2014 AA Summer School UNIT 1 - BABYLON

Week 1 Room

Week 2 Tower

Week 3 City

Each student will be assigned an unbuilt tower of London which they will reappropriate in a group collage to create the skyline of Babylon. This will become the backdrop to our first stage: the room. Within the room the students will frame Babylon, exploring city life at a human scale.

A newspaper will be produced, for delivery each morning, reporting on the latest news from Babylon.

In the second week students will continue to develop a narrative for Babylon, but this time at Tower scale. Students will divide into pairs to create backdrops for individual towers of Babylon.

News of Babylon’s development and expansion will continue to be reported through the daily newspaper, addressing how the city is read at Tower scale.

For the final week we will insert our towers into the wider urban grain and explore what it is like to live in Babylon at City scale.

In pairs, the students will now develop the stage to become that of the city. The daily newspaper will continue to report the city’s news, now questioning the difference between the room, the tower and the city.

Questions

Questions

Questions

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What is the relationship between the room and the skyline?

Who lives in Babylon?

What is life like in Babylon?

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How does the tower relate to the room and the skyline?

How do people and buildings interact with their neighbours?

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What are people talking about in Babylon?

What are the latest development proposals for Babylon?

How are these being received?

Activities

Activities

Activities

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AA Cinema Screening of Syndecdoche New York National Theatre Backstage Tour

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Centre Point Viewing Platform and Drinks PunchDrunk Talk / Tour AA Student Archives

Visit to Gallery AA Cinema Screening of Metropolis

Output

Output

Output

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Research unbuilt Towers Group Collage of Babylon Room Stage Set Daily Newspaper

Tower Stage Sets Daily Newspaper

City Stage Sets Daily Newspaper Special Newspaper Archive Edition

“Architects must continue to reclaim the city, even if it is only on paper” - Jane Alison, Future City Manijeh Verghese AADipl(Hons) An AA graduate with a previous degree in Architecture and Mathematics, Manijeh is a tutor, editor and writer. Having previously worked for practices in London and Boston, she currently teaches an Intermediate unit at the AA, is the Salon coordinator at Disegno magazine and is the editor and founder of the website, AA Conversations. Manijeh is interested in the idea of cultural context and the communication of information through various media and formats, which is the subject of her monthly article for Balmond Studio’s website, Thinking in Practice.

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Madeleine Kessler AADipl MEng.(Hons.)

Maddie has been working at Studio Weave since graduating from the AA in 2013. Previously she gained a Masters degree in Structural Engineering and Architecture from Sheffield University. Maddie is interested in urbanism and the condition of the global city. She has worked in China, Switzerland, Belgium and The UK. Most recently, Maddie was awarded the KPF Traveling Fellowship, facilitating anexploration in cross-cultural exchange between urban centres along The Silk Road through Central Asia.

Madeleine Kessler Manijeh Verghese

15.07.2014

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