Abstracts

On Wednesday 16 December, the module group met to read and discuss abstracts of the essays (~ 3000 words) to be submitted after Christmas.

1. Gerard Tohill: Valuing digital craft.

With the development of new production techniques, through new technologies such as 3d printing and digital pre-fabrication, I wish to examine what it is we value when we think of well-crafted objects.

In terms of the traditional craftsman, whittling away at a chair, or the weaver at their loom is it the object itself we value or the act of making the object that we appreciate. If it is object itself it is therefore reasonable to assume that objects made by digital means still have the inherent qualities associated with objects made at the hand of an experienced craftsman?

Within the realm of digital production methods, precision is often celebrated with the final object. Where as in objects crafted by the human hand, we often find imperfections in the quality of the cut, or marks left over by the tools used to make the piece of interest, is it these imperfections that we value along with skill of the craftsman?

By looking at these opposing methods of making objects I hope make some conclusions about what it is we find of value in objects.

Suggest you take two objects – once digitally crafted and the other hand made – and write a tight description of them – perhaps a tool itself

2. Ben McSharry: (untitled)

I wish to undertake a study of ‘Creativite Development in Architectural Practice’. The essay will deal with how to maintain an ongoing creative development while working in practice.In a busy office it is easy to lose sight of creative goals and to lose an awareness of creative development.

The essay will address this topic by looking at architectural practices and how they have tried to develop their work creatively, why/how they have succeded or failed and their methods of evaluation of success/failure.

Conclusion will be suggestions on how to continue to be a creative practioner while working in practice.
I became interested in this topic after reading ‘Mastering Architecture: Becoming a Creative Innovator’ by Leon van Schaik.

3. Grace Kealey: Changing times

Questions : Are we going through a change in the way Architecture is Practiced?

The aim of this essay is to highlight the changes occurring in the way Architecture is practiced today and to highlight the possibilities, opportunities and challenges that face us in the future.

“The students of today will be at the forefront of redefining the profession”
Harriet Harriss, Oxford Brookes

This issue is relevant to the students of today (as emerging Practitioners ‘to-be’) as this change will affect how we Practice. Now is the time to question the way in which Architects operate, to value what exists, define what’s missing and nurture the possible.

This essay will attempt to reveal how different types of Practice have managed to survive & thrive and how they have changed and adapted to the increasing speed of today’s contemporary world. The evolution of digital technology / CAD / CAM etc is one way in which Architectural Practices have advanced over the past few years. Until recently it has been very difficult and expensive to design, produce and assemble complex forms using traditional construction but the advance on digital technologies has opened opportunities for design in the future (examples such as Frank Gehry’s – Guggenheim Museum/Bank Building Berlin).

Do we lack confidence for change or is it time to embrace the possibilities, opportunities and challenges that face us?!!

4. Will Pakenham: Suburbia and the Value of Architecture

The suburban belts around the cities of America and the city of Dublin draw obvious comparisons. Although there are many different factors that influenced why such settlement patterns occurred, there is one common factor in both. Money.

The relationship between the suburb and the city has always been clear. The position of the city as superior and dominant to the suburb is obvious. The suburb, with the car as facilitator, draws its economic energy from the city, yet the idea of living in the city is not desirable in either society. The ideal situation in Irish society is the largest possible house built on the outskirts of commuter town. In American society the suburb is the ideal, where ownership of land and your own backyard is the benchmark in modern living.

By using the American and Irish situation, this essay will address the current suburban style of modern living and the involvement of the architect and architecture in this type. The suburb is built, and thus valued financially, through the eyes of the developer. Rarely is the architect involved in the building of the suburbs. The developer knows only the monetary value; the suburb is an investment. Whereas the architect is trained to design for the user and creates a building that has a societal, cultural and architectural values.

5. Catriona Toner: What is the value of architecture and how is it assessed?

Architectural design adds significant value to buildings in terms of lifestyle benefits and market value, etc. In order to convince the general public of the value of architecture, it is necessary to prove that the benefits far outweigh the costs and that value can, in fact, be achieved at little or no extra cost. After all, the most expensive parts of a building are usually the essential, functional and structural elements, such as the roof. We also need to convince the public that design is more than just decoration. The transformative power of architecture lies in the use of materials and the quality of spaces and this can be achieved effectively through the use of inexpensive or expensive materials.

This essay will investigate the evaluation tools used to assess the value and level of success of architect designed buildings. I will analyse and compare a number of built examples to determine what constitutes a successful and valuable design and to investigate if it can be achieved cost effectively. I will analyse the buildings in terms of user quality, visual quality and technical quality.

By investigating the methods of assessing the value of architecture and by establishing what constitutes a valuable piece of architecture, I aim to promote an awareness of how architectural value can be achieved cost effectively, which will encourage more people to commission architectural projects.

6. Orla Young: Prefabrication and Craft

This essay will examine how craft is reconciled within architecture, as Seamus Heaney speaks of, “two orders of knowledge, the practical and the poetic”. A historical evaluation will be sought of the evolution of the architect, from the process of the skilled manual labourer to a professional designer today. This will lead to a critical exploration of the contemporary meaning and aspiration of craftsmanship with regards to the application of craft to architecture and digitally augmented processes.

What is the contemporary definition of craftsmanship? Has the development of indigenous design with pace of the twenty-first century mean that ornamentation has now become an option, not just an unnecessary expense? A new generation of European, in particular Swiss and Dutch architects, will be of particular value in examining boundaries of pre fabrication and craft. Is digital craft the only way to reinstate craft back into the industry? How is the connection between the making of architecture and the close engagement of materiality being challenged? Does digitalization lead to a detachment and disconnection from the mind and body or become integral in the design process?

A conclusion examines the nature of design itself. To what extent does craft evoke a sense of time, sense of place within contemporary building processes? How is this reached on a personal, contextual and global level? Is the reclaim of materiality the way to make more humane spaces away from the modernist view?

7. Laura Puls: The value of Architecture

During this economic downturn, people are less willing to part with money and this has had a major impact on the Architectural profession. It seems clients are less willing to pay architectural fees for the design of a building and instead are willing to pay someone who is not an architect but can produce drawings to do what they see as ‘the same job but for less’. Why is this? As human beings we take the built environment for granted. From the day you are born your life, your daily routine revolves around this built environment, it’s a given, you have no choice and therefore don’t ever need to consider it’s importance. You take for granted for example that school is a place where you have to go to learn but don’t consider how the design of the spaces within the school can impact greatly on your learning experience. This is because most people don’t understand the value of architecture. They know partly what architecture is but they rarely see past the building to the qualities associated with the spaces to ensure that that building is going to create pleasant environments for it’s users and improve their quality of life.

For my essay I wish to investigate why the public don’t appreciate the value of architecture and how do we make the public aware of the importance of architecture, it’s value to society, how good design makes economic sense and encourage them to participate in the design process so that the profession has a prosperous future.

8. Stephen McClatchey: An investigation into the relevance of prefabrication vs. craft in architecture today.

Over the past few decades the development in technology has allowed the craftsman to explore a variety of construction techniques as well as using alternative materials. As a result of these developments, a chain reaction has indirectly occurred where the non-craftsman has, to a certain extent, become disengaged with the environment in which they live. Cars can no longer be fixed at home, toasters are replaced after one year, etc.

However, there has to some degree been a sterilisation of lay craftsmanship, is ‘style’ valued over ‘quality’ where objects are simply used then discarded (eg B&Q). Is expecting an object to last decades an outdated notion or is there still a prolific sub-culture of craftsmanship where ‘quality’ is still valued (but at a price?). This may raise the issue of the design life of an object, is there an expectation for longevity.

In relation to architecture, what went wrong (if anything) with previous developments in prefabricated architecture, eg. Habitat ’67 and the social housing blocks of the 1970’s. Have people became mistrusting of prefabricated architecture as a result of the lack of understanding of material and context (Buildings that did not respond well to their environments, eg. damp leading to mould.)

Where has the line between prefabrication and craft been blurred, can a prefabricated object been seen as being crafted. What factor does the material play in the construction technique, are certain materials seen as being more akin to craftsmanship.

My conclusion shall be a critique of the current climate of prefabrication and craft in architecture today. Has prefabrication ‘won’ over craftsmanship in today’s consumer world, or has prefabrication become a subset of craftsmanship.

9. Declan Smith: Architecture and People

An in depth look at participatory design within architecture. Often the architecture profession has been criticized for being too elitist aesthetes that fail to recognise the real needs and requirements of building occupants. By involving the end users of a space throughout the design process the potential for a much more successful outcome is created. Although this fact is beginning to once again be acknowledged by universities and institutions it is still a rarely used design method within both the education and building industry. This essay will explore various precedents and techniques that have been used to great effect by designers that have made it their goal to involve everyone within the design process.

10. Elaine Hawthorne: Practice \ Practice

The discussion of past, present and future – where architecture has been and where it is going. As the related texts touch upon how today local practices are working globally and that global firms can practice locally I am interested in the parallels I might draw between this and my dissertation topic (architecture and travel).

With global interconnectivity and current economic issues affecting all of us I would like to formulate a discussion about what direction architecture may be taking and to what extent it can be introduced within the learning environment. Practice \ Practice – the reality of practice tends to be substantially different to that of the college environment, what I would like to question is which method works best at rooting student ideals for the future? Can we teach ideals? Do we need real projects before students can be truly connected?

I would like to cross reference a few university course contents to assess which (if any) are more successful than others. For some it is 6 months in practice, for others there is no year out. What is it that facilitates more self directed learning? Does a unsatisfactory college experience create the ‘drive’ (Consensus). Should it be compulsory to spend some of the period of learning in another country? I find all these questions have been raised during our discussions and feel that continued reading will not necessarily result in concrete answers but allow me to critique what I feel is essential in my architectural education and what path I want my architectural career to follow

11. Catherine Blaney: Architects under pressures of consumerism

How consumerism influences our built environment is the elephant in the room that architecture schools seems to brush under the carpet. Market forces with corrupt politics and legislation leaves every building and site with a price tag, negligible of their painlessness to society or to a city’s or to a country’s Identity. The city of Belfast has suffered irreversible damage in this rush for ‘change’ and in its vulnerability it has embraced the propaganda of ‘consumerism’ a parasite that has irreversibly destroyed more of Belfast’s city centre built fabric that 30 years of violence.

My essay will look at an architects place within the consumerist environment, do they embrace it, or do they ignore it and find a niche in which they can work, willing to die for their ‘art’ in odds with the world. The niche obviously does not deal with reality though it is wonderfully self indulgent. Most architects have to make money to survive many at the expense of their own morel conscience.

I will look at the birth of consumerism how the client has influenced the motivations of architecture throughout history. I wish to consider is it still possible to preserve and design new buildings of value in the odds of the shortermist greed that exist in today’s business world.

12. Petrina Tierney: The Architects’ Ethos

I have come to the naming of this essay via the consideration of the value of an architect, what is their role? Architects create architecture.

‘Architecture frames human existential experience and provides a horizon of understanding. As architects, we do condition others’ lives; this definitively projects a decisive ethical dimension onto our work.’ Juhani Pallasmaa – Encounters

Why is it the architect that conditions the lives of others? I want to investigate the ‘skill’ of the architect that deems Architecture a profession and how does this ‘skill’ ‘condition others lives’ as stated above. What is the conditioning of lives?

Do architects actually succeed in their ethical mission? This brings me to the relationship between the architect and their employer; people. Emmanuel Levinas, as I have been directed to by Jeremy Till, defines ethics as ‘being-for the other’. The question I should ask is, are architects for the ‘other’ i.e. the people. I wonder can there be a set system of moral values for this profession. This discussion may also lead me to sources of our creativity; with direct contact with people? From history books and theory?
From this paper I wish to achieve justification of architecture as a profession

13. Jamie Gibson: An analysis of the design studio and theoretical study in the Undergraduate school.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate through research and recent discussion, the design studio and the teaching of theory within the undergraduate school of architecture. The essay will cover a range of issues such as the importance of examination and teaching of theoretical subjects, the amount of time dedicated to studio projects, the frequency and content of design projects, the teaching of design theory and ultimately whether or not the current system adequately prepares students for the year out.

This study should seek to present a balanced argument for and against the current status and processes of the undergraduate design school but should also seek to shed light on new approaches to theoretical study and topics, reform of design teaching methods and the relationship between education and design practice with regards to architectural education in the 21st century.

The intention would be to carry out an investigation into these topics through analysis of my own experiences and a series of informal interviews with a range of people who are currently or have been involved in the process of undergraduate architectural education. This will inevitably involve Students, Lecturers and Practitioners who have had first hand experience of undergraduate architectural education in recent years.

14. Ollie Chapman: Does architectural education advocate egocentric design?

Without contact with the other vital members of the consultation process or users, our development as architects is limited, while our development as designers continues. If our understanding of user groups is fundamentally non-existent, we design buildings ‘for’ ourselves and tutors.

Our design is therefore not only unresolved and unrealistic, but also not fit for purpose and lacks any real value except possibly under the role of the architect as form designer/communicator. Visual communication is a vital skillwhich we refine throughout our education, and continue whilst in practice. This is the basis of our portfolio, and fundamentally therefore our source of employment/income.

However, in practice the professional architect is given opportunities to create built works which embody the voices of a sub-community, the design should surely reflect the desires and agenda of the users rather than our own, a task which our education does not prepare us for.

In opposition, we develop the ability for best practise in design, a refinement of precedents, not solely a search for our own style. The projects we encounter in education prepare us to understand issues from a variety of perspectives other than our own.

15. Mark Anderson: Prefabrication + Digitalization

The practice of architecture has changed more radically in the last fifteen years than perhaps at any time in its entire history. The commercial availability of complex software and its hardware technologies have resulted in a fast, accurate, and globally transferable design culture. While the first generation of digital architects was often preoccupied by pure formal experimentation, the new practitioners, most of whom have only known digital tools, fabrication methods, and communication address a more diverse agenda. From the environment to social responsibility, they have an acute awareness of the built world that informs and animates their architecture. Many of the new techniques pioneered by digital architects more than a decade ago are now finding their way into mainstream architecture, creating a greater public appreciation of, and appetite for, what was once perceived as “radical” architecture.

Focus will be on the relationship between digitalization and architectural design, exploring the concepts, forms, patterns, materials, processes, technologies and practices that are being produced with this collaboration. Does the preoccupation of digital formats in contemporary architecture challenge traditional perceptions?

How does Architecture in the Digital Age address contemporary architectural practice in which digital technologies are radically changing how the buildings are conceived, designed and produced? What impact has digitization had on architectural students and the teaching of architecture?

Assess the digitally driven changes, their origins, and their effects by analyzing contemporary practices already developing the used methods, while thinking about their wider implications for the future. Consider what is relevant today and what will be relevant tomorrow for emerging architectural practices of the digital age? Review the advantages and challenges of prefabrication with an emphasis on digital tools used in design

Provide informed conclusion of what is seen as a critical juncture in architecture’s evolving relationship to its wider cultural and technological context.

Practice / practice

Readings:

• Rykwert, J., Leach,N., Tavernor, R. (trans) 1988. Leon Battista Alberti. On the Art of Buildings in Ten Books. MIT Press
• Cramer, J.P., Simpson, S., 2007. The Next Architect. A New Twist on the Future of Design. Ostberg Publishers
• An Architektur and Heyden, M., On consensus, equality, experts and good design in Klossak, Petrescu, Schneider, Tyszczuk, Walker, 2010. Agency: Working with Uncertain Architectures

Alberti’s Text

Architecture’s function in warfare. the architect designing for the society or designing the society

Who do architects design for?  When were at university? Ourselves. The tuot. Imaginary friend. Trying to put yourself in the other persons shoes and designing for them.

The postgrad allows you to decide who you want to design for.

Have we ever had project with real people.  The year out.  Actually making peoples lives better or affecting their lives.  You can only get certain experiences in the office that you cant get in  college.

Being paid to do work and feeling bad about it??!?!

The teaching model of architecture in Queens isnt the only model; there are others that invlove more working in offices.

Cramer Text

The fifth dimension of architecture is business.  Value in architecture.  Firms must find ways to hire trtain and keep their workers.  A much more business orientated approach to architecture than usual.

Working pro bono vs architecture as pure business and commercialisation of architecture.

In europe compared to the US there is a different ethos in relationship to money in architecture.

The self evaluation, response to work in university or placment.

Being systematic in the office vs having no plan in college and still producing work?

Quick decisions, is it useful to make quick decisions or does it take time to make the right decsion?  Only if you only know everything could you make the absolutely right choice.

Fast decisons arent necessarily the enemy of quality

Could we be able to do this semesters project in two weeks?

Not the most refined piece of work can still be very valuable to society.  Being able to manifest ideas fast and analysing them.

How do you write essays? how many drafts? 16 or 1 just the night before? try it and try it again and again or just at the very end.  Having some kind of structure to the essay.

The way you write develops over the years.  Working from bulletpoints and headings.

Do you draw design things in some similar ways that you write things?

A picture is worth a thousand words you can immediately see what it is by looking at it, a block of text you cant immediately see what it is.

Is anyones sketchbook devoid of notes?  Do we annotate or even use a sketchbook.

Our essay, if we want to do an essay through sketches or contemporary dance then thats ok.

Thoughts in architecture, its not all visual the thought process behind architecture can be written down to help the design process.

Looking at a sketchbook as a way to diagnose how the project is progressing.

In relation to time frames, sketching is quite a quick process and is useful in practice.

We should all have our own way of doing things designing buildings, whether it be through writing or sketching…

Did anyone have to change the way they desgin in practice?  RIBA Journal this week on their building?! Heneghan from Heneghan Peng when he first started presented 3 projects to the client-the first being his favourite, the client then asked why are you presenting the others, weve appointed you because your the architect who knows what to do.

In relation to community work designing (housing) vs commercail or othe project.  The difference being the housing is to take a much more participatory approach compared to the other.

Does the client just want a flashy computer rendering and the design doesnt matter.  Does the university want a messy model to know that youve properly thought about the project?

Henry and Robertas architectural education had fallen short of what they expected of architecture.  Involving society…  Where would you like to be in 5 years time? And how can your education help you to get to that stage?  “Ive got one and a half years left of education, what do I have to do in the remaining years?  More writing model making or drawing.

Some people define themselves in opposition to everything.  In sheffield they changed the cirriculum to suit the students they decided but when they did

The Bartlett gives everyone the freedom to do what they want, but in the end they all ended up doing the same thing.

Should architectural education be as closed down as possible or a open ended as possible. What is Queens like?

AT undergraduate level there should be more of a framework and it should be more closed so that the student is learning the fundamentals.

The squatters vs the government housing scheme was a motivation for Henry because the squatters were able to particiapate in the design and make it work but the housing scheme was so rigid and didnt involve the users so essentially did not work

Architecture not just being about bricks and mortar and form, but is about the lifecycle of a building and the people who use it.

The lives of Spaces, Niall McMonagle? the use of the building he desinged after he designed it.  He never imagined how people would be using it on a day to day basis.

How does the college studio school  evolve with the architectural profession?  Wht=at happens after the student leaves teh school, does she/he ever come back and continue to learn?

Designign a building for when your not there, instead of having to go back to the building and redesigning

A handbook for the building, just for estates or for the users.  Chlorine Gardens handbook, how to use this building?

Movie: James to find reference: vampire rally car drinks the blood of the driver when they accelerate (edit: found it)

Movie: building that kills the people using it because they are messy irritants

Visiting Roberta in Chacago and Detroit the amazing shrinking city

Architecture as politics, are architects mediators or

Is true participatation ugly? you still get good results.  what is an ugly outcome? Value in aesthetics or how the building works for the user.  How do you define a successful building?

Villa Savoie stairs and ramp building. The building as the

Do you want to be the next Corb? Ambition. Are we all not that ambition. or confidence.e= if you try to change the world it generally wont be for the better because there will always  be someone in opposition to you.

Design an iconic building

Design with, design with, what is the difference.

New Urbanism being designing communities and what the architect thinks about that community without the community being involved.

Or the architect and the community designing the building

The gift? Altruism. In giving you this i feel great.

The confidence of being an expert, bringing your expertise to the table with the expertise of the users.  Everyone is an expert and everyone is ignorant.  They are an expert in their own needs, the architect is an expert in facilitating these needs.

Perhaps we need to be thought how to deal with user groups.

Drawing up project to places that youve never been to.

What ever anyone does the decide to do it because if they dont someone else is gonna do it much worse.

But at some point you just have to say NO thats innapropriate.

Morality and income? A family practice, the architecture that it produces is crap, it has fourteen staff and has to maintain them and the clients needs by their buildings. The corruption of money, not hiding from the subject of it. Housing how to reduce the number of stairs and how to fit the apt in the grid of the structure.  Thats all the housing is about!? Profit margins and sustaining the office.

The practice landscape, the broad range of things that each of us can do.  Just the window schedules or working as an activist architect helping communities retain and improve thier dwellings

Urban Tactics AAA www.urbantactics.org

www.peprav.net pdf for publication on practices who do all of these architects

tatiana schneider is publishing an atlas of architects who “do other stuff”

Saniff’s time is coming again.  The power to craft through digitalisation, and prefabrication and the importance of craft returning to the fore.

The oversaturation of social issues in the 60s and the return of it now to architecture, because it is desaturated.

Retreat from social issues to abstract forms.  The positioning of yourself against teh previous generations.

She MAY be wrong

Radical to think that architects are involved in warfare.

The architecture achieves his goal with a handful of men and no loss of life.

My building will not kill!

Are we in a critical state now? or so we have to have gone throught the critical state to then realise that what we were in a critical state.

The social issues that are being spoke of today WERE talked about before in the 60’s and there is a legacy of designing for social issues to be built upon.

Architects are about to change again. More savvy businessmen OR more involved in participatory design.

What is the next architect?

Is the next architect American?S

Small Change Academy of Urbanism-Book

Fab Belfast has loads of masterplans
The decommisioning of all Belfast masterplans.  More quarters than a whole. Should we be orgainsed by the masterplan.  The work of FAB and PLACE opposes this stance.

Week 11 Practice Practice

Readings for this week are:

1.  Rykwert, J., Leach,N., Tavernor, R. (trans) 1988. Leon Battista Alberti. On the Art of Buildings in Ten Books. MIT Press
2. Cramer, J.P., Simpson, S., 2007. The Next Architect. A New Twist on the Future of Design. Ostberg Publishers
3. An Architektur and Heyden, M., On consensus, equality, experts and good design in Klossak, Petrescu, Schneider, Tyszczuk, Walker, 2010. Agency: Working with Uncertain Architectures.

Week 10: architecture / money

'An American City-Detroit c. 2009' by Lessismoreorless

Right, the complete trio of texts for Wednesday’s seminar. We have three texts with a distinctly American theme, perhaps because it’s easier to find American writers on architecture willing to talk about money. The presenting pair are Declan Smith & Gerard Tohill (plus one other?).

FISHER, T.R., 2000. In the scheme of things: alternative thinking on the practice of architecture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
- pp. 27-38 ‘The Value and Values of Architecture’
- pp. 115-122 ‘Bridging Education and Practice’

(access the above through Qcat as explained in my last email – any problems doing so email me) GALLAGHER, John, 2005. Detroit Suburbanization in OSWALT (ed). Shrinking Cities: Volume 1 International Research. Berlin: Hatje Cantz

(preceded with a brief graphical chronology and some facts about Detroit)

MUMFORD, Lewis, 1924. Sticks and Stones : a study of American architecture and civilization. 2nd Edition (1955). New York: Dover Pubs.
- pp 31-42 ‘The Diaspora of the Pioneer’

And as suggested at the last seminar, everyone should bring along an article from any reputable news source that discusses the role of money in today’s architectural practice. For two of particular interest from BD, see the links below.

Building Design (BD) Does working for free devalue the profession? 06 February 2009

Building Design (BD) Why has the RIBA ditched its fee scale graphs? 20 November 2009

Other Articles suggested are:

AJ 28th May 2009 online: Work for free poll provokes fierce debate by Richard Waite

BD May 16th 2008 Can I halt work on site if client doesn’t pay his fees ?

BD online 12th June 2009. Is this the worst year to be an architecture graduate? Jeremy Till

AJ online  30th April 2009. 5% of Architects claim benefit

AJ online 17th Sept 2009 Number of unemployed architects rises fro 16th month in a row

Comments and Discussions to the Readings

Architects not good at proving their value – other professions take our work and we have no way to prove our work – Profession is too competive and doesn’t work together – people are secretative and hold information from another.

Other profession pulls its information – perhaps there is a need for  a place where architects can get together and critique / look at what goes wrong with buildings. Clients not given a  chance to give feedback – such information ie Post Occcupancy Evaluation – could be shared amongst other architects. Tom Fisher edited a magazine that went back to budiling 10 years after they were built.

Two references to look at for POE Wolfgang Preiser and Edward Hall

Hall, E.T. (1959). The Silent Language, New York: Doubleday

Hall, E.T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension, New York: Doubleday

Issues around POE are who pays for it – perhaps the profession? – the RIBA should provide learning for the profession as a whole.

Univeristies don’t teach people how to run a practice – we come out all ‘la-di-da’

how can someone teach something like ‘fees’ – until 2003 fee scale was obligatory now no longer the case…

Many architect websites do not have any quotes from clients – no satisfied customer quotes – would potential clients actually go on websites to work out which architct to use? – discussion around why architects can’t / why they don’t advertise.

perhaps it is part of the sense of ‘profession ‘ – up to 1983 architects were not allowed to advertise but since then they can

Discussion about those architecture students who work for free – whether this is only those students who can afford it – and does this then become elitist.

Issues around the apprentice system -  that worked because there wasn’t so much emphasis on getting a degree.

Some poeple without degrees,  learning on the job (technicians), can know so much more than those who have studied

Should learn about how to get work, put fee to it, and get money in – on their year out.

Working in a small office you can get a sense of the ‘business’ of architecture.

Fisher talks about the disconnection between the value of what we think we do and what we do do. QS’s tell you how much a  budiling will cost and as an architects you alter that. It’s dissappointing that universities don’t cover these issues.

if clients cut a budget you loose the architecture- at times….

disconnection between cost and value

concerned that everything comes down to monetary value -

can we learn to ‘money-map’ a building?

Perhaps a recesssion can drive innovation

Architects – emphasis on the written and verbal communcation with clients – adminstration of contracts / also in making planning applications – lots of writing skills needed in architecture.

Any thoughts on Tom Fishers language ? – are they just the ‘outpourings’ of a high ranking professor.

very readable / enjoyable to read- though he does rant  – for example – how we in the profession should pool our knowledge – perhaps our reaction should be to go back to the apprentice system

Architecture jobs also look for 3-5 years experience of an architect – and in reality whilst one studies for 7 years it is another 3-5 years before one is ‘useful’ in practice!

MUMFORD’s TEXT (written at the age of 27!!)

setting precedent of how architects are in pockets of developers – how land speculation drove urban design /architecture. Interesting to read about split between industrialism and romanticism and how architecture fits into this.

Discussion of the pioneers - using up the resources of the land – leads on to the idea of the grid and the city – the plots sold off , speculated on and then built on. What lead this was the value of the land and not the resultant architecture / building

When one thinks of money one is rushing things – no time to develop a skill or trade – speed of industrialism leads to ‘using it ‘ without knowing ‘how to use it.’

Grid iron provided framework which the juvenile city was expected to fill. NOT ORGANIC.

Mumford says romantisim didn’t work cause it was fake.

Shows how much architecture is tied into economics of society.

Don’t think that you can expect society to follow architecture. Architecture can’t slow things down – as much as architecture wants to stand back and let things develop organically

Looking towards hybrid solutions – between industrialism and romanticism, between masterplanning and organic growth between alpha and beta diversity (see pp20-22 of Fisher’s text )

The model of suburbanism mentioned in Mumford – how does this relate to Belfast? – some activity in the South of Ireland that bears reference to  this type of urban development. Adamstown is based on principles of ‘new urbanism’

Grid works well in New York since it is so dense – bounded by the rivers

In Ireland – people like to have own land around their house – like a train, people fill up in spaces at a distance from one another – then fill up spaces inbetween.

Other issues to discuss:

• Professional Practice – how can we learn this in universiites
• The business side of architecture
• Setting up a practice- what support is available?
• Marketing
• what / who are the customers for architecture?
• issues of value and cost
• what sort of work can you do to make money
• what tactics are there to bring in work?
• money map – what costs the most in a building.

Week9: prefabrication and craft

Two texts:

Scheurer, Fabian. 2008 Size Matters: Digital Manufacturing in Architecture in Emily Abruzzo, Jonathan D. Solomon, editors Dimension, 306090 Books, Volume 12. September 2008

Sennett, Richard, 2008 The Craftsman. Allen Lane, Penguin Imprint. Prologue pp6- 14 and chapter 8: Resistance and Ambiguity pp 214- 231

And the following websites:

http://www.dfab.arch.ethz.ch/web/e/forschung/142.html

http://www.dfab.arch.ethz.ch/

Prefabrication & Craft

A pile of bricks does not contain any information?

Is this true?

Would you say that bricks are prefabricated, the sweedish architect Sigurd Leverwentz. Is prefabrication craft ?

Each brick has it’s own characteristics.   Kholers work utilises the properties of robotics, usually used in the car manufacturing industry which makes a curved wall and has crafted charateristics.

Would you use a CNC router at Queens, there has been one purchased over the summer. Go check it out!

You can use it in two different ways, as a final presentation or as part of the process.

The discussion turns too the difference between Animal Laborens and Homer Faber. The discussion about if you get involved in the making you can lose your ethos and position, the extreme version of this manifest itself through Nazism.

This is worth thinking about, craftsman completly invest in the product whereas prefabricated just gets on with it.  The other arguement manaints that the object made through craft generates culture.  Artists disowns craft as it come out of indiginous materials, its not a either or situations and is a very relevent architectural discussion.

Looking at the car industry, which promotes servicing of the product, its really important that as architects we think about the parallels with regard to workflow and mantainence.

We’re living in a throw away society at the minute, “tescos toasters”.  Have you heard of the term design obselence? Ford motors worked out that consumers where happy to purchase a car after seven years, designer givng obejects a shelf life.  In printers today, are they designed to die?

It would interesting to see if people who work within the  prefabrication industry have knowledge of  the material.   Back to the  Swiss  group, the notion where the all the effort  is made in the production phase and the product  is a representation of this effort.  There is something very enjoyable about manual craft, theres a kind of mundanety about it, but its also a release.

Craftsmen are critical about there work during the process.  Looking at digital patterns in concrete,  some look architectural or at molecular.  During this process comments are being made on the nature of the textile and concrete, which allows for this sense of craft.

Within practice, should the architect concentrate on a special subject or organise crafts within building.  The great thing about architecture connects philosophical thinking with the material.  The work of Senate is worthwhile knowing, having indepth knowledge of the material is fulfiling as an architect.  Knowing the right questions to ask and being able to move through different scales from the philospical through to making is useful.

Having knowledge of the material allows you to ask relevent questions onsite, improving architecture.

What did you think of the  Senate text?  The interpretation of resistance as a design tool.

Engineering might been seen as a problem solving, is it a right and wrong profession?  Bad engineers tend to over compensate where as good engineers know that there is a tolerence.  The path of least resistance is problematic, there are multiple ways of coming up with a solution. If there is a right or wrong, then why is there research being carried out.

As human beings we tend to simplify our environment so that we can understand and interpret the world.  Engineers have a set of mathematical principles to refer to.  John Chris Jones, wrote  a book saying that design could be taught methodically arguing that designers make buildings but never touch them.

The misconception in architecture with regard to subjectivity, essentially what we do is to rationalise.  We bring our signiature, new students think that tutors want them to be orignal, its not about pursing originality, its about pursuing authenticity.  As a designer you will bring subjectivity, but trying to be original it only serves one thing.  There is a fundenmental debate in architecture that we are not artists, building design is based in reality and needs to be  rationalised.

With in architectural education is there an opportunity for students to become involved with materials. Looking at car design, what do you think of the idea that volkswagon employed 15 scientists to make a door that closes with a ‘clunk’ followed by a ‘click’.  Students in first year are designing a door, within craft there still is the ‘trace of the hand’.  The point for architects is that there is a sense of care that has gone into this component, which prefabrication allows.

99% of cars begin with a lump of clay, like  a Frank Gehry building beginnig from a scultural position.  How can link creativity with process.  As a project for students to work on , what might be feasible.  It was interesting to design and make a door during a  year  and see the processes inherent in its consrtuction.

Back to the text. An interesting point arises about obsessing over the understanding of the problem.  Talking about doors again, there is alot more potential about how we might design one element of the buildings, ie the doors.  The space might just be about the quality and time invested in the doors, the rest of the space might be low-spec.

With in architectural education at Queens, there is an emphasis of building design with regard to position and building volume, should there be more focus on specifics of materiality.

Senate talks about the ritual of the craft.  Is there a similarity between craft as a process or does there have to be a product to qualify.  Beatriz Colomina, an  American  feminist.

Look at the Swiss architects in sent in the email, they are working at the bounderies of pre fabrication and craft.  Also look at ETH who wrote the book Constructing Architecture.  Juhani Pallasma also has a book, The Thinking Hand.

For next week, think specifically about the last year in the building industry, looking at BD.  It would also be useful to talk about the difference between fees in the South and North.

New in the QUB library

Here’s a shameless plug for one of my favourite (and most influential) recent reads. A brand new shiny copy is in the brand new shiny College Park Library and is on display on the new acquisitions shelf. It’ll be available for loan from next week (NA2543.S6/STEV). Alternatively try clicking on the image above and Google will tell you where to buy your own copy.

Blurb:

The popular view of architecture focuses on individual creative geniuses, those who have designed the most “significant” works. According to Garry Stevens, however, successful architects owe their success not so much to genius as to social background and a host of other factors that have very little to do with native talent. To concentrate only on the profession of architecture is to ignore the much larger field of architecture, which structures the entire social universe of the architect and of which architects are only one part. This book critically surveys that field, exposing many myths and debunking a number of heroes in the process.

Using the conceptual apparatus of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, Stevens describes the field of architecture on two levels. First, he provides a detailed account of the field as it is at any given point in time, describing the different components and their relationships. Second, he analyzes the dynamics of the field through time, from the Renaissance to the present. He discusses the system of architectural education, as well as everyday aspects such as the competition for reputation. He concludes that throughout history, the most eminent architects have been connected to each other by master-pupil and collegiate relations. These networks, which still exist, provide a mechanism for architectural influence that runs parallel to that of the university-based schools.

architecture / people

Texts for discussion

• CARPENTER, M. 1991. Can architects be socially responsible? in Ghirardo, D. Out of Site. Seattle: Bay Press. 27-45
• Morrow, R et al 2003. cc Final Report on Inclusive Design for Centre for Education in the Built Environment.
• De Carlo, Giancarlo. Architecture’s public in Blundell Jones, P., Petrescu, D., Till, J., Architecture and Participation. 2005 Spon Press

Notes on Group discussion

Who Architects design for!

Building and Sustaining a learning environment for inclusive design.:

Fundamental right for all humans to be designed for….

Design for everyone and have a broader spectrum of people using your building, increase profits etc..

Does Queen’s promote inclusive design? Hypothetical clients never really have other social problems etc.

CARPENTER, M. Can architects be socially responsible?:

In uni, we have idealogical clients but in the real world, architecture is dictated by money, politics etc.

We chould be designing with Clients rather than for them

Advantages of thinking of the individual?

More specific, responding to their specific needs which leads to a more inclusive design. If designing for masses, you are more inclined to design aesthetically and put your own statement on it as you don’t have as many specifics.

But if designing for indiviual and specifics, does that rule out many others from using your building

Adv for some, may be disadv for others.

Designing specifically for an individual that suits everyone is more of a process than a product(?)

Participant design – get the users involved, Look at Berlin for example. Why is that? Cultural differences, in the East very creative, cheap housing, rental market – get an empty flat/ shell and up to you to do what you want with it, free to design it to suit you. Don’t assign ownership with ownership. Here it’s different. Only when we own it, can we change it.

Interesting point – How do you get people to take ownership of a space?

Year out experiences, were the clients as involved in the design process compared to University projects?

De Carlo, Giancarlo. Architecture’s public:

Revolutionary idea about Housing. Why cant we make the biggest amount of space or luxury space (?)

Architects develop a business model for Architecture.

Architects have all these ideas but we need people to pay for all of them and they don’t very often.

We are an instrument of power, can we change that role?

Economic factor more important than user needs – should reverse this and it will hence change the architects role.

Capitalism in Berlin – cramming the most amount of people into the smallest space.

Architects don’t have the skills to design for people.

Universal design 24 hour challenge run by the RCA. Design brief – people with disabilities but no one really asked the user about his disability, too respectful of him, afraid nearly to ask him about his disability.

At one point the user takes over and it becomes theirs, what happens then?

Inclusive design is also about being absolutely confident with your skills, who you are as a designer, your design process and the interface between you and the user.

Most students go into an existing office, but consider not doing that and going on your own so that you can develop your own design skills rather than complying with those already set within the office.

To be effective as a designer you need to switch off as a designer, go into a niave state and then apply your design skills.

Places of conflict good places to think about architecture, we can only manage it and not resolve it.

Irish culture is still a grey area and not urban.

To claim space and use/design it is societal development. Ireland is slowly getting there.

For many architects, the only solution is a building but that is not what architecture is about. Think about the why aswell as the how and result may not be 100% building. Taking ownership and manipulation of space important for urban development and architects can assist in that process. It is important for architects to know how to manage the client and materialise space. There is a need for student to learn to think from political, cultural, economic idea right down to how a material sits beside the other.

‘Good architecture comes from good clients’

Gather information and use as appropriate.

By really knowing your user group, it regenerates architecture, the design comes from a profound set of principles.

The unendiness of the disability/ disadvantage!

The idea of planning around time!

From the texts, can get the idea that we zone people out.

design/critique

Design / Critique

Texts for Discussion

1. TILL, J., (2005) Lost Judgement. In: E. HARDER, ed, EAAE Prize 2003-2005 Writings in architectural education. 1st edn. Copenhagen: EAAE, 164-181.

2. Kathryn H. Anthony (1987) Private Reactions to Public Criticism: Students, Faculty, and Practicing Architects State Their Views on Design Juries in Architectural EducationJournal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 40, No. 3 (Spring, 1987), pp. 2-11

EITHER

3a Thomson, Sheona A. (2007) Sharing understanding of assessment criteria in design project tutorials: Some observations of, and implications for, practice, IDEA Journal, 2007. pp. 38-50.

OR (OR IF YOU ARE KEEN and let’s hope so – BOTH!)

3b Ahrentzen, S and Groat, L (1996) Reconceptualising architecture for a more diverse future: perceptions and visions of architectural students Journal of Architectural Education Vol 49 No 3 pp. 166-178

Notes on session: 4th November 2009

Lost Judgement-Till

Architects using black as uniform- seperate entity within university- trying to divorce themselves from everybody else. -black easier then colour,pragmatic,

Is architecture seen as seperate entity?- Socializing within course,

Student as a ‘receptable’- as you move through student elvolves own style,

How to Crit?- Should try to be objective, interim crit more useful than final, not as much presure at interm crit. Interm crit should be work in progress. Tutor opening up discussion, final crit critiqued against value and interm about discussion. Divergent vs judgemental critique. Start of project about direct answer, direct answer down the line can have bigger consequences.

Assessment- what do you need to do to get an A? Requisite drawings-target for project. Erasmus quiet useful to expose to other cultures – some places students are less focused on product and more on positioning of their work, more thought in work.

How do you want to be marked/ assessed? Aims and goal. 5 yr plan, what signifies achivement? Do you want to be assessed on buildability or conceptualisation?

Goals- How to set your work apart? Try and do as little as possible to explain scheme. Aiming to do as little as possible -right way to go, more sustainable and focused. One drawing, think how you might look at 10 drawings in 30 minutes, can you map that through to tutors expereince of tutoring, will they get to know your work in detail? What do you want people to look at? Don’t follow what other people are doing, make your own goals.

Private reactions to public criticism- Anthony

Is criticism exaggerated, do people over-react? Focus on positives, should crits be taken personally? Various methods of assessment- anonomous feedback?

Prefer to talk and explain you work. Architecture exist in the mind, 70s buildings considered ‘cool’, 80’s building still naff. Architecture part of collective narrative. Part of job of designer is to spread narrative. Alsop uses videos/ animations to convey narrative to user. They buy building and ‘concept’ of living and design style. Narrative requires change of language, if you can sucessfully pass on ideas people will go with you, if they understand what is driving idea. Prefering to debate the narrative in university, struggling with lack of narrative. Gender dimension to dialogue-monologue. Giving training.

Comments on Optional texts:

Reconceptualizing architectural education- 1984

14% of practice is female, recession stat now at 11%, female mostly holding part time work, university female currently at 34%, big drop off in practice post university,

Progression and achivement- pay of architect 50% less than law, not good payback after 7 yrs uni. Female opinion ‘is a job in practice worth it?’, after 1st child, not a very suitable job for parent. Little sympathy for people who want to do architecture part time, do it 50 hour week or dont do it at all. Other cultures different , a lot of part time culture in Germany. Not a lot of understanding for women who want time off. Discrimination. Biggest crisis -lack of part time culture. No time for thinking with high work load,.

2nd Optional paper-

Assessment detremental to project- 10% of project marked every week, more about process than final product, studio more of design ethos and understanding, crits more of educational value. Talking though sketch book, sitting down assessing. Subjectivity, always personal bias, how would personal user respond to presenation/scheme.

User input- not seeing anything than seeing your scheme, not involved in process, gives them a clearer view. Get involved with ‘real ppeople users’. We preume how people would use building? Critique of phenomenology-abstract romanticism. Dispise of romantic gene, phemonenologist have gene in abundance, so unreal uncreative, restrictive dead. Pallasma-phenomenology- trained to like- writings so removed from life. Heidegger is where it comes from, fantastic ideas for individual, not to be copied spread, for the elite. Subjective opinion. Does H relate to provincial people, get stuck with it and dosent move on. Not an architecture that moves forward, an architecture that is becoming more and more irrelevant.

Fundementally- lack of critical framework. Till talk at a meta level, do critque at critical level, Something beautiful in production of product, Till is trying to open our eyes and look at what we are working. Pg7 – media tech, notion of poverty vs media centre, political act of architecture, critical framework for where we make our work, not understood by students, critical framework – building subjective position, lets you position yourself against them. Friction a good thing, your position will become explicit. Say here is framework I am working within. Critique- divergant vs judgemental, education more about training. Good critique about opening you up, pushing you, but must be judgemental. Difficulties- defining judgemental part of critique? How are you going to judge me and how I will respond to that?

Ask staff, how are we going to be reviewed- final yr students- bring into portfolio review, eye into viewing work, working on other side of the line, portfolio assessment free to be opened up -1st yr student

Video: Dr. Jonathan Charley on an alternative, ethical architectural practice

I was in London recently for the 2009 RIBA Research Symposium, a day-long event at which various speakers from architectural practice, academia and associated disciplines presented papers around the theme of Changing Practices, including the evolution of practice, the organisation of practice, the politics of practice and the future of practice. A highlight for me was the video offered by an absent Dr. Jonathan Charley of Strathclyde University, who couldn’t attend in person.

Coming weeks

PLEASE LOOK AT QOL FOR ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT COMING WEEKS

Week 2 (7 Oct): tutor / student (RM, JB)

Week 3 (14 Oct): abstract creativity / live creativity (RM, JB) Catriona Toner & Petrina Tierney

Week 6 (4 Nov): design / critique (RM) Mark Anderson & Stephen McClatchey & Joan Kerr

Week 7 (11 Nov): architecture / people (RM) William Pakenham & Catherine Blaney

Week 8 (18 Nov): architecture / building (RM, JB) Ben McSharry & …

Week 9 (25 Nov): prefabrication / craft (RM, JB) Grace Kealey & Orla Young

Week 10 (2 Dec): architecture / money (RM, JB) Declan Smith & Gerard Tohill

Week 11 (9 Dec): practice / practice (RM, JB) Ollie Chapman & Jamie Gibson

Week 12 (16 Dec): assimilation and critique session (RM, JB) Elaine Hawthorne & Laura Puls