood allows for the rearrangement of ecological balance. All students have worked on empowering the user capacities and have faced plenty of problematic and difficult situations. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE. Year 4: Victoria Bateman, Liwei Deng, Catherine Francis, Negin Ghorban-Moghaddam, Julian Zi Liang Huang, Paul McManamon, Anna Mill, Sinan Pirie, Megan Smedy Year 5: Abdeljawad Abdelhafid, David Ronald Cheape, Jen Ting Chu, Adam Holland, Winston Luk, Anthony Staples
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22.6 Fig. 22.1 Negin Ghorbani-Moghaddam. Market Community. Chiloé, Chile. Façade studies for the Chiloé market community housing. The programme for a market community is conceived as a new public and domestic focal point for Castro. The mixed-use scheme provides: formal trading space, 50 live-work housing units, 25–50 bed space for visitors and a new ‘everyday’ public space. Fig. 22.2 Taling Chan, Market Restaurant, Bangkok, Thailand. Partial section. Partial section. New kitchen buildings should preserve existing vegetation. Fig. 22.3 Paul McManamon. The Clesea Urban Reservoir. London. The project suggests a private members’ urban reservoir spa and water purification complex in Chelsea by the River Thames which provides luxurious flavoured drinking water for the affluent Chelsea locals, where each month flavour is added to the water via the existing chimneys, reusing the abandoned Lots
Road Plant Poweras, a lido/water reservoir. The scheme will collect, store, filter and clean Thames water. Fig. 22.4 Victoria Bateman. Cookery School, Cornwall. Landscape connections. The surrounding landscape design helps to absorb the impact of human activity on the environment, especially in relation to critical nearby ecosystem services. Fig. 22.5 Sinan Pirie, Balat Community Wastewater Gardens. Istanbul, Turkey. Greenhouse section. A water treatment plant located in the centre of Istanbul treats waste inputs as a resource, providing benefits for the local community (water for the hammam located below the greenhouses, clean supply for the pleasure garden water features and irrigation). Fig. 22.6 Sinan Pirie, Balat Community Wastewater Gardens. Istanbul, Turkey. Mobile Hammam. A specific sequence of preparation is undertaken each time the hammam moves to a new location involving collaboration with the local community.
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22.8 Fig. 22.7 Julian Huang. East London Horticultural club cum Alternative Treatment Centre. Section of Alternative Treatment Centre. The East London horticultural club is a new hub of alternative and preventative treatment where the local community is invited to participate in the maintenance of the gardens and allotments which supply the alternative treatment centre with ingredients such as essential oils and herbs. Fig. 22.8 Adam Holland, Water Socialism. Plumbed water from residents’ houses is removed and a new water-based infrastructure is created. Rainwater is collected and filtered using a series of suspended glass canopies above the town, providing Economic, Environmental and Social benefits. Fig. 22.9 Leo Chu, Cultural Embassy for Southeast Asian Union. Bangkok, Thailand. Building configuration and urban relationship aiming to make ‘power’ transparent
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through its programme and the meaning it conveys, a democratic and ‘free embassy’. Fig. 22.10 Ronald Cheape, The Three Glens Dam Project. Scotland. Following on from the growth in the renewable energy sector in the NW of Scotland, the project proposes an inhabited multiple arch structure hydroelectric dam and a working holiday resort that inhabits the dam wall. Fig. 22.11 Winston Luk. Inhabiting Pripyat, Ucrania. Pripyat Hotel. The new tourism boom Pripyat has experienced has given rise to the possible requirement of a hotel in the area. The curiosity of visitors to come to the area allows them to dictate their own fate; whether they want to live within the old abandoned buildings littered with radioactive dust or to remain on the outside. Fig. 22.12 Winston Luk. Inhabiting Pripyat, Ucrania. Typical Housing Section. Showing the hydroponic gardens, and mechanisms that provide clean water for the residents
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22.13 and also that aid the decontamination process of existing buildings. Fig. 22.13 Winston Luk. Inhabiting Pripyat, Ucrania. Elevational Section. Showing the requirements of the housing units to be elevated off the ground to minimise the effect of ionising radiation.
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22.19 Fig. 22.14 Anthony Staples, Canvey Archipelago. The negotiation boardgame Masterplan for Canvey Archipelago, a continual process of negotiation guarantees adaptation to changing realities. Fig. 22.15 Anthony Staples, Canvey Archipelago. Ex-industrial fishing. The defunct industrial oil refineries on Canvey are reappropriated to desalinate water, breed fish and grow vegetables. Fig. 22.16 Anthony Staples, Canvey Archipelago. The oyster pub — Leigh-on-sea. Fig. 22.17 Anthony Staples, Canvey Archipelago. Living in a crow’s nest. The island’s maritime traditions and skilled local builders enable the construction of a floating destination equally attractive to migratory birds as well as visitors. Fig. 22.18 Anthony Staples, Canvey Archipelago. Oyster terrace. As marsh and tidal mudflats begin to encroach on residential areas the existing housing typology must be modified.
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Fig. 22.19 Anthony Staples, Canvey Archipelago. Oyster suburbs. The suburbs are adapted to aid the inhabitation of oyster as well as human islanders; each user benefits from a reciprocal relationship. Fig. 22.20 Jawad Abdelhafid. The Ultra-Rational, Ultra-Contextual, Ultra-Adaptable Unité of Purification, Marseille. Landscape vision showing the purification of water, the city, the human and architecture. The Ultra-Rational, Ultra-Contextual and Ultra-Adaptable Unite of Purification purifies not only water. It also purifies the human soul (this was Le Corbusier’s obsession) and the city; the man becoming a new part of a new industrial reality, and the city with a new post-industrial landscape of flowers. Fig. 22.21 Jawad Abdelhafid. The Ultra-Rational, Ultra-Contextual, Ultra-Adaptable Unité of Purification, Marseille. The Site-plan Semblant of the Three Corbusian Potentialities. A Windy July evening on the site.
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SPACES OF UNCERTAINTY The unit operates as a critical practice for individuals to speculate on how the future of architecture is made and who makes it. Projects are approached as polemic and visionary constructs in both digital and analogue realms where the construction of experimental and hypothetical protoarchitectures are understood as an essential platform for future architectural designer. As designers, we recognise that our expertise and scope must expand and diversify for rapidly changing contexts and needs. As makers, we recognise how the process of exploring ideas and meaning through material resistance, the protocols of techniques, and the matrices of complex systems, is a fusion of visceral and cerebral endeavour. And as critics we understand that without a skilled, curious, informed and daring vision of the future, the profession of architecture is doomed to an irrelevant margin of vital discourse. Spaces of Uncertainty began with a road trip from the Venice Biennale to Marseilles Vieux Port, passing through Verona, Florence and Turin, visiting, revisiting and discovering a catalogue of well known and less known works, places, spaces and things. Students were asked to locate their work anywhere on this path, exploring peripheral, abandoned or vacant plots and populating these locations with speculative projects addressing their found or destined condition. The response was entirely diverse, with projects for Marseilles including: A Ministry of
Cooperation, An imaginary L’Hotel de Ville for Gaston Defferre, An Embassy for the Roma nation, and ‘The Last Gasp’, a 350m solar farm on Les îles du Frioul for 2050 built using final remnants of oil and metals. In Venice, the outlook was equally particular and polemic with individual projects exploring a residence for the local ageing population, a sonic promenade on the Moses barrier, and the Mega Shed, a vast infrastructural enclosure at the Arsenale for building works and reparations. Projects deployed any appropriate media, method or tool, and students worked at varied scales from 1:1 to 1:10000, developing specific foci of individual investigation such as unique micro environmental character, particular local narrative or building typology, or related biographical context. Year 4: Chi Wai Chu, Thais Espersen, Tom Harvey, Kyle Hyde, Birgir Jonsson, Madhav Kidao, Michelle Lam, Ming Fung Ng, Joseph Shaw Year 5: Edward Farndale, Daniel Goodacre, Thomas Impiglia, Daniel Lauand, Heather Macey, Emma-Kate Matthews, Jay Morton, David Shanks Critics: Rachel Armstrong, Jason Bruges, Kyle Buchanan, Nat Chard, Nic Clear, Kate Davies, Xavier De Kestelier, Bernd Felsinger, William Firebrace, Murray Fraser, Stephen Gage, Christine Hawley, Simon Herron, Asif Khan, Guan Lee, Tom Lomax, Luke Lowings, Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Niall McLaughlin, Matteo Melioli, James O’Leary, Luke Olsen, Caroline Rabourdin, Sebastien Ricard, Ru Scott, Peter Sharpe, Jason Slocombe, Misha Smith, Liam Young
Bob Sheil & Emmanuel Vercruysse
Fig. 23.1 Emma-Kate Matthews, The Augumented Instrumentalist — A sound perspective of the small listening chamber. Composite physical model and acoustic simulation.
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23.12 Fig. 23.9 Thais Espersen, North African Film Festival Fig. 23.10 Jay Morton, Romani Embassy Fig. 23.11 Tom Harvey, Human Error 23.12 Daniel Lauand, Battlefield at the Ministry of Cooperation, Architecture, power politics, and battle tactics converge on a highly charged site in central Marseilles. Fig. 23.13 Birgir Jonsson, Centre for Underwater Archeology in Marseilles — The projects uses the unpredictable and experimental nature of its programme as a vehicle of exploring semi-amphibious, fragmented spaces that constantly shift between environmental extremes. Fig. 23.14 Birgir Jonsson, Centre for Underwater Archeology in Marseilles Fig. 23.15 Joseph Shaw, Transformable Structures Fig. 23.16 Joseph Shaw, Mega-Shed for Reconstructing Venice
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YEAR 5 THESIS The Thesis is the place where Year 5 students develop the theory which underpins their work, whether it is derived from science, cultural theory, technology, architectural history, philosophy or the psychology of perception. A reflexive relationship is created between the portfolio and thesis, each informing the other.
Sarah Alfraih ’Difference through Montage: Reflexive Identity and Spatial Production in Istanbul’ Tutor: Dr. Peg Rawes
Dr. Peg Rawes and Professor Stephen Gage
I examine the city of Istanbul as a site for a philosophical inquiry into place which questions the very way in which we locate ourselves within it. Once we recognise that space and social relations are made through each other, the production of identity becomes central to spatial discourse. I develop interdisciplinary conversation, drawing on particular spatial relations through the use of textual analysis, philosophy, images and film that work alongside a proposed architecture. As Edward Casey suggests, this ‘positioning of ourselves relative to images, objects, people, space and place … entails a direct understanding of spatial difference’ (1998). If space is understood as an ‘unfixing’ of place, then the role of the ‘movement image’ becomes crucial to this new spatial discussion. I investigate this by making a series of montages that articulate the interrelationships between images, subjects and the city. Using the film Uzak by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, I refer to unique ‘portals’ that lie at these spatial intersections. The final portal, a proposal for the Museum of Identity, constructs an interpretive framework from which to monitor a multiplicity of perspectives, places and identities.
Matthew Eberhard ‘Translating the Azem Palace: Ambiguity and the Reconstruction of a Translated History’ Tutor: Megha Chand-Inglis p. 152
In recent decades many authors have been concerned with the inherently political act of translation, particularly in the field of postcolonial theory. Interested primarily in developing a critique of colonialism through an analysis of literary translation, they have opened up fertile ground for the study of the translation of ideas and ideals across borders. The restoration of the Azem Palace by the French architect, Michel Ecochard, following its bombing in 1925, is representative of a relatively undocumented period of the French Mandate in Syria. Characterised by ambiguity, I reconstruct a history of this restoration through an analysis of my own process of translation: the translation of texts from French into English and the ‘translation’ of photographs which depict the restoration itself. I highlight the performative capabilities of these translations while demonstrating the inherent ambiguities of both the process of translation, and this period in Syria’s history.
Christopher Lees ‘The City: Through the Lens of Science Fiction World-Building’ Tutor: Nic Clear Depicting the city as a utopian projection is a prevalent theme throughout contemporary thought and literature and is particularly evident within Science Fiction (SF) where the city is integral to the narrative’s world construction in two ways: first, they are both products of modern thought and have co-evolved. As such SF is a well— adapted language of ideas for discussing the contemporary city, paramount of which is the experience of life in the current built environment. Second, SF allows authors to posit a vast palette of narrative ‘thought-experiments’ about diverse realities that other art-forms find difficult to articulate. This thesis explores the use of world-building and architectural themes within SF narratives as a method of constructing concepts of the city. It is informed by literary criticism and utilises a number of core texts by Haraway, Jameson, Eaton, Robert and
Aleksandrina Rizova ’Adaptive environmental interstices and appendages’ Tutor: Chris Wise My design investigates the notion of blurred boundaries on two scales in Taipei: an urban situation and an architectural proposition by appropriating two key concepts: adaptation and interstitiality. It focuses on the spatial environmental performance and morphology of a design studio project for a Sports Education urban complex and examines urban residual space in Taipei, the engagement between fields and users, and internal and external macroclimates that accommodate diverse activities and occupants. In order to answer these questions, I look at social, historic, cultural site-specific requirements and needs, and construct an intermediate cityscape proposal and analyse the connection between players and observers so to re-situate the project within its urban setting. Through research into adaptive integrated design and environmental control in warm climates, I develop a built spatial language that enables an architectural behaviour that adapts to varying weather conditions throughout the year, season-by-season.
Bong Yeung ‘Lee Valley Super-Farm: How Far could Hydroponic Farming make London Self-Sufficient?’ Tutor: Gary Grant This thesis examines the challenges of food and fuel supplies that the UK faces from the environmental, social and economic aspects. I explore the potential agricultural technologies that can boost the levels of productivity and environmental performance: hydroponic farming and the closed-glasshouse system. Thanet Earth and Sky Farm provide examples which I examine for the Lee Valley as the testing site, and analyse the site and the technical
data of hydroponic farming. Lee Valley has been a socially and economically deprived area, but also has a remarkable history of horticultural industry in the last century. The proposed superfarm could also be an urban regeneration project through urban strategies, which could generate self-sufficiency at 43.7% in 7,933 hectares of land. In addition, the thesis considers distribution and the use of ‘anaerobic digestors’ to convert non-saleable produce into bio-fuel, suggesting that 400,000 local households could have energy provision from this source.
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Y5T.5 Fig. Y5T.1 Matthew Eberhard. © Michel Ecochard/ Aga Khan Trust for Culture’ Fig. Y5T.2 Bong Yeung Fig. Y5T.3 Aleksandrina Rizova Fig. Y5T.4 Sarah Alfralh Fig. Y5T.5 Christopher Lees
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Shelley to develop an analysis of key SF works in which the concept of the city is integral to its aesthetic and structural formation.
Postg ra d u ate Ce r t i fi c ate i n Ad va n ced A rc h itec tu ra l Re s ea rc h
POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN ADVANCED ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH The best Masters portfolios and written theses contain the seeds of serious design research proposals. Students taking the Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Architectural Research have the opportunity to take their work to a further stage of development. Architecture has a history where research and practice go hand in hand, where many great practices have grown as a result of fundamental research and where many research projects arise from groundbreaking design. This is especially true during periods of economic inactivity when recent modes of working are called into question and new modes of working (sometimes based on rediscovered historical precedent) are established. This can lead to the formation of new, groundbreaking practices and to the start of academic careers in research and teaching. Through the Certificate, students can choose to take their work forward in design, technology, design theory or design history or any mixture of the above that the student considers to be appropriate to their subject. Research can be developed through text, drawings, models or 1:1 test prototypes. Research can be developed through text, drawings, models or 1:1 test prototypes. Tutors: Professor Stephen Gage, Bob Sheil, Dr Peg Rawes, Ruairi Glynn and Simon Herron
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RESEARCH OUTPUT
Students are expected to produce a significant research output, which is usually in one or more of the following forms: 1. A report of 10,000 words to form the basis of an MPhil/PhD proposal 2. A refereed journal article or refereed conference paper 3. A portfolio of drawings and/or models that explore a particular theme 4. A thematic exploration in time-based media 5. One or more 1:1 installations
PROGRAMME AND AWARD
Students can enrol at any time before the end of August in order to take the certificate examination in the following June. The student may choose (with the agreement of their tutor) to undertake the work over any time period that is longer than 3 months in the 12-month timeframe. Students: Tom Cartledge, Will Cousins, Tom Dunn, Chris Hildrey, Elie Lakin, Will Trossell, Nick Westby, Nic Wood.
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PC.3 Fig. PC.1 Exhibition at the Arup Phase 2 Gallery showing work by Vlad Tenu and Lucy Jones. Fig. PC.2 Nick Westby: Tensegrity experiments, work in progress. Fig. PC.3 Vlad Tenu wins the TEXFAB international design competition. His project is realised in aluminium 3.6 meters high — http://tex-fab.net/. Fig. PC.4 Will Trossell: Kielder Forest Scan, work in progress.
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MArch Graduate Architectural Design
MArch GAD
Programme Directors: Professor Stephen Gage & Andrew Porter Programme Co-ordinator: Andrew Porter
The Masters studio in Architectural Design is a 12-month full-time programme concentrating on advanced architectural design. We believe that design is a mode of research and that research through design both underpins leading architectural practice and allows the individual to discover his or her personal expression; it takes many forms from speculative drawing to the construction of working prototypes. Research through design does not start with data collection; it starts with invention, which is then tempered by analysis, critical architectural thinking, and discourse. The programme is structured so that the first three months introduce students to the theoretical concepts through lectures and initial design projects. During this period students confirm the subject of their thesis project and report and then work in specialist teaching groups. There is continual discussion of work via tutorials and reviews. Since the MArch GAD programme was established in the early nineties (as the MArch AD programme with Sir Peter Cook) it has attracted students from more than 25 different countries, many of whom have been given major scholarships and awards. Graduates from the programme have had a substantial impact on the profession. The programme has given rise to a number of significant international young practices and alumni contribute to academic teaching and research at leading universities globally. Direct teaching is by: Professor Stephen Gage, Andrew Porter, Godofredo Pereira, Carmody and Groarke, Ruairi Glynn, Enric Ruiz-Geli, Luke Pearson, Stuart Munro, Shaun Murray and Phil Watson. Keynote lectures and seminars are given by: Professor Ranulph Glanville, CJ Lim, Dr Rachel Armstrong, Godofredo Pereira, Mark Garcia.
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A number of students continue their research at doctorate level and this work is often based on work that was started during the MArch GAD degree. The programme is designed for both recent graduates and for qualified architects: people who wish to be part of a more speculative design environment. As part of University College London, the Bartlett is part of a network spanning the territories of art, science, technology and computing and this in turn is augmented by the school’s wider network including the many visitors who come as critics. The programme is open to students with a degree in Architecture or a similar cognate discipline. From September 2011 students who successfully complete their studies are awarded the degree of MArch (Graduate Architectural Design) in UCL. Please note that this programme does not offer exemption from UK professional examinations. The programme shares specialist seminars with the Bartlett Adaptive Architecture and Computing MRes programme where students who wish to do so can learn ‘Processing’ and ‘Arduino’ programming. Students are also provided with the skills necessary to work with specialists in the Bartlett Digital Manufacturing Centre. External Examiners have included Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Professor David Greene and Professor Michael Webb. In-house critics: Professor Christine Hawley, Professor Colin Fournier, Professor Jonathan Hill, Professor CJ Lim, Professor Alan Penn, Dr Marcos Cruz and other Bartlett Architecture staff. Fig. AD.1 Johannes Müntinga, Cyanometer. Overleaf: Fig. GAD.2 Juan Oyarbide, Vending Laboratory Fig. GAD.3 Juan Oyarbide, Dining Sanctuary Fig. GAD.4 Salma Zavari, Tracing Cutting Board Fig. GAD.5 Ping Lin, T4b-18-Beating the Surface over Time.
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URBAN FICTIONS
Programme Director: Professor Colin Fournier Programme Co-ordinator: Graciela moreno
Typologies of human settlements have remained very similar over centuries. When one considers how much technology has evolved, how cultures have changed and how architecture has mutated over time, it is remarkable how slowly cities change, although they are the largest and most crucially significant human artefact. We stress the importance of imagining completely new types of cities and the key role of fiction. There are urban fictions, including those coming from literature and film, that have a profound impact on the evolution of urbanism: Thomas Moore’s Utopia, Ebenezer Howard’s garden city, Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, Italo Calvino’s Invisible cities, Gibson’s Neuromancer, to name but a few. These fictions act as strange attractors on the theory and practice of urban design: most of them have never been built, but they exert a considerable gravitational pull, a fascination. They lie as poetic objects of desire on the edge of our consciousness. Cities are the physical manifestation of a way of life, and it takes a paradigmatic shift of our culture, at all levels, for cities to change. It has happened before at key moments in history. The industrial revolution was one such shift, postindustrial suburbanisation another. We are now, at the beginning of the 21st century, experiencing another shift of comparable magnitude: technology is changing rapidly, particularly information and communications technologies, and a major cultural change is taking place, in so far that we are now showing a far greater concern for environmental conditions and Tutors: Jonathan Kendall, Yuri Gerrits, Robert Dye, Jason Coleman, Graciela Moreno, Philip Gumuchdjian, Peter Besley, Ilaria di Carlo, Bernhard Rettig, Dan Ringelstein, Elena Pascolo, Darryl Chen, Ludovico Lombardi, Valentin Bontjes van Beek
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sustainability. Given the magnitude of the cultural, social, political and economic changes that are currently occurring, the fundamental question we ask the students to explore is the following: what kind of cities might be generated by this new paradigm? What kind of ‘urban fiction’, alternative cities of the imagination, can be generated? The field trip was to Los Angeles, the anti-city par excellence, the city that playfully and forcefully transgresses all the rules of ‘good’ urban design. Individual briefs were proposed by the tutors of the six Urban Design Units. The students chose their own sites, implanting their fictions in different parts of the city: on the coastline, up in the hills, in the desert, along the LA river, on off-shore islands, in the valley, within downtown and in the sprawl of suburbia. A selection of projects is shown here. Students: Averkina Mariya, Banchikova Olga, Han Ahram, Khune Shweta, Kim Yong Kyun, Li Jiexin, Mitry Cris, Liu Jie, Pangonis Tadas, Polverini Jan, Agashe Omkar, Avitable Caterina, Theodoropoulou Stamatina, Chandrasekharan Sujitha, Comerford Daniel, Feeney Emma, Li Cheng, Li Shanke, Rajaei Zahra, Vallina Enol, Chen Ying, Cheng Yani, DouJian Shan, Faraci Rosella, Grabic Lucija, Liang Lok Mei, LinJingYuan, Park Sung Hye, Sandoval Camilo, Themistokleous Theodoros, Yang Silu, Ayoub Amal, Askari Sadaf, Charoenkool Atisthan, Chludzinska Joanna, Daniel Priya, Leesakulrak Watcharapan, Lin Dashe, Liu Chang, Mahapatra Sindhuja, Miyake Shigeko, Patitucci Raffaele, De Castro Ana, Diguet Cecile, Gkiza Anna, Kim Ji Hoon, Lee Jin Wook, Saraswati Dinani, Suresh Raj Kumar, Srinivasan Rajasekaran Vaishnavi, Tam Ka, Wang Yun Long, Ibbs Harry, Mousalli Abdullah, Nie Lei, Pintus Francesca, Qin Jing, Sabzevari Maryam, Sivaraman Raja Manikandan, Yao Yi, Shaw Delia.
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UD.2 Fig. UD.1 Sunghye Park. Plant life. Fig. UD.2 Daniel Comerford. The acupuncturist. Following 2 spreads: Fig. UD.3 Amal Ayoub. Angel(e) s with dirty faces. Fig. UD.4 Tadas Pangonis & Jie Liu. Individual Initiative: Skid Row, Los Angeles. Fig. UD.5 Silu Yang. The religious city. Fig. UD.6 Anna Gkiza. 110[CYS]. Fig. UD.7 Wang Yunlong. Eco-Machinic Archipelago. Fig. UD.8 Liang Lokmei. Trash Trails
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M A Arch i te ct ural H i sto r y
MA ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY
Programme Director: Professor Adrian Forty
The MA Architectural History brings the latest thinking in the disciplines of history and cultural theory to bear on the study of architecture and cities. We encourage students on the course to be experimental — to try out ideas from these more theoretical fields, and to test their limits when it comes to applying them to the lived actuality of buildings and places. Every piece of work produced on the programme is an experiment in the relations of ideas to objects. The course raises expectations as to what the discipline of architectural history is capable of, and suggests how it might generate new understandings of culture. We put a premium on ambition, and originality. Ambition, in identifying issues and problems that lie at the interface between the theoretical disciplines, and our encounters with the phenomena of the urban. Originality, in searching out topics that have been overlooked, and in devising new ways to look at them. In every case, the benchmark of success, whatever is being investigated, is whether we are led to see the object under observation in a new way. The research projects listed here have been devised, researched and written up in the second half of the twelve months of the MA Architectural History programme. The first six months of the programme are devoted to two days a week of seminars on critical thought in history and cultural theory; on techniques of research and dissemination for architectural history; the study of buildings relative to documentary sources; and on alternative understandings of the contemporary city. Fifty years ago the historian E.H. Carr, in his book What is History?, described architectural history as one of the ‘auxiliary sciences’ of history, along with practices like archaeology and palaeography. If this might once have been true, when the study of politics held the high ground in history, it is no longer the case, and most people would now accept that p. 1 6 8
studies of the urban and of the built can tell us just as much about societies as the study of their political systems. But what of the relation to architecture? Is architectural history an ‘auxiliary science’ relative to architecture? The presence of a graduate programme in architectural history within a school of architecture makes this a question that we cannot avoid, and one we have to ask ourselves every day of our working lives. Is architectural history and theory a part of architecture, or is it supplementary to it, a parasitical discipline? No certain answer can be had to this, but it is part of the function of this course to generate argument about the question, and to make sure that no one ever forgets that, without a discourse around it, architecture as we know it would cease to exist. Architectural history sometimes questions that discourse, and sometimes it sustains it. Past students of the MA Architectural History have gone on to practise, or to teach, architecture; others have become architectural journalists, publishers, or concerned with taking decisions about the management and protection of the built heritage. Many have gone on to study for doctorates, either at UCL or elsewhere — it is part of the course’s role to provide a foundation for PhD research. And just a few have become politicians. Each year a new generation of architectural historians emerges, their destiny unknown. Main Tutors: Professor Iain Borden, Dr. Ben Campkin, Professor Adrian Forty, Dr. Yat Ming Loo, Dr. Peg Rawes, Professor Jane Rendell The following students, with the title of their report, graduated in 2010: Maria Cabrera Vergara The 21st Century Church; 1990–2010: ‘Constructing’ a new concept of sacred architecture Cathy Clark The Cast Iron Bandstand: a MassProduced Object with Humanity *Gabriela García de Cortazar Architecture and ‘the Public’; between discourses in journals, buildings in London and possibilities opened from the ‘50s until today *Mirian Delaney Line, Text, Silence and Scale: Reading the Raven Maps of Londonderry, 1622
*= Commended as outstanding Gabriela García de Cortázar Galleguillos ‘Architecture and ‘the Public’
Supervisor: Ben Campkin The issue of ‘the public’ was intensively studied by the social sciences and productively incorporated into art production in the second half of the twentieth century. But how far has architecture addressed the issue of ‘the public’? What conceptions does it create, use or allude to? Does architecture make a specific contribution to the discourse of ‘the public’? Are there specific
strategies, particular to architecture, in the formation of ‘the public’? For the social sciences, the public sphere — once defined as ‘a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed’ (Habermas) –is what mediates between society and the state, providing a means to critique and control authority, and thus possessing an emancipatory power. This public sphere ‘need not be understood as simply about an already established common good; it may be even more basically an occasion for the clarification (and, I would add, constitution) of interests’ (Calhoun). The constitution of interests that the public sphere can include may also be paralleled by art’s creative productiveness, when art is understood as a practice whose point is ‘not to reiterate but to innovate, to offer experiences and insights, sights and sites that we did not as yet possess’ (Bal). Has architecture, another ‘productive’ discipline that battles between being art and technique, theory and practice, usefulness and creativity, addressed the issue of ‘the public’? In theory, yes. Architecture is said to be a cultural practice, involved in the materialisation of society through building. But have buildings really addressed the issue of ‘the public’ in any effective way? Through a close reading of all the published articles about six cultural buildings in London (Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tate Modern, Barbican, Sainsbury Wing National Gallery, and Kings Place) we can see how far the press has referred to ‘the public’ in terms of buildings, and not of theory. These articles, which repeat and vary slightly the original discourse developed between clients and architects, show that between the 1950s and 1970s ‘the public’, whether as something to be accommodated, or to be created, was wholly absent from discussion. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, there was an explosion of civicness and of publicness, in whose creation buildings became seen as active agents, both through discursive and architectural strategies.
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Teresa Fankhänel Visual Topoi and Townscapes. Dresden’s Image Production between 1949 and 1989 Natasha Ghani The Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Panteleimon: Geometric Tensions during the Construction Process Genti Gjikola Italy and Albania: Architectural Encounters in the Fascist Age, 1925-1944 Danielle Hewitt Limits, Finality and Excess: Considering Material and Temporal Transgression in the Post Industrial Landscape at Holbeck, Leeds Mika Larrison The Chain goes Local *Claudio Leoni ‘Topography of Terror’, about a site in Berlin, a way of remembrance and a project by Peter Zumthor Kieran Mahon Tracing the Quiet Anarchy: 20th century British anarchism, the built environmnt and Colin Ward *Guiomar Martin Domínguez ‘Dreaming the Beauty of the Unusual’: Back and Forth between Reggio Emilia’s Pedagogy and Architecture *Nathan Moore Diagrams of Control: Architecture, Law and Power Catalina Mejia Moreno (writing) architecture: 5 encounters, 1 proposal *Sophie Read An Architectural Lecture: Le Corbusier at the AA (1947), ‘Le Corbusier at the AA’ (2008) Jimena Hogrebe Rodriguez Context’s Context. The use of the word ‘context’ in Western European architecture, 1950–2010. Fadi Sultagi The Sanctuary of Bel, Palmyra: An Experience of its Missing Layer. *Karolina Szynalska Sam Scorer. A lesser known architect of the twentieth century. Gerlinde Verhaeghe Carrefour de l’Europe Brussels: an Investigation into the Urban Void Gabriela García de Cortázar Galleguillos Architecture and ‘the Public’; between discourses in journals, buildings in London and possibilities opened from the ‘50s until today
M Ph i l /P hD A rch i te c tu ra l D es i g n
MPhil/PhD ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Programme Director: Professor Jonathan Hill Programme Co-ordinator: Dr Yeoryia Manolopoulou
Leading to a PhD in Architecture, the MPhil/PhD Architectural Design allows especially able and reflective designers to undertake research within the Bartlett School of Architecture’s speculative and experimental ethos. The first to be established in the UK, the Bartlett MPhil/PhD Architectural Design is internationally recognised as one of the most influential doctoral programmes dedicated to architectural design. The programme draws on the strengths of design teaching and doctoral research at the Bartlett, encouraging the development of architectural research through the interaction of designing and writing. An architectural design doctoral thesis has two inter-related elements of equal importance — a project and a text — that share a research theme and a productive relationship. The project may be drawn, filmed, built, or created using whatever media is appropriate. UCL’s multi-disciplinary environment offers a stimulating and varied research culture that connects research by architectural design to developments in other disciplines, such as medicine, art, anthropology and digital media. The programme is intended for graduates of architecture and other disciplines, such as art, who wish to pursue research by architectural design. More than 40 students from over 15 countries are currently enrolled on the programme. The Bartlett School of Architecture’s two PhD programmes organise a number of annual Supervisors: Professor Iain Borden, Dr Victor Buchli, Dr Marjan Colletti, Professor Sir Peter Cook, Dr Marcos Cruz, Professor Penny Florence, Professor Colin Fournier, Professor Stephen Gage, Professor Ranulph Glanville, Dr Penelope Haralambidou, Professor Christine Hawley, Professor Jonathan Hill, Dr Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Jayne Parker, Dr Barbara Penner, Dr Peg Rawes, Professor Jane Rendell, Bob Sheil, Professor Phil Steadman, Professor Neil Spiller, Professor Phil Tabor.
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events for doctoral students. PhD Research Projects, an exhibition and conference with presentations by current practicebased PhD students in UCL, is held in Term 2. Invited critics in 2011 were Dr Marcos Cruz, Director, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture; Sean Griffiths, FAT; Dr Sharon Morris, UCL Slade School of Fine Art; and Professor Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Architecture. Throughout the year, PhD Research Conversations seminars are an opportunity for doctoral candidates to present work in progress. In addition, students are invited to participate in the Architecture & Interdisciplinary Seminars in the Bartlett and The Creative Thesis in the UCL Slade School of Fine Art, which is tailored to practice-led research. In December 2010 Dr Jan Kattein was shortlisted for the ‘RIBA President’s Award for Research — Outstanding PhD Thesis’. Jan’s supervisors were Professor Jonathan Hill and Professor Penelope Haralambidou. The Bartlett MPhil/PhD Architectural Design programme provided the RIBA award winner in 2008 and two of the four short-listed candidates in 2009. Students: Adam Adamis, Yota Adilenidou, Dr Rachel Armstrong, Jaime Bartolome, Katherine E. Bash, Katy Beinart, Joanne Bristol, David Buck, Nat Chard, Emma Cheatle, Ines Dantas Ribeiro Bernardes, Catja De Haas, Pablo Gil, Ruairi Glynn, Polly Gould, Mohamad Hafeda, Sophie Handler, Teresa Hoskyns, Popi Iacovou, Christiana Ioannou, Nahed Jawad, Rosalie Kim, Tae Young Kim, Constance Lau, Guan Lee, Tea Lim, Jane Madsen, Igor Marjanovic, Matteo Melioli, Malca Mizrahi, Christos Papastergiou, Henri Praeger, Felix Robbins, Eva Sopeoglou, Camila Sotomayor, Ro Spankie, Theo Spyropoulos, Ben Sweeting, William Tozer, Neil Wenman, Stefan White, Michael Wihart, Alex Zambelli. Fig. PD.1 Christina Ioannou, Site Drawing: Lines, Textures and Materiality Fig. PD.2 Ruairi Glynn, Approaching Animate Architecture
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M Ph i l /P hD A rc h i te c t u ral H i sto r y & Th e o ry
MPhil/PhD ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY & THEORY Graduating Students: Willem de Bruijn, Shih-Yao Lai, Christina Malathouni, Sotirios Varsamis Current Students: Wesley Aelbrecht, Ricardo Agarez, Kalliopi Amygdalou, Tilo Amhoff, Tal Bar, Nicholas Beech, Eva Branscome, Eray Cayli, Edward Denison, Stella Flatten, Yi-Chih Huang, Anne Hultzsch, Kate Jordan, Irene Kelly, Thomas-Bernard Kenniff, Tat Lam, Torsten Lange, Abigail Lockey, Suzanne Macleod, Ivan Margolius, Jacob Paskins, Dragan Pavlovic, Brent Pilkey, Matthew Poulter, Sue Robertson, Ozayr Saloojee, Maria del Pilar Sanchez Beltran, Pinai Sirikiatikul, Sarah Stanley, LéaCatherine Szacka, Nina Vollenbroker, Danielle Willkens
Programme Director: Dr. Barbara Penner
The MPhil/PhD Architectural History & Theory programme allows candidates to conduct an extensive piece of research into an area of their own selection and definition. Great importance is placed on the originality of information uncovered, the creativity of the interpretations made, and the rigour of the methodological procedures adopted. The range of research topics undertaken in the programme is broad, but generally look at the history and theory of architecture and cities from c. 1800 to the present day, with an emphasis on the critical reading of these subjects from cultural, political and experiential viewpoints. Approximately 20–30 students are enrolled at any one time in this programme. The Bartlett School of Architecture runs an active series of events for students from both the MPhil/ PhD Architectural Design programme and the Architectural History and Theory programme to provide a platform for advanced discussions of research methodology. These include a series of departmental seminars (PhD Architecture Research Conversations), and an annual graduate conference at which students present work to invited respondents p. 1 72
(PhD Architecture Research Projects). With the Slade since 2005, we also run a special PhD workshop, The Creative Thesis: Thesis Writing in the Practice Related Arts/Humanities PhD Admission. We would like to congratulate Dr. Victoria Perry, who won the RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis 2009-10, for her dissertation, “Slavery, Sugar and the Sublime: The Atlantic World and British Architecture, Art and Landscapes, 1740-1840”. Willem De Bruijn ‘Book-Building: A Historical and Theoretical Investigation into Architecture and Alchemy’ Primary Supervisor: Prof. Jane Rendell Secondary Supervisor: Dr. Barbara Penner
My thesis investigates the relation between architecture and alchemy through a study of printed works published by three well-known alchemists (Heinrich Khunrath, Michael Maier and François Béroalde de Verville) and one manuscript treatise composed by an architect whose interest in architecture was alchemical (Antonio di Pietro Averlino, better known as Filarete). This investigation, though historical in its choice of sources, is not without relevance to contemporary architectural discourse. For, while architecture has been thought of as chiefly concerned with stability (firmitas), the construction of solid forms and the immutability of objects, alchemy, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with processes of change — material, spatial, social and cultural. In recent years, it is precisely this notion of change that has generated a wide-spread interest in alchemy as a
Shih-Yao Lai ‘The Making of the City Image: Architecture and the Representations of the New Shanghai in China’s Reform Era’ Primary Supervisor: Prof. Iain Borden Secondary Supervisor: Dr. Barbara Penner Shanghai’s urban landscape has changed enormously since it was opened up in the early 1990s under China’s Economic
Reform Policy. Amid fast and spectacular urban development, Shanghai’s cityscape and architecture attracted great attention from both inside and outside of China. The representations of the city and its architecture were also largely produced and distributed in the domestic and international media. In short, the city has been presenting itself not only with constructed architecture and urban spaces, but with meaningful signs and symbols.
This thesis provides a semiotic and ideological analysis of Shanghai’s new architecture and changing cityscape during the Reform Era, with the premise that the built environment has been utilised as a form of rhetoric in order to convey dominant ideas to create urban meaning. Image is the core concept used to investigate these urban meanings of the new Shanghai. City image, embodied in architecture and urban landscape as physical and visible facts, is in essence a synthetic presentation of messages relating to economic development, urban identity and national politics. The thesis opens with a theoretical discussion of the concepts of image and city image, and their role in globalisation. By dismantling these concepts and examining their essential significance, image is opened up into dimensions, which allows for the formulation of a theoretical framework of city image, based on several pioneer theories and the context of globalisation, for studying the representations of new Shanghai. This is then followed by an investigation of Shanghai’s redevelopment under the Reform Policy as providing the context of the city’s image-making project, and of its highly image-conscious p. 1 73
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metaphor for architectural design, both in an educational and professional context, as is evident from the popular use of the term ‘laboratory’, or ‘lab’, to denote spaces of architectural experimentation. The laboratory, after all, emerged first and foremost as a space designed for, and by, alchemists who were active in the development of early modern science and medicine, as well as in the renewal of their practice through literature, art and poetry. Today, the once fertile connections between architecture and alchemy survive only sporadically in approaches to design that privilege process and material experimentation over form, as exemplified in the work of Herzog & de Meuron, as well as in more formalistic approaches that explore the fluidity of shapes and the mutability of bodies in space, as exemplified in the Kunsthaus in Graz, by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier. In a first instance, then, my thesis aims to provide a historical background against which these works may be understood as belonging to a forgotten ‘tradition’, the origins of which can be located in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, at a time when alchemy played a major role in life and work at some of the most powerful courts on the European continent. Yet, in a second instance, the thesis argues that the meeting between architecture and alchemy must be located, not in the buildings people inhabited, but in the books that were written, published and read at these courts. The thesis conceptualises this argument through the use of the term book-building, which must be understood as referring to the way in which acts of writing, printing, publishing, binding and reading combine to construct a space of encounter and exchange between authors, printers, publishers, binders and readers within and across historical time.
urban planning in recent decades. Case studies follow, covering four areas in which the city is frequently represented, and so forming the bulk of the analysis of Shanghai’s city image. First, representations of the city in a municipal museum, the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre (SUPEC), are shown to encapsulate Shanghai’s government-promoted city image. Second, representations of Shanghai in the mass media are shown to reveal mainstream views of the new Shanghai. Third, the treatment of the city and its architecture in a form of propaganda known as ‘zhuxuanlü music videos’ is shown to echo the state’s preferred discourse on urban development. Fourth, a number of avant-garde contemporary artworks are analysed to demonstrate the existence of a discourse of resistance to the state-promoted urban meanings and city image of Shanghai found elsewhere. The thesis concludes that Shanghai’s city image delivers the explicit and implicit messages of the dominant urban and political discourses, and functions at global, national and local levels in order to aid the economy, to imply political legitimacy and to strengthen civic identity. The thesis thus contributes a model and an example of city image-making to the field of architectural and urban studies. Christina Malathouni ‘In Search of the Beauty of Conscious Life: Claude Bragdon’s “spatial” “philosophy of architecture” and the “fourth dimension” tradition’ Primary Supervisor: Prof. Philip Steadman Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Adrian Forty
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This thesis studies the early theoretical work of the American architect, graphic and theatre designer and mystic Claude Fayette Bragdon (1866–1946), who practised architecture in upstate New York from the late 1880s until 1923. By examining Bragdon’s theoretical work from the early 1890s to the mid-1910s, particularly his early reading of Arthur Schopenhauer’s Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung and his active engagement in the nineteenth-century tradition of a spatial fourth dimension, the principal subject of this research is Bragdon’s exceptionally early interest in the notion of space as a fundamental property of architecture. Schopenhauer’s philosophy offered Bragdon the tools to directly relate subjective aesthetics with form and also directly linked space and architecture. At the same time, the establishment of n-dimensional geometry – the mathematical foundation of the ‘fourth dimension’ tradition – was combined with contemporary biological evolution theories and offered vigorous formal symbolism to Aristotle’s ladder-like classification of nature from simplest to most complex forms: minerals, plants, animals, humans, gods. The parallel presentation of these two key aspects of Bragdon’s work illustrates how, during this early phase, the debate about architectural space retained a close relation to both philosophical and geometrical and physical space. In the context of the central role that this key notion was to play throughout twentieth-century intellectual and art theory and practice, the findings of the thesis are of special historic interest that expands far beyond the geographical and chronological boundaries of Bragdon’s oeuvre. Firstly, the widespread belief that the term ‘space’ was to be adopted in English-speaking architectural literature considerably later than in three 1893 German texts, identified by existing scholarship to have introduced the term ‘space’ to the modern architectural vocabulary, is seriously contested and further research into the subject is invited: Bragdon adopted Schopenhauer’s position as early as 1891, two years earlier than
those German texts and two and a half decades earlier than the Englishman Geoffrey Scott’s book Architecture of Humanism, first published in 1914 and broadly considered to have been the earliest text in the English language to have adopted the notion of space as a fundamental property of architecture. Secondly, Bragdon’s advocacy of the fourth dimension draws attention to the establishment of new geometrical systems in the course of the nineteenth century (n-dimensional and non-Euclidean geometries) that brought about an extraordinary intellectual turmoil and revolutionised our understanding of space. Therefore, the prevailing view that positions the origins of the use of the term ‘space’ in relation to architecture exclusively in aesthetic philosophy is supplemented, if not challenged. This allows a broader understanding of the complexities inherent in the parallel associations of space, both to the human mind and to the external world, and offers interesting insights into the profound connection between the human subject and architecture. Sotirios Varsamis ‘Spatial Palindromes / Palindromic Spaces Spatial devices in Vitruvius, Mallarmé, Polieri, Perec and Libeskind’ Primary Supervisor: Dr. Barbara Penner Secondary Supervisor: Prof. Jane Rendell
This thesis explores non-linear geometric texts and narratives in literature and architecture and the experience of space that is facilitated by them. The research focuses on the palindrome because it is a non-linear mathematical/geometrical device that is found both in literature and architecture. In language, the palindrome is expressed in the geometrical arrangement
of words, letters or concepts in the text or the narrative; and, in architecture, as mirrored symmetries or palindromic proportions, measurements and distributions of elements in drawings and buildings. The primary aim of the thesis is to explore the spatial qualities of palindromes, and the experience of those qualities not only in text but also in architecture. This dissertation thus consists of two parts: the first examines Spatial Palindromes in terms of the spatial structures of selected texts and considers their relation to architecture; and the second examines Palindromic Spaces in terms of the spatial experiences created by and through palindromes in text and architecture. The first part, Spatial Palindromes, constructs an original history of the spatial qualities of palindromes by looking at the theory guiding the use of non-linear devices in texts and architecture. This history moves from the use of palindromes in the work of classical figures and scholars (Orpheus, Pythagoras and Vitruvius), to the Medieval and Renaissance practice of mnemonics (Frances Yates, Mary Carruthers), to early twentieth-century structural linguistics (Ferdinand de Saussure) and the group OuLiPo (Raymond Queneau, François Le Lionnais) and, finally, to late twentieth-century poststructural linguistics (Jean Baudrillard). The thesis argues that palindromes create spatial experiences both in texts and architecture. For this reason the second part, Palindromic Spaces, studies the nature of spatial experience in the fictions and designs of Stéphane Mallarmé, Jacques Polieri, Georges Perec, and Daniel Libeskind. According to Baudrillard the ‘poetic space’, hidden or revealed by the anagram and palindrome, is where the solid structure of language is ‘exterminated’. This act of extermination, or the ‘poetic space’ that the palindrome reveals in language, opens up perception, memory and recollection to a spatial experience ‘that incorporates the recession of outcomes ad infinitum’; a self-generated, self-consumed or self-reflective conception of history and space that this thesis aims to explore in architecture.
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Professional Studies — History & Theory — Technology
Bartlett architecture students undertake their studies in the full range of architectural subject matter and enquiry. Professional Studies, History & Theory and Technology are all explored both implicitly within the design process and explicitly in specialised and comprehensive stand-alone modules. Through this integrated and extensive approach to architectural education, students experience all aspects of architecture, from the abstract and theoretical, social and cultural, rational and pragmatic, to the managerial and economic.
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From day one, architecture students are asked to question the role and function of the architect. The range of practices which graduates later join is as diverse as the individuals who arrive at the school — and in the intervening period, preconceptions are continually challenged through encounters with fellow students, teachers (many of whom run their own practices) and numerous visiting experts. Students’ own ambitions and career aspirations are nurtured within the framework of innovative professional studies courses, as well as through informal advice on practice and employment. Susan Ware Director of Professional Studies
YEAR 1 BSc Architecture Year 1 students work with planning and construction management students on the ‘Production of the Built Environment’ course, which introduces the various professionals and organisations involved in the process of producing buildings, as well as broader political, social and economic forces. In BSc Year 3 students take the ‘Preparing for Practice’ course which equips them for life in an architectural practice during their subsequent Year Out. YEAR OUT The Year Out course itself continues the connection with the Bartlett and provides support and monitoring of practical experience through individual tutorials and a series of themed lecture days. YEAR 4 The ‘Design Realisation’ course in the MArch Architecture Year 4 brings together professional practice, construction and technology through a unique configuration of individual design units, practice tutors, consultants and visiting lecturers. PART 3 ARB/RIBA Part 3 course and examination is open to non-Bartlett students and is truly international, attracting students from over 25 different countries. The course prepares students for registration as an architect through a comprehensive course of lectures, seminars and tutorials. The Part 3 lecture course is available to architectural practices and as CPD.
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P rofe ss i o na l Stu d i e s & Pa r t 3
PROFESSIONAL STUDIES & PART 3
H i sto r y & Th e o ry
HISTORY & THEORY Architectural history and theory is a staging post, a provisional place of reflection, a continual project. And it is omnipresent, for every architect, every historian, every theorist, whether knowingly or not, uses some intersection of history and theory every time they design, document, discuss or speculate. At the Bartlett, architectural history and theory interjects at all levels, from introductions to architectural analysis, from encounters with buildings to the elaboration of critical processes, from public discussions to individually focused research projects, and from factually-based empirical studies to theorised speculations and creative writing practices. Professor Iain Borden Director of Architectural History & Theory
BSc YEAR 3 DISSERTATION Charlie Blanchard ‘Dealing with Dystopia: Examining the Work of Lebbeus Woods’ Architects are reluctant to take on difficult problems that remain unsolved, such as restoring slums, reconstructing war torn cities, and reinventing buildings devastated by natural disaster. Woods believes that this is due to the risk of being stigmatised for taking them on. The architects who do take on these challenges are often accused of preying on the misery of those involved, in order to better what they have. Some feel that Woods’ work is using the effects of the destruction to transform the architecture into something less violent, and therefore comes an acceptance for the violence. I don’t believe this is true. Woods is very pragmatic about how he goes about his ‘systems in crisis’ and he wants to deal with these real conditions. Woods’ architecture is far from dystopic. He is proposing new urban spaces, new ways for people to meet, new ways for them to live, and an architecture that helps them move forward. His architecture does occupy the spaces of tragic histories, but he is doing much more than just aestheticising the violence. His vision is positive and thoughtful. He is bringing hope to these dystopias p. 1 8 0
through his proposals. At the same time, by retaining a reference to the old building, he is highlighting the dominant social force that has ruled society and is reminding us of its failures in the hope of improving society’s future.
MArch YEAR 4 HISTORY & THEORY ARTICLE Sinan Pirie ‘London’s Latent Urban Agriculture Potential. New Trends, Challenges and Opportunities’ To meet the Climate Change Act’s 80% emissions reduction targets by 2050, food-related emissions need to be cut by 70% requiring systematic changes to the current food system at every stage: food choices, sourcing, production, processing, distribution and recycling. The capital’s food situation is complex: on the one hand, growing numbers of farmers markets and consumer interest in food matters suggests a food renaissance. Allotments are in short supply and boroughs like Camden have forty-year waiting lists that are ‘booked’ in advance for the use of future family generations. On the other hand, the Growing Food for London conference in 2008 indicated a substantial reduction in London food growing, primarily in peripheral farms. Currently, in spite of what initially appears a supportive environment, London urban agriculture initiatives have so far made minimal inroads into wider city food networks. 80% of London’s food comes from abroad. Agricultural projects that cultivate, process and distribute food within the city limits are uniquely poised to help mitigate the significant contribution of London to the problem. The article analyses these new trends and organisations: Capital Growth, a partnership that aims to facilitate the creation of over 2000 new community food growing spaces by 2012; Food from the Sky, a volunteer-run food growing and educational project in Crouch End, North London; Project Dirt, a rapidly expanding user-driven online environmental action ‘platform’; and the Silk Gardens shared-ownership development in Bethnal Green. It argues these community-driven initiatives enable us to assess the specific challenges and opportunities of London’s agricultural needs.
Te c hn o l o g y
TECHNOLOGY Technology can supply and fertilise our ideas, it can question and support our ambitions, and it can solve and create our problems. For ambitious and speculative designers, it is a field requiring a highly critical and informed approach in order to fulfil their role as professionals in the built environment. We therefore integrate all technological enquiry with design projects, we do not treat it as a separate domain. To fuel this aim, we continue to invest in new equipment and broaden our extensive network of contacts in consultancy. This year we also hosted the international peer reviewed conference FABRICATE which attracted submissions from 34 countries and delegates from 23. Bob Sheil Director of Technology
Fig. T.1, T.2 Asaco Sengoku. Encounter Weaving Conversations.
PR OGRAM MIN G DI AGR AM : PAT TERN A
T.1
T.2
p. 18 1 P AT T E RN A I t i s w ov e n a s s oo n a s t he mach in e s e n s e s t he s t a r t of t he con v er sa ti on .
Every
s i ngl e
s t r in g i s c r os s i n g w i th t he ot he r s tr i ng .
Th i s p a tte r n i s
Below Greg Skinner, EVRÆ. Discussing future-architecture via a discussion of drawing and architectural production, looped back upon itself with a narrative concerning self-creation, the project is a cathartic voyage into boundless imagination. Questions of author, authority and technological self-determination are blurred in cached references which use renaissance geometry and romanticist leitmotifs. Opposite Bartlett Summer Show 2010
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Photo Richard Stonehouse
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S u m m e r S cho o l
SUMMER SCHOOL Each year the Bartlett School of Architecture Summer School tackles a different agenda with a group of participants of varying ages and differing backgrounds, including prospective university students, international students, sixth form students, secondary school students and those who are simply keen to develop their interest in architecture and the Bartlett.
SUMMER SCHOOL 2011:
LONDON’S RIVER(S)
Monday 1st August — Friday 12th August The Thames is well known as London’s great river. It is the reason for the existence of the capital city and is surrounded by many of its architectural sights. However, it is just one of dozens of waterways which dissect the city from canals to the hidden rivers buried in previous centuries. These rivers also have the potential to vastly change London should the sea level rise as is predicted by climate change experts. A six-metre rise could overwhelm the Thames Barrier and result in a vast lake in Central London. In 2011 the Bartlett School of Architecture’s annual Summer School will explore the rivers and waterways
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of London. Students will explore their courses and surroundings, recording what they find and developing architectural responses giving due consideration to the potential effect of rising tides. The rivers provide links and contexts providing the perfect backdrop for the projection of architectural imaginations. Proposals may be small interventions or larger projects. Using the Bartlett’s excellent workshop and studios and University College London’s associated facilities we will stage a practical symposium to survey, speculate and construct. Places for this year are available; please complete the application form, which can be found on the website, and return it to us with payment. For further details visit: www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/ summerschool
S um m e r S c h oo l
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Photo Richard Stonehouse
BARTLETT INTERNATIONAL LECTURE SERIES Supported by the Fletcher Priest Trust. The Bartlett International Lecture Series features speakers from across the world. Lectures in the series are open to the public and free to attend. Forthcoming lectures are publicised on the Bartlett website and through the Bartlett Architecture Listing. archlist@ucl.ac.uk www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/ events/lectures/lectures
LECTURES THIS YEAR: Enric Ruiz-Geli CJ Lim Will Alsop Nat Chard Naja & De Ostos Sir Peter Cook Izaskun Chinchilla Neil Denari Richard Blythe Carme Pinos Thom Mayne Didier Faustino Anna Heringer Ortlos Bernard Tschumi Nils Norman Helen + Hard Adam Somlai-Fischer Gabi Schillig Tomas Saraceno Antoine Picon Alberto Kalach Vito Acconci William Menking Marcelo Spina Jane Rendell Kivi Sotamaa Atelier Van Lieshout David Grahame Shane Reiser + Umemoto Goodiepal Jonathan Noble Steven Ma David Garcia Itsuko Hasegawa p. 187
DMC LONDON London’s newest and largest Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) manufacturing bureau, now at The Bartlett School of Architecture.
SERVICES INCLUDE: SLS Systems •High resolution, high accuracy models produced in strong, durable nylon plastic with ultra-white finish. •Systems capable of producing bespoke or short-run manufactured products/components. •Production of excellent master models for downstream processes and applications. •Ideal solution for time-critical competition models. •Form-fit-function models for pre-production testing and marketing. Z-Corp 3D Printers •Quick and cost-effective. •Early design visualisation and communication. •Exploration of multiple design iterations. •Models can be used for downstream processes and manufacturing applications. Artec 3D Scanner •Easy to use, hand-held 3D scanning system for made or found objects. •Data can be used for reverse engineering, integration into new design constructs, animation and renderings. CNC Routing •2.5 x 1.5m 3 axis router table for fabrication of large and medium scale parts. 5 Axis milling machine •Complex parts manufacture.
For more information contact Martin Watmough, Director DMC London, on: Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 8565 Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 5424 Mobile: +44 (0)77 3979 7248 E-mail: dmc.bartlett@ucl.ac.uk dmc.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/resources/dmc.htm
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Photo Richard Stonehouse
STAFF
Abi Abdolwahabi, Ben Addy, Michael Aling, Laura Allen, Kit Allsopp, Tilo Amhoff, Gregor Anderson, Ana Araujo, Rachel Armstrong, Abigail Ashton, Martin Avery, Julia Backhaus, Roz Barr, Scott Batty, Paul Bavister, Nicolas Beech, Johan Berglund, Elena Besussi, Jan Birksted, Iain Borden, Matthew Bowles, Nicholas Boyarsky, Nick Browne, Jason Bruges, Margaret Bursa, Bim Burton, Michelle Bush, Matthew Butcher, Ben Campkin, Rhys Cannon, Kevin Carmody, Carlos Jimenez Cenamor, Megha Chand Inglis, Elisabete Cidre, Nic Clear, Jason Coleman, Sebastian Craig, Marjan Colletti, Marcos Cruz, Edward Denison, Max Dewdney, Ilaria Di Carlo, Elizabeth Dow, Robert Dye, Eva Eylers, Peter Feldmann, Bernd Felsinger, Pedro Font Alba, Adrian Forty, Colin Fournier, Daisy Froud, Stephen Gage, David Garcia, Jean Garrett, Christophe Gerard, Emer Girling, Ranulph Glanville, Ruairi Glynn, Scott Grady, Richard Grimes, Andy Groake, Michael Hadi, James Hampton, Penelope Haralambidou, Arman Hashemi, Christine Hawley, Simon Herron, Jonathan Hill, Bill Hodgson, Anne Hultzsch, Johan Martin Hybschmann, Susanne Isa, Jan Kattein, Jonathan Kendall, Simon Kennedy, Thomas Kenniff, Julian Krueger, Chee Kit Lai, Lucy Leonard, CJ Lim, Kim Macneill, Sarah Manning, Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Niall McLaughlin, Stoll Michael, Tom Mole, Izaskun Chinchilla Moreno, Graciela Moreno Ternero, Stuart Munro, Shaun Murray, Christian Nold, Nadia O’Hare, Brian O’reilly, Luke Olsen, Jacob Paskins, Luke Pearson, Barbara Penner, Godofredo Nobre Enes Pereira, Simon Pilling, Frosso Pimenides, Andrew Porter, Hilary Powell, Robert Randall, Peg Rawes, Luis Rego, Jane Rendell, Bernhard Rettig, Daniel Ringelstein, Indigo Rohrer, Anna Sabine Rose, David Rosenberg, Enric Ruiz-Geli, Gill Barnett, Bob Sheil, Naz Siddique, Paul Smoothy, Mark Smout, Anna Solarska, Camila Sotomayor, Brian Stater, Rachel Stevenson, Gareth Stokes, Tomas Stokke, Ann Thorpe, Michael Tite, Nikolaos Travasaros, Emanuel Vercruysse, Nina Vollenbroker, Soo Ware, Martin Watmough, Phil Watson, Clyde Watson, Patrick Weber, Andrew Whiting, Robin Wilson, Oliver Wilton, Katy Wood, Matthew Wright, Paolo Zaide p. 1 9 1
www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk
PUBLISHER: Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL EDITORIAL: Sebastian Craig, Nadia O’Hare & Rebecca Cassar DESIGN: Johanna Bonnevier & Johan Berglund Printed in England by Quadracolor Copyright 2011 the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 978-0-9568445-0-7 For more information on all the programmes and modules at the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, please visit www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL Wates House, 22 Gordon Street, London, WC1H 0QB T. +44 (0)20 7679 7504 F. +44 (0)20 7679 4831 architecture@ucl.ac.uk www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk Cover image: Charlotte Reynolds 'Deptford Peninsula Riverboat Station'