ARTS UNIVERSITY BOURNEMOUTH

ARCHITECTURE SUMMER SCHOOL 2015

13.07 - What is architecture? + sketchbooks

14.07 - Emerging from models

15.07 - Salisbury and Stonehenge

16.07 - Emerging from model

17.07 - London

20.07 - Making a brief

21.07 - Making a brief

22.07 - Bath

23.07 - Developing ideas

24.07 - Developing ideas

27.07 - Developing ideas

28.07 - Developing ideas

29.07 - Developing ideas

30.07 - Developing ideas + exhibition

31.07 - Review + exhibition

ARCHITECTURE + MODELS

The three week course is designed to test your understanding of architecture and how making models allows you to experiment and develop ideas. Using materials, we played and had fun as well as creating and designing inhabitable spaces.

Using cut ply, we created walls, shelters, places and spaces of play, drawing, reading and writing.

13-14.07 - Emerging from Sketches

During the first two days the students were encouraged to work at a 1:1 scale using 400 x 40 x 18mm birch plywood sticks. The students first used these sticks to build individual columns to gain an understanding of how to use a simple material to produce different forms. These sticks were also used to help the students understand the force of gravity on the structures they were building.

This allowed each student to push their creative minds whilst working within a team to build upon their communication and teamwork skills.

Built between 1220 and 1258, Salisbury hosts Britain’s finest 13th century Gothic Cathedral. On the student’s trip to this historic monument they experienced both the interior and exterior of the cathedral as well as it’s many features. These features included the world’s oldest mechanical clock, Gabriel Loire’s ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ stained glass window and a more contemporary feature such as the ‘Living Water’ installation by William Pye. All of these elements were documented by the students through photography and sketches.

15.07 - Salisbury Cathedral

Another of Britain’s iconic landmarks is Stonehenge with a history spanning over 4,500 years. Built using only simple tools and techniques by local village workers, Stonehenge was built from Sarsen Stones, some of which are as large as 8ft wide by 5ft thick and 20ft long that can weigh up to 30 tons.

The students visited the new visitors centre designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall in 2013. Here the students were able to again document their experiences through photography and sketches.

15.07 - Stonehenge

16.07 - Emerging from Models - Ground

The first day in the studio consisted of learning the four main elements of architecture, the first of which begins with the ground. Each student was given a single material to work with to produce a ground to work up from. Some materials worked better than others but the challenge was to test and push the material to its architectural limits.

16.07 - Emerging from Models - Wall

The second task was to push their same materials even further by creating wall elements. Again some materials leant themselves to making good, stable walls whilst others made more interesting spaces. Doing this allowed the students to understand the possibilities of a wall and the different forms it can take.

16.07 - Emerging from Sketches - Frame

To create a frame element to their models, a second material was added which was either wire or thin wooden sticks. These materials were used as they could represent the frame at a 1:50 scale to allow the models to look more realistic. It also allowed the students to understand how a canopy could be supported within their models.

16.07 - Emerging from Sketches - Canopy

Finally a canopy was added to the frame elements of the models to add sheltered and shaded areas within the spaces that have been created.

Adding scaled people to these models also helped visualise how big the elements and the spaces within the model were at a 1:50 scale.

17.07 - London

Sackler Gallery

Zaha Hadid Cafe

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

On our trip to London the students were able to visit the memorials of both Prince Albert and Princess Diana as well as the Sackler Gallery and the new extension by Zaha Hadid which currently occupies a small cafe. The memorials showed the contrast in how someone can be remembered through architecture whilst the Sackler Gallery and Zaha Cafe show how something new can allow something old to be re-imagined.

Whilst in London a variety of architectural places were visited including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the 2015 Serpentine Pavilion. Each year a temporary pavilion is designed and built in Kensington gardens for the general public to use and explore. This year the pavilion was designed by Selgascano and consisted of coloured plastic sheeting which wrapped around a steel frame. This created a curved form which sits within the landscape of the surrounding gardens.

17.07 - London - Serpentine Pavilion

20.07 - Group Pavilion

After exploring the endless possibilities of developing the ground, wall, frame and canopy, the students were split into groups of four. This allowed them to use their communication and teamwork skills to combine their individual materials to create a space to eat, explore, relax and sit down. Through combining the materials in an efficient and intuitive way, contrasts between different colours, textures and material qualities led to the creation of four different architectural instillations.

20.07 - Architectural Sketches

21.07 - Construction Site Visit

A site visit to the university’s new Drawing Studio designed by Sir Peter Cook took place to allow the students to gain some experience on a construction site, further developing their construction knowledge. At the time of the visit the exterior of the building was finished but the interior was not, this exposed the layers of construction from exterior cladding to insulation, waterproof membrane and electrical wiring.

21.07 - Making a Brief - Site Visit

The second site visit of the day was to the local bus stop near the university. This site was given to the students as part of a brief to design a new gathering and social space for both members of the public and students. This space would also accommodate a place for buses to stop whilst introducing a more inviting and interesting place for people to wait and spend time, allowing the bus stop to have more character and purpose. The students developed their ideas in groups of four combining the four materials they were given previously for their first models.

22.07 - Bath

22.07 - Bath

On our trip to Bath the students visited the Roman Baths as well as the Bath Building Museum, the Royal Crescent and Timothy Richards Workshop. Exploring the town and it’s architectural history the students learnt about traditional Roman architecture.

The model workshop allowed the students to get an insight into the importance of model making in conjunction with architectural practice. Through sketching, observing and interacting with the staff, the students could then apply this back in the studio.

23-24.07 - Developing Ideas

27-28.07 - Final Models

Taking their original models and developing them further to meet the brief set out by the tutors, the students explored how introducing new materials could enhance their instillations. Through choosing a section of the larger model, the new 1:50 model was more refined and explored the pedestrian experience through the ground, wall, frame and canopy. It was now time to move away from hand crating and into a variety of digital representation techniques.

29.07 - Final Images: Group 1

Group 1

Group 2

29.07 - Final Images: Groups 2

Group 3

Group 4

30.07 - Exhibition Setup

At the end of the three weeks all of the final work was collated together into a final exhibition curated by the students. This consisted of a study model, development model, sketches and digital montages.

To create these final images the students were taught the key basics of Adobe Photoshop CC, SketchUP and rendering programme Kerkythea.

30.07 - Exhibition & Review

31.07 - Certificate Presentation