Dip/MArch Unit 23 Yr 4: Edward Farndale, Daniel Goodacre, Kyle Hyde, Daniel Lauand, Caroline Lundin, Heather Macey, Emma-Kate Matthews, David Shanks Yr 5: Marcus Brett, Michael Dean, Misha Smith, William Trossell, Peter Webb
(Extra) Ordinary Customary divisions between the built and the unbuildable, the inert and the reactive, the ideal and the real, have dissolved. Space, the matter of architecture, is no longer real or digital; it is a seamless hybrid of both. In this age, experimental design is no longer a clandestine discipline, confined to the suspicious and counterfeit materials of representation; it has transgressed the resistant protocols of manufacture, and subverted the decrepit legacies of mass production and slavish practice. Experimental design constructs the real world, whatever and wherever that is. The unit expects its members to argue a position for both the design and the designer where ideas oscillate as a continuum of speculative and polemic prototypes through conversation, collaboration, production and observation. Students are supported in identifying independent and unorthodox research interests spanning both years of the programme. This year, themes that came to the fore included architecture’s relationship with ageing, biosynthesis, rhythmanalysis, serialism, geomorphology and self-sufficiency. We thank the Centre for Creative Collaboration and its directors, Thias Martin, Brian Condon, Neil Gregory and Jess Bowles for their inspiration, generosity and hospitality. Also our critics and consultants for their stimulating provocations and expert guidance: Rachel Armstrong, Charles Barclay, Paul Bavister, Johan Berglund, Matthew Butcher, Nic Clear, Marcus Cruz, Colin Darlington, Kate Davies, Stephen Gage, Sean Hanna, Simon Herron, Guan Lee, Tom Lomax, Luke Lowings, Tim Marcot, Shaun Murray, James O’Leary, Luke Olsen, Ricardo de Ostos, Alan Penn, Caroline Rabourdin, Sebastian Ricard, Gabby Shawcross, Peter Sharpe, and Oliver Wilton.
Bob Sheil & Emmanuel Vercruysse
Above and opposite: Mike Dean, The Watcher’s House.