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