What Now? For the Architecture Degree?

Above: Image from The Charter for Change created by Dan Slavinsky

It is always good to keep an eye out for the activities of the What Now Collaborative and what they have to say regarding the state of the architectural profession, and the education system that feeds it. I have been fortunate enough to cover past events by the collective, and also lucky enough to speak in their Charter for Change event (also with ZAP Architecture) held at the RIBA in 2010.

Above: Postcards on display from The Architect? What Now?

You can see my articles on their previous events here:

The Architect? What Now?

Charter for Change

The group is currently heavily involved in a ‘commission of enquiry’ into architectural education. This involves well known names such as former RIBA President Sunand Prasad, Dikon Robinson, and three other heads of schools of architecture. The result of the enquiry will be known when a report is published in April. Running parallel to this is the ‘Built Environment Education’ campaign seeking flexibility within the built environment. This is being led by Ryder Architecture, and of which ‘What Now’ was part of the founding group.

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‘This Is Not A Gateway’ FESTIVAL 2013

Details have been announced for this years ‘This Is Not A Gateway’ Festival 2013. It will take place at the Bishopsgate Institute, London from the 26th to the 27th January. For more details on how to attend and who will be speaking visit the festival section of the TINAG website now. The event is free, although donations are welcome, and will feature a cheap cialis online diverse range of speakers keen to braoden the debate surrounding issues in the urban environment.

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Distriandina by Studio Gil

ARCHITECTS: Studio Gil | PROJECT TEAM: Pedro Gil, Claire Osborne,

Tom Bulmer, Hristina Kehayova, Stephanie Poynts, Carmelo Abbate

LOCATION: London, UK | CLIENT: Distriandina

COMPLETION: 2012 (Phase One) | PHOTOGRAPHS: Simon Kennedy

Distriandina Bar and Restaurant is a Colombian owned and operated business in the Elephant and Castle area. Distriandina is one of the buy cialis main social hubs for the Latin American community in London.

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“What you draw beautifully, you build beautifully”. The Narratives of Studio Gil

I am continuing to add some of my articles that featured in print in DE last year. Here is one that focussed on the practice Studio Gil. Since the article was originally published in February 2012, the practice has gone on to be featured in the 10 + 1 exhibition, curated by JAA Studio, and featuring work by the likes of MVRDV and BIG. The Toybox discussed at that exhibition has gone on to be published widely. The practice has also completed the Distriandina project in Elephant and Castle (Just posted on the blog). Enjoy and let me know what you think of this young pratice.

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“18 months ago we sat down and decided what was the point of the practice and what was the point of what we do”, says Pedro Gil, founder of Studio Gil Architects as we sit discussing the history of the practice in the ground floor gallery space of the three storey studio in Newman Passage, a short walk from Oxford Street, that is shared with KHBT. Such reflection was prompted by Robert Mull, the Dean of the London Metropolitan University Department of Architecture and Spatial Design (ASD), and Diana Cochrane course coordinator, when Gil joined the school as undergraduate tutor. ASD has a policy of encouraging young practitioners to lead design studios in the school. Those practitioners are expected to deliver a presentation of their own portfolio to the students they teach and wider community of the school. The opportunity to reflect on one’s practice in its infancy when surrounded by a multitude of outside pressures  was timely, and confirmed to Gil that he is moving in the right direction, employing the correct methods. So what is it that drives Studio Gil?

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REFLECTING ON LET'S BUILD BACK CHRISTCHURCH

In September last year I had a piece published on the Design Exchange website on Let’s Build Back Christchurch. This was an initiative by AfH Auckland to use education to generate ideas  that might stimulate the rebuilding of the quake hit city. Since then other streams of plans have emerged as is the way in big city reconstruction. It has been announced that  BDP will regenerate the River Avon precinct in the centre of the city. This will be the first stab at proposing something permanent for the city given that recent news has either concerned demolition of more buildings, or the building of temporary ones such as the Shigeru Ban designed cardboard cathedral. Architects attracted to the city would do well to take note of of more thoughtful proposals on the table from the likes of AfH Auckland or those who have been involved with the British Council Christchurch Scholarships in partnership with Massey University. You can find out more here.

I will follow up on the article below buit for now enjoy and ask questions:

Let’s Build Back Christchurch

“Let’s Build Back Christchurch” declares the Auckland Chapter of Architecture for Humanity (AFH-AKL) – the humanitarian architecture charity that has been working with the young people, co—educational school group Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti (UPT), and the White Elephant Trust in Christchurch – since the devastating 22nd February 2011 earthquake. Despite residents dealing with the aftermath – 185 dead, major aftershocks, lost homes, livelihoods, land zoning and insurance companies all whilst trying to live a life – AFH-AKL has recently held an exhibition in downtown Christchurch of Campus Unlimited – an international competition that answers the question, what would Christchurch look like if we consider education as the catalyst for rebuilding the city?

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Reviving Forrobos Fantasy. The Thalia Theatre. Lisbon

Here is a piece I wrote last year for Design Exchange Magazine on the revived Thalia Theatre in the suburbs of Lisbon. The Theatre has since opened to much critical acclaim and has featured in Open House Lisbon.

Introduction

Until recently the remains of the Thalia Theatre – a legacy of the wealthy Lisbon industrialist Count of Farrobo fall from grace – have been left derelict. But in 2008 the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science commissioned Gonçalo Byrne and Barbas Lopes to assess whether the shell could be restored as a multipurpose space and once again be a place of decadence and culture in the suburbs of Lisbon.

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#FLITCHED. THE UPCYCLERS DESIGN COMPETITION. DEADLINE APPROACHING

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: 9TH JANUARY

Midnight on the 9^th of January is the fast approaching deadline for design teams to enter Flitched, the design competition that challenges designers, architects, architectural technologists and ecologists to work with structural engineers to design a workshop garden for our friends down at the Canning Town Caravanserai. This is a competition with the intention to turn ‘muck into brass’ or in contemporary terms – promote ‘upcycling’ using an inventory of construction waste. Participating teams are invited to creatively repurpose the designated waste materials – detailed in the competition brief – to make an inspiring sheltered outdoor workshop space.

BRIEF BriefDownload

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What Things May Come? Close-Closer 2013

Close, Closer. The 3rd Lisbon Architecture Triennale

September 13 and December 15, 2013.

It is the 2nd of January and no doubt like me you have returned to the office full of (genuine) enthusiasm for the year ahead. So just before that buzz-kill moment – likely between second cup of tea and that first call from the client – here is something to get you thinking, especially if you are a young practitioner.

Close, Closer; the 3rd Lisbon Architecture Triennale will take place from September 13th to December 15th. The event will be led by a group of young protagonists intent on taking the format out of stuffy halls and into the minds of a new audience. They are chief curator Beatrice Galilee, and curators José Esparza, Mariana Pestana, and Liam Young. The collective aim: “to engage as many people as possible in this critical discussion on  the future of architecture and its role in the construction – material, political, social and cultural – of our cities and the way we inhabit them”.

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Show Yourselves Young Advocates, Designers, Architects, Urbanists, Curators…

Show yourselves young advocates, designers, architects, urbanists, curators…etc etc. Tell us your stories; show us your designs;

engage us in your debate; let us share your soapbox; let us extend beyond the realm of the press release architecture article and give voice to those yet to find an outlet. You get the idea…New year’s resolution, published on the blog and challenge laid down…and hopefully not broken sooner rather than later!

Boidus Blogs…looking a bit bereft of content and updates for quite some time. The day job takes up lots of my time and reduces the time to go out exploring and researching, and then writing about those subjects. But for 2013 the blog will be kept more up to date. This is the 1st of January 2013 statement of intent to continue to write about new and up-and-coming creative professionals, and talk about key issues to the world around us. I will attempt to have 365 blog posts for the year. I am not promising a daily dose of design, but I can try!

HENDZEL AND HUNT 24h DESIGN CHALLENGE CALL OUT.