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ava architecture yearbook 2011ava architecture - university of east london

DesignRobert Thum & Unit Staff & AVA Architecture Students

ProductionRobert Thum & Unit Staffwww. semiautomatik.com

EditorRobert Thum & Christoph HadrysAssistant EditorChristopher Allen & Tomonori Ogata

showcase edition

June 2011

University of East LondonSchool of Architecture and the Visual ArtsDockland CampusE16 2RD

www.uel.ac.uk www.avaarchitecture.org

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introduction

paulo davidvillages in cities - china

level 1 architecture level 1 unit x level 1 unit y level 1 unit z

levels 2 & 3 architecture degree unit a degree unit b degree unit c degree unit d degree unit e degree unit h

diploma in architecture diploma unit 2 diploma unit 3 diploma unit 5 diploma unit 6 diploma unit 7 diploma unit 9 diploma unit 11 diploma professional studies

masters in architecture MSc computing & design MA sustainability & design MA interpretation & theories MA urban design MA landscape architecture MArch

contents

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Architecture as practice, study and investigation informs the built environ-ment and how we inhabit it. We design and make the cities and environments that structure our lives, and those of others. Here at East London we have seen many changes and look forward to further exciting developments with the legacy of the Olympics, on our very doorstep. New ways of teaching and exchange of ideas mean that the learning environment is structured to ac-commodate innovation and exploration. The position of architecture today is increasingly relevant in engaging social interaction and responsibility in the built environment. Buildings are more than objects in a landscape or urban situation. Buildings are often to be considered large material and immovable. In fact they are part of the process of change. The introduction of piece of architecture of any scale creates change in the economic political and social spheres. At UEL we emphasise the fundamental importance of the process of design.

Whether about social or cultural issues studying architecture is about concep-

PG Diploma we take students from zero to Architecture, through a sequence of projects that develop in complexities. Watching Year 1 students, who have

time, present fully formed projects and arguing about the material and spatial expression of abstract concepts and social experience is both gratifying and rewarding. At the opposite end, the complexity of the urban evolutions and convolutions of Diploma students, whether locally in Silvertown or across the world in South China, validate our directive for responsibility and professional-ism.

During the year a guest lecture series of visiting practitioners brought ‘real world’ situations into the discussion. We teach in the atelier system with verti-cal studios. During our Open Jury Week all years presented their work to one another in a series of themes of: City, Landscape, and Building. Live projects from Construction Week demonstrate the value of our location and expertise. Working with our students, Architect Artist collaborative and Venice biennale representatives muf created archaeological concrete beams for a public park in our studio. Some of this year’s projects included visits to Cuba, Morocco as well as Continental Europe. This year’s collaborative projects include work-shops with the Bergen School of Architecture and another with Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art. This year we give tribute to a mainstay of Architectural learning, Dr Andrew Higgott who retires this year. Andrew has contributed to the spatial aware-ness and understanding of students from Year 1 to Masters at UEL for over 20 years. His insights have guided staff and students to explore and truly experience architecture. His book Mediating Modernism details how education in Architecture is affected by individuals and their vision. At UEL, Andrew’s vi-sion has enabled both staff and students to see further, and more clearly. The school will not be the same without him. We offer a debt of gratitude for his past contribution and wish him the best in the future.

This year’s work is particularly exciting and a tribute to the success of the school as a whole. Well done everyone!

Introduction

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paulo david

Diploma Unit 2 - trip to Madeira

During the academic year, we focused on urban conditions and topography in the Norwegian city of Bergen. As an inspiration to our work, we visited a selection of projects designed by the architect Paulo David on the island of Madeira. Our study trip was from the 20th to the 26th of March.

Madeira has a long history of man-made interventions that relate to the island’s demanding topography. As the mountainous landscape of Madeira offers very limited space for cultivated land, unique irrigation systems (levadas)

examples of using architecture to maintain and share natural resources.

Paulo David has worked for a number of years on Madeira. His work, like the Casa das Mudas and the Salinas, addresses topographical and social contexts through unique architectural qualities.

David introduced us to his way of thinking and working. Sites, clients and his own architectural ideas inform each other in a careful process of researching, experimenting, designing and constructing. His attention to physical conditions and people articulates itself in his buildings as a continuous place. As such, buildings like the Casa das Mudas are integral part of social life.

Paulo David observed that ground conditions in Bergen largely imply a construction on the surface, while Madeira’s geological condition allows a very different approach. Here architectural interventions relate more to the possibility to excavate.

The Casas das Mudas and the Salinas allowed casual approaches from different sides, without being prescriptive about directions or use. For all of us, qualities of space and architectural concepts unfolded in numerous different ways, giving everybody the experience of a different story. The buildings carried us away and returned us gently changed.

this page, Paulo David, João Almeida and Unit 2 students

Image by Ana Capelo from Paulo David Arquitecto

right page, Centro das Artes, Casa das Mudas in Calheta

Image C. Hadrys

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Salinas Bath and Restaurant in Camara de Lobos, Madeira

Images C. Hadrys

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China is the most populated country in the world with 1.3 billion people (1)spearheads Asia’s economic growth with industries that have seen an exponential growth over the past twenty years. However, with this growth comes the inevitable consequence of unprecedented urbanisation, a challenge from which China is greatly under pressure.

Urbanisation is the evolution of production and people’s lifestyles from countryside to city. It is usually characterized by farmers relocating to cities that are continually developing. China has been subject to relentless urbanisation, in which politics has played a key part. However this transformation was not a smooth evolution of policies; instead it was a sudden change of momentum within Chinese politics.

Mao Zedong was the communist leader of the People’s Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His campaigns, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, are blamed for causing damage to the culture, society and economy of China. It was these struggles of the Mao era that effectively left a clean slate for new economic policies led by Deng Xiaoping, who became leader in 1978 (2).

The rise of Deng Xiaoping, who marshalled these policies, was a critical moment in China’s economic development. China moved from a socialist planned economy to a socialist market economy (3). Deng encouraged learning from developing capitalist countries as China paved way for capitalism. A key constituent of China’s economic success was the formation of ‘Special Economic Zones’ (SEZs). Special Economic Zones are geographical regions that have economic laws that are more free-market-oriented than China’s typical or national laws. The purpose of these zones is to increase foreign direct investment, typically an international business or a multinational corporation, for the contained unleashing of capitalism. Currently, the most prominent SEZ’s in the country are all on the southern coast of China, in a region called the Pearl River Delta, where sea is accessible for transportation of goods.

“Special Economic Zone’s marked a departure, a turning away from a socialist city-the city of standard production” (4), the Mao era.

The Pearl River Delta region has experienced mass migration since the

(5), Chinese citizens

urban sprawl, a unique phenomenon has emerged in China; ‘Villages in cities’ (ViCs). These urban villages appear on both the outskirts and the centers of major cities, where surrounding infrastructure, skyscrapers and other modern constructions typically engulf them. They are commonly inhabited by the poor and associated with social problems; they are perceived by the Chinese public

Villages in Cities - China

Process and Evolution

Christopher Allen

He is a level 4 student in diploma unit 9.Projects for the year were sited in Guangzhou, China. The unit collaborated with Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in December 2010.This text is an extract from his Theory Dissertation in Urban Design.

Image pervious pages by Kin Ho, Level 5Image opposite by Marcus Andren,Level 5

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as slums. However, they are also among the most vibrant areas of cities and provide affordable accommodation for migrant workers and other newcomers.

However, the introduction of SEZ’s cannot be blamed entirely for the formation of ‘Villages in cities’. The Hukou system has also played an integral role, it is a

resident and supplies additional information such as name and date of birth. Its formation was instigated to control migrational movement between urban and rural areas during the Mao communist era in 1958 (6) where individuals in China were categorised as either ‘rural’ or ‘urban’ workers. The Hukou therefore served as a controlling mechanism of the planned economy, used to stop individuals moving from the rural areas to the cities or vice versa and thus ensured national stability. By regulating the manual labour workforce Mao ensured there were enough laborers to work in state-owned businesses. The Hukou system is still in tact today and as China becomes urbanised ‘rural’ workers still have to apply to work in ‘urban’ jobs. These citizens are known

There are an estimated 210 million (7) migrant workers in China living outside

government services, and in several respects occupy a social and economic status similar to illegal immigrants. They are the main residents of these ‘Villages in cities’.

“The metropolis is an addictive machine, from which there is no escape, unless it offers that too” (8)

Originally, ‘Villages in cities’ would have comprised of low-rise courtyard houses that would have been owned and lived in by village farmers. However the situation changes as soon as urbanisation reaches the village.

“...as urbanisation touches the village, in time affecting the status and rights

farming village’ to ’villager in the Village within the City’; current regulation says that if you no longer live on or from your farmland, you lose your ’farmer’ status. The authorities negotiate with the villagers and purchase their farmland.

as LCD (Land for Collective Development) and HBL (Housing-Based Land) and the villagers put the remaining land to commercial use to generate alternative income for the farmers.” (9)

The villages evolve, showing no characteristics of its ancestor. The new-look

living space for migrant workers. The old farming village has mutated into a completely new, completely alien urban tissue.

The Chinese government is averse to ViCs existence as they are not part of the original ideological master plan of a global mega-city. In some cases ViCs are being demolished, paving way for new high-rise blocks; village

use to remove these villages is to claim that they exist on the same territory of new urban projects and enforce the ‘tabula rasa’. This has created an entirely new condition across urban tissues of China, where villages are bought out by the government and demolished.

“Tabula Rasa, The notorious clean slate that was the underlying myth of modernist planning. Discredited in the West, it is the norm - in the East. In the PRD tabula rasa has achieved an autonomous status: no longer an initial scraped condition on which a new condition is projected, it is a project independent of need.” (10)

There are complications however; the reason villages still remain in cities is

Hassan MahdiLevel 4

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not an easy right to abolish. Many developers would also refrain from

farmers and the state authority. For the meantime, the precarious existence of ‘Villages in cities’ remain.

‘Villages in cities’ have become a seemingly unsolvable problem, the government has to accept that they are an inevitable outcome of China’s urbanisation and that they offer a form of basic housing to a contemporary Chinese cities. If they are removed the manual work-force of these developing cities will have nowhere to live. Migrant workers can’t afford basic housing in the city as their low wages won’t extend that far. ViCs are required for a balanced society.

work in industries that are within walking distance from the village because they can’t afford public transport, so the decision will therefore deprive people of making a living. As I discovered whilst visiting Tianhe Cun in Guangzhou, a lot of residents have started their own businesses within the village and there is a close-knit society. Residents interact with each other, children play on the streets and there is an abundance of social activity contained within these villages. They are lively places spatially, more so than the cities it neighbors that are driven by urbanisation.

The future of these villages is ultimately in the hands of the government and it may be a destructive one. Should China value its manual work-force, ‘Villages in cities’ should remain. From an architectural point of view, it would be a shame to see this unique urban tissue vanish, they are vivid and exciting spaces to be in. In order to prolong the future of these villages they should be restored by introducing much needed qualities such as public space, natural lighting and ventilation. It is imperative the ‘tabula rasa’ is discredited by the government and a more sensitive approach is adopted when considering the future of ‘Villages in cities’ to help maintain a balanced society in Chinese cities.

1. “Population, China”. [Online]. No date. [cited 10 March 2011]

2. “Deng Xiaoping”. [Online]. No date. [cited 10 March 2011]

3. Lui, Yuyang. Great Leap Forward, (Koln: Taschen, 2001, p89)

5. “Floating Population”. [Online]. No date. [cited 10 March 2011]

6. Chang, Kan Wim, “The Chinese Hukou system at 50”, p215. [Onine]. 2009. [cited 8 March 2011]

210m”. [Online] No date [cited on 14 March 2011]

8. Koolhaas, R., Delerious New York, (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1994, p293)

9. Uehara, Yushi. Casting Village Within City, (Sarai Reader 2006: Turbulence, p488)

10. Koolhaas, R., Great Leap Forward, (Koln: Taschen, 2001, p709)

Image above by Marcus AndrenLevel 5

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First Term Open Studio

The year is divided into two semesters.FIRST SEMESTER

approaches to provide a common foundation in architectural methodologies and skills. In the second semester the students joined a design unit and

a series of intense short projects that build up a repertoire of basic design

an understanding of scale up to 1:1.

SECOND SEMESTERStudents are then divided into 3 units: ,X,Y and Z before they start the second semester.The second semester of 16 weeks is dedicated to work in length on one architectural project.Here students are challenged to confront a given site and to employ their so far acquired observations and skills to an urban context.

UNIT TRIP

for material and spatial observations that may help to inform their later design.This year Unit trips went to Venice, Rome and France.

OPEN STUDIO STAFFClara Kraft IsonoReem CharifKristina HertelRaphael LeeJake MoulsonAlex VealJack PiesseGreg Sheng

VISITING CRITICSEmu Masuyama Satoshi IsonoKeita Tajima David Phillips

SPECIAL THANKS TODeon FouriePaola LeonardiMark Hayduk

level 1 architecture

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Table Project Making table objects to host a meal event for the whole school.

STUDENTSMuna AbdallahClaudine AcquayeEmmanuel AdesopeGolbahar AdibArash Aghapour Ali AbadMeraz AliSara Al TuraihiKhaadija AthmanMaria Auquer SardaQuendresa Avdiu Yusuf AyoobAnastasia Eli AzaIdrees BaigNicola BandeiraGurinder BansalAntonin BardotMaria Victoria BarrosoAlborz Bathaei BozcheloueManpreet BhooiRebecca BoeseJenay BoydJoseph BuchananAnnalize ButlerKassim CaratellaYagiz CemberciAngela ChatzisavvaZoe ChavaliRichard CookeOsvaldo CostaMaria DamianidouAmir DargahiRoshun DehokenananDaniel De SosaPanoraia Nikoletta DimakiIoanna DrakakiVaida DrungilaiteCarlo DunnAyoub El-GhaoubarNoah EvansKlevi FarrukuRick FosterAngeliki Eleni FoukaEleni GavrilisDavid GogoSubarna GurungMansour Haghighi Mohammed Abdul HakimOliver HarryIshaq Ali Hasan ZadehYasir HasnainUmer HassanJulia HedanderKarwan Hussein Konstantinos IasonidisMohammed Ibrahim-Mukhayer

Maria IliaNdeke ImobalaSarah IslamAdnan JasraiNakul JilkaAaron JonesNikolaos KaragiannisNoora KassinenWaqas Khan

the variety of cultural backgrounds that make up the student body. The new level one students introduce each other through a meal event, furnished by

In the tradition of previous years the exercise requires inventiveness inrecycling found materials to design and make a new space for a ‘meal event’ The designs are followed by the 1:1 making of a table.

M A K I N G A N D D R A W I N G

To design and build meal event for the entire school. The students are encouraged to work in groups and construct different tables from recycled and found materials.

ritual testingmaking of table at 1.1recycling material1:1 drawings of made objects 1:1 drawing of body in relationship to tableindividual 1:10 plan/ section- notation and narration is introduced into the drawings

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STUDENTS Hekuran KokajAgata KorsakMaria KoufaliotiSusana Lima

Joshua McDermottEsmail MiahAaron MifsudBen MillerSonia MoundoungaErmal Qs MucaAbdul MunieChido MutongwizoKwesi NkansahBaker NsimbiPriscilla OduberuSamuel OlawuyiSamantha OmaboeAlina OmetitaLiam O’RiordanThanaraj PanchadcharamSandeep ParmarMartin PerrettEthan PhillipsRobin PhilpotDaniel Pilaquinga TeranSevtap PolatSara PortioliSaifa RahmanBradley RoastParesh SanghaniTheodor SarbuHalil SekerRaluca SerbanSalma Shamim Mona ShojaeiIlias SiametisLucas SinghRozhgar SoorIulia Ioana StefanJanis StepinsIrena StoevaAshfaaqali SumodheeAnja SylvesterKamila Szpakowska Pratikchha ThapaMaria TheodorouPaulina TuressonMaria Tzampazidou Johanna ValenciaMaria VavritsaPavlos Vranas SteasSaeed WaseemMaxim WesolowskiNikolaos XenosYagmur YildirimAnna ZacharakiMohammed Yasser ZahidLeman ZlatkovaOdetti Zotou

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Opposite Page:

Middle: Senses Table_ Thanaraj Panchadcharam

This Page:Top: Sequential Table_ Maria Aquer SardaMiddle: Light Trap Table_ Kamila SzpakowskaBottom: Playing Table_ Paulina TuressonBottom Last: Low Table

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Forrest Room

Constructing a space in Epping ForrestO B S E R V AT I O N A N D I N T E R V E N T I O N Themes such as : horizon, edge, ground and sky are given and explored in the natural environment of Epping Forest which leads to mappings, surveys and an intervention.

Developing space perception and sensitivity through a 1.1 one intervention that informs the design of a forest room, which is further developed in Technical Studies.

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Opposite Page:

Top: Forrest Survey & Intervention_Bottom: Forrest Room Proposal_ La Celestina Performance Space_ Maria Auquer Sarda

This Page:Bottom: Forrest Survey & Intervention_ Capturing the Sky_Subarna Gurung, Liam O’Riordan, Konstantinos Iasonidis.

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This Page:Top: Forrest Survey & Intervention Sequence_ Maria Theodorou, Panoraia Nikoletta Dimaki

Middle: Forrest Site Survey_Tracing the Shadows_ Kamila Szpakowska

Bottom: Forrest Photos_ Yagiz Cemberci

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This Page:Top: Forrest Survey & Intervention_ Maria Theodorou, Panoraia Nikoletta Dimaki

Middle: Forrest Room Proposal Sketches_ Maxim Wesolowski

Middle Bottom: Forrest Room Proposal Models_ Yagiz Cemberci

Bottom Forrest Room Proposal Sketches_ Maria Auquer Sarda

Bottom Last: Forrest Intervention Section _ Anja Sylvester

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The units program is structured around an overlay of three places as a tool to develop design thinking: starting with the analysis of selected stories from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities as abstract space, and producing a physical model of these imaginary cities.

space, Venice, which the stories are indirectly describing. Between the two places (story/model and Venice) a visual, formal and material language is sought to develop as a resource and framework for the subsequent design. Thisframework is projected onto a London site, in order to generate the indi-

method with the Students.

The intense physical experience of spaces, and the students’ emerging understanding of architectural space as discovered during the unit trip, prove invaluable for the students development as designers and form the core of our unit’s interest and program.

level 1 unit x

urban props - staging spaces

UNIT STAFFKristina Hertel, Raphael Lee

STUDENTSKazeem Abari, Paulina Adamczyk,Farrokh Aman, Michalis Anastasiou,Emmy Anjou, M. Nefeli Dimopoulou, Ian Burgess, Anna Demetriou,Krists Ernstsons,Babis Konidis,Kazeem Abari, Paulina Adamczyk,Farrokh Aman, Michalis Anastasiou,Emmy Anjou, M. Nefeli Dimopoulou, Ian Burgess, Anna Demetriou,Krists Ernstsons,Babis Konidis,Kazeem Abari, Paulina Adamczyk,

Kazeem Abari, Paulina Adamczyk,Farrokh Aman, Michalis Anastasiou,Emmy Anjou, M. Nefeli Dimopoulou, Ian Burgess, Anna Demetriou,Krists Ernstsons,Babis Konidis,

VISITING CRITICSAlberto Duman,Emu Masuzama, Alex Blundell, Rob Houmoller, Lina Meister, Jason Coleman

SPECIAL THANKS TOOwen, from the Arcola Theatre

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invisible cities

charcoal drawing: Anja Sylvester,

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Space for performanceThe unit works on sites in East London; this year in Brick Lane. The programwas to design a space for performance. Three sites were selected, offeringdifferent conditions to work with, so students could generate a discussionabout different spatial and programmatic possibilities. Students made a large1:100 context model from recycled timber, containing, and relating to eachother all 3 sites. Each step of the program was conscious of the theme oftheatre, starting with a survey of Brick Lane facades, whereby each studentdrew and modeled a stretch of Brick Lane façade. The façade models were then extended, adding the imagined invisible city models from the given Calvino story, to construct a viewing relationship from a ‘real space’ into animaginary space behind the façade. In Venice students studied ‘stagingspaces’, ‘urban props’ and ‘lighting’ using concepts from their story aspersonal adjustment of the brief. They were expected to use axonometricdrawing to communicate their study and analysis of urban and interior spaces.

Top left: Brick Lane facade survey by Agata Korsak; photographic panorama of extended views by Martin Perrett; middle left: observations in Carlo Scarpa’s Fondacion di Querini Stapalia by Sara Al Turaihi; above: material study by Paulina Turesson, right: invisible city model by Sara Portioli

Opposite page: top: study of ‘Clue Connectors’ around Campo San Gioacomo Del’Orio by Paulina Turesson, middle: detail from invisible city model by Sara

Juilia Iona Stefan; bottom right: City Rooms around Santa Maria dei Miracoli by Angeliki Fouka

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Please use for all text the prescrit ‘character styles’

in brackets at the beginning of the relevat section. for example

[annotation YB2010]

where ‘annotation YB2010’ is the name of the character style

for publication you need to package the Indesign document with all images (do not embed images into the indesign document) and fonts. This is done automatically by

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Your folder should contain 4 items:

‘Instructions.txt, a folder labelled ‘Fonts’ and a Folder labelled ‘Links’.

The links folder conatins all images used in you document.

Please label the InDesign document with the name of your unit, supporting studies,

vector drawings, colour mode should

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exploring and creating spatial sequences through black-and-white photography

Unit Y was concerned with the following spatial conditions, developing them as basis for understanding and interpretation of site and context, and of the promenade architecturale:

c o r n e rv o i d

s u r f a c e

Black-and-white photography was employed throughout the unit, acting as the principal

sequences in a variety of contexts. These stages formed the basis for three interrelated briefs, described over the following pages, and culminating in the design of an art gallery and artist’s residence in Shoreditch.

Brief 1: Documentation and Analysis of Spatial Sequences: Shoreditch

explore and document the given spatial conditions (corner, void and surface) in Shoreditch. Photographs were arranged sequentially and used as a basis for site selection.

further detail, using photography, composite photographic panoramas, sketches, plans, sections and elevations. Corner, void and surface, as well as the associated sequences, formed the basis of this documentation and analysis.

Promenade Architecturale: UNIT STAFFClara Kraft IsonoAlex VealJake Moulson

STUDENTSClaudine AcquayeEmmanuel AdesopeKhadija AthmanMaria Auquer SardaGurinder BansalYagiz CemberciZoe ChavaliAmirp DargahiRoshun DehokenananDaniel De SosaPanoraia DimakiAyoub El-GhaoubarNoah EvansSubarna GurungUmer HassanJulia HedanderKonstantinos IasonidisMo Ibrahim-MukhayerNdeke ImobalaSarah IslamNikolaos KaragiannisSonia MoundoungaBaker NsimbiHaileru OlawuyiThanaraj PanchadcharamParesh SanghaniHalil SekerRaluca SerbanSalma Shamim Ilias SiametisRozhgar SoorKamila Szpakowska Maria TheodorouMaria Tzampazidou Yagmur YildirimOdetti Zotou

VISITING CRITICSAriella Yedgar, Satoshi Isono, Robin Jenkins, Carl Fraser, David Phillips

SPECIAL THANKS TOPaola Leonardi

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Double Spread_ Gallery Proposal Interior_ Julia Hendander

Bottom Sequence_ Shoreditch Site Photographs_Yagiz Cemberci

Right Side_ Shoreditch Context Map_Kamila Szpakowska

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Top_ Photographic Sequence_Layered Inhabitation, La Tourette_ Maria Tzampazidou

Middle_ Villa Roche_Panoraia Dimaki

Brief 2: Re-imagining Spatial Sequences: Le Corbusier

The second brief was based around a study trip to France where three buildings designed by Le Corbusier were visited:

Villa La Roche, Paris (1923)Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp (1955)Sainte-Marie de La Tourette (1960)

For each of the buildings, a photographic sequence was created to document and analyse the selected spatial condition. One of the buildings was also recorded and analysed in detail through

In addition, plans, sections and photographs of the selected Le Corbusier building were collaged onto the Shoreditch site

understanding of the unique nature of the two places, and

the London site.

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Top_ Chasing Shadows in Ronchamp_ Julia Hendander

Middle_ Light Tower Axonometric Ronchamp_Subarna Gurung

Bottom_ Le Corbusier Buildings Sequence

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Top_ The Sunken Gallery_ Maria Aquer Sarda

Bottom_ La Tourrete Sequence_ Maria Aquer Sarda

Brief 3: Designing a Spatial Sequence: An Art Gallery for Shoreditch

and the architecture of Le Corbusier, with the challenge to a create new spatial sequence in the form of an art gallery and artist’s residence.

The client envisioned for the project was the Shoreditch Trust, which required the building to be not only accessible, but also responsive to local conditions and the needs of the local community.

Proposals for the building were developed through model making and photography, facilitating a process of physical construction, representation, analysis and re-modelling. The resulting designs draw on ideas generated from the site, creating new and rich spatial sequences for the display of art, as well as new interpretations of the place in which they are located.

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Top_ Gallery Proposal Axonometric_ Noah Evans

Top Right_Circulation Concept Photograms_ Noah Evans

Middle Left_ Light Studies_ Ayoub El-Ghaoubar

Bottom Left_ Collage Proposal Gallery _ Baker Nsimbi

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Left Bottom_ Gallery Proposal Image_ Baker Nsimbi

Left Column_ Gallery Proposal Images_ Maria Tzampazidou, Nikolaos Karagiannis

Middle Column_ Site Sun light Studies_ Julia Hedander

Right Column_ Gallery Proposal Axonometric_Panoraia Dimaki

Right Column_ The Sunken Gallery Axonometric_ Maria Aquer Sarda

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Top_ Gallery Proposal Interior View_ Noah Evans

Middle _ Material Photograms _ Maria Theodorou, Konstantinos Iasonidis

Bottom Left_ The Sunken Gallery Section_ Maria Aquer Sarda

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Unit Z’s search for readings and interpretations of ‘in-between’ spaces journeyed along a series of scales, contexts, cities and materials. As we researched and analysed the different conditions, we collectively wrote a dictionary of possible briefs for inhabiting and re-activating small pockets in the public realm.

a) In-between you and meAt the London Zoo, students explored the intimate scale of the body (of a

that we inhabit and relate to different boundary conditions and simultaneously questioning ideas of ‘standardisation’ in design. We asked: How do the different bodies use the space? What were the possibilities of making an animal friend? What were the power dynamics and what role did architecture play in this? We also looked at the zoo in context and asked: How does the canal intersect the zoo territory? How do we cross over to the other side?.

b) In-between the marginal and the central We continued our journey in Rome, we walked in search of a variety of architectural threshold scales; from the internal courtyard typology at neighborhood scale in the locality of Garbatella in the southern periphery of Rome, to the diverse typology of the central piazzas (from the Large and dense - such as the market at Campo dei Fiori, to the informal and hidden - such as the obscure access to Santa Maria di Pace or unexpected openings

their dictionary, capturing the stories held within these in-between pockets.

c) In-between the present and the futureUpon our return, we investigated the scale of ‘leftover’ city gaps in the midst of the chaotic regeneration of East London. As the site develops, small awkward public pockets are left behind; forgotten or abandoned, these open up possibilities for speculation and re-activation. The possibilities were

The former explored ideas of re-use (collected cardboard between being waste or being re-used). The students invented techniques for constructing and inhabiting timber and cardbords structures that were tested on site over a 24h period. We created a series of meeting rooms along the cut of Regent’s canal with each student discovering their own set of conditions and site

and structural tests on site, the students re-imagined and upscaled their proposals. They designed permanent public rooms, aimed at giving meaning and a second life to these forgotten spaces.

First Year Unit Z

Inhabiting the Forgotten: Discovering the Dictionary of the In-Between

UNIT STAFFReem, CharifJake, MoulsonGreg, Sheng

With special thanks to: Keita TajimaDavid Phillips Maria Cheung

STUDENTSAddulkadir Munie, Anastasia Aza, Angela Chatzisavva, Annalize Butler, Ashfaaqali Sheiray Sumodhee, Carlo Dunn, Chido Mutongwizo, Daniel Rolando Pilaquinga, Eleni Gavrilis, Ethan Phillips, Hekuran Koka, Ioanna Drakaki, Idrees Anwar Baig, Irena Stoeva, Janis Stepins, Johanna Valencia, Josh Mcdermott, Leman Zlatkova, Manpreet Kaur Bhooi, Maria Koufalioti, Maria Vavrista, Maxim Wesolowski, Muna Abdallah, Nicola Bandeira, Noora Katariina Kassinen, Pavlos Vranas Steas, Pratikchha Thapa, Ermal Qs Muca, Rick Foster, Sandeep

Sarbu, Vaida Drungilaite,Waqas Khan, Yasir Hasnain, Yusuf Ayoob

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Rome Dictionaries of ‘in-between’Leman Zlatkova

Maxim WesolowskiMuna Abdallah

Noora Katariina Kassinen

Ethan Phillips

Muna Abdallah Noora Katariina Kassinen

Vaida DrungilaiteWaqas Khan

Far rightAxis of Water , Axis of City

Hekuran KokaIoanna Drakaki Maria Vavrista

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Theatrical encounters (a meeting in the city)

Janis StepinsManpreet Kaur Bhooi

Maxim Wesolowski

Blind Spot IllusionIrena Stoeva

Josh McdermottLeman Zlatkova

Theodor Sarbu

Carlo DunnDaniel Rolando Pilaquinga

Pratikchha Thapa

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All students are introduced to the notion of the computer as a medium not a tool.

Level 1 student’s used academic posters to report their research and advertise the knowledge they had gained on the Technical Studies course, ‘Forest Room’ project. As an introduction to an industry-standard CAD program, the students each drew a 2D version of their cabanon. Students made a physical model that was photographed and digitally enhanced to show their proposal on site and also indicate the materials that would be used. The posters the students had created were then combined and formed their Computing Studies Report.

Level 1 Computing and Design

Tutor:Janet Insull

Janis Stepins

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Janis Stepins

Theodor Sarbu

Zoe Chavali

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In their second year Level 2 students examined space and light by an investigation of Case Study Houses and other single storey dwellings. From a random allocation students were given images, a plan without measurements but text that contained some details of their building in feet and inches.

worksheet with images and converted measurements applied to the plan was produced. A 2D computer plan drawing was created and printed to scale and used as the template for a physical model. Returning to the computer students converted the 2D plan to a 3D model then applied materials and rendered views which were later digitally enhanced. The A3 presentation of the model was accompanied by an A4 Research Portfolio containing a short report on the history, materials and structure of the building.

Level 2 Computing and Design

Tutor:Janet Insull

Shaheer Vira Unit E

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Cora Granier Unit B Tabea Stroehle Unit H

Arthur Trieu Unit A Karl Angele Unit C

Georgios Georgopoulos Unit HKristina Fescenko Unit D

Natalija Janovica Unit B Jehoshaphat Sarfo-Duah Unit E

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The UEL Architecture Programme is recognisable by its ‘hands-on’ approach, working with the physical exploration of materials and the processes of site and context. As a counterpart to our preoccupation with the physical, the school also has a number of dedicated computer studios, which explore more theoretical and virtual models of architecture. The School attracts students from a wide range of countries and communities worldwide. The programme provides a cultural platform on which to develop architectural ideas. It is a

member of the School community is expected to take responsibility for their own work and to contribute to the development of innovative architectural ideas. The core of architecture is design, and the main emphasis of our pro-gramme is developing your design ability. You will be encouraged to learn and develop your design skills – and your imaginative abilities – through observing, drawing, making and experimenting, using a range of media and materials.The programme prepares you to enter the profession through the develop-ment of your creative talent in relation to an architectural knowledge base. It

broadening the basis for thinking about making architecture.

Unit A: Jan Liebe, Magnea Gudmundsdottir

Unit C: Ulrike Steven, Gareth MorrisUnit D: Jim Ross, Bruce IrwinUnit E: Marianne Christiansen, Dinah BornatUnit H: Chris Groothuizen, Hwei Fan Liang

BSc Hons

Mark HaydukProgramme Leader

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Rafael Moneo

‘The life of buildings’ has been the focus this year for unit A. We are interested in understanding the life cycle of buildings and explore the potential of existing structures.The arid landscape of Andalucia, southern Spain has been the context of this year. The three villages of Almadraba, Albaricoque and Rodalquivir offered a range of given structures from industrial and cultural heritage (mines, castles, etc.), abandoned farms and disused dams, wells and ex military installations.Students have developed strategies of how to engage with the existing, learning to see,

a possible host again in the future.

degree/diploma unit x[unit title YB2010]

degrees of alteration

[PERSONNEL YB2010]

UNIT STAFFJan Liebe and Magnea Gudmundsdottir

STUDENTS

Elias Gatos, Sandra Gavelyte,Rory Hughes, Viktorija Misiunaite,Stylianos Oikonomou, Helen Richardson-Crespo, Alexandru Shaba, Arthur Trieu,Celal Yildirim

Douglas Ahern, Sara Alissa, Sharon Azouz, Abul Bashir, Poh Feng Chang, Melanie Diedrick,Khalid Egal, Benjamin Henry,Eleni Koundouraki, Matthew McAleese, Roshni Patel, Nousheen Rehman,Loucas Stephanides, Marcis Tretjakovs, Jason Watkins,Maria-Ourania Zacharopoul

VISITING CRITICSMark Hayduk, Toku Oba, Ruben Jodar,Keita Tajima, Carl Fraser, Mo Wong,Viola Carnelutti, Csaba Tarsoly, Stefano Ciurlo-Walker, Christoph Hadrys, Arthur Smart

SPECIAL THANKS TOOliver Kruse, Julia Fernandez de Caleya,

Hildegard Gonzalez-Cebrian , Stephan Zimmerli

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degree unit b

What People Do: Trieste, Italy

UNIT STAFF

STUDENTSSanjula Amarasekara, Ewelina Bogusz, Alba Daja, Andreas Diakomanolis, Robert Gillan, Cora Granier, Natalija Janovica, Moksud Khan, Aleksejus Ragovskis, Daniel Dos Anjos Rosa, Vitali Stanila, Anita Tulaite, Gergana Yotova

Muhammad al Kufaishi, Nana Ayisi, Robert Beckles, Christopher Bishop, Galina Borobikova, Andrej Bozin, Ruta Didelyte, Imaan Alia Hanif, Egle Jurgelyte, Kazutoshi Nomoto, Malgorzata Ostrowska, Marion Ottmann, Orlaith Ryan, James Scott-Joseph

VISITING CRITICSJames Anderson (Levitt Bernstein), Peter Beardsell, William Firebrace, Raphael Lee, Franz Schenkel, Mark Zudini

SPECIAL THANKS TOStep Haiselden (TALL Structural Engi-neers), Raphael Lee, Franz Schenkel, Mark Zudini, and Marek Redo. Renee Tobe, Roland Karthaus, Mark Hayduk, Michele Roelofsma, Gennady Malishev-Wilson, Andrew Higgott, and Catherine Johnson at UEL. Many in Trieste, including Ga-briele Pitacco, Giovanni Damiani, Marco Gnesda, Elena Carlini, and Massimo Tosto

Unit B continues its explorations of historically complex and topographically rich cities in the Mediterranean area. Once a great port, Trieste has lost its imperial hinterland, but remains a place where cultures meet, and is now a centre of knowledge, innovation, coffee and science. In this great Italian city, Unit B students designed meeting places for people who share common interests. Within this framework, students developed their own briefs.

We worked closely with the urban and cultural contexts of six different sites in Trieste - a task which involved thorough survey work and close observation. We generated a cultural hinterland by studying Guiding Spirits - outstanding people, most of them with a connection to Trieste - and presenting micro-talks about aspects of their work. We studied TED Talks to help craft our presentations. Architects have to communicate.

Unit B encourages economy, rigour and invention, and promotes a culturally grounded understanding of architecture, cities, and the life they contain. We believe that design takes time, work and reworking. An architect must be

In today’s climate of anxiety, confusion and crisis, architects are questioned mercilessly about their necessity and relevance. We hope that we have helped students this year to develop some skills to survive.

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Illy, Jan Morris, Ernesto Rogers, James Joyce, Fernand de Lesseps and Italo Svevo. Others, such as Wangari Maathai, Elsa Schiaparelli and Derek Bailey (the godfather of free improvisation) were chosen because of their

talks and made objects inspired by these people.

previous page (top) - Vitali Stanila: Trieste waterfront study

previous page (centre) - Ruta Didelyte:

previous page (below) - Christopher Bishop: student gathering in Trieste

this page (top & middle left) - Robert Beckles micro-talk on Piccard family

this page (top right) - Andreas Diakomanolis: micro-talk and performance on Derek Bailey

this page (middle) - Daniel Dos Anjos Rosa: object derived from Kazuyo Sejima

this page (middle right) - Natalija Janovica: object derived from James Joyce

this page (below) - Robert Gillan: folding chair object derived from Derek Bailey

facing page (top) - Marion Ottmann: group casting of site model

facing page (centre) - Aleksejus Ragovskis: view of Trieste from hilltop site

facing page (below) - Andreas Diakomanolis: critical design intentions for Teatro Aristofano

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Six sites were chosen in Trieste. For third years: a sloping site where clearances from the Fascist era meet dense mediaeval context, Roman archaeology and contemporary housing; a supermarket car park surrounded by university buildings at the end of the seafront; and two interconnected “pocket” sites in the city centre. For second years: the seafront near the Molo Audace, a stone pier celebrated by Jan Morris in her book “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere”; a casual triangle of space near the entrance to the old harbour; and a hilltop site overlooking the city.

The range of projects included a slow food restaurant, a travel writer’s club,

and refuge, student hostels, cafes, and a political and satirical theatre that sheltered within the carcass of a ruined building and under the belly of a rubber-coated quadruped structure modelled on a spotted hyaena.

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(above) - Aleksejus Ragovskis: interior model study for Illy cafe and museum overlooking Trieste

(centre left & right) - Galina Borobikova: section and elevation studies for creative arts centre

(below) - Marion Ottmann: dormitory and

school

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(left & above) - Malgorzata Ostrowska: constructional schema of theatre; view through foyer; placing of theatre in city context. The foyer is structured as a route to a new garden, which forms part of routes through the city to S. Giusto hill

(below) - Egle Jurgelyte: collage study of central space in archaeology centre

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Cora Granier’s project for a cinema and media archive steps around archaeological remains, and is a meeting point of three access routes at different levels. Overlooking the city, the project mingles introverted and outward-looking spaces

this page (top left) - site model showing massing

this page (top right) - aerial view of site showing new access points

this page (centre) - plan at podium level

this page (below right) - model showing descent from the castle adjacent

B U S

S T O P

E N T R A N C E

C A S T L E

facing page - Orlaith Ryan: exploded axonometric of Libellula women’s centre

Orlaith Ryan’s project provides accommodation for Trieste’s many and varied women’s groups. Situated at

quarters, the project exploits the complex topography of Orlaith’s chosen site. Linked meeting rooms ascend towards a garden with small buildings for consultations, and thence to a women’s refuge with its own secret sunken gardens

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The London Outer Orbital Path, otherwise known as the London Loop, is a 150-mile long walking path encircling Greater London that lies within easy reach of London’s dense urban centre.

The route occupies the space between the city fringes and London’s surrounding countryside, winding through diverse and unexpected landscapes - forest and woodland, former industrial sites, riverside paths, open

concentrates on the beginning and the end of the London Loop journey at the Thames Estuary. This area has a remote and still quality, it’s topography is

To start the year the unit set off on this journey by foot, exploring the precious

unit developed structures and building proposals that represent ‘moments along a journey’ – new public spaces providing a recreational resource for people locally as well as London wide. Firstly the unit described their journeys through drawings, models and photography, and sought appropriate locations for new viewing platforms. Their projects expanded to include new foot passenger ferry terminals linking across the estuary and Field

an intuitive design response that is molded by an understanding of the environment and site. Work is developed through careful observation, 3-D studies and experimentation.

As inspiration to their studies the unit travelled to the Ruhr Valley in Germany to visit the Emscher Landscape Park - a 50km long series of interlinked green spaces formerly inhabited by metal and mining industries. Here the unit studied projects that transform the redundant industrial sites into a recreational and cultural resource.

In addition work was informed through meetings with Design for London, the Thames Gateway Parklands Vision and information sourced from Bexley Council and the Thames Estuary Partnership.

degree unit c

LOOP: moments along a journey

UNIT STAFFUlrike Steven, Gareth Morris

STUDENTSYear 3Ahmed Al-Tamimi, Hanif Ali, Ioulia Georgiopoulou, Kapil Harji, Mehdi Hashim, Shelley Hood, Tharindhu N-K Peiris, Tania Pascoal, Joanna Pawlas, Malama Polykarpou, Chrysoula Psarrou, Charikleia Soupalika, Oscar Wokowu, Raymond Wong, Aikaterini Zeziou.

Year 2Yasir Ahmed, Bilal Bangi, Balazs Endrodi, Ivo Eriks Grisins, Darryl Nganjo, Leong Lai Tieng, Po Xue Isaac Zhang.

VISITING CRITICSMichaela Caunter, Magnea Gudmundsdottir, Levent Kerimol (DfL), Barry Sewell (Sewell and Hawkins), Renee Tobe, Maria Westerstahl (Cottrell and Vermeulen).

TECHNICAL SUPPORTMichaela Caunter.

SPECIAL THANKS TODesign for London,Ben Dratz (Tauchstation, Duisburg Nord),Loretta Gentilini McGregor (Van Heyningen Howard),RSPB Rainham.

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1. 2.

3.

4. 5. 6.

7.

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Images:First page: Viewing platform 3-D study, Rainham Marshes by Joanna Pawlas.

1 - 3. Mappings and model of London Loop walks (1 and 15) and viewing

Rainham Marshes by Joanna Pawlas. 4 - 5. Model study of viewing pier and platform at Crayford Marshes, Erith by Balasz Endrodi.6. Model study of viewing platform at Rainham Marshes by Raymond Wong.7. Viewing platform and pier, near the Tilda Rice factory at Rainham Marshes by Tharindhu Peiris.

8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13.

8. Viewing platform along existing dyke path at Rainham Marshes by Ivo Eriks Grisins.9. Viewing platform and slide, Rainham Marshes by Yasir Ahmed.10. Sketches from study trip diary to the Emscher Park, Germany by Leong Lai Tieng.11. Model study of viewing platform and

Bilal Bangi.12. Material study of childrens nature study hub and viewing platform at Crayford Marshes, Erith by Tania Pascoal.13) Material Study of viewing platform by Joanna Pawlas.

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Images:1 - 3. Model testing of building skin and volume for Crayford Marshes Field Station, Erith by Tania Pascoal.4. Material and circulation options for Rainham Marshes foot passenger ferry terminal by Darryl Nganjo.5. Plan and end-user diagram for Tidal Thames Field Station, Rainham Marshes by Raymond Wong.

1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Loop Hub and pier, Erith by Balazs Endrodi.

Next page:Thames River monitoring stations and public pavilions, Rainham Marshes by Joanna Pawlas.

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Indesign will create a new folder. Name the folder with the name of your unit,

by YB2010.

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Thetford Free School is a new school proposed for the heart of

the Brecklands on the Suffolk-Norfolk border. Surrounded by forest and

farmland, Thetford is a mediaeval town interwoven with urban spaces;

historic and modern buildings are layered with natural and industrial

infrastructure. Thetford Free School (TFS) will be for pupils for whom

the mainstream education system has been inadequate, irrelevant or

damaging. The alternative provision provided by TFS will be driven by small

class sizes, a sense of belonging and learning through activity rather than

formal classroom delivery. This year unit D has shadowed and interacted

with TFS as the school locates a site, and develops a programmatic and

establish a spatial and philosophical relationship with the public realm.

It is this process that unit D has investigated, both programmatically and

architecturally, providing us with the opportunity to explore how a set of

ideas and aspirations translates into buildings and spaces, that in turn will

Each student, through careful observation and gauging of site and

program, has introduced their own parallel program to the core school

brief and has developed their own architectural ambition for Thetford Free

School. The opportunity to design a new school calls for precise and site-

thrive. Through discrete exercises we develop a resolution and clarity of

purpose and expression. We take the measure of place through meticulous

drawings and crafted models, continually gauging our responses to site and

program against precedent and intuition.

degree unit d

learning landscapes - Designing a Free School for Thetford

UNIT STAFFJim Ross, Bruce Irwin

STUDENTSLevel Two: Adrian Lee, Amer Salha, Claudio Dikizenko, Daniel Bovington, Karl Angele, Kenny Obisesan ,Konstan-tina Panagiotidou, Kristina Fescenko, Lawrence Chiu, Maciej Hofman, Cuc Hoa Hin (Ping), Riaz Patel, Vasco Raposo, Yinka Richer.

Level Three: Andrew Kouznetsov, Anisah Bhayat, Aqsa Malik, Aristos Aristodemou, Arthur Felix Da Cruz, Danyan Liu, Jamie Sirett, Katerina Pautelidi, Low Soon Tan, Lumini Gunatilake, Michael Denyer, Nathanael York, Orestis Kalonaris, Pouria Farokhi-Henzaky, Shahira Begum, Trang Thi Quynh, Yazen Hasi.

VISITING CRITICSAdam Harris, Gavin Hutchison, Alison Pooley, Isaac Cobo, Tobias Jäkl, Jeremy Walker, Mark Smith.

SPECIAL THANKS TONico Dobben, Steve and the Two Julies, Peter Beard Landroom, Cambridge Architectural Research.

Th e world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. Th e hand is the cutting edge of the mind.

Diane Arbus, 1923-1971 73

BOTH PAGES: Free School and Wellbeing Center by Adrian Lee ABOVE: photo collage of site with proposal.BELOW: spatial and light study for internal court yard.OPPOSITE: conceptual collage site intervention.BACKGROUND: internal court yard and teaching space (void), looking toward the sky.

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Unit D address architecture through an interest in and scrutiny

of, the public realm and materiality of site, making fresh readings of the

existing context and using imagination to drive clear architectural and

urban strategies and proposals. Though collage and model-making we

step outside and view our proposals as others might see them. We place

ourselves inside proposals to look out to the public realm. We seek to be

This year, through our connection to Thetford Free School and

working with the title Learning Landscapes, the students have explored and

towards establishing a spatial and philosophical dialogue between Thetford

Free School, and the natural and public realms.

ABOVE: detail from site plan, Canoeing School by Orestis Kalonaris

OPPOSITE TOP LEFT: Outdoor Assembly Building, Photo Collage from Forestry School at Lynford Lakes, Aristos Aristodemou.TOP RIGHT: Site Model of Goods Yard Thetfrod Station for Farmers Market and Cookery School, Danyan Liu. MIDDLE: Group site Modle of Lyndford Lakes, Plaster and Iron Filings, Hardwood and Natural Bristle, by Amer Salha, Karl Angele, Aristos Aristodemou, Michael Denyer, Orestis Kalonaris.BOTTOM: First Collage of School, Orestis Kalonaris.

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TOP LINE: Bike Repair Station, Andrew Kouznetsov; Outdoor Teaching Space, Jamie Sirett; Collage Plan, Orestis Kalonaris; Completing the Street Concept, Artur Felix Da Cruz; Stable Block and Childhood Memory, Kristina Fescenko.SECOND LINE: Waiting Area, Kristina Fescenko; Completing the Street Final, Arthur Felix Da Cruz; Hide and Seek , Lumini Gunatilake; Detail from Site Plan, Orestis Kalonaris.MIDDLE LINE: School Courtyard, Yazen Hasi; Class Room Interior Light and Material Study, and Volumetric Study Da Cruz; Artur Felix Da Cruz; Outdoor Learning Space, Maciej Hofman; FOURTH LINE: Section through Garden Centre, Lumini Gunatilake; Learning Landscape, Orestis Kalonaris; Looking In, Michael Denyer; Workshops, Trang Thi Quynh.BOTTOM LEFT: Cloister, Artur Felix Da Cruz.

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Deborah Saunt of DSDHA recently described young people as able to take on ‘sophisticated spaces’. Although the article was a critique of recent schools projects, her vision could ring true for any building designed for young people, who she says ‘know quality; you can’t fob them off with bright colours and cheap gimmicks’.

How would you design a centre for young people? By starting the year’s main design project with the real brief for a Youth Hub in Dalston, part of Hackney’s Myplace initiative, this is the question the students have had to answer. In an introductory project Yourplace have been their own ideal space as a teenager or young person.

The youth centre typology: A building type almost without precedent and certainly rarely with any quality or thought for architecture. We chose to

In these precedent studies we examined the role architecture plays in terms of social and community engagement, through successes and failures in each of these buildings. Through context drawings and model studies we explored the way these buildings engaged with their surroundings and created variously intriguing, inviting and iconic places.

Madrid.

Our chosen site was Ashwin Street in Dalston, E8. Proposals are inspired by context studies, precedents and by students’ own experiences. Through the youth centre brief students have developed ideas that seek to create relevant architecture worthy of its setting and the desires of young people.

degree unit e

Yourplace, Myplace

UNIT STAFFMarianne ChristiansenDinah Bornat

STUDENTSAngelos Andronikou, Ali Baran Dilegelen,Ilias Chatziloannidis, Tom Dang, Vera Emionele, Jeremy Knight, Matilda Marku, Fabien Mitchell, Kiren Nisha Modi, Laurette Pratt, Jehoshaphat Sarfo-Duah, Terukazu Takatori, Shaheer Vira, Sinan Yavuz Sevimlikurt

Kann Alpagut, Allen Broomes, Elvis Baldajos, Ricardas Blazukas, Jason Humbert, Akira Horiuchi, Blaine McMahon, Khulood Nasaif, Olamide Odebunmi, Jonas Prismontas, Thasmia Reza, Masanori Satoh, Kristin Ulrikke Rønnestad

VISITING CRITICSJane Clossick (LMU), Mark Hayduk,Kazushige Ina, Peter Jenkinson,Dann Jessen (East), Adam Khan (Adam Khan Architects), Colin O’Sullivan (Lynch Architects), Andy Puncher (pH+), Alex Sherratt (Matthew Lloyds Architects)

SPECIAL THANKS TOIn London: Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, Alex Sherratt, New Horizon Youth Centre, Adam Khan, pH+, Stephen Choi, Michael Hadi Associates. In Madrid: Studio Banana, Maravillas Gymnasium, Casa Mas Grande, Plaza Ecopolis

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Hiding and Independence; Youth centre with independant spaces and circulation for young people. Madrid staircase studies, concept model, sectional model, perspectival section of central stair space. By Ilias Chatziloannidis.

Architecture and social engagement precedent studies. Miniature ply models of Nottingham Contemporary, Museum of Childhood, Laban Centre, New Art Gallery Walsall. By Akira Horiuchi (previous page), Jonas Prismontas, Terukazu Takatori, Jason Humbert, Masanori Satoh, Ricardas Blazukas.

First page and opposite: Dalston postcards; sketch observations of thresholds, views, and materials. By Akira Horiuchi.

A Building to Share; Sketch elevation for youth centre facilitating the co-existence of local artist community and young people. Opposite: Dalston map sequence 1830-today. Previous page: Map of youth and art provision in Dalston.By Kaan Alpagut.

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Slow Motion; Youth centre with counselling tower. Volumetric model

through tower with individual consultation rooms and roof terrace, study of tower perimeter stair corridor, study of ramped entrance leading towards the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, Ashwin Street elevation. By Terukazu Takatori.

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Above: Curiousity and Discovery; Youth centre with bakery and ramped subterranean threshold space between Aswin Street and Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. Yourplace drawing of childhood experience of room in friend’s house, site model, sketch and model explorations of entrance threshold, darkness, light and use. By Jonas Prismontas.

Sectional model of youth centre with large scale sportshal. By Fabien Mitchell.

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This and opposite page: Shared spaces and Hiding spaces; Youth Centre for Art

development model sequence, idea collage of visual link between new mural studio and existing Peace Mural, site model, section of mural studio and relationship to Ashwin Street and Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. By Ricardas Blazukas.

Youth centre for food growing and cooking. Floor plans, site model (below). By Masanori Satoh.

Dalston mapping. By Akira Horiuchi.

reception

office

court yard

storage

kitchen

kitchen garden

toilet

storage

bike parking

sofa

changing room

shower room

EV

multi use space

chill out/ game space

one to one meeting room

4.2m

terrace

EV

3.2m

3.5m

6.6m

multi use space

toilet

terrace

6.2m

EV

6.8m

terrace

locker

EV

9.4m

9.8m10.0m

GF 3F2F1F

court yard

kitchen garden

kitchen garden

kitchen garden

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This year Unit H explored the future of cities: We are an increasingly urban species with the majority of the world population now living in large urban centres. Unit H looked at how these ever-expanding cities could enable other species to thrive alongside us – and the ways in which this could be mutually

As well as consuming an ever-increasing footprint in resources, modern city

given to a range of behavioural problems in children, thought to be caused by lack of contact with nature. We suggest a similar disorder may affect city-dwellers or even whole cities, and that historically an understanding of this has been the stimulus for the creation of public parks and city farms. Over the last

become more widespread and well known, yet we still do not understand the cause for bees seeming to leave an otherwise healthy hive, en masse, to die and never return. It seems bees have a more subtle culture than was previously thought, and perhaps the best way to restore wild bee numbers is by learning to live with them in a less exploitative way - after all we need them more than they need us. To this end small scale urban beekeeping is enjoying a revival in London and other cities.

The humble house sparrow, which was once so common it was called the Cockney sparrow, has almost vanished from London streets. Relying on insects for food and small gaps and overhangs in buildings for nesting, the sparrow

territory. Unit H worked at both the detailed scale of building construction and strategically at an urban scale and debated what cultivation and harvesting might mean in a future city, and how to persuade the cockney sparrow to return to London.

We began the year on a hill of allotments overlooking south-east London,

accommodating the activities of the allotment-worker.

Our work then took us along the course of the Neckinger, one of London’s many lost rivers, uncovering the rich layers of history and use. These lost rivers

part of London’s complex sewer system having been covered over in previous

degree unit h

Do Bees Dream of Flowering Cities -Shared Habitats and Alternate Realities

UNIT STAFFChristian GroothuizenHwei Fan Liang

STUDENTSJayden Ali, Jason Boamah,Viktors Catanovs, Angelaine Doherty, Nikolas Isaakidis, Maria Karpozilou, Hyunsoo Kim, Mirsad Krasniqi,

Christos Petropanagiotakis, Isil Ramadan, Martin Shekoni, Piotr Skrzycki.

Tiziana Binjaku, Georgios Georgopoulos, Evridiki Kontomari, Hardeep Matharoo, Nicolaus O’Hara, Ambrose Obiorah,Anna Owusu, Ishan Patel, Kyle Peters, Khusnud Shah, Dimitar Solenkov,Tabea Stroehle, Charlene Tan,Rade Vukceric, Anca-Elena Zahan.

VISITING CRITICSCraig Bamford, Catherine du Toit,Justin Goodyer, Jonathan Hagos,Elaine Hughes, Ed Liu, Richard Lindsay, Jon Spencer, Philip Veal.

SPECIAL THANKS TODavid Derby, Tom Marshall andMike Humphreys (Price and Myers). Melanie Jackson, Renee Tobe,David Bass, Sophie Pelsmakers, Jim Ross, Bruce Irwin, Letta Jones, Barbara Pendry, Martin Logue, Jamie Freeman,David Buck,UEL BSc Herbal Medicine students.

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Right, Medicinal Herb Garden Competition.

Unit H and BSc Herbal Medicine students took part in a week long workshop to collaborate on designs for a new medicinal herb garden adjacent to the Clinical Education building, at the UEL Stratfordcampus. The 200sqm garden is currentlyunder construction and is due to open inJuly 2011.

Previous page,

Dew farming on One Tree Hill Allotments.Jayden Ali.

Opposite top, Tea growing and harvesting.Hyunsoo Kim

Opposite bottom, New Liberty Media HQ, Jayden Ali.

parts of this river system.

Channels diverting the Neckinger were created to feed timber mills, forming an area on the south side of the Thames known as Jacob’s Island, described

the many localities that are hidden in London, wholly unknown, even by name, to the great mass of its inhabitants.’ In mid-19th Century the water-ditches were drained and slums cleared to make way for warehouses, and in the last twenty years the warehouses that survived second world war bomb damage

literature to offer readings of the site, so that the past might provide clues for future architectural propositions.

As cities expand, so the need for the way they are occupied needs to adapt to take account of decreasing rural areas and populations. Food is disconnected

even affecting zoology and botany as experts become increasingly specialised

People have always sought to create their own alternatives to the present urban condition, and we have taken cues from the retreats and constructions of allotment-workers and boat-dwellers, as well as speculating on London’s future, to inform building proposals that embody a version of urban living that

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Machaira.

Opposite page top, Suspended Cinema, Mirsad Krasniqi.

Opposite Centre, London Seed Bank, Christos Petropanagiotakis.

Bottom and opposite bottom, Eel Farm and Market Restaurant, Piotr Skrzycki.

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The aim of the programme is to extend the education of students who wish to enter architectural practice. The programme develops conceptual and practi-cal skills, and both intuitive and analytical powers. The School operates a vertical Design Studio system in which individual staff offer particular architectural programmes and students choose with whom they want to work.

Each Studio occupies its own studio space with natural lighting, giving on to common space used for crits and exhibitions.

The School has well-equipped wood and metal workshops and computer suites, enabling the exploration of architectural ideas at both the material and

programme which give advanced standing on our Masters programmes. These special routes involve more advanced study of Computing & Design, Interpretation & Theory, Sustainability & Design, Alternative Urbanisms and Material Matters.

Unit 2: Christoph Hadrys, Stephanie Schultze-WestrumUnit 3: Mark Hayduk,Unit 5: Carl Callaghan, Mark BoehmerUnit 6: Jeffrey Turko, Paul LohUnit 7: Michele Roelofsma, Kristian GarrechtUnit 9: Robert ThumUnit 11: Jamie Scott Baxter, Arthur Smart

diploma in architecture

Robert ThumProgramme Leader

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diploma unit 2

Shared Topography - Bergen

Through a combination of research and creative practice, Diploma Unit 2 proposes interventions, which respond to urban challenges and introduce elements of cultural and imaginative vigour. We explore extremes of interrelated scales, from urban geographies through to building and detail scales.

This academic year, our design investigation focused on the city of Bergen in

until the 6th of December 2010. For further studies and inspiration, we visited the Portuguese island of Madeira.

Topographical Habitation – Induction Exercise

explored diverse urban and architectural case studies from around the world. By extracting architectural qualities, this served as a source of inspiration for a small design exercise of a ‘Topographical Habitation’. It is a space that may be part of a topographical situation or pattern, where sharing and living together demands unusual spatial solutions

Shared Topography - Main Project

Bergen is located on the west coast of Norway, where archipelagos and Fjords form unique islands and waterways. The inner part of Bergen is located on a peninsula that is almost entirely surrounded by water and rests against a mountain ridge to the east.

infrastructure form a dense urban fabric.

Along the water edge, harbour areas separate the inner city from the sea. As an ongoing process, many harbour facilities move to other locations, as their proximity to the inner city is not necessary anymore. Along the mountains, small scale housing units intensively occupy steeper slopes, leaving very little space that communities require in such conditions.

life in Bergen, posing interesting social and spatial questions.

During our time in Bergen, we engaged in a series of walks, workshops, and site analysis to gain a better understanding of the city. We focused on a ring of sites on the crucial edge of the inner city.

Each student worked on one of the sites, by addressing three important topographical scales. The unique setting of Bergen allowed a particular understanding of the city, as a collective and formal entity. Furthermore, communities, neighbourhoods and streetscapes demanded a careful exploration of their relationship to one another and to themselves. On the scale of immediate sites, the work addressed both the way buildings meet the ground and the potential to form their own topography.

UNIT STAFFChristoph Hadrys Stephanie Schultze-Westrum

www.diploma-unit2.blogspot.com

STUDENTSAmardeep Bahia Marialena Bredaki Jaspal Chana Matthew Collins Anna Demetriou Tom Green Hank Hendriksen Indeep Mahal Ursula Markiewicz Lina Matagi Duncan Moore Leila Mortimer Matthew Rust Athina Sallam Maurice Smith Miles Weber

Desario AdemajKoldobika Albistegui SojoSara AlidadiJames BarrettZoya BoozorginiaIbrahim BuhariKhedidja Angeline CarmodyXingrong ChenPeter DaggerDonal Egan Salvatore NovielloJoshua PhilipsStephanie PoyntsKevin Widger

THANKS TOSabah AshiquJane ClossickRob Houmoller Raphael Lee (UEL)Darren LeeColin O’SullivanDaniel ReesUwe Schmidt-Hess Richard StevensonPaulo David (Madeira)João Almeida (Madeira)

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The focus on the theme of Shared Topography combined aspects of urban, landscape and architectural design. We explored ways in which sharing and living together can be part of a unique and synergetic urban life. Our design investigations responded to a range of spatial and topographical conditions.

Topography has several meanings. First, topo-graphy translates from Greek as place and writing. As such it is the study of place in the widest sense. This includes physical attributes as well as culture or history. Secondly, it is often used in a more narrow sense, where topography is synonymous with relief or the shape and form of surface conditions.

Ongoing Unit 2 Work

Back in London, we engaged in collaborative works, comprising 1:500 site models and the collection of information gathered in Bergen, as well as individual proposals. The models were made in plaster, demanding intensive engagement with the complex urban fabric and topography.

objectives set the tone for distinct strategic interventions in a range of scales, from urban through to building qualities and their immanent details. The unit continued to develop student’s skills, intuition and judgement for a vigorous, yet crafted culture of space. Using urban design methodology, the individual projects focused on sited buildings within existing conditions, to create schemes that are both, sustainable and enjoyable.

previous page, mapping of urban areas of Bergen, Anna Demetriou

left page, proposed market and student

this page, proposed community facilities and housing, James Barrett

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Unit 2 Objectives

The student design projects are thinking and making tools to explore unknown urban territories, where conventional thinking struggles to respond to uncertainties and the necessity for imagination. We aim at developing an open minded approach to unfamiliar spatial practices and environmental conditions. As such, we research design by designing and proposals expand on existing dynamics or open new and invigorating questions.

1. Need - Urban drivers, considering an existing interrelated range of scales URBAN, BUILDING and DETAIL

2. Brief - SHARED TOPOGRAPHY, URBAN INHABITATION and COMMON SPACES, which respond to urban conditions and elevate the culture of place.

3. Resources - Local availability of resources - social, material and technical

4. Constraints - Local urban practice - social and spatial contexts

5. Making it Happen - Necessary application of an ‘Economy of Means‘

6. Post-Completion - The city takes care of itself

left page, bath and hotel, Sara Alidadi

this page, archive and cafe around existing water basin, Matthew Collins

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Unit 2 Notions

Cityness

Cities are our critical starting ground and ongoing territory. Cityness is hereby a form of being together and it is expressed in a matrix of cultural, political, social, spatial, environmental and time based layers. By sharing space and spatial habit, it is more than the sum of its parts.

Technique

To be able to understand, link and connect parts and factors together, with a

environmental propositions, as well as judgment and articulation of integrative programmes and cultures in social environments.

Process

Refers to both, the practice of urban design and the inherent processes of the build environment. The way of doing things has a relationship with what we do and produce. Cities, human environments and subsequently urban designs are subject to different temporal modes and change.

left page, group of tall buildings in the harbour area, Kevin Widger

this page, Bergen topography and proposal sketch for sport and community building, Process Book - Urban, Building and DetailPeter Dagger

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The ‘broken’ buries itself deeper into memory as the ‘whole’. The ‘broken’ has a kind of brittle surface which one’s memory can grab hold to. On the clean surface of the ‘whole’, memory slips away.

Wim Wenders

Diploma 3 worked this year with a theme entitled Stillness and Ghosts. A theme that, for us, suggests a way of thinking that allows time to be of

of absence. Our territory of study was the city of Havana and, considering the momentous political and social changes that are developing in Cuba at the moment, an approach was needed towards this vulnerable city that demands a careful understanding yet also allows for some uncertainty to exist.

Havana, as we know it, is visually stunning -an aged city that has largely escaped the process of speculative development and whose physicality is

over-romanticized. The harsh reality is one in which poverty is rampant -a city where up to 40 percent of buildings in some areas lack the basic services of sanitation, running water and electricity. A city where upwards towards 300 buildings collapse every year due to neglect, overcrowding or the periodic destructive force of the hurricane.

total population and is the largest city in the Caribbean. In 1982 Havana’s Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and prompted an investment programme of restoration and conservation, which has been largely centered on the monuments of the city. Yet one is struck at the sense of loss of an urban strategy which has promoted an abandonment of this historical heart as a living city and the too often tendency towards over-conservation or even replication of a colonial heritage.

Over the past decade there has been considerable foreign attention towards a re-ordering of the edges of the city, particularly around the bay of Havana. The focus of Diploma 3’s work was rather on the interior of the city, in particular -sites where buildings have recently collapsed within the San Isidro district of Havana Vieja and the deprived district of San Lorenzo in Centro Havana. Propositions predominantly focused on housing and civic

contribute with generosity and delight to the tattered cashmere fabric of these two neighborhoods.

diploma unit 3

stillness + ghosts

UNIT STAFFMark Hayduk with Isaac Cobo i Displas

STUDENTS

Level 5Philippa Battye, Kostas Evangeliou, Lucy Godden, Wilf Meynell, Bina Naran, Isacco Massarenti, Alex Stevens, Emmet Walsh, Philip Wells Level 4Ana Abascal Crespo, Athanasia Antoniou, Elena Blanco, Sarah Bland, Laura Feroldi, Maliha Haque, Martinos Panayides, Marek Redo, Gudarz Riyahi, Ricardo Rodrigues Ferreira, Oliver Sprague, Shoji Tamura, Yuki Taniguchi, Moeko Yamagata

VISITING CRITICSStefano Ciurlo-Walker, Fergus Comer, Thomas Deckker, Lewis Kinneir, Clara Kraft, Raphael Lee, Jan Liebe, Haroob Mullick, Toku Oba, Nima Sardar, Arthur Smart, Csaba Tarsoly, Ndu Wodu, Stefan Zimmerli

SPECIAL THANKS TOUniverso Fco. García Lorenzo (Havana), Pablo A. Riano San Marful, (Havana), Peter Burkhard (Swiss Ambassador Havana), David Dexter Associates, Frai Matteo Castiglione (Palermo)

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San Isidro District, Havana Vieja

01. National Centre for Conservation, Restoration and Museology 02. Santa Clara’s public garden and laundry 03. Cloistered kindergarten and elderly housing04. Santa Clara Assembly Room05. San Isidro Public Baths06. Elderly housing and cloistered garden07. New infant school at the heart of San Isidro 08. San Carlo Dance Theatre09. Palacio de las Ursulinas Residential Tower 10. Hotel San Carlo Theatre and Market11. Ursulinas Public Kitchen12. Bernaza Apartment Hotel

San Lazaro District, Centro Havana

13. Library on the Prado14. Industria Housing and Community Project15. Industria Health and Nutrition Forum16. Community Centre in a courtyard17. New Brick Square for Centro Havana18. Public square of the water19. New Public Library on the Malecón20. Spaces for Journalists within the shell of an old building on the Malecón21. San Lazaro Fish Market22. New library and public ground23. San Lazaro Farmers Market and Kitchen24. The Brick Garden25. Ateliers and a working yard for Ceramic Restoration26. Centre for Building Restoration and Theatre on the Malecón

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11. Pulpit of S. Maria Noviello, Florence, Italy, 1453, Filippo Brunelleschi 05, 06, 18-20. San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome, Italy, 1637, Francesco Borromini01. John Soane House, London, 1792-1824, Sir John Soane13. DCW Plywood Chair,1946, Charles and Ray Eames17. Millowner’s Association Building, Ahmedabad, India, 1954, Le Corbusier02, 03. Notre-Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1954, Le Corbusier00. Church of St. Mark, Björkhagen, Sweden, 1960, Sigurd Lewerentz09, 14, 16. Centre for Hydrographic Studies, Madrid, Spain, 1963, Miguel Fisac10. Fisher House, Pennsylvania, USA, 1967, Louis Kahn08. Church of Light, 1989, Osaka, Japan, 1989, Tadao Ando04, 07, 12, 15. Brick House, London, UK, 2005, Caruso St. John Architects

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The unit began the year with a project entitled autumn studies. This project was simply about exploring the geometry and beauty of a number of remarkable, and familiar, architectural forms –ranging in time from San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome by Francesco Borromini to the Brick House in London by Caruso St. John Architects.

Through research and careful re-drawing, each chosen project was studied in relation to geometry, proportion, massing, and form. This work culminated in a collection of twenty-three carefully cast plaster forms that inspired a way of working and a spatial ambition for our subsequent work in Havana.

Things need to be ordinary and heroic at the same time.

Alison + Peter Smithson

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01. Kostas Evangeliou02. Gudarz Riyahi03. Bina Naran04. Moeko Yamagata05. Kostas Evangeliou06. Emmet Walsh 07. Ollie Sprague08. Wilf Meynell09. Elena Blanco10. Sarah Bland11. Yuki Taniguchi12. Isacco Massarenti13. Moeko Yamagata 13. Phillip Wells14. Laura Feroldi

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diploma unit 5

Fragments and Nets - The City as a frame for living

UNIT STAFFCarl CallaghanMark Böhmer

STUDENTSConstandia Bredaki, James Grammenos, Ewan Green, Dimitris Gyftopoulos, Suleman Hussain, Derya Rashit, Xenia Stefanaki, Wen Wei Siow, Kriemadi Tri-antafyllenia, Ausra Sulcaite Vizgirdiene, Seow Ling Yeoh, Mehrak Zabihi

Omar Baharum, Soraya Baharum, Kon-stantinos Dalianis, Ben Doherty, Mubina Fattoum, Eirini Garoufalia, Andromeda Halawi,Theodore Kolofotias, Chek Kai Mak, Matteo Mantovani, Phoebe Padley, Gavin Ramsey, Eleni Raptpoulou, Fara Carolina Dos Santos, Demetra Syllouri, Charalampos Harry Theodoritsis, Jonathan Wilson, Ahmad Danial Ahmed Zahedi

Elham Kiani

VISITING CRITICSAngela Spencer, Kathrin Böhmer, Timo Keller, Catherine Phillips, Keith Murray, Iris Argyropoulus, David Connearn

SPECIAL THANKS TOMerce De Cabanyes Gay (Barcelona), Andy Maton, Anna Wai, Kevin Williams, Deon Fourie (London)

The projects for the year looked at the themes of Fragments and Nets in relation to the challenging and problematic relation between architecture/urban design and the re-use of an industrial site layered with archaeology. The way that we relate to landscape and the city is in transition. More than ever before people live in cities but these cities have become spatially fragmented. The core of our work for the year has been forming spatial connections and linkages to bring into relationship the various parts of the city

speculating on architecture of and its relation to the surrounding community. The site is located in the area called Convoy’s Wharf/Royal Docks in Deptford South London. We focused on the area between the river Thames, Deptford High Street and the surrounding housing neighbourhoods. The land has been in continuous usage since King Henry 8th established a Naval Dockyard in the 16th Century. After the dockyards closed the usage of the site became industrial. Gradually the industry moved out leaving two major listed building and the ruins of many demolished buildings. Today the site is highly problematic, covered with about 20 acres of concrete slab, with few trees, soft landscaping and minimal biodiversity. Currently, this is an area of the city with a complex history now forming a disconnection between adjoining housing neighbourhoods, the Thames and local parks.

We formed strategies which aim to regenerate this part of the city in terms of scale, density and urban connection. We endeavoured to understand the evolution of social space of the city studied in superimposed historical map. We studied the evolution of buildings related to old Fragments and we researched to explore new systems of architecture and their fragmentation. We set up a master plan to establish a new spatial network that interconnected this site with the surrounding townscape. The focus was the extension of Bermondsey High Street and the development of new building typologies for community buildings and public spaces. The unit focused on four themes Form /Order/Fragmentation, Context and Net, Light, Materials.

Meditations Maps and Models The years work began with a short individual project, Meditations Maps and Models which aimed to play/interact with qualities of the existing place and to begin to explore the issue of fragmentation. Students contributed to the site analysis and made a layered model as a group project to identify the location and density of the archaeology and site conditions.

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Fragments and Nets - An initial exercise leads to photographic experiments and studies of fragment and net compositions.

Opposite(James Grammenos)Top(Ewan Green)Bottom(Ahmad Danial Ahmed Zahedi)

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Master Plan Working in groups, students developed a new spatial net for the neighbourhood to integrate new proposals with existing site conditions and communities. Typologies were proposed for community buildings related to places where people gather.A decision was made to limit the detail study area to the extension of Bermondsey High Street. Field Trip to Palma and Barcelona - Sert Study

foundation designed by the Catalan Architect Sert.The buildings are characterised by a system of repetitive broken vaults which are used to control lighting of the interior space. The students studied the buildings and made plaster casts of details of the structure. The students studied how the system integrated ideas of material structure and light and how this system was varied. The students also visited the remarkable villa of John Utzon in Mallorca and a number of projects in Barcelona.

Town Hall / Museum / Library / SchoolStudents developed programmes for places where people gather within the typologies of Town Hall Museum Library School. In many cases the envelope of the projects supported spatial strategies of the masterplan in terms of urban Nets. The projects set up systems of construction, related to the Sert

programme and the context of site geometry and ruins. The unit works in a wide variety of media using both hand drawings and a mixture of computers, real models and photography.

Proposed projects shown in context of the group site model at scale 1:1000. Early on the model helped develope the master plan.

LeftTown Hall / Museum(Gavin Ramsey / Seow Ling Yeoh)

RightTown Hall(James Grammenos)

Diagrams explaining the in uence of existing ruins, views, louvres + light wells.(Andromeda Halawi)

Opposite PageTopMuseum and Ship Conservation Centre(Ahmad Danial Ahmed Zahedi)BottomDeptford Library(Soraya Baharum)

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A moment within the ‘Library’ where dance studio and reading room meet spatially(Ben Doherty)

BottomEarly light studies - carefully placed aper-tures set an atmospheric scene (James Grammenos)

Concept model and atmospheric detail model - Library (Andromeda Halawi)

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Plaster cast + drawing studies - Miro Studio, Palma (Phoebe Padley)

Form work for plaster cast - Miro Studio, Palma (James Grammenos)

Plaster cast - Miro Studio, Palma (Soraya Baharum)

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Sectional study - Library (Soraya Baharum)

Sectional study - Town Hall(Phoebe Padley)

BottomSectional + elevational study - Town Hall(Gavin Ramsey)

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Sectional study - Museum (Ausra Sulcaite Vizgirdiene)

Ground oor plan - Museum (Ausra Sulcaite Vizgirdiene)

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‘In contemplating the external world we choose the site of subsequent culture.’Adrian Stokes

The poetics of reciprocity : articulation / intervention / conservation

Over the years Unit 7 has undertaken architectural discussion in highly charged urban conditions, often with either social/political or historical complexity. Projects are always in search of appropriateness in response to the site. Students have to develop their own architectural concerns within a given context, together with an intuitive architectural and technical response to the site. We expect the students to tread their design territory with vigilance and demonstrate evidence of the desire to be architecturally precise. The architectural intuition and poetic response should be simultaneously developed as the need for clarity in strategy and design on all levels. Technical and Environmental discussions are a part of the design discussion and will be introduced in the early stages of the design. We want students to respond intuitively on their work and explore technical and environmental issues. During the year workshops are held to help students in their architectural development.

The main site of the year is set in the medina of Fez, Morocco. Fez is one of the oldest imperial cities of Morocco, the others being Marrakech, Meknes and Rabat. For many years , Fez was the capital of the Kingdom and it is still today considered by many to be the intellectual and cultural heart of the country. The agglomeration of Fez is composed of three geographical urban units:

- The Medina, the ancient highly dense part of the city which has undergone several extensions toward the east.-The modern part of the city less dense represent about 60% of the city constructed space.-The news extensions in the southern and western part of the city .

The neighbourhood of Place Lalla Yeddouna is one of the most ancient squares of the old Medina of Fez. It occupies a strategic location inside The Medina and is a centre for artisans, mainly tanners, copper- and brass blacksmiths. Students will formulate their architectural thesis around this fascinating neighbourhood or the relationship of the three urban fragments.

diploma unit 7

UNIT STAFFMichele Roelofsma Kristian Garrecht

STUDENTSEbtimi Appah Raudhah Borhanuddin Lisa Brown Shahrzad Etemadi Nazari Anna Ruta Faisca Wanaburuoma KejehMaria Loucaidou Violetta Pantazi Maria Rousis Mattew Whiffen Choon Low Reuben Barker Bernard Lim Will Tang Carrie Beasley Olivia Clarke Danny Kay Duod Davud Farzullayev Nikolaos ZorgiasDayantha Siriwardene Shi Wei Billy Yau Aboo Akhoon Kamaludeen Lawal Thuy Tran

VISITING CRITICSPeter Beardsell Julian Ogiwara Freda Lam Anna StefanouCraig Bambord

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Transparency and walls

Lisa Brown

and alleys; solid and complex. However, behind this is an intricate and vibrant city,

the UNESCO World Heritage Status given to the city 30 years ago. The people and city are no longer allowed to develop and exist as they would like, but must conform to strict regulations.

My architectural proposal seeks to challenge this by creating a community based building for the existing artisan workers. Architecturally challenging the existing concept of wall and working with the layers of spaces and materials of the new building to build up layers of transparency and solidity through the building; linking spaces both within the building and beyond the River Fes to the improved public realm.

Leather Gallery

Olivia Harness-Clarke

Creating a new type of architecture using leather, one of the traditional materials of Fez.

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Enhancing the Yeddouna Workshops

Reuben Barker

The primary focus of this project was the articulation of the wall as public/private threshold. This was essentially an attempt to develop an architectonic detail that could be appropriated, and also elevate the status of the workshops and its produce. To this end a number of 1:1 scale studies in timber, concrete and glazed ceramic were conducted. Here the relation between the heavy stereotomic and lighter tectonic elements within the threshold informed the balance between private enclosure and public exposure.

Form Study

Ebitimi Appah

The form study portrays Fez on the premises that is has an abundance of richness that is bound together in a dense environment but still a beautiful

creates a haven for the locals to coexist. This will therefore grant one the premises to create an intriguing architectural discussion of how space, light and form can be interpreted within Fez.

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Fez washing wall

Danny Kay Duod

The proposition of a washing wall will not only reduce the extent at which artisans wash chemicals and waste into the Fez river, but will also create an interface with services where they can wash in unit spaces with water treatment facilities that will continue to contribute to the rehabilitation of the river and improve the image of Place Lalla Yeddouna.

Interpretative Section Through fez Medina

Davud Farzullayev

Fez is a city to be studied in section rather than a plan, for one to fully understand the relationship between the moving ground, walls and open spaces one must experience Fez in section.

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Women’s Educational Centre

Raudhah Borhanuddin

Spatial Study of the Interior of the Hammam

Carrie Beasley

The proposed hammam sits deep into the ground addressing both the programme’s requirement for privacy and the lack of space. As of most buildings in the Medina, light enters from above illuminating all internal spaces and creating a link to the external world.

This series of models explores the revealing of the interior, a constant condition of the Fez Medina. Although bound to a set volume, the masses of the forms are unrestricted. As sections of the mass are taken away, the form slowly gains interiority.

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Chouara Tanneries: regenerating an ancient tradition.

Ana Faisca

UNESCO proposes to remove the adjacent tanneries and copper workshops. It is a fact that these two activities are polluting the Fez river. But it is also a fact that these two activities have been there for

aims to regenerate the tanneries providing better working conditions, without loosing their craftsmanship quality. A new building is then inserted to enable the tourists to visit and learn about this ancient technique of making leather. Also a new canopy protects the tanners from the extreme heat in the summer.

Water Tower & Hammam

Matt Whiffen

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Medina of Fez

Choon Hong Low

The site of UNESCO’s restoration and developed project encircle a rather rare open central square, Place Lalla Yeddouna, the heart of the medina. The main strategies of the project are to develop the site itself, becoming a new centre within the socio-economic network of the medina and also to interlink the site with the broader districts by exploring the open spaces and riverside area.

The shelter is proposed at the square, in order to serve the artisan and working animals as a ‘service point’ for them to rest, and also a river-sight viewing deck for the tourists. It facilitates the

place to gather local people, tourists and working animals.

Educational workshops for Urban Agriculture

Wana Kejeh

This project is the end product of my response to UNESCO’s Brief for the medina of Fez, which was to increase employment, and to bring the medina back to it former glory as a garden city. A green ribbon is created along the river which crosses through the city centre and connects the new key green spaces for leisure, and agricultural activities. The site, to the north of the centre consists both of public garden and private allotments. The allotments that grow the produce serve the kitchens where the students learn to prepare and cook them. Theory classes take place either in the lecture hall, for formal teaching, or on the steps on the ground that faces the allotments, for informal teaching and social gathering.

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This year Diploma Unit 6 returns to the diploma school. Still championing the use of digital tools and techniques but in these days of ‘parametric’ ease we shift to look to ‘reality’ for new questions to answer and for new ways of using our tools.

This year saw the unit focusing on the conditions of the building envelope and the ground condition that it sits within. With the aim of exploring interior,

lay between these and how this in-between condition acts as the laboratory for new ways of occupying space and forming social groups, conditions and programmes. Material, spatial, environmental, and even political ‘performance’ were the critical dogmas for us to chase and be chased by this year.

The typology the the ‘Culture House’ became the units programatic ground while the context of the docklands of Silvertown acted as our cultural condition.

Term 1Brief 1: Envelopes & GroundsBrief 2: SilvertownBrief 3: Envelope Design WorkshopBrief 4: Temporal & Relational Drawing Workshop

Term 2 & 3Brief 5: Micro Culture House & Macro Culture HouseBrief 6: Workshop 1:20 Formations

diploma unit 6

Supplemental Envelopes & Expanding Grounds

UNIT STAFFJeffrey Turko, Paul Loh

STUDENTSAnna Yancheva Apostolova, Eirini Kra-saki, Fillipo Roberto Adamo, Georgios Yiannakis Voniatis, Jamie McKenzie, Nichole Sacha Ahmed, Petar Uzelac, Savvas Havatzias, Seyi Marvin Shodunke, Simon Scarlett, Stavroula Ioannou

Andriani Plessa, Anthoula Oikonomou, Bruno Alexandere Da Costa, Graham Al-exander - Cahill, Mirela Koskosa, Phillip Philippos, Rebeka Tsoulou

VISITING CRITICSHolger Kehne (Plasma Studio)Iain Maxwell (Supermanouver)Nate Kolbe (SuperfusionLab)Mehran Gharleghi (Studio Integrate)Amin Sadeghy (Studio Integrate)Robert Thum Renee Tobe

SPECIAL THANKS TOTom Lea <www.tomlea.org>

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Silvertown Palace of Culture, Jamie McKenzie

The ‘culture’ of east London has always been incidental, and the attraction of east London was the sense of adventure and danger in a place very different from any other, anarchistic in its history and conception. I attempted to create a project that was ambiguous in its space, allowing for incidental programmes incepted by its users. I aimed to provide this within a structure that uses a density of vertical elements, as well as creating a new ground

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Linked directly with West Silvertown DLR Station, The Link is a Culture House in West Silvertown which aims to connect the industrial and residential areas, through both visual as well as physical connections. The base of the culture house is orientated on the same plain as the industrial area in which it resides,

orientated towards the residential area creating visual links between the building and both areas. Access from the industrial area can be gained from the east and west of The Link appealing to the workers commuting by means of the DLR station. From the residential area access can be gained from the north side of the culture house where there is a footpath which directly mimics the directionality and width of the main footpath used to access the DLR station.

The Link houses two cinemas, a jazz bar, food hall, music school, cafes, bars and a local market.

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West Silvertown Culture House , Nichole Sacha Ahmed

The new culture house will be an extension of public space from the Thames Barrier Park, providing a strong access route/link from North Woolwich Road to the park. The main exterior space will front North Woolwich Road and be animated through an assortment of activities such as outdoor performances, regular markets, arts+crafts space, exhibitions or just sitting and having lunch. This space will sweep round to the east, which will be the primary approach as it is a stone’s throw away from the DLR station. The multi functional hall is the primary programme and relates fundamentally to the exterior ground condition, to provide a focus on the public realm. Continuity of the pubic space is continued through the folded envelope with key interior spaces that eventually lead to a smaller series of exterior public spaces that face onto the Thames Barrier Park, offering strong visual and physical connections.

1. internet cafe2. main circualtion route3. disabled toilet4. bar/restuarant5. bar preparation room6. music live lounge7. exterior social space8. foyer9. retractable seating10. multi-use stage area11. scenery lift12. actors\back of house access13. breakout space14. unloading space15. large equipment lift16. delivery access17. exterior perfromance/market

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House of Culture, Bruno Alexandere Da Costa

The ‘House of Culture’ is part of the new cultural development, located in Silver Town East London. Historically, it has been an industrial area that served as a gateway between London and the globalmarket. Since the docks closed in the 80’s the urban landscape became a large

existing communities were isolated and economically deprived.

The project aims to bring back this lost identity and look in to a new exiting future. This can be achieved by creating a new hybrid and a dynamic point, for cultural exchange between people of allages and taking part of wide range of cultural activities that aim to engage the local community, students and tourists.

By exploring, analyzing and testing envelopes and ground conditions, the scheme aims to challenge preconceived notions of visual perception between interior and exterior spaces. This through aseries of different triangulated screen modules, that vary in different density, and fenestrate the entire façade of the building and its interior, achieving variable levels of visual permeability that obstructs clear visual penetration between the public and the private spaces depending of theview and orientation.

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In 1978 Deng Xiaoping’s open door policy marked a critical shift in Chinese politics under the slogan ‘Getting Rich Gloriously’. China moved from a socialist planned economy to a socialist market economy and in turn, experienced exponential economic growth. However, with this growth came inevitable consequence of unprecedented urbanisation challenges, of which China is now feeling the pressure. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) in southern

cities that are constantly growing, with a combined current population of 40 million. In the PRD, together with Shenzhen, Guangzhou is one of China’s ‘Special Economic Zones’, laboratories for the contained unleashing of capitalism.

Urbanisation and Chinese politics played a key role in the formation of a unique urban phenomenon known as ‘Villages in cities’. As the burgeoning growth of cities persisted, farming villages became engulfed by generic high-rise developments and infrastructure. By law, ‘rural’ farmers had the right to own land, ‘urban’ citizens did not. Farmers therefore exploited this unique circumstance, maximizing the land they owned, developing it into a dense

Chinese government is averse to their existence as these villages do not satisfy their ambition to construct a global mega-city, and are demolished systematically to make way for skyscrapers. However, these villages house

so are of great value to the cities development. ‘Villages in cities’ are a prominent political topic in China and form the backdrop for this years design

giving meaning and identity back to these villages, whose precarious existence is constantly under threat.

The start of the year ran two projects in parallel with one another, a study that reevaluated the importance of the building envelope, so often reduced to its iconic, representational and symbolic function and research of the PRD’s urban condition. A text by Alejandro Zaera Polo, ‘The Politics of the Envelope’ provided a theoretical base for the years design investigations. This theory was tested against an existing building in a case study; the techniques were then implemented into the design thesis later in the year.

Project 1: Enveloped HeterogeneityProject 2: PRD’s Urban ConditionProject 3: Enveloped Territories

diploma unit 9

Enveloped Territories - Guangzhou

UNIT STAFFRobert Thum

STUDENTSChristopher Allen, Farah Hamid, Abul Mahdi, Tomonori Ogata, Natalie Pick, Samuel Rose, Orlando Correia Sousa, Arianna Wellons

Leanne Ackrell, Marcus Andren, Andi Fatkoja, Tobias Flaye, Jessica Hiller, Chi Kin Ho, Hoi Kei Lo, Kalliopi-Emmanouela Ntassi, Mitesh Parekh, Alex Pedersen, Andreas Poullaides, Moni Rahman

VISITING CRITICSAlan Chandler, Christopher Hill, Roland Karthaus, Raphael Lee, Grant Nahorniak, Danai Sage, Ulysses Sengupta, Andrew Taylor, Renee Tobe, Martin West

SPECIAL THANKS TOGuangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Chang Liu, Blueprint Model Shop, Urbanus Architects Shenzhen

“The building envelope is possibly the oldest and most primitive architectural element [that]

private property and land ownership (one of the most primitive political acts). The building envelope forms the border, the frontier, the edge, the enclosure and the joint: it is loaded with political content”

Alejandro Zaera Polo. The Politics of the Envelope – A Political Critique of Materialism, Volume (2009) vol.17

Right:The Guangzhou Legal CentreMarcus Andren

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Guangzhou Legal Centre, Marcus Andren

1. Occupation of a covered court-yard.2. Perspective section through jury lounge and custody care, surrounded by a public path to an entrance and past existing village blocks.3. Public verdict announcement.4. Private judges area.5. Ground Floor Plan.6. 1:200 Model.

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Guangzhou Legal Centre, Marcus Andren

The Guangzhou Legal Centre increases public access to justice and legal education and uses the envelope as the primary tool for achieving this. A folding double wall creates private, public and appropriable spaces, isolating and insulating areas with sensitive programs while simultaneously allowing the village to take ownership of the building.

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Guangzhou Migrant Worker Education Centre, Christopher Allen

The lack of public space in the Tianhe Cun village is addressed in a single sculptural gesture, removing the building from the ground, making the ground oor entirely public. The manipulation of the ground integrates the building with the village, new public space feeds into the village. The mechanism of shifting is used to de ne and overlap programme, progranme is shifted down to meet the public ground level creating an informal outdoor library and acting as an advertisement as to what activities occur above.

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A bamboo component factory & learning centre in Xian Cun, Alex Pedersen

The project is concerned with the fractured relationship between the village and the city, with an attempt at harmonising this relationship by placing an anthropocentric value on the village and its inhabitants. The village is utilised as a conglomerate form, in the harvesting and production of bamboo for structural bamboo components, these components are then used to produce the towers that typify the urban sprawl of Guangzhou.The factory is forced underground to provide a new public ground for greater interaction between the inhabitants of both con icting conditions, with the end products of this factory process, the towers, distributed along the main axis of the village. The towers are designed to coincide with the tabula rasa condition of Guangzhou, whilst understanding the importance of the village in the city.

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Qingping public baths, mixed urban block, Hoi Kei Lo

A mixed programme urban block in the Qingping market, Guangzhou, proposes an alternative approach to modernisation of Chinese old towns. The proposal responds to the existing site context and urban grain to preserve the social and spatial quality of the market area. The block consists of housing, live/ work units, market shops, seafood restaurant and public baths that provide much needed sanitary facilities to local residents.The project thesis, ‘Spatial Anthology’ informs the main scripted route through the public baths which is based on the prescribed journey and view construction techniques inspired by the Yuyin Garden in Guangzhou.

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The Qingping cycle centre, Sam Rose

The Qingping cycle centre provides a repair facility for bicycles in a popular market and tourist area that mediates between the two main users; the locals who rely on the bicycle as a means of production and the tourists who use the bicycle for leisure. The cycle centre comprises a hostel, bicycle shop, bespoke bicycle manufacture, repair facilities for the new public bicycle, bar/café and a free public repair facility for locals and tourists. The project references the appropriation of public space in China, with the building forming an incidental landscape on which the programmes are arranged.

1. Cor-ten steel canopy2. 80mm industrial finish concrete screed3. 50mm acoustic insulation4. 300mm reinforced concrete fair-faced slab5. Corten steel formwork - left in place6. Acessible service duct7. Hanging bicycle lamp lighting8. Vertical timber formwork relief in fair-faced concrete9. Storage above workbench for to-fix bicycles accessibly by a chain10. Corten shutters to allow views in and air flow during opening hours of the work-shop11.Light reflector to accentuate the cor-ten form12. Folded cor-ten work benches with shelves and tools on a steel frame13. Bicycle style seats14. Handlebar style balustrade15. Steel walkway on steel support16. New party wall, white for light reflection and cooling17. Chain drain referencing the bicycle18. 300mm Concrete slab19. DPC20. Pile driven foundations due to geology of site

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The Guangzhou craft school, Tomo Ogata

The craft school is a hub of vocational education and of social interaction in the region. It aims to be integrated into the local community by incorporating edu-cational and recreational facilities within the school. In addition to such program-matic interactions, the school is spatially integrated with alleyways where the locals enjoy socializing with the others for the interest in similar logic of space between the interior and the surroundings. The envelope of the school would be covered with ceramics such as bricks produced on site so that the facade becomes a showcase of the craft school.

1. The envelope of the school2. Workshop space3. Workshop space and courtyard4. Building and alleyway5. Birds eye view from east6. Lounge space

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11. Folded Nursery Iterations, Farrah Hamid

2. Tianhe Cun Housing + Learning Centre, Moni Rahman

The project would implement the qualities of the envelope and experience the village gaps.

3. Tianhe applied arts educational cenre, Jessica Hiller

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Throughout history the discrepancy Van der Laan describes between our experience and the space of nature has gone through many permutations; from fear of the wilderness to ownership over it, from ancient worship of natures divinities to rational observation of natural forms. Man’s ingenuity has allowed him to cultivate land in increasingly inaccessible places, whilst

The unit’s ongoing theme is to explore these relationships, and how architecture mediates and communicates between our inner world and the landscape we occupy.

Our context for these investigations is Britain, which once again is reinventing itself. In an economically turbulent time a new political ideology aims to rebalance the country by redistributing power from central government into the hands of local organisations and partnerships. However, communities continue to face socioeconomic challenges that predate and transcend changes in Westminster. With the introduction of the Decentralization and Localism bill we will explore how, in this contemporary context, the architect can facilitate imaginative, economically sustainable and collaborative solutions.

This year the unit was working in West Cumbria, a historic coastal region locked between the Irish Sea and the Lake District National Park. This area, through its mineral resources and its sheltered bays, has been a historic focus of settlements of mining, farming and energy production. In the disused

both within and on the landscape.

The unit celebrates a method of careful and precise research balanced with a personal, intuitive response to place. Each member of the unit has develop their own programme in an appropriate non-metropolitan sites to create

diploma unit 11

Inner worlds, other landscapes

UNIT STAFFJamie-Scott Baxter and Arthur Smart

STUDENTS

Eben Ankrah Dominic AsemiClare FeeneyJurgita KorsakaiteMaria Lardi Edward Joseph ShortAndy TangQuyen Tran

Christopher Aponsah-AinooAndrew BateGeorge CharalambousYan Yan CheungAriadni KarapidakisSu Vin LauMarina MatsiStuart MillsDavid MorganChristopher Murphy-O’ConnorDaniel NationKieran ParsonsStephen PellyLucy RansonLuke RowettHee Jyung SohnLaura Williams

VISITING CRITICSLiz Adams, Caroline Almond, Sam Casswell, Tim Norman, Frederik Rissom, Stephen Witherford

SPECIAL THANKS TOEtienne Clement, David Derby, Matthew Drinkwater, Robert Harbison, William Mann, Tom Marshall, Paul Shepheard, Matt Wood,

“…The mass of the earth below and the space of the air above, which meet at the surface of the earth, is the primary datum of this [natural] space. Architecture is born from the original discrepancy between the two spaces, the horizontally orientated space of our experience and the vertically orientated space of nature.”

Architectonic Space, Dom Hans Van der Laan (1904-1991)

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Clockwise from top left; ‘Infrastructural diagram’ by Clare Feeny. The diagram is the synthesis between analytical research and design proposition. Clare’s research focused on the presence of the declining hill framing industry, historically an important social and economic infrastructure within the west Cumbrian landscape. The positioning of a new wool and lanolin factory on the edge of Millom, a costal town struggling

of the haematite mines, acts as an ‘infrastructural building’ adapting and strengthening existing networks within this landscape. ‘Composite Landscape’ sketch by Andy Tang captures the complex spatial topography of West Cumbria.

costal plains were formed by intrusive earth movements some 400 million year ago. Photograph of the ruined fort at Hardknot pass, part of a Roman regional infrastructural commanding the local landscape through the Eskdale valley to

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the costal town of Ravenglass. ‘Composite Landscape’ collage by Yan Yan Cheung records the presence of water which has helped shaped the Eskdale valley since the retreating glaciers of the last ice age 15,000 years ago. Sketches by Quyen Tran recording her personal experience walking through the landscape from Blackcombe to the estuarial plains. Photograph by Marina Matsis of the estuary at Ravenglass. Previous page; ‘The energy coast line’ by Stuart Mills documents

infrastructure in relation to existing settlement patterns.

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Clockwise from top left; Through investigative research, Amberley Williams proposes the re-organisation of public space in Ravenglass, attempting to draw visitors into the historic grain of the village. The new market centre provides a regional hub for produce, new public rooms and a focus for continued development of the village.Chris Ainoo proposes an energy research centre within the slag heaps of Millom, working reciprocally with the legacy of former industries and the possibilities of the ‘Energy Coast’.

Millom’s former heamatite mines is framed by three sea defences, Hee Yung Sohn proposes a Jet Ski centre, providing facilities with direct access to the only inland water body in the Lake District without engine power restriction.Ariadni Karapidiakis proposes a new public bath house its courtyard enclosed

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to the north by the ruins of the original Roman Bath at Ravenglass, part of a series of key pieces of Roman infrastructure in Eskdale.Clare Feeny’s typological study explores the variety of building types and associated public space within and around Millom. The study went on to inform her proposal for a wool and lanolin factory the form and tectonic of which sits between these found scales. Model photograph of a roof study for the factory.

Millom.

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Clockwise from top left; Seascale railway station, Stuart Mills’ project explores identity at the regional and local scale. Through careful research into proposed investment and infrastructure including the future upgrade to the existing coastal railway line, Stuart proposes a ‘Regional high street’ to reinforce the existing string of communities along the railway. This takes the form of a station at Seascale which provides space that serves both the local site and the wider, regional community. Quyen Tran’s hill side ‘cairns’ offer internal space for all year round rock climbing and other outward bound activities. The proposal forms an extension to an existing redundant farmstead and

between mountain and farm house. Luke Rowett proposes an infrastructure of Shellins through the Eskdale Valley. These public rooms offer free warmth and shelter to visitors in the valley,

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housed in a robust concrete frame, they

scale timber industry sharing the same ground. These composite, infrastructural buildings are carefully placed through the valley at strategic locations either adding to existing small scale communities, or creating the impetus for future settlement. Jurgita Korsakaite explores the dichotomy of working within a sensitive historic environment within a working farm. Jurgita’s proposes a small agricultural college within the ruins of a Pele tower and castle attempting to engage with the problem of a migrating youth. Marina Matsis’ proposal for the economic development of Ravenglass through the

industry. Off shore stocks depleted with the introduction of the nearby nuclear

farm on the edge of the village providing a new and unique shared public space.

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Design requires feeding and never more so than in the discipline of architecture.

A building is the culmination of a complex set of more or less technical requirements developed through a process of design; but building isn’t architecture. In common architecture school currency, a technically and professionally well-resolved project is the kiss of death for any student with architectural ambitions: if you can build it, the student has failed to test the limits and they will be professionally doomed to producing door schedules in a global design-factory.

We think differently. The most technically well-resolved projects are the most architecturally ambitious and the accolade of the most integrated work is now the student’s main objective.

The school has always had a core tradition of exploratory design through making, with the principle of ‘an economy of means’ cutting a datum across the diverse and independent units. In Supporting Studies, these principles now assume the

Assessments are not added as additional requirements to the design process, but are simply part of it. Student projects are explored, developed and tested in the full range of dimensions that a real building design project has to deal with. The projects that emerge are at once architecturally ambitious and professionally and technically resolved. In the integrated project, the overarching brief informs the detail decisions and often vice versa.

The pedagogy of integration is implemented and expressed in two main forms, which communicate with and infect one another throughout degree and diploma: - live ‘site’ works undertaken in groups and interacting with real clients, design teams and construction sites; - in the studio through the development and critique of individual design projects

Far from constraining design, this approach feeds it and once understood, it should be legible throughout the work of the school and recognised as a driving force for the skill of architectural design.

on the implications of live projects and second through an example of studio-based integration in an individual design project from this year.

Technical and Professional integration

Integration

SUPPORTING STUDIES STAFF

Pelsmakers

STUDENTSAll architecture programme students

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A section through the architects role: environment, construction, people;diploma construction week project with Newham Council and Muf

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Live Projects

entertain”...............* So, why do a live project?

Professional studies, sustainability, social science, cultural studies, technology and design are all facets of the same experience we call architecture. This conglomerate nature is recognised in the way the subject is organised as an architectural education in the UK, encompassed by the phrase “comprehensive design project”. This is our pedagogic Holy Grail, yet the means by which we guide future architects through the development of this holistic endeavour and recognise its achievement is ironically through numerous criteria and sub-clauses, each to be disaggregated and placed under scrutiny, mapped, re-mapped and appraised against subject

accordingly. Thus synthesis and segregation are uneasy bedfellows, indicative of the inherent architectural schitzophrenia of being art and science, creativity and management.

confronted with a duality - science masters nature wheras management masters events. Even the most un-artistic architect must therefore attempt to ride at least two of these four horses simultaneously, so it is little surprise that risk avoidance is inherent in our profession, but also that avoidance of risk is futile. As an architectural profession we have to concede that risk management also encompasses all aspects of our architectural education - ‘success’ delivery is behind this, indeed is behind all aspects of our modern lives. Our criteria for ‘approval’ is prescribed to counter the risk of later professional failure, and this risk attenuation is understood and distributed through the structures of teaching. However, true to our unreconciled profession, the educational strategy so often employed to attenute risk is to dream up subjective sites, programmes and atmospheres, then invent complicated assessment criteria to counterbalance it with objectivity. The risk of a “lack of success” (also known as ‘failure’), provides the impulse for personalised vision projects that provide too little detail to be proven wrong, and assessment mechanisms that provide criteria that when ticked off determine that everything is right. I would argue that neither part of this process actually engages with the interweaving of all aspects of our profession. RIBA Part 3 measures competence in risk avoidance, but I would suggest that the inevitability of risk requires that we are weaned onto such solids during our design education so we know what needs avoiding and why. This brings us to the question:

How far is a risk managed education a preparation for managing risk?

Understanding Stafford Beer’s concept of ‘variety’ reveals how risk is attenuated, and helps us determine where in the experience of architectural education risk

With thanks to:Katherine Clarke and Cristina Montiero @Muf Architecture Art LLPDesign for LondonRobin Cross@Article 25Liz Shearer @ Newham CouncilRobert Thum @UELCraig Bamford @ SasaworksPat West @Pat West architectsAndrea Menardo @Buro HappoldRowland Keable @ Ramcast CICRaphael Lee @ UELGennady malishev @Malishev Wilson Engineers

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needs to happen. Strategically the classic ‘studio taught’ self selection project invents both brief and risk through tutorial and discussion, and the proposition

tutorial model to operate within the School “kills that subtelty of information that requisite variety demands”*. So when students say “people”, we ought to be asking “who, exactly?”, when they say “site”, we might enquire who owns it, when they say ‘climate’ and refer to a single photograph from the study trip when it rained, we know that the requisite variety of experience needed to elaborate a meaningful architectural project is lacking. Not only is the subjective design project often

that stand in for the users and the place, and worse hampers the ability of the student or the tutor to judge how the interraction between them can be enhanced through the elaboration of the project.

attenuate variety’? Clearly architecture is complex and requires management, but how is that management realised?

Let us edit out excess variety at the commencement of the project: limiting the range of variables at the outset will therefore deliver a greater the chance of synthesis. This model is popular because a greater number of participants are able to achieve a product which can be cross referenced back to the attenuated

contained, the democratic potential harnessed. Quality Assurance requirements

If this is not acceptable, and variety is not attenuated at the start of the project, how then is complexity managed? If the process of developing the project works through a constant feedback of action and reaction, the ability of the project

emerge only at completion - and if truly successful will never actually be complete as its participants would effectively continue the process themselves. The potential for ‘failure’ is enhanced, but only through this method of dynamic variety management could a project be said to achieve the integration desired by the profession, because it is what the profession does. Within the RIBA Part 2 I suggest that we should therefore actively familiarise the student with the risks that require avoiding in a controlled and positive manner.

So we are to take the high road? What tools are therefore required to put into practice the ambition of teaching an integrated and democratic design process?

The structural limitation of the studio culture also maintains some strong positives, so strong in fact that I would suggest it needs support, rather than replacement. That support, for me is via the engagement with users and place that occurs with the delivery of a “live project”, where the users become participants and the students become professionals. Through engaging with the issues of risk and variety, Architecture at UEL has effectively removed the segregation of sustainability, professional studies and technology from design within Part 2, and

the School to exemplify this integrated attitude. The experience of professional engagement sets up an expectation that alters the relationship the student maintains with their subjective Unit work, the desire to invent becoming directed outwards towards the intended users of the project,

team of students making effectively a 1:1 model, but is the opportunity to engage with the requisite variety and risk that clients and users bring.To go beyond the 1:1 model, each workshop at UEL establishes a strategic role for the student work, either as part of a funded research project such as ‘Fabricformwork’, or with actual clients. Both provide the requisite variety to challenge the students, but with clients the role of the professional mentor becomes key.

Paper presented in Belfast to ‘Live Projects’ conference, Alan Chandler 2011

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project from Unit 9, 2011

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Understanding Alejandro Zaera-Polo’s ‘The Politics of the Envelope’ as a critique of simplistic metaphors in contemporary architecture provides a strong theoretical position for the project. In turn, this drives the development of the form materials and detailing, forging an independent vision of the political function of architecture and the process of its making which accepts and enjoys imperfection.

The synthesis of broader theoretical concerns with a particular understanding of the physical and social place forms an armature for the project. As in the practice of sculpture, the relationship between the armature and the form and

important; yet not direct. The project that wears its technical and professional heart on its sleeve has not fully completed the process of integration. CGIs are not produced as rhetorical representations at the end of the year, but during the design process as a means to explore the implications and potential of decisions made within the context of a particular place, adding layers of richness through unexpected interactions. In this way, a

‘post-completion’ stage; perhaps even more so than is possible in architectural practice.

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As part of the Theory Route where students study key issues in the theory of architecture, with regard to their relationship to design at a postgraduate

workshops: Dimension Driven Design, Generative Components, Grasshopper and Processing. Level 4 students, who elected to attend, were introduced to a range of advanced tools that aid the design process. After the workshops, students produced three A3 sheets giving a brief introduction to the tools and then show how they were able to use the program.

Computing and Design: Diploma Level 4

Tutors: Janet Insull Ben Doherty Joshua Mason Gennarro SenatoreJohn HardingManos Zaroukas

Students:Savvas HavatziasSilvano MusgraveMaria LardiNatali PickSimon ScarlettSeyi ShodunkeEdward ShortGeorgios VoniatisMehrak ZabihiNikolaos ZorgiasAbul Hasan MahdiEirini KrasakiAnna ApostolovaChang Liu

Essay Titles:

Network Practices and Cellular AutomataIn Architectural Design

A Critical Analysis of computational embryogenesis: Past, Present and Future

A Critical Reading of ‘An Evolutionary Architecture’

What the Complexity is and what make

wallsFractal Cities

Edward Short

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Simon Scarlett

Eirini Krasaki

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The second part of the Theory Route where students study key issues in the theory of architecture. Diploma students join the MSc module ‘Programming Architecture’a 12 week foundation in computer programming for architectural CAD. Simple programming concepts and syntax are taught to generate and analyse design and space.

Computing & Design: Diploma Level 5

Tutors: Paul Coates Manos Zaroukas

Students:

Andreas PoullaidesRyan MakAdam Mc AvineyMubina FattoumAlice Yan Yan CheungMitesh ParekhPhilippos PhilippidisAndi FatkojaClelia Ntassi

Philippos Philippidis

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Alice Yan Yan Cheung

Adam Mc Aviney

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Masters teaching in Architecture in the School has been developing over

specialist programmes are now offered, in addition to the M. Arch. Masters

Landscape and Critical Theory are all offered, all but the last having both design and theory components. They provide the opportunity of working at an advanced level with highly accomplished tutors, each specialist programme

PhD in several of these postgraduate areas. An increasingly vital and inven-

who choose to study on these programmes. In each case the Programme Leader is supported by other specialist staff and visiting lecturers and critics.

MSc Architecture: Computing and DesignProgramme Leader: Paul Coates

MA Architecture: Sustainability and Design

MA Architecture: Interpretation and TheoriesProgramme Leader: Andrew Higgott

MA Architecture: Urban DesignProgramme Leader: Christoph Hadrys

MA Landscape ArchitectureProgramme Leader: David Buck

Masters in Architecture (M.Arch)Programme Leader: Renee Tobe

masters in architecture

Andrew HiggottProgramme Coordinator

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The MSc computing and design programme continues to explore the role of the computer as a generative tool for architectural design Our programme ranges from the technical skilling of professionals for scripting cad through the consideration of self-organising principles for form and space in the masters, to longer term studies of emergent spatial organisation and morphologies by our Doctoral candidates

CECA (Centre for Evolutionary Computing in Architecture) has always concerned itself with ideas of distributed representation and the computer as a simulation medium for exploration. we don’t do geometry, we do reactive

the skin of forms and spaces to engage with forms of human occupation and

of both reading and writing computers - the true computer literacy .

PhD Arch: Computing & DesignMSc Arch: Computing & DesignGradCert Arch: Computing & Design

Tutors: Paul Coates Manos Zaroukas Tim Ireland Janet Insull

GradCertMentor Dervishollir

MScWalid Elsayed Sadiq Mustapha Khabeeb Marc Fleming

MSc Part-timeChristina AchtypiMuslima NazneenGeorge Prinos

PhDChoesnah IdartiRenee PuuseppManos ZaroukasTim IrelandAmine Benoudjit

Walid Elsayed

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Sadiq Mustapha Khabeeb

Walid Elsayed

and Design continues to attract students from a range of prestigious practices in London. We have had architects and engineers from Foster+Partners, Arups advanced Geometry group, Skidmore Owens and Merril, AEDAS Architects and Zaha Hadid. We ran a lecture series covering presentations from a wide range of leaders

The series of workshops, in design and computing which were offered to Level 4 and Level 5 Diploma students remain popular.

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We continued our exploration into the aesthetics of ethical architecture and the study and critique of urban sustainability. We visited and studied places and spaces in London, Paris and Brussels and participated in Diploma 4th Year Construction Week, EcoBuild, and the UK Passivhaus Conference.

conference. We built two ‘test cells’, one to Passivhaus and one to building regulations standards and we undertook an ‘ice challenge’. ( see image to the right and overleaf) The purpose was to monitor how the same volume of ice melts at different speeds in units built of the same standard.

“ The experiment shows that with careful detailing and construction, the Passivhaus airtightness standards can be achieved. It also highlights that, compared to a standard Building Regulations cell, the Passivhaus test cell is

cool and recording more stable internal air temperatures”,

The Environmental Architecture Module continued to investigate sustainability at the scale of buildings, both existing and new-build. This module tested, critiqued and responded to the rapid changes occurring in the building industry, which are led by an increased awareness of climate change.

In the Urban Ecology module, we studied the real societal impact of

that ‘saving carbon’ is only one of many parameters (and often not the most important one),which can lead to truly sustainable (city) environments.

In each module, the process of investigation starts with an exploration of deep contextual parameters, followed by an initial, more intuitive proposition for change or transformation. Uniquely, each student tested his/her own design

unexpected results. Design is used as a method to investigate sustainability. We do not see design as the end product.

architectural language and ethical viewpoint, based on a continuous iteration between design intent and environmental impact. Each project is underpinned by a robust understanding of any necessary compromises made between ethics and aesthetics.

ma architecturesustainability + design

Ethics & Aesthetics

STAFF

Karthaus & Alan Chandler

STUDENTS:

Emmanuel Martins, Fanny Galvan, Margo Sagov, Mario Viera, Davide Cappello, Marion Baeli, Melania Papagiotiodi, Oladele Onofowokan, Paschal Volney, Stefano Zucca, Timoclea Benopoulou, Veronica Hendry, Joaquin Ruiz, Linda Toledo, Patrik Karlsson, Aris Zegvolis, Jiejung Jing, Freda Lam, Ian Givin, Hardik Rathod, Aasiri Wickremage, Neerav Mehta, Marina Markides

Alex Pedersen, Bruno da Costa, Ismini Nikoladaki, Joy Willis, Lisa Brown, Matteo Mantovani, Theodore Koloftias, Wilfrid Meynell, Elham Delkhordi, Thuy Tran, Eirini Garoufalia, Marek Redo, Dayantha Siriwardene, Reuben Barker, Derya Rashit, Wei Shi, Orlando Sousa, Ewan Green, Siow Wen Wei, Maurice Smith, Oliver Sprague, Amardeep Bahia, Poly Erotokritou, Fillipo Adamo, Yeoh Seow Ling, Moni Rahman, Kriemadi Triantafyllenia

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The ‘ice challenge’: building regulations and Passivhaus test cell

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WITH THANKS TO:

Mohammed Mamdani and his team at Queens Crescent Comunity AssociationAlexis Rowe (Cutting the Carbon)Betty NiggianiCarine OberweisCristina Blanco LionDaniel StrongwaterDavid KnightDean HawkesDimitra KyrkouJonathan McDowellJoseph Peskett and St Lukes CommunityJustin Bere (Bere: Architects)Kamp CKatie Lloyd ThomasKayla FriedmanLynne SullivanMelissa TaylorMichela PaceNick NewmanRob HoumollerSabine Leribaux( Belgium)Sebastian Moreno-Vacca(Belgium)

The Horta Museum

Images at the very top: existing Ugalde House by Architect Coderch and Joaquin Ruiz’ external landscape investigation. His purpose was to create a moderated micro-climate. Image above and below:Koenig’s Case Study House 22 and Aris Zegvolis’ refurbishment proposal to reduce overheating.

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Can a house achieve zero carbon standard in the city?

appropriate in a changing climate?, research question by Linda Toledo

Images at the very top: proposal for a zero carbon development for Queens Crescent Community Association, by Aasiri Wickremage.Image above: Proposal by Freda Lam, on the same Gospel Oak site.Images to the right: street furniture and adaptable marketstalls. Urban Ecology prototype by Bruno da Costa.

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Images above: Urban ecology prototype by Alex PedersenImage to the right: City block model to investigate visible and invisible urban layers.

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ma interpretation and theories

Students can choose to follow one of several different routes for their theory studies in Diploma School. These include components of the Masters programmes in Urban Design, Sustainability and Design, Computing and Design and Landscape Architecture: for each of these students write an essay in both Level Four and Level Five. There is also the possibility of continuing

Architecture, an opportunity that a number of students choose to take up each year.

There is a further Masters programme in Interpretation and Theories which Diploma students can choose to follow: two components on Histories and Criticism and on Issues in Architectural Representation are offered to Diploma students. They intend to give students the chance to extend their ideas in

ideologies in relation to modernist and contemporary practice.

An alternative to these taught programmes is Project X. Written over the two years of the Diploma School, this provides an opportunity for students to research and think long and hard about an idea or subject that really interests them. Seen also as a counterpart to their Design work, it is valued as a creative and individual contribution to the student’s architectural thinking.

Extracts of work done this year by Diploma Students following the Interpretation and Theories route and Project X route follow:

Interpretation and Theories

Histories and Criticism

Sam RoseS to XL

The scale of the book is important. The size and weight are an expression of the importance of the publication. The silver cover and bold graphical text set it apart from other publications while creating a sense of anticipation for those who see it. Biblical in scale implies biblical in content.

The cover reveals the extent of the unique relationship between author and designer. Bruce Mau is given equal billing with OMA, while Koolhaas’s name is accentuated in contrasting colour. The title S M L XL is how the work is curated, in a rising scale through the book. Its creation was revolutionary. The graphics and imagery were akin to MTV and advertising, rather than the architectural monograph. The effect can be compared with that of Archigram in the 1960s, who used explosive graphics to represent a new energy of a breakaway movement from the monotony of contemporary architecture. They used graphics that were completely alien to architectural publishing, cartoons, innovative texts and vivid colour. Koolhaas recognised the impact of such publications and what makes them so iconic, their spontaneity and revolutionary attitude to the conventions of publishing.

Staff:Andrew HiggottRenée TobeBetty Nigianni

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Tomo OgataIntersection of Tschumi and Barthes

Tschumi developed his theories in the 1970s and some of them are deeply

the titles of the courses directed by him at the Architectural Association at that time, entitled ‘Urban Politics’ and the ‘Politics of Space’ in which Tschumi explored the possibilities of revolutionary architecture in a radical way.

The preface of Tschumi’s later book ‘Architecture and Disjunction’ implies that the trigger for May 1968’s events in Paris was a misappropriation of the streets, which is here described as a ‘mis-use’ by Tschumi. He re-enacted such a mis-use in London in 1971. He entered the closed Kentish Town station

urban use’. Lefebvre reveals in ‘The Production of Space’ that ‘dominated space and appropriated space may in principle be combined’ and emphasises such spaces can be not only limited to structures but to squares and even streets.

Architectural Representation

Phoebe PadleyPsycho-Architecture:Drawing, language and ‘seeing’ the spaces between

Hand-drawing and language are chosen as the media to explore in this essay as those are most directly associated with the hand-eye-mind relationship. The key relationships worth exploring are those between drawings and words, between drawing/word and the mind and between idea and representation. The main body of this essay addresses these relationships by taking a look at art and literature, and relating common themes to architecture under several headings:

’Words from Drawing’ addressing the origins of written language and communication from pictures to words and their relationship through line, developmental psychology of communication and from there to signs and semantics: ‘Drawing from Words’ explores the creative reading process, using the pictorial illustration of Alice in Wonderland as an illustration of the subjective visuality of narrative: ‘Imaging with Words’ looks at examples of the use of language as illustration and representation’ and acknowledges some example of Surrealist painting as investigations into the seeing functions of the mind: lastly ‘Idea to/from Representation’ explores the architect’s relationship with drawing, language and the mind in practice and takes a closer look at the role of the sketch.

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Project X

Emmet Walsh

In his penthouse apartment at Rue Nungesser-et-Coli, where Le Corbusier lived for thirty years, the hearth is located immediately in front of the entrance,

the home and offers a sense of security and welcome. In this respect the form is similar to the traditional inglenook, the settee provides a seating area while the glass frontage of the entrance allows the sitter to see visitors approach. The style of the hearth is austere and modern but this purist treatment is underpinned with a traditional form.

There is a second interpretation of his hearth treatment which reveals a more personal meaning. Photographs from the 1935 Exposition held at Rue Nungesser show a Greek statue next to the hearth. The stature is photographed with exaggerated focus suggesting the statue is larger than its actual size. The statue is Hestia, goddess of the hearth, protector of the

congregate for religious purposes they would gather at the forge. In this narrative the hearth became the sacred altar or shrine.

Likewise the hearth at Rue Nungesser was engendered with a spiritual dimension and its form has attributes similar to a religious altar. Above and behind it are niches which provide spaces for Le Corbusier’s ‘objets a

ignited and inspired his creative forces. But Le Corbusier was using religious

represented not a power bestowed by gods, but the inner creative spirit.

Marcus AndrenWorshipping Ashes or Preserving Fire

This is an attempt to examine and understand Swedish architecture over the last 100 years, its relative merit, and its stylistic coherence. Despite the proliferation and success of modernism in Sweden, it will be shown that the Romantic inheritance has remained present throughout the last century, creating a consistent architecture that continues to the present day.

mode of the ornamented Renaissance. The building celebrates its critical evolution spatially by literally turning its back to the neighbouring building constructed in the previous neo classical style. It favours a ‘grave and solidly built’ aesthetic, ‘properly anchored in Swedish building traditions. Bertil Palme, biographer to Westman noted that in this building ‘the Swedish tone rang originally pure and without a lot of fuss’ This new direction was evolved by Westman from his previous projects which all demonstrated a respectful reference and considered appropriation from Sweden’s architectural past. Westman and Ostberg made many architectural trips abroad but upon exploring Sweden’s own architectural history they admitted their “overseas studies [became] unnecessary’. This was particularly evident in the Svenska

white window frames, and the Radhuset’s geometric similarity to Vadstena Slott.

The type of national romantic architecture initiated by Carl Westman was

magnum opus in the Stockholm Stadshuset (Town Hall) designed by Ragnar Ostberg with the additional help of Westman. Completed in 1923, Frank

organised by Yerbury in London that year about the Stadshuset combined with the Gothenburg Jubilee Exhibition brought the international spotlight directly on

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Ana FaiscaCollapse of the Public RealmAbandoned Portuguese Train Stations

Santiago do Cacem and Sines are two very similar stations, designed by the same architect Ernesto Korrodi. They are two great examples of an

by the typology of the domestic house. This is most expressed in the form and materials used in the doors and windows of the stations, as well as the treatment of the outside covered areas at the back. This domesticity, which was applied in public train stations across Portugal, was an intentional nationalistic expression, mostly used in public architectural commissions throughout the thirties. In this era, the political power in charge was a dictatorship, trying its best to proclaim the Portuguese traditions as true systems of national importance. As a consequence, the government built

broadcast these ideals.

As seen before, many architectural elements of the typology of the house were directly applied to the typology of stations. Although the best architectural

ceramic panels in the facades of stations. Each ceramic panel illustrates local activities of the region they are in: in Santiago de Cacem, panels

commissioned by a political power that sought after a distinctive supremacy and certainly achieved it. Each ceramic panel is one of a kind, making each station unique.

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ma urban design

Masters Programme

The MA Urban Design is the design intensive masters for alternative urbanisms at the University of East London. The course is growing out of the School’s longstanding preoccupation with urban and landscape intervention. It is set up to develop both intellectual and practical skills for urban designers and architects. Through interrelated design and theory projects, we search for alternative solutions to complex urban conditions.

The course sets out to explore and develop new forms of urban practice in cities undergoing critical change, where conventional thinking struggles to respond to uncertainties and the necessity for imaginative thinking. It aims to prepare students to work in different geographical settings, within different urban agendas and economies through design projects. We engage directly with communities, sites and contexts, to be able to develop both practical and innovative urban designs, from the scale of regions and cities, all the way through to neighbourhoods and building scales.

This approach is informed by local and international urban practice, but also emphasizes students‘ individual interests, abilities and intuition, to explore and develop new forms of urbanism. Asking questions, like who is building cities and how

forces. We research diverse methodologies, like the use of tolerances and time-lines, to enable more dynamic and generative urban processes, allowing a much wider range of people to take part in building cities.

The course provides a platform for the individual student to develop an expertise and an approach to sustainable urban design through the development of urban design strategies and research. As more and more emphasis is put on the importance of sustainable developments by governments and professional bodies, such knowledge and skills will be of increasing usefulness to the students in their professional lives. The programme prepares for work in the public as well as in the private sector.

The masters course has two fully integrated parts: The design intensive studio and the theory component comprising Masters and Diploma students.

The MA Urban Design welcomes students as fellow innovators in a programme that is both visionary and hands on in seeking to develop urban futures that are sustainable, distinctive and enjoyable.

PROGRAMME LEADERChristoph Hadrys

www.ma-ud.blogspot.com

MA STUDENTSDaniela Ellis Agnes Liskauskaite

DIPLOMA THEORY STUDENTSChris Allen, Carrie Beasley Sarah Bland, Jaspal Chana Matthew Collins, Clare Feeney Tom Green, Hank Hendriksen Lina Matagi, Jamie McKenzie Matthew Rust, Sallam Athina Petar Uzelac, Miles Weber Arianna Wellons

Leanne Ackrell Koldobika Albistegui Sojo Sara Alidadi, James Barrett Philippa Battye, Zoya Boozorginia Raudhah Borhanuddin, Ibrahim Buhari Peter Dagger, Ben Doherty Donal Egan, Jessica Hiller Wanaburuoma Kejeh, Su Vin Lau Marina Matsi, Salvatore Noviello Joshua Phillips, Stephanie PoyntsLucy Ransom, Hee Kyung SohnPhilip Wells, Mathew WhiffenKevin Widger, Amber WilliamsJonathan Wilson, Ahmad Zahedi Stefanos Ziras SPECIAL THANKS TO David Buck, Paul CoatesAndrew Higgott, Urszula MarkiewiczPaulo David and João Almeida (Madeira)

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previous page, existing waterfront sites in Bergen, Agnes Liskauskaite and Daniela Ellis

left page, rules for urban blocks and site this page, building pattern, Daniela Ellis

Urban Design Studio

The design component aims to prepare students to work with different urban situations and agendas.

project, to familiarise themselves with the teaching and learning environment of the course. During that time, we develop design tools and principles, by testing

or models as a means to develop designs. It is an important foundation for further studies.

For the main design project, individual students focus on one site of their choice, for the rest of the academic year. This focus allows very deep explorations of a range of scales and involved urban design issues. Students formulate objectives, briefs, programmes and spatial aspirations of their design work.

Throughout the course, we engage in workshops, presentations, tutorials and

urban agenda.

Design Work - London and Bergen

This academic year, the MA Urban Design explored urban change along waterfronts in two different locations, North Woolwich in East London and the city of Bergen in Norway.

On the site in London, the students developed design and thinking tools, which responded to the particularities of family life in cities. They addressed spatial qualities, household sizes, adaptability, guiding frameworks and topography.

Bergen is located on the west coast of Norway, where archipelagos and Fjords form a unique landscape of islands and waterways. As a pre-condition, suburbanisation processes have led to extensive sprawl and road infrastructure around the inner city. In addition, containerisation and land expansions have opened sites along waterfronts, allowing new possibilities for the inner part of Bergen.

The students tested initial design tools and developed diverse strategies for family life in cities, by challenging current suburban practices. The work addressed three important topographical scales. The unique setting of Bergen allowed a particular understanding of the city, as a collective and formal entity. Furthermore, communities, neighbourhoods and streetscapes demanded a careful exploration of their relationship to one another and to themselves. On the scale of immediate sites, the work addressed both the way buildings meet the ground and the potential to form their own topography.

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Urban Theory Component

The theory component welcomes Masters students and also 34 Diploma students, this year. The course is ‘hands on‘ and it works in close collaboration with the

visual basis. This has to do with the abstract level of scale and complexity. For example, we can do models of buildings and they will partly tell us spatial and social relationships. In urban design that is different. We can do models of a city, but it is not that easy to understand the underlying forces, that are shaping cities. Concerning issues like migration or globalization, physical models might tell us very little. We have to read, write and talk, to gain a more holistic understanding of urban issues.

Students attend weekly lectures on distinct urban topics, followed by seminars. The

science. Invited guests from different backgrounds enrich the course with diverse talks. We explore complexities of cities through discussions, writings, readings, lectures, drawings, student presentations, movies and excursions. The theory component is assessed through ongoing course work and an 4000 - 5000 word essay on an urban topic that the students select and research themselves. The studies in urban theory are set up to help articulate a critical context and vision for students’ design and thesis work.

“Centro Havana today is the densest municipality in the city and is burdened with a large population and a saturated housing stock 1. Families have had no choice but to continue adapting their environments to their needs in an effort to carve out homes from within the existing structures.

The Revolution at the beginning neglected the need for housing and just when it began to implement effective housing strategies the ‘special period’ arrested all development and the trade embargo has continued to obstruct development ever since. The lack of resources to repair and maintain muchof Centro, has meant the housing stock has continued to be adapted and

SARAH BLANDHidden Slums of Havana

1-3 M. Coyula, J. Hamberg-”Understanding Slums; The case of Havana”- The David Rockefeller Centre for Latin American Studies-2003.”

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out of necessity hundreds of thousand of people are now permanently left in temporary, unsafe accommodation 2. The following case study takes a closer look

a home originaly intended for one family has been divided up between several families. In general it is almost invisible from the street but these adaptations can compromise the buildings structural integrity and compounded by the lack of resources, have caused the collapse and dilapidation of much of Centro 3. The people in this particular ‘ciudadela’ have been waiting for as long as 15 years to be moved out and over time the building has continued to degenerate which has left it in an unsanitary and unsafe condition.”

“It was Winston Churchill who said, ‘There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.’ This was not so much an attack on the press, but instead a criticism of how representative journalism actually was. What is written in a newspaper is nothing more than a selection of fact as well as a selection or expression of opinion. It does not capture real mood, real life and real conditions, but rather presents a cleansed and convenient version. It is neither the bigger picture nor the whole story.Literature (as well as other forms of art) far surpasses journalism as a tool forstudying social conditions. While a writer may have a motive in the same wayas a journalist and therefore wish to express his opinion, there cannot be a distortion of facts, as there is no requirement of any degree of any fact. Notwithstanding that, the writer must have witnessed something or be encouraged by something much deeper on the emotional plane to produce a

In some ways, it is the truth, as the writer sees it.

of information, literature tells a story. The emotions, reactions, memories, faults and virtues of characters are captured and vary throughout. All of these are antagonised by the setting or the events that are synonymous with the setting. The reader is given people, event as well as greater context. In other words it is the bigger picture and the whole story.Architects and urban designers should therefore follow literature if theywish to have a greater understanding of how design affects people. It is often the case that the designer acts like the journalist in cleansing what is actually happening. A temporal map, for example, says very little. A short story about their experience in a place, conversations with people there, etc, will say a lot more about the effects of the built environment. After all, there is no point to design if one is going to be dismissive about the eventual user. When one is designing on a large urban scale, one isn’t just organising buildings and streets, but potentially engineering the eventual sociology of an area. [...]

When one thinks of archaeology, one thinks of digging. But in the East Endof London, this isn’t necessary. Think of the title of the previous story (Dirty Streets). Each layer of dirt, every mark on a wall, every chip on a brick is a life, a little tally left behind. If we want to dig away at this, our best shovel is literature. History alone will not uncover it. In turn literature also adds its own layer, immortalising the story, long after the story has ended. Each of the texts I have studied does this (Thomas Burke, Jack London and Penelope Lively). Although what is written about may no longer apply, or exist, some of it resonates to this day. [...]

area itself; it remains privately owned, as were the docks before them. This is still an area of work with conditions placed upon being there, with its own security and waste management, the Canary Wharf authority has created an owned city. It pretends to be public, and it is, as long as one is spending money.1 In this way, the whole area, raucous with people almost pouring into the docks from the bars on a Friday night as become one large public house with several outlets. But the quite the opposite has happened in the surrounding streets in Docklands.When one reads Limehouse Nights, Nights In Town or People of the Abyss one gets a feeling of life on the street. While Burke celebrates this, London is far more critical. When many people’s homes were slums, owned by someone else, where one could be removed at the whim of a slumlord, when one’s home was dirty, cramped, and only used barely for sleeping, when one would potentially only have a doss-house to call home, life in the street was inevitable.”

JAMIE ROSS McKENZIEPublished OpinionA Literary Study of Urban Conditions in East London

1 Rem Koolhass, “Junkspace” In: Chuihua Judy Chung, , Jeffrey Inaba , Rem Kool-haas, and Sze TsungLeong, (eds) Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping,. (Cologne: Taschen, 2001) pp 408-421.

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“as walking, talking and gesticulating creatures human beings generate lines wherever they go” Tim Ingold

This year we continued our exploration of the temporal possibilities of landscape, seeking innovative propositions through an investigation of place. Seeking inspiration from Yi-Fi Tuan’s 1974 publication ‘topophilia ’ examining not just what

‘woman of the dunes’,experience of a particular locale. We visited places that have survived changing

itself were used as investigative tools to explore potential interfaces between place, time and experience, and to question what is the nature of a place. These created lines of inquiry that led to Vauxhall Spring Gardens in south London. We continued developing innovative tools for further investigation of how the notion of the enjoyment of a place - a pleasure garden like Vauxhall until 1859 - could be re-imagine for the present. There were traces and threads, there were material engagements, and histories revealed. Each was tested through active engagement with the site.

“art and nature kindly lavish, here their mingled beauties yield, equal here the

Spring Gardens by Lockman, 1737

MA landscape architecture

place not space

STAFFDavid Buck

STUDENTSCharlene Campbell, Marcin Esparza, Joanne Stevens,

Ebitimi Appah, Plessa Andriani, Eben Ankrah, Athanasia Antoniou, Soraya Baharum, Konstantina Bredaki, Maria-Eleni Bredaki, Khedidja Angeline Carmody, George Charalambous, Xingrong Chen, Konstantinos Dalianis, Anna Demetriou, Danny Doud, Shahzrad Etemadinazari, Eirini Garoufalia, Tzeims-Theofylaktos Grammenos, Dimitris Gyftopoulos,Andromeda Halawi, Olivia Harness-Clarke, Kamaludeen Lawal, Hoi Kei Lo, Christopher Murphy-O’Connor, Daniel Nation, Violetta Pantazi, Stephen Pelly, Xenia Stefanaki, Ausra Sulcaite-Viz-girdiene, Shoji Tamura, Yuki Tanaguchi, Charalampos Theodoritsis, Quyen Tran

VISITING CRITICSAlex Blum, David Chapman, Christoph Hadrys

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endeavours but also present activity. The landscape holds these lines as memories, revealing its sense of place to those willing to spend time there.

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image opposite page: notation of wind

Esparza

viewing sequences in Vauxhall SPring

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axonometric of historic and proposed landscape materiality for Vauxhall Spring

water capture masterplan Vauxhall Spring

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gesture performance at Three Mills Green

narratives through exploring the notion of dislocated stories from sources including Cortavar’s Blow-Up, Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night and the archive history of

detailed planting design for Vauxhall

Campbell

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m arch

Masters in Architecture

The aim of the programme is to bring creative strategies into alignment with

architecture with an interest in deeper architectural issues than they would generally encounter in architectural practice.

Design is taught with the established Studio system of the School, allowing

direct programme. The M Arch programme aims to re-establish a creative development of the student, through looking at ways of harnessing practice

architectural response.

The programme is unusual in its creative response to students previous experience in practice. It is organised with the Studio system for design work with options in supporting subjects. Students are taught alongside postgraduate Diploma students for design and technology and alongside Masters students for the theory components of their studies. Please note that this programme gives you an academic and not a professionally recognised award. The programme engages with the professional practice of architecture

The entire programme has a duration of three semester. Design and

write an independent Thesis, in the third semester. It is mainly self-directed, but also accompanied by Diploma tutors.

The Thesis is project based and aims to develop personal architectural interests and to situate the design research work within the context of current theory or material and environmental research. The programme aims and learning outcomes are the development of creativity and judgment, as well as to utilise knowledge already gained in practice.

PROGRAMME LEADERRenee Tobe

SUPPORTChristoph Hadrys

www.uel-march.blogspot.com

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Really Long Apartment Building on the Darsenaby Hiroki Matsushige

Located at Porta Ticinese in Milan, the project proposes a linear apartment building 400 meters long, 28 meters high and 5 meters wide on the Darsena Basin. The building is positioned as a new edge building to the basin and allows space for 5 market buildings to sit on a ‘protective deck’ above the remains of the old city wall. Within the façade of this building are large openings providing ‘vertical courtyard’ spaces for each apartment and allowing views south through this thin building from the neighboring apartments.

View from Porta Ticinese

Sectional model