Crit - An Architectural Student's Handbook

The Crit

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The CritAn Architecture Student’s Handbook

Edited by

Charles Doidge with Rachel Sara and Rosie Parnell

Cartoons by Mark Parsons

OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI

Architectural Press

Architectural PressAn imprint of Butterworth-HeinemannLinacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd

A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group

First published 2000

© Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd 2000

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced inany material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium byelectronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to someother use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1P 0LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataDoidge, Charles

The crit: an architecture student’s handbook1. Architecture – Study and teaching – Great BritainI. Title II. Sara, Rachel III. Parnell, Rosie720.7'11'41

ISBN 0 7506 4770 1

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication DataThe crit: an architecture student’s handbook/edited by Charles Doidge with Rachel

Sara and Rosie Parnell; cartoons by Mark Parsons.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0 7506 4770 11. Architectural design–Study and teaching–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2.Architectural design–Evaluation–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Architectural studios–Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Communication in architectural design–Handbooks,manuals, etc. I. Doidge, Charles. II. Sara, Rachel. III. Parnell, Rosie.NA2750.C75721–dc21 00–038977

Composition by Scribe Design, Gillingham, KentPrinted and bound in Great Britain

Foreword vii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction xi

1 What is a review? 1

2 Before a review 21

3 During a review 43

4 Learning from a review 65

5 Alternative reviews 87

6 Reviews and the future 107

Bibliography 115

Index 116

Contents


The mysteries of the ‘jury’, ‘crit’, or ‘review’ have been enshrined indesign education for over a century. Projects and reviews introduced‘learning-by-doing’ into design education at the Ecole des Beaux Arts(School of Fine Arts) in Paris in the 1890s and they continue to holdcentre stage into the twenty-first century. For hundreds of thousandsof students around the world, the design project has been, andremains, the primary method of learning and, in one form or another,culminates in reviews.

Despite its centrality, this ‘vital learning vehicle’ (if you believe tutors)or ‘boring waste of time, ego-trip for staff’ (if you believe students)appears to take place without the benefit of a student guide. Studentsare expected to learn the rules of the game without a rule-book andinitiation into this ritual can be a painful rite of passage.

Authors have visited this territory before and, in particular, Kathryn H.Anthony’s wide-ranging ‘Design juries on trial – the renaissance of thedesign studio’ offers an excellent overview. However, this ‘seriouslyuseful guide’ is believed to be the first aimed primarily at students. Itis written and illustrated by recent graduates with their student experi-ences still vivid in their minds.

Many students think of ‘the crit’ as an ordeal devised by tutors toleave them feeling as though they have been ‘undressed in public’.This need not be the case. This guide shows how to prepare for therigours of the ‘traditional crit’ and suggests other less confrontationalmodels including student-led reviews. Instead of thinking of the

Foreword

design review as the ‘judgement seat’, it can be developed as acelebratory experience.

This guide describes the game, identifies the rules, and advises ontactics. It is a survival guide to help unravel the mysteries and offerspractical advice and clarifies objectives. It suggests a more rewardingmodel appropriate to a ‘new professionalism’ that is less arrogant andsees clients and users as creative partners in the design process. Thiswas one of the significant outcomes of the recent Clients and Usersin Design Education (CUDE) Project in the Sheffield and LeicesterSchools of Architecture.

We recommend this book to all design students and particularly toarchitecture students. It invites and challenges students to bepartners, rather than passive recipients, in their educationalprocesses. It can go further and prepare students to be catalysts ofthe same processes with future clients. It is hoped that design tutorsmight even take a sneak look at this guide as well and discover withtheir students that it is never too late to learn.

Professor George HendersonHead of The Leicester School of Architecture,

De Montfort UniversityPresident of the Commonwealth Association of Architects

Professor Jeremy TillHead of the School of Architecture,

The University of Sheffield

Leicester and Sheffield, January 2000

viii Foreword

This guide is indebted to numerous tutors, practising architects,fellow students and other writers who have taught, learned, sharedexperiences and contributed ideas. In thanking them for their inspi-ration and sometimes provocation, we would like to stress that theviews are essentially those of the authors.

The catalyst was a project called ‘Clients and Users in DesignEducation’ (CUDE) sponsored by the HEFCE (Higher EducationFunding Council for England) fund for the development of teachingand learning. CUDE was initiated in 1996 by John Worthington ofthe Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies at York, ProfessorBryan Lawson at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture,and Professor George Henderson and Judy Ashley at The LeicesterSchool of Architecture, De Montfort University. The project includedenhancing student skills of listening, communication and teamwork,through a collaborative rather than confrontational approach tolearning.

CUDE was directed in the latter stages by Simon Pilling with supportfrom Angela Fisher, Dr David Nicol, Martin Brookes and AndrewCooper. To Simon goes the credit for negotiating this guide throughits initial stages.

At Sheffield, CUDE was co-ordinated by Angela Fisher, withworkshops developed by Simon Pilling, Susan Stern and MartinBrooks. The ‘in-school’ team was Derek Trowell, Mary Roslin, HelenaWebster, Dan Wrightson, Pru Chiles, Russel Light, Eammon Canniffe,

Acknowledgements

Simon Gedye, Dr Roger Harper, Judy Torrington, and Professor PeterTregenza.

At Leicester, Judy Ashley died of cancer early in the project andsubsequent work was co-ordinated by Jos Boys and Ross Wilmott.The Leicester ‘in-school’ team included Professor George Henderson,Revd Dr Charles Doidge, Dr Tim Brindley, Mel Richardson, TonyArchibold, Dr Sahap Cakin, Richard Short, Mike Ashley and others,with Dr Margaret Wilkin as external educational consultant.

A special ‘thank you’ is due to Mark Parsons whose inspiring cartoonsand rugged handsomeness have kept the authors going; they haveeven admitted that they would buy the book for the cartoons alone! Itis hoped that the humour and detail will reinforce their poignantmessages.

This is an evolving tale and the authors will be pleased to receivecomments and anecdotes, via their universities, for possible inclusionin subsequent publications.

This book is dedicated to Theres, Louis, Steve, and Kim.

x Acknowledgements

This book should be called ‘a study of the blatantly obvious’. It ismostly common sense and, if you stopped to think about it for longenough, I’m sure you could write a very similar guide yourself. Thething is that few of us ever stop to think about the point of our critsand we are expected to master them through trial and error. By thetime you do master the crit, it is too late!

This book aims to demystify the process, and provide a practical,hands-on guide – how to survive in the current system and then howto begin to change that system.

The crit, or ‘review’, as we are going to call it throughout this guide,is a feature of studio-based design courses. The design studio is anunusual kind of beast in the university environment and is the part ofan architecture course that generally takes up the most time andeffort. Typically a design project is set and students are given a limitedamount of time to explore it and present their ‘ideas’ or ‘solution’ at areview. Other aspects of the course, such as history, technology,design theory, etc. are intended to feed into the studio project. Formost of us, the review is unlike any previous experience.

The role of the review has been the focus of recent appraisal (HallJones 1996, Anthony 1991, Wilkin 1999). What is the purpose of thereview? Should we continue with them at all? Do students learnanything from them? How do they relate to professional practice? Thisguide does not attempt to extend the theoretical debate but, instead,

Introduction

makes explicit the negative aspects and then the potential value of‘traditional’ review and suggests ways to improve performance andlearning. We also suggest a range of alternative reviews which youcan implement yourself.

It is a ‘how to’ rather than a theoretical kind of book, but certainchanges to the review are implicit – changes which work towards anew professional attitude of inclusiveness, participation and collabo-ration. We acknowledge the viewpoint that many professionalsdevelop a ‘tacit knowing-in-action’ (Schön, 1983) and that it is notalways possible to articulate this knowledge fully. We do not aim toprovide a rule-book, but a framework for thinking about the reviewwithin which you can develop your own approach.

Rosie Parnell

My first experience of a review was heart-pumping; it was unlikeanything else I had ever had to do but I was expected to just get onwith it along with the rest of the year. Okay, so it was interesting tosee what other people had produced but why did everyone have tostare at me and my pathetic bits of collapsing cardboard and maskingtape and those terrible drawings...ouch! My non-architect friend hadinspired me with confidence just before by telling me that my firstcreation, my pride and joy, looked like a great big toilet roll. So all inall, the whole excruciating experience felt like a perverted form ofpunishment.

As time went on and I thought I was turning into a bit more of anarchitect (started wearing more black etc.), the review became anaccepted event at the end of each project. My voice still insisted ondisappearing into my shoes every time it happened so that Isounded like a Dalek, but with a bit of experience behind me I feltmarginally more confident. Unfortunately my marks didn’t seem toreflect this, and after each review I would be relieved to be able tobegin a new project saying, ‘This time, this is the one, this is goingto be great!’ I still didn’t really stop to think, ‘What are reviews allabout?’

During the Diploma years, Rachel Sara and I worked together, firston short projects with others and then on a year-long project as apair. It was a great experience. We developed a method of working

xii The Crit

which seemed to be very efficient, at least judging by the funny lookswe got every week from our colleagues when we said that we weregoing off to London for the weekend, or going to our pottery nightclass; it seemed that we had a lot more time off than other people.What is more, much to our amazement, our marks started to climb.Neither of us would claim to be natural designers but by the end ofthe course, our work was being nominated for the RIBA SilverMedal. What was going on here? To this day, all we can think isthat our working method must have been effective. Now, I know thaton the surface this does not seem to be directly related to thereview, but in all of our work we were planning, preparing andlooking ahead to that review. Everything that we did was part of ourpreparation for the review presentation and it helped to define ourworking method.

Through the Diploma experience and through exposure to a researchproject called ‘Clients and Users in Design Education’ (CUDE, whichexplored things like the review, presentation techniques and groupwork), both as students and researchers, we learned techniques forreview management and preparation. Perhaps most importantly, theCUDE project, combined with recent experience as design tutors, hasallowed us to recognize the enormous potential of the review processas a learning experience.

Rachel and I are both involved in tutoring part-time, and as a result,we now experience the review from another point of view. It is so niceto have the pressure off! However, there is a different pressure toperform. As a tutor I feel I am expected to have an amazing insightto share with every student. It can be really exhausting and frustrat-ing when I just cannot work out what is so fundamentally flawed withstudent X’s piece of work, or what is so brilliant about student Y’s. Ihave begun to understand what makes a good review presentationbut I would be the first to admit that someone could come along andbreak all the rules, talk into their shoes, present their work in the styleof Donald Duck and yet be convincing. For the rest of us, however,a bit of pre-planning might be a better approach.

So, these days I’ve graduated to the trendy glasses brigade – I mustbe feeling fantastically confident! I’m not sure whether that’s true, butit is my sincere hope that this guide can help you to make more ofyour review process, and in so doing make more of your architecturaleducation.

Introduction xiii

Rachel Sara

For me, the beginning of the architecture course was a terrifying time.I was suddenly deposited in a city I’d never been to before to sharea house with people I’d never met. To make matters worse, I seemedto be on a course that involved more work than anyone else’s, in asubject that I didn’t have a clue about. At the beginning of eachproject, I’d read through the brief and wonder what on earth it allmeant. I then typically spent the first half of the project doing what allfirst years on other courses were doing (which was anything but work)and the second half of the project frantically trying to ‘pull a whiterabbit out of the hat’ for the review. By the time it got to the actualevent I had had so little sleep that I felt like I was swaying. I wouldend up spending the following week recovering in bed!

The first review I really remember was one where I had produced amodel. I had worked entirely on my own at home which I realize nowwas a terrible idea. Having done an ‘all-nighter’ to finish off thecardboard monster that I had begun, I left home feeling weird, butfairly happy with my work (it was, after all, my first ever model). WhenI got to the studio, my heart sank ... I was so mortified by the shame-ful quality of my work in comparison with that of other students that Iburst into tears. The review did not go well.

I do have memories of reviews that went well, but I have to admit thatI don’t remember ever learning much from the experience. I certainlynever asked myself what reviews were for, or what I wanted to getout of them (other than praise, praise, praise!) When it came to otherpeople’s work, I have a recollection of the occasional project whichthe tutors would unanimously deem brilliant. This would instil in me afeeling of extreme jealousy, soon followed by wonderment and confu-sion. ‘Why was their scheme so good?’ I asked myself, but (mistak-enly) never stopped to ask anyone else.

The whole thing was a real shock to the system. I had always donewell at school, but this was something else. I would feel full of inspi-ration and excitement at the beginning of each project, coupled witha ‘I’m really going to learn from that last project, and this one’s goingto be brilliant’ feeling. But at the end of each project, I would have toface up to the fact that yet again, my work was not ‘brilliant’. My markswere generally reasonable, but I couldn’t help thinking that if only Ihad done a more normal subject (like English or Maths!) I would bedoing so much better.

xiv The Crit

It wasn’t until I came back to study for the Diploma that things startedto fall into place. I realized that studying architecture was a fantasticopportunity for me to explore issues that really interested me.Architecture suddenly seemed to be relevant to everything and I lovedit (particularly when I realized that all-nighters weren’t compulsory)!

At the end of the Diploma course, I began working in practice part-time. I found myself having to explain work to the client and reallyhaving to sell the work that I had done. It took me a while to realizethat I could apply my experience with reviews to these situations. I alsogot involved in participatory design sessions with various groups. Ifound it really refreshing to ‘talk architecture’ without the jargon; it wasa completely different experience from anything I had done at univer-sity. After spending so many years learning to design to my own andmy tutors’ agendas, it was a totally different thing to incorporate theusers’ views into my work. Why hadn’t I done this in my education?The CUDE project was an excellent opportunity to look at how clientsand users might be introduced into future architectural education.

No description of the architecture course can really express what it islike to be an architecture student. But be assured, there are peopleall over the world who feel as confused, excited, terrified, inspired andchallenged as you do. I hope this guide makes you think aboutreviews – even if it just makes you stop and think about the blatantlyobvious for a minute.

Mark Parsons is a recent graduate of the Sheffield UniversitySchool of Architecture now working in practice.

Charles Doidge was formerly leader of undergraduate architectureat The Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University.

Format

The book is formatted to include cartoons, quotations and backgroundinformation (in grey) alongside the main body of the text. The quota-tions recall what many remember only too well, and are drawn frominterviews carried out by the authors, comments made by Rachel Sara(RS) and two others texts as referenced.

Introduction xv


What is a review? 1


Synopsis

What is areview?

‘Excellent fun! Ialways thought theywere a bit like asport – sparring orjousting. They wereusuallyunnecessarilyaggressive affairs,but all done in goodhumour among agroup of friends.’Practising architect

‘It’s a deadline.’ Finalyear student

This guide begins with a look at the what andwhy of reviews. The review process is intro-duced and the different types of review held atvarious stages are described with examples.The potential value of the review and the possi-ble negative aspects are explored. The reviewat its worst is exposed and contrasted with thebest case. Within this framework, the role of thetutor is discussed and the potential role of aparticipant is explored.

Crit, jury, or review; whichever term you recog-nize, the quotations show that people havewidely differing views of the experience. So whatis it exactly?

If you heard the terms ‘jury’ and ‘crit’ for the firsttime you’d probably presume, quite understand-ably, that they described something negative –maybe even something downright unpleasant.‘Is a jury going to put you on trial?’ (seecartoon 1). Is a crit simply criticizing? Theseterms don’t imply that there is a positive side tothe review process. But there is! The review hasgreat potential as a learning experience and thisis the reason that it is a firmly established partof most architecture courses. This guide is

1 What is a review?

Cartoon 1‘Is a jury going to put you on trial?’

4 The Crit

called ‘The Crit’ because that term is familiar tomost people but we use the term ‘review’throughout to promote the more positive aspectsof the process.

Your review will vary according to your school,personalities involved and the stage you havereached. When you stop to think about thereview and its function, you will realize that it isa surprisingly complex beast. It might be helpfulto outline the sort of things you should expect.

• Reviews are held both during and at the endof a design project.

• You will present your work and ideas on yourown or in a group.

• It could be informal or formal – a chat arounda table or ‘a presentation to rows of seatedindividuals’ (see Diagram 1).

• You will usually present a visual and verbalexplanation of your work.

• Yours will be one in a series of presenta-tions.

• You will probably have a limited amount oftime.

• The audience could be small or large,students in the same year as you, studentsfrom other years, tutors involved in teachingthe project, other tutors, architects andspecialists, or lay-people such as clients andusers.

• The audience may give you feedback onyour work and discuss ideas with you andeach other.

• There is the potential for you to learn fromeveryone involved.

• You might be marked during the review.

What is a review? 5

‘It’s an evaluation ofthe work that’s beendone.’ Tutor

‘A pointless event,unnecessarilynegatively critical.’Practising architect

‘It’s partly anassessment of theproject but alsocontrolling ameeting,presentation inpublic and otheruseful skills.’ Tutor

‘A chance to get thesleep you didn’t getthe night before.’Architecture graduate

Outline ofreviews

Initial stages

You might be expected to discuss the findingsof any research you have done with otherstudents and tutors, or even to make a formalpresentation. This is the perfect opportunity tolearn from others and to bounce around yourinitial ideas.

Forms of review most likely at this stage:

• Round-table discussion with students and/ortutors.

• Small/medium group tutorial with yourtutor(s).

6 The Crit

The reviewstages

Diagram 1A presentation torows of seatedindividuals

• Meeting with clients or users.• Question and answer session with an expert,

e.g. an engineer.

What is a review? 7

The review in the Ecole des Beaux Arts

The Ecole des Beaux Arts, founded in 1819,was the leading centre of architecturaleducation in France (Crinson and Lubbock,1994: 76) and is seen by many architecturaleducators as an early precursor to the modelof architectural education we experiencetoday.

The design problem was developed as themain method of teaching architecture and thereview was used as a way of evaluatingwork. These reviews were carried out behindclosed doors by design tutors with no inputfrom students. Since the mid-twentiethcentury, this process has evolved into anopen format. In contrast to the originalsystem, the open, public nature of reviewstoday is fundamental to the process (seeAnthony, 1991: 19).

Intermediate stages

Most design projects involve a presentation of‘work in progress’ (an interim review). Up to thispoint you might have discussed your work onlyin one-to-one tutorials or with friends. An interimreview allows you to present your work to alarger audience and get a variety of opinionsfrom your peers and tutors. You could be lookingfor inspiration or you might want specific adviceon how to progress.

Forms of review most likely at this stage:

• Round-table presentation.• Small/medium group tutorial.• Formal spoken presentation to a group with

work on display.

Final reviews

The final stage of the review process is likely tobe more formal than earlier stages; this is why itcan be the most nerve-wracking stage, particu-larly if you know that your work is being marked.Like the interim, you can get feedback and learnfrom the discussion. The principles you learn herecan be applied later. In the final review theremight also be an emphasis on practising presen-tation skills for your future life as an architect.

Form of review most likely at this stage:

• Formal spoken presentation to group withreference to work on display.

• Exhibition of work with no verbal presentation.

Review: best case

When the review process is working well, itprovides many learning opportunities:

• A chance to evaluate work. Reviews arenever purely a chance to mark work. Theyprovide an opportunity for you to view your own

8 The Crit

Reviewscenarios

‘Reviews are thereto build a mutualrespect – they’re apublic forum.’ Tutor

work in relation to the work of your peers,consider your rate of progress, and the rate ofprogress of the class. They enable tutors toevaluate the success of the studio programme,and how well you are working within it.

• Providing feedback. Feedback from thereview should give you specific instruction onstrengths and weaknesses, successes andmissed opportunities.

• Fulfilling project objectives. It is yourchance to show how you have achieved theobjectives of the project. It is also an oppor-tunity to explain your own objectives in doingthe work. If you do not make these clear youcan only be judged according to the objec-tives of your audience.

• Practise for practice. The process of present-ing to an audience, listening to presentationsand forming questions can help you developskills that are important in architecturalpractice. The review should help you to buildconfidence in selling yourself and your ideas.

• A safe environment. Despite the link withpractice, the school environment gives theadvantage of being able to test ideas withoutthe consequences of the real world.

• Developing critical awareness. Gettinginvolved in discussion about projects is agood way to develop skills in critical thinking.By trying to understand the different ideasand approaches that you see, you willdevelop your own thinking about architecture.

• Learning from everyone. Participating in areview gives you the chance to learn fromeveryone around you. Students, tutors andother contributors such as specialists,practising architects and lay-people, canprovide useful criticism.

• A focus. ‘At least the crit means we will havefinished the project – I’m sick to death of it.’The review is a deadline which is goodpractice in time management. Final reviews

What is a review? 9

‘It should be alearning process anda common sharedairing of theknowledge gainedfrom the project.’Tutor

‘It should be anappraisal ordiscussion of yourwork. You needconstructivecriticism – thisneeds to be positiveas well as negative.We all needencouragement.’Practising architect

‘It’s an opportunityto get the year’sopinions on yourwork. It gives you aforum for expressingyour ideas.’ Student

provide a ceremonial end to a project, acelebration of your hard work.

Review: worst case

The following list describes a review when it isnot working well:• crowded• can’t see the work presented• chance to read your magazines• battering by tutors• students reduced to tears• no student debate• boring, endless...• tutors only talking about their interests, e.g.

public toilets 1876–1877• so much jargon the presentations might as

well be in Martian• presentations that say the same thing again

and again• aggressive tutors, defensive students

and the list goes on .....

10 The Crit

‘I watched aprofessor pick hisnose during astudent’s entirepresentation.’Student (Anthony,1991: 34)

‘I’ve seen jurorsfight with oneanother.’ Student(Anthony, 1991: 34)

‘I was basically, in avery unprofessionalway, told that I wasstupid and in thewrong field.’ Student(Anthony, 1991: 34)

‘First of all the tutorhad the cheek todraw fruit all oversomeone’selevations, he thenproceeded to ripdrawings off thewall.’ Student

‘They changeaccording to thetime of year, fromrelatively calmsteering groups toabject bollockingslater on.’ Practisingarchitect

Similarities with other fields

Architecture students are not the only oneswho have publicly to justify their work.Students in all design fields undergo thisprocess. A similar system is also used in theeducation of doctors. Medical students arepresented with a patient, asked to diagnosetheir illness and suggest appropriate treatment.Students are then expected to justify theirdecisions to a reviewing panel. In medicinethere is usually only one correct diagnosis anda limited range of treatments and causes,whereas in architecture there are endlesssolutions to design problems. The review inarchitecture differs in that its purpose is not totest you in identifying signs; it is an opportunityto develop skills to see possible outcomes.

‘HEALTH WARNING – REVIEWS CANSERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH’ (seecartoon 2).

The rest of this guide will provide you withadvice on how to either deal with or avoidelements of the worst-case review.

Many students will have come from a schoolenvironment where teachers are expected toknow all the answers. Coming from thisbackground, it can seem hard to believe thattutors don’t have an ‘ideal-solution-for-project-4a’ hidden up their sleeve. If tutors are not thereto provide you with the answers, what exactlyshould they do?

Tutor’s role: best case

In a best-case review, the role of the tutor is asfollows.

• To define the purpose of the review. If thepurpose of the review is clearly defined fromthe outset, e.g. assessment, learning, presen-tation practice, or a combination of these, thenyou know where you stand. Confrontation canbe avoided and you are more likely to feelconfident (Wilkin, 1999).

• To provide expert knowledge. As someonewith more experience, a tutor can provideyou with insights and valuable knowledge.

• To enable the learning process. As anenabler, a tutor can provide situations in whichyou can learn from your peer group. They caninitiate discussion or provide a structure fordebate. Tutors should encourage studentstowards ‘self-learning’.

• To ensure that important issues, relevantto the project, are covered. The projectbrief will specify relevant issues and educa-

What is a review? 11

The tutor’s role

‘I remember oneproject where a tutorhad suggested that Itry using a tensileroof structure tocover the shelter Iwas designing. So,off I went anddeveloped that idea,only for her to tellme in the crit, justhow much the roofhad spoiled thewhole scheme! Ilearnt that ideastutors give you arejust that – they areideas to be explored,and not necessarilysolutions oranswers.’ RS

‘They should besteering you in theright direction ratherthan telling you whatto do.’ Practisingarchitect

‘It’s not a demolitionjob, it’s aconstruction job.’Tutor

‘A good teacher isan enabler whogives the students afeeling of control ofthe situation.’ Tutor

12 The Crit

Cartoon 2‘HEALTH WARNING – REVIEWS CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGEYOUR HEALTH’

tional aims. The tutor should make sure thatall of these issues are included in the reviewdiscussion. If other issues become importantdue to an individual’s approach, the tutor canwiden the discussion.

• To ensure a compromise between equalityand flexibility. It can be very frustrating tosee reviews that are twice as long as yours orwhich focus on completely different issues. Itseems unfair. It is up to the tutor to make surethat each student is given similar attention.However, it is often not that simple; if you aregoing to learn from the review, then it is oftenmost effective to focus on the exceptional andinteresting work. This is not very helpful to atutor who is trying to treat everyone equallyand it is confusing to you as student when youhave spent two weeks exploring x and y andnow the tutor is discussing z! It is up to thetutor to strike a balance.

• To ensure that the same references areused by all tutors if they are marking work.With large student numbers in many schools,the reviews may be divided into groups whichare run in parallel. To provide a just markingsystem, the different tutors need to agree onthe criteria by which they will judge work.

Tutor’s role: worst case

Okay, so tutors are not always as supportive asthey could be.

In defence of the tutors, it is important to under-stand the difficulty of their position. They areexpected to concentrate for hours on end, extractthe essence of the work presented and come upwith profound statements for every piece. It isunderstandable that tutors sometimes revert totalking about what they know. ‘Some tutors feelthat they are being judged’ (see cartoon 4) asmuch as you are.


‘Depending on whichtutor you had itcould be a positiveexperience withconstructivecriticism or moreconfrontational forthe sake of it.’Practising architect

‘It could be likesitting in a church,but tutors usuallyturn it on for thecrowds. “They’d driftoff into their ownexperiences”’ (seecartoon 3). Practisingarchitect

14 The Crit

Cartoon 3‘They’d drift off into their own experiences...’


Cartoon 4‘Some tutors feel that they are being judged...’

Most tutors are dedicated educationalists whoreally want the best for their students, even ifyou see it differently. Remember that tutors areonly human too. Whatever the situation, it is upto you to make the most of the tutor.

Your tutor wants you to do well, not leastbecause they feel that your work is a reflec-tion of their ability.

The review might sound daunting. You are puton the spot, perhaps alone, and expected tojustify your work to a group of people who mightnot be sympathetic to your ideas. It is unpre-dictable and you will have to think on your feet.You have to provide the substance for discus-sion. Nevertheless, this is an opportunity toexpress your ideas and learn from tutors andfellow students. You can take control, initiatediscussion, contribute to the debate and ask forthe advice you need.

This is what is expected of you:

• To give people an understanding of yourwork.

• ‘To be clear and interesting’ (see cartoon5).

• To listen.• To be open and responsive to learning.• To contribute to discussion and debate.

The rest of this guide describes your role in thereview process in greater depth – in the end thereview is what you make it.

• The review is a learning experience.• The review allows you build your presenta-

tion skills for later life in practice.• Participation in review discussion can

develop your understanding of architecture.

16 The Crit

‘Sometimes I feelstupid. You areexpected to saysomethingknowledgeable abouteveryone’s work’Tutor

Your role

Summary


Cartoon 5‘To be clear and interesting’

18 The Crit

Cartoon 6‘... to hear a variety of opinions and ideas about your work’

• The review allows you ‘to hear a variety ofopinions and ideas about your work’ (seecartoon 6).

• The review allows you to see other people’swork and develop critical thinking.

• The review is what you make it.



Before a review: 2


Synopsis

Why prepare?

This chapter explores the preparation that isneeded to do a review and how to go about it.The type of presentation is discussed with refer-ence to the purpose of the review, the targetaudience, what you want to get out of it, whatthe audience wants to get out of it and whetheryou are presenting as an individual or a group.The process of planning and developing thepresentation is outlined including time planning,group working and preparing the presentation asa whole through storyboards, words and graph-ics. The importance of practising a presentationis emphasized. Preparation for the review isintroduced as a process that can enable you notonly to do better in the review itself, but also tostructure the entire project.

In the run-up to a review, most people spend theirtime frantically trying to finish all their drawings,‘getting very little sleep in the process’ (seecartoon 7). It is easy to put preparation for thereview on hold while you ‘just finish this, and startto render that...’ As a result, your work can appearto be a complete jumble which is only confusedfurther by your verbal presentation! If you taketime out to plan your presentation, the limited timeyou have can be used far more productively.

2 Before a review

‘Even the best ideasneed to be sold. Andpart of selling goodproducts is communica-ting what’s good aboutthem...’ Practising architect(Anthony, 1991: 65)

‘On the couple of timesI’ve had the time toprepare (for a review)I’ve done a better joband been muchcalmer.’ Student

24 The Crit

Cartoon 7‘... getting very little sleep in the process’

Planning ensures that you spend your timeonly doing the work that is significant, ratherthan trying to finish everything you havestarted.

What to think about

Preparing for a presentation involves makingconscious decisions. Write down your responsesto these questions:

• Who is presenting?• Who are you presenting to?• How long have you got?• Where are you presenting?• How much space have you got?• What is the purpose of the review?• What are the main ideas/concepts that you

want to get across?• How does your work connect with existing

knowledge?• How have you addressed the aims and

objectives of the project?• What do you want to get out of it?

Who is presenting?

If you are presenting alone, consider your ownstrengths and weaknesses, both in terms of visual

Before a review 25

How to prepare

Working through the nightThe ‘all-nighter’ is a common phenomenon inschools of architecture. If you have themisfortune to find yourself working throughthe night, remember, you are not alone. Thefamous Ecole des Beaux Arts had a word forit in the 1890s, ‘charrette’. Students worked inattic rooms around Paris and their projectswere collected by hand-cart, a charrette. As itclattered down the cobbled street, even if youhad been at it all night, there was alwayssomething last-minute that still had to bedone.

and verbal presentation. There is no point inplanning a presentation in delicate water-colourwhen you are a marker pens and crayons person.

For a group presentation, you need to spend plentyof time planning who is going to do what. Again,this needs to be tailored to the strengths andweaknesses of each individual. Who are the confi-dent speakers? Who would be most suited topresenting a prepared text? Both visually andverbally, each individual’s work needs to be madepart of a cohesive whole through careful planning.

A successful presentation ties together thevisual and the verbal presentations of theproject in one cohesive whole.

Who are you presenting to?

‘Who is the target audience’ (see cartoon 8)and what will they want to get out of thesession? When presenting, it is easy to get soself-absorbed that you forget about the peoplein front of you. It is reasonable to expect adegree of architectural knowledge from tutorsand fellow students, but presenting to a commu-nity group or school group is totally different.Should you use architectural conventions suchas plan, section and elevation or more accessi-ble models and sketches? At what level shouldthe verbal presentation be pitched?

Whatever the audience, you have failed if, atthe end of your presentation, the audiencedoes not have a clear understanding of yourwork.

How long have you got?

If you have five minutes, you will have toconcentrate on a couple of key ideas. This isexcellent practice in self-discipline. You shouldbe able to describe even the most complex of

26 The Crit

‘One of the projectsI did was in themiddle of a beautifulsummer. Theweather wasfantastic, and Icouldn’t bear to beinside. So I vowedto do all of the workin the garden and toreally enjoy myself. Ispent the timepainting and, ofcourse, the fact thatI’d really enjoyedmyself came acrossin the work. Thereview wentbrilliantly.’ RS

Before a review 27

Cartoon 8‘Who is the target audience ...’

ideas in five minutes. If you have more time, youcan go into more detail but ‘don’t talk aboutissues that aren’t important to the work’ (seecartoon 9). Will anybody really be interested thatyou spent all of last night trying to fit the toiletsinto that space? You are bound to have accumu-lated more information than you have time topresent, so be ruthless.

It is up to you to keep your presentationwithin the agreed time.

Where are you presenting?

If you feel that the atmosphere of the space isessential to the presentation or you need differ-ent facilities, then you might be able to organizeanother venue; most tutors will be impressedthat you have shown the initiative.

How much space have you got?

Plan the arrangement of work (drawings, modelsetc.) so that people can read the story in alogical way. Stand at the distance of the furthestobserver and think about what they have to see.

What is the purpose of the review?

If you are not sure, you should ask your tutor toclarify this, e.g. is the main purpose of thisreview to practise presentation skills, to evalu-ate/mark the project (and is the verbal defenceof your work a component in the mark) or to getfeedback from peers?

28 The Crit

Abraham Lincoln could speak for an houron any topic but, if you wanted him tospeak for three minutes, he needed a dayto prepare.

Before a review 29

Cartoon 9‘... don’t talk about issues that are not important to the work’

30 The Crit

Cartoon 10‘Be aware of your own objectives ...’

What are the main ideas/concepts that youwant to get across?

Once you have identified the ideas that gener-ated the work, you can use these to tie togetherthe presentation as a whole, visually andverbally. For example, if one of the key ideas thatyou incorporated into your design for a nurserywas the blurring of the boundaries betweeninside and outside, then make sure your workshows this. You might focus the verbal presen-tation on the way in which your work has devel-oped from concept to design solution.

How does your work connect with existingknowledge?

Refer your work to something the audience willhave experienced – somewhere you’ve all visited,childhood memories, common experience, etc.

How have you addressed the aims andobjectives of the project?

Refer back to any aims and objectives stated inthe brief. How have you approached these?Become aware of how the aims and objectivesare developing over the course to gain a senseof progress in your learning.

What do you want to get out of it?

‘Be aware of your own objectives’ (see cartoon10) when planning the presentation. If it is aninterim presentation, feedback is vital. If it is afinal presentation, are you only trying to sell yourwork or do you also want advice on improving it?

So now you have asked yourself the keyquestions about your review, how do you goabout preparing for it? Here are some helpfulstages:

Before a review 31

How to planand developthepresentation

• Decide on the format/method/media you willuse.

• Design a ‘storyboard’ for the presentation.• If you are in a group, decide who will do

what, and in what order.• Make a time-plan working back from your

deadline.• Practise.

32 The Crit

Cartoon 11‘Performanceart’

Before a review 33

Decide on the format/method/media you will use

Appropriate situations

This sort of presentation should speak for itself,even if you are going to do a verbal presentationas well.

Good for a well-structured formal presentation.Can imply a passive audience.

As above but needs careful pre-planning.

As above, but drawing on transparencies can helpthe presentation seem less final and invite moreparticipation. More appropriate if you are good atdrawing.

Suitable for a small group presentation.Particularly good for developing discussion aroundthe work.

Good if you want to stand out from the crowd.The need to move around the presentation keepspeople interested.

Most appropriate for formal presentations. Checkon equipment.

This can allow interactive walk-throughs which areparticularly suitable for an audience which doesn’tread architectural drawings. However, do notconfuse flashy graphics with good design.

Particularly appropriate for the involvement ofcommunity or school groups but needs to beextremely well planned. Consider using roughmodels, paint and play-dough etc. Can be analternative way of approaching university reviewsas well.

Ideal if you are shy. It is an easy way to makesure the presentation is fully pre-prepared but itprevents interaction.

Ideal if you are still drunk from the night before!This approach can be really unusual and interest-ing, but if not done well, there is nothing worsethan embarrassing yourself and the audience.

Endless possibilities.

Options available

2D visuals displayed on a wallfacing the audience, e.g.drawings, paintings, collage

Overhead projector withprepared overheads

Slide projector

Overhead projector wheredrawing on the overheads ispart of the presentation

Small-scale models/reports/drawings to be presentedaround a table

3D visuals that need theaudience to walk around thepresentation

Powerpoint or other computerpresentation

Computer model displayed onscreen

Interactive presentation wherethe audience is expected toparticipate in the generation ofideas

Film or video played to theaudience

‘Performance art’ (see cartoon11), music, dance, poetry,mime, etc.

Other ideas

Be aware that the more hi-tech the equip-ment you use, the longer you will need tospend preparing.

Design a storyboard for the presentation

A storyboard is used in planning a film or adver-tisement. It consists of ‘a “board” which tells a“story” in words and sketches’ (see cartoon 12)and which is the plan for the film or advert. Designyour presentation as a combination of key text andsketches. It can be helpful to do this in pairs:

• Write down your ‘must-says’ (individually).• Present them to your colleague.• Get your colleague to tell you what they

thought you said.• Check that the key ideas have been commu-

nicated effectively.

Sketch out your storyboard to indicate both thevisual and the verbal presentation. Bear in mindall the questions you need to answer. Arrangeyour ‘must-says’ in a logical order. Look at thework you have already done, and choose thepieces which best represent each of your keyideas. What else needs to be done to reinforcethese points? For example, does the landscapeneeds to be painted on all the drawings toemphasize its importance? Plan the work in alogical sequence so that viewers are notrequired to jump around in order to follow yourpresentation. All your work should be clear andeasy to read, even from the back of theaudience. Bear in mind the importance of yourvisual presentation. Whether you like it or not, astudy carried out by Lowe (1969) showed thatpresentation strongly affected the judgements(and hence, marking) of tutors.

It can help to follow a few rules when structur-ing the presentation. Bear in mind ‘the listeningcurve’ (see Diagram 2), which shows attentionover time.

34 The Crit

‘Good drafting in yourspeech and gooddrafting on a piece ofpaper is the same stateof mind.’ Practisingarchitect (Anthony, 1991:65)

Before a review 35

Cartoon 12‘... a “board” which tells a “story” in words and sketches ...’

The classic rule is: ‘tell ’em what you’re gonnatell ‘em, tell ’em, and tell ‘em what you told ‘em.’

• The beginning of the talk. The audience’sattention is greatest at this point so, once youhave introduced yourself, state your key ideasimmediately.

• The middle section. Expand on each keyidea.

• The end of the presentation. The finalsection of the presentation should restateyour key ideas. You may also wish to askquestions. People remember more of thestart and finish of a talk than the middle. Becareful to conclude only once and go out witha bang, not a whimper.

If you are in a group, decide who will dowhat, and in what order

The storyboard will need to include all themembers of the group. Make sure you are allclear about who is going to cover what and howeach will hand over to the next speaker.

36 The Crit

Attention

Time

Content

Diagram 2The listening curve

Make a time-plan, working back from yourdeadline

Good time management means that you will getplenty of sleep the night before (if possible!), andas a result will be more confident and able toparticipate in the review. You might suggest totutors that everybody submits their work theevening before.

Time management is particularly difficult indesign work. A vital leap of creativity mighthappen at any point – in bed, on your bike, or inthe pub. But last-minute changes to the designcan have a domino effect on all of the work.

Try using the following tools to help you manageyour time:

Plan at the beginning of each week

Make a rough plan of what you want to achieve,including time for socializing.

Use a diary

Write down what tasks you want to accomplisheach day.

Prioritize

Do the essential work first.

Plan the next day at the end of the last

At the end of the working day, take five minutesto plan what you are going to do the next dayso that when you start work, you will be able toget straight on with it.

Be flexible

Don’t worry if you need to re-schedule tasks foranother day.

Before a review 37

‘If I have a deadlineto meet I’m oldenough and wiseenough now to knowhow much time it’sgoing to take ifeverything went well.But I also know thatmore often than not,everything does notgo well. So I try toallow even moretime....’ MichaelGraves (Anthony,1991: 46)

Don’t get side-tracked

Once you have prioritized, don’t get side-trackedinto doing a low priority task, like drawing all thebathroom tiling before designing the rest of thehouse.

Divide the work into small manageable tasks

It is much easier to start if you do not feel youare facing a single insurmountable task. AChinese proverb states, ‘The longest journeybegins with a single step’.

Work back from your deadline

Don’t forget that every task takes three timeslonger than you estimate.

Give yourself over-run time

Set yourself a deadline a day or so before thereal one. That way, you will have some extratime if you are ill, or if the clock runs faster!

Find a workmate

Have regular meetings with a colleague todiscuss each other’s progress and what youshould be doing next. It is useful to have a ‘thinkpoint’, be accountable, and have an outsideopinion.

Plan chunks of undisturbed time

‘Write a sign saying, “Do not disturb” . . . ’(see cartoon 13). If anyone tries to disturb you,pass them the appointments book!

Check on yourself

Regularly ask yourself, ‘What should I be doingnow to make the most of my time?’

38 The Crit

‘I had 8 hours leftbefore the reviewbegan and all I had todo was finish mydrawings. I began onthe ground floor plan,and there seemed tobe lots of decisionsstill left to make, so Ibegan drawing thefloor tiles in(supposedly while Ithought about theother decisions). Ofcourse, once I’dstarted, I felt I had tofinish, which meantthat by the time I gotto the review, I hadnothing to showexcept somebeautifully drawnsquares.’ RS

Before a review 39

Cartoon 13‘Write a sign saying “Do not disturb” ...’

Put aside time for the unexpected

You never know when a friend might be in need,or you might get an unexpected visit or oppor-tunity.

Deal with stress

Make time to exercise and eat properly (whenyou are stressed you need more nutrients) andkeep up non-architectural activities.

Just start!

Starting work is the most difficult part. Giveyourself a really easy task to begin with or sayto yourself that you are just going to do the workin rough first. Don’t be afraid of makingmistakes, even huge ones! They are often thebest way to learn. Remember – it doesn’t haveto be perfect, it just has to be done.

Practise

Practising the presentation beforehand will makeyou more confident on the day. Have a run-through with others. Practise on your friends andfamily or with a video camera or tape recorder,or even a mirror. Focus on the good aspects andbe prepared to answer questions on moredoubtful aspects of your design.

Take into account the following when practising:

• Plan your opening sentence. Start withconfidence and direction (perhaps by break-ing the ice with a joke).

• Check the audience understands the keypoints. Ask your audience to repeat back toyou the essence of what they thought yousaid. If they get it wrong, then it’s back to theverbal drawing board.

40 The Crit

• Imagine questions. Think up the most diffi-cult questions you could be asked andprepare answers for these.

• Timing. Make sure that the planned presen-tation is shorter than the time available.

• Avoid jargon. Good communication is aboutgetting across complex ideas in an under-standable way.

• Experiment with the delivery. Reading aprepared presentation word-for-word canseem artificial and even boring. Instead, writeyourself an outline of the key points.However, if you are extremely shy, or yourEnglish is not good, then reading a scriptmay be the best option.

• Study successful speakers. What did theydo to attract your attention? Was itsomething funny, very unusual, or did theyjust have an air of confidence? Even watch-ing TV can count as research! Study TVcooks, weather presenters and so on. Thinkabout the way in which you can apply theseideas to your own presentations.

You should aim to spend seven times thelength of the presentation preparing andpractising, i.e. if you are presenting for 10minutes, you should spend 1 hour and 10minutes preparing and practising the presen-tation.

Don’t be afraid to break all the rules if youbelieve something strongly enough. Youcould end up producing something excep-tional.

Before a review 41

Speaking ‘off-the-cuff’ is an expressionderived from an actor’s practice of having keylines written on the cuff of his shirt. The equiv-alent is to have a series of keywords writtenon cards or to have a series of diagrams andkeywords along the top as part of the display.

Professionalparallels

Presentation skills are essential for all sorts ofprofessional practice. The formal review hasparallels with the high-pressure presentation,which an architect might deliver to a client boarddeciding who should be commissioned to takeon the job. The workplace is competitive andthose who pull the purse strings also judge yourperformance as an architect.

The less formal review might be paralleled by thearchitect’s meeting with the client or user group todevelop the brief or design. In this situation, thehard sell is rarely appropriate. Here the client/user-architect relationship is very different and poten-tially, much more creative. If the architect has aninclusive attitude and has good listening skills, theclient can play a key role in the design process.

Even a meeting with the bank manager or aconsultant can benefit from skills in presentation.Practising and developing these skills in archi-tecture school will provide you with a goodgrounding for practice of any sort, and it couldcertainly come in useful in job interviews.

So now you have prepared and managed yourtime successfully you can get an early night andfeel ready for the day of the review itself. (Yeah,right!)

• Planning ensures that you spend your timedoing work that is appropriate, rather thantrying to finish everything.

• Tie together the visual and verbal presenta-tions in a cohesive and logical whole.

• Whatever the audience, you have failed if, atthe end of your presentation, the audiencedoes not have a clear understanding andpicture of the key ideas of the work.

• Structure the talk with a beginning, middle,and end.

• Consciously manage your time.• Approximately seven times the length of the

presentation should be spent practising.

‘[Every week] I haveto present myprojects to myclients and to manydifferent groups –boards, advisors,trustees.’ Cesar Pelli(Anthony, 1991: 67)

Summary

42 The Crit

During a review: 3


Synopsis

Performing onthe day

This chapter concentrates on the day of thereview. Maximizing the hard work you have putinto the presentation period is a key theme. Theimportance of managing yourself is highlightedand tips are offered on how to prepare yourselfpsychologically and physically for the presenta-tion. Consideration is given to the props you willrequire, including setting up equipment, makingsure it is working, exhibiting your drawings andmodels, etc. Various communication skillsrequired for a range of review scenarios arediscussed with reference to parallels in practice.Practical guidance is offered in order to buildskills in managing the review and in dealing withunexpected situations.

What would you guess was the number-one fearin life of the US population ... death perhaps?Wrong, it’s public speaking! So, if reviews are aform of public speaking, as they often are, it is nowonder that most of us find them a little nerve-wracking. In fact, according to one architect, publicspeaking is the best laxative!

After all that preparation and practice, you wantto be sure that you are going to make the most

3 During a review

‘The first solo crit wasvery nerve-wracking andit was difficult toremember what it wasyou had to say.’ Secondyear student

‘I would rather go to thedentist’s than have areview.’ Third year student(Wilkin, 1999)

of it on the day itself. Unfortunately most peopleassume public speaking is about instant humili-ation; with all eyes on you, surely things canonly go wrong. ‘Nerves can be a particularproblem’ (see cartoon 14) in formal reviews.

Few people are born presenters and, after yearsspent in the education system exercising yourbrain rather than your body and voice, it isunlikely that you will have had much practice. Ifyou have the right approach to the review fromthe outset, you will be able to develop skills asa convincing performer and as an architect whoresponds to the client in a creative way thatincludes the client’s views.

Your ability to convey your ideas to the audienceis vital to the success of your work. When itcomes to the effect you have on your audience,it has been suggested that 60 per cent iscreated by your physicality, 30 per cent by thetone of your voice and the remaining 10 per centby what you actually say. (But that doesn’t meanyou can forget about the work itself!) Managingyourself psychologically and physically is vital toa successful performance.

Think about the following:• ‘Body language’ (see cartoon 15). Avoid

folded arms (looks defensive), head droppeddown (the voice goes with it), slouchedshoulders (lack of confidence), fiddling withyour hands (distracting), covering your mouth(not telling the truth).

• Use your body. The best performers arerelaxed and open and are not afraid to usespace. Emphasize important points in aflamboyant gesture! Do not feel constrained;the more animated your presentation, theclearer the message.

• Use your face. Smile! The more animatedyour face, the more easily you will hold the

46 The Crit

Managingyourself‘Your project’s only asgood as how well youcan sell it.’ Final yearstudent

‘Impending doom. I’mvery bad at speaking inpublic and I found critsabsolutely terrible.’Recent graduate

‘I fail to produce stuff ina coherent orderbecause I’m nervousand rarely prepare.’Second year student

During a review 47

Cartoon 14‘Nerves can be a particular problem’

48 The Crit

Cartoon 15‘Body language’

attention of your audience. Warm it up, slapyour cheeks, blow through your lips; just getyour face, lips and tongue going so that theyare warmed-up ready for performance.

• Breath control. Breathing is essential!Breathe steady breaths and your brain willreceive more oxygen, you’ll have moreenergy and will feel calmer. Try a breathingexercise just before your presentation.

• Tone of voice. Your audience will not findyour work interesting if you sound bored bythe whole thing. If your voice has somemusicality, ‘try varying pitch and rhythm’(see cartoon 16) to convey enthusiasm.Warm your vocal chords before your presen-tation and have a glass of water to hand incase your voice starts to go.

• Attitude. Your attitude to the review can greatlyaffect your confidence and ability to perform.Focus on the positive before you begin. Don’twalk in thinking, ‘They’re going to hate it’ andset yourself up for failure. Instead think, ‘I’m goingto share my project with you and I’m going toenjoy it!’ Think of the review as an opportunity toshare your ideas, gain valuable feedback andengage in interesting discussion, rather than asa time when everyone judges you. Developingthis attitude should prepare you for working withclients in a creative and inclusive way.

• Be yourself. If you try to perform out ofcharacter, you will not feel comfortable andrelaxed and your work will lack integrity. Yourbest hope is to be yourself.

During a review 49

‘For the first few crits Iwas scared to deathbecause I thought thatmy work was crap.’Recent graduate

‘There’s always adanger that critsbecome a performance... Performance is likeacting, moving outsideoneself. A properpresentation is agenuine expression ofoneself and one’s work.’Michael Wilford, Architect.

One review degeneratedinto a full-scaleargument. I was so firedup and upset that I feltmy heart pounding; Iwas sure I was going todie. I just aboutsurvived, but straightafterwards developed aterrible migraine andwas confined to myroom for a day or so.’RS

Beat nerves, be yourselfAdrenalin is useful for getting you fired up andfocused on the task in hand. If, however, youare going to survive to see the end of yourreview, you need to be reasonably relaxed.Here are a few suggestions:• Adopt a relaxed and confident posture and

convince yourself that you are calm.

50 The Crit

Cartoon 16‘Try varying pitch and rhythm...’

Checklist

• Focus on the positive.• ‘Have a facial’ (see cartoon 17) and vocal

warm-up before you begin.• Animate your presentation using your face,

voice and body.• Be enthusiastic, smile, be yourself.

During a review 51

Perceptions of the same review

Student

I have been up the last three nightsslaving away on this project. Thisjury had better appreciate what I’vebeen through!

I’m so nervous I don’t know if I caneven go through with this.

These ten minutes in the review arethe most important minutes of theentire academic term.

Tutor

Pooh, what’s that smell? Thisperson looks as though his haircould be used as a chip pan andhis clothes look like he’s been livingin them for days.

She’s had three entire months towork on this crazy project, but shelooks scared stiff. What can shepossibly be so nervous about?

Can I possibly last through anotherten minutes? I’m getting so uncom-fortable in this dreadful chair, plusI’m dying for a wee. I hope this guytalks fast.

(adapted from Anthony, 1991: 76)

• Focus on what you are doing instead ofworrying about what others think.

• Remember that your tutors and otherreviewers are only human like you.

• Do not drink caffeine before your presenta-tion.

• Pick a face, make contact and smile!• Focus on the positive before you present.• Think, ‘I’m going to enjoy sharing my

project with you.’• Do not think of the review as a time to be

judged, but a time to engage in interestingdiscussion.

52 The Crit

Cartoon 17‘Have a facial...’

Here are some tips for the day itself:

• Be prepared to adjust your talk if need be.‘If your audience is losing interest’ (seecartoon 18), move on to another point orexplain in a more interesting way. Do notstick rigidly to your script if you are sendingpeople to sleep.

• Dealing with interruptions. Audience inter-action often produces a richer presentation,but the discussion can expand into areas thatyou didn’t want to talk about. You can makeit clear to the audience at the beginning thatyou would like to make your presentationwithout interruption and take questions andcomments at the end. Alternatively, be firmand guide the conversation back on track ifnecessary.

• Don’t begin by apologizing. How manytimes have you heard presenters begin bysaying ‘I am sorry I haven’t quite finishedbut...’ or ‘You probably can’t see on thesescrappy drawings.’ Start with an aura ofconfidence, with all that preparation, youshould have nothing to apologize for.

• Don’t speak too casually. Countless’y’know’, ‘sort of’, ‘kind of’, ‘stuff’ commentscan make you seem very unprofessional.

• Avoid pet phrases. People will focus onthese instead of the substance of what youhave to say.

• Avoid sexist/racist stereotypes. Forexample, assuming every client is a whitemale.

• Don’t ramble just to fill up time. By talkingless, your audience may take more in.

• Speak slowly. The more slowly you speak,the more information people absorb and theclearer the message.

During a review 53

Managing yourtalk

‘It annoys me whenpeople repeatthemselves or talkbollocks.’ Diplomastudent

54 The Crit

Cartoon 18‘If your audience is losing interest...’

• Don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’. It’sbetter than inventing an answer.

• Don’t finish on a weak point. Don’t peterout saying ‘Well, I think that’s about it.’Prepare a confident ending and then pauseand say ‘Thank you’.

• Face your audience. It’s easy to slip into thehabit of talking to your drawings.

• Make eye contact with the audience.

Jargon

Architecture, like any other culture, has devel-oped ‘its own vocabulary and jargon’ (seecartoon 19). The parts of a building whosenames were once familiar develop a whole hostof new terms. Lewis (1998) in his book,‘Architect?’ gives an entertaining account of thelingo you might hear. The following is adaptedfrom his book:

When describing the visual characteristics of abuilding, architects like to talk about the scale,image, appropriateness and texture. Metaphor isoften used to describe an idea or a concept.One can talk about the “typology” of the build-ing, the “circulation”, “coherence” and the“layered” elements. A building can be interest-ing, competent, convincing, ugly or beautiful –and so it goes on.

Space can refer to just about anything froman outside toilet cubicle to New York’s CentralPark. Space in action can “flow”, “penetrate”,“articulate”, “modulate”, “expand” or “contract”. Itcan be amorphous and open, without clearboundaries, or it can be crisply defined, figuraland contained, with discernible shape andboundaries. (see Lewis, 1998: 59–81)

During a review 55

‘The latest word in ourstudio is ‘polemic’.There’s a new oneevery week!’ Diplomastudent

‘Some people can talkabsolute rubbish in avery complicated way. Itmight sound impressiveto start with, but if youlisten, it doesn’t makeany sense.’ Second yearstudent

56 The Crit

Cartoon 19‘... its own vocabulary and jargon’

During a review 57

People Architect

Buildings constructshabitable artifactsenvironmentsbuilt formstructuresedifices

Windows fenestrationvoids in wallsoculipenetrationspunched openingsaperturescutouts

Walls vertical planesmembranessurfacesspace definersenclosing envelopespartitionsseparators

Corridors galleriescirculation conduitspedestrian streetspassageschannelsambulatories

Courtyard atriumperistyleinterior open space

Porch transitional spaceloggiaportico

(adapted from Lewis, 1998)

Some of these terms and phrases might helpyou to communicate your ideas more succinctlybut others could complicate a point that is reallyquite simple. Sometimes, an audience will beseduced by complex explanation and long wordsbut overuse of jargon can be a bad habit – ‘yourfuture clients are unlikely to have a clue whatyou are talking about!’ (see cartoon 20).

Presentation bingo!

First person with a full line or column wins:

Including the audience

The level of interaction with the audience willdepend on the type of review, personalitiesinvolved, the work itself and the time of day.Don’t be afraid to change the set-up of yourreview if appropriate. If you have some work thatrequires close inspection, ask people to movetheir chairs to create a semi-circle around thework, or stand up and come and look.

Encouraging discussion

The discussion that takes place after you speakis usually richer and more useful to you if morepeople take part. Be proactive and invite peopleto contribute, particularly other students whousually keep their mouths shut! Sometimes thediscussion goes off in an unanticipated direction.This can be a good thing, providing you with anew perspective, or you may find your audience

58 The Crit

Managing youraudience

catch a glimpse of juxtaposed and that’s about it kind of

polemic sort of narrative axis

transitional space a journey draws you punctures

pedestrian street impromptu floating roof ran out of timeperformancespace

During a review 59

Cartoon 20‘... your future clients are unlikely to have a clue about what youare talking about!’

talking about something you have chosen not toconcern yourself with; in this case, explain yourpriorities and guide the discussion back to theissues that you feel are most relevant. If you canget used to encouraging discussion and inter-acting with your audience in reviews, you will beable to encourage clients to discuss ideas withyou in the future.

Dealing with confrontation

Not every review will be confrontational, but youneed to be prepared to meet this situation. Somepersonalities react very well and even enjoyresponding to confrontation. The rest of us find itintimidating. If you dislike the tone of a comment, orsimply disagree with it, try to listen and let the personfinish. Take a deep breath and ‘try not to reactnegatively or defensively’ (see cartoon 21) andthen check your understanding. If you still disagreewith the comment, calmly say so and explain why.This is good practice for possible future encounterswith difficult clients; you can’t afford to fall out overa misunderstanding or personality clash, and resolv-ing differences can be constructive.

60 The Crit

MissilesSome comments are ‘so destructive thatthey are best ignored’ (see cartoon 22). Thefollowing comments and actions are fromactual experiences:• ‘My four-year-old son could do better.’• ‘You would be better off selling dresses’

(to a female student).• ‘Learn how to speak’ (to someone with a

strong Essex accent).• ‘Don’t you own any pencil crayons?’ (when

you have used paints for a change).• ‘Your house looks like it’s from

Noddyland’.• ‘It looks better now!’ (as a tutor turned the

model upside-down and stood on it).

During a review 61

Cartoon 21‘... try not to act negatively or defensively’

62 The Crit

Cartoon 22‘... so destructive that they are best ignored’

Each presentation method will involve a differentmedium, piece of equipment or ‘prop’. It isimportant that on the day you check any propsrequired. Make sure that all equipment is avail-able and working. Check how to turn on thingslike computers or projectors, how to adjustvolume, etc. Be sure that you are familiar withany equipment that you need and have a quickrun through your slides or overheads etc. Makesure that they are in the correct order and notupside-down or back-to-front. If things do gowrong on the day, don’t panic – ‘audiences arevery understanding of technical hitches’ (seecartoon 23) and will be surprisingly patient ifneed be.

When you are displaying drawings and modelsetc. make sure that they are positioned carefullyfor visibility and clarity. If one piece of workcontains a lot of information be sure that it is hasa prominent position.

• Managing yourself physically and psycholog-ically allows you to maximize the effort thathas gone into your work.

• Your whole body is an instrument forcommunication.

• You will be more relaxed if you can just beyourself.

• You can guide your review along the paththat you would like it to take.

• The review is an opportunity for you to shareand discuss your work and ideas, not just atime to be judged!

• Check your work and any equipment etc. onthe day.

During a review 63

Managing yourprops

Summary

64 The Crit

Cartoon 23‘... audiences are very understanding of technical hitches...’

Learning from a review: 4


Synopsis This guide seeks to promote the review as aplace of learning, emphasizing the rewards to begained by putting more effort into the experience.This chapter outlines the various ways in whichyou can learn from the review, highlighting skillsyou can practise and offering practical tips. Thelearning opportunities fall into two categories:learning from your own review and learning fromthe reviews of your peers. Areas covered includelearning about your own design from feedbackand discussion, learning to think critically aboutarchitecture by observing the work of others,participating in discussion, and learning aboutpresentation skills through feedback and obser-vation.

Hopefully you’re now convinced that the review canbe something other than a terrifying ordeal to beendured, but what about the impact of the reviewon your work? Potentially, the review plays animportant part in your learning, although there isdisagreement about whether the review is princi-pally for marking or for learning. It is taken forgranted that the interim review is for learning – achance to get feedback on your ideas, whichshould help you to develop your design further. Thestatus of the final review, however, is less clear.

4 Learning from a review

‘The problem is thatthere’s hardly anydiscussion amongstudents. It’s usuallybecause the work isbeing marked at thesame time, so you don’twant to say anything toocritical or put their workdown.’ Final year student

‘You learn as much ormore from everybodyelse as you do from yourtutor.’ Practising architect

Introduction

Some tutors view the review as an occasion todiscuss students’ work ‘in order to find out how wellthey’ve done and that discussion is an assessmentprocess’. Other tutors say adamantly, ‘Crits are notassessment’ (Wilkin, 1999). This belief is usuallyassociated with concern that marking can diminishthe learning potential of a review. Whether or notthe review includes marking, you should treat it asan opportunity to learn.

68 The Crit

‘Interim crits have morevalue, allowing you toget a variety offeedback – you canstagnate if it’s just youand your tutordiscussing ideas.’ Finalyear student

‘Project reviews are forbetter creativeunderstanding.’ Secondyear student (Wilkin,1999)

To mark or not to mark?Some schools mark work after each reviewwhereas others wait until the end of the yearto mark everything. In both cases the tutorsat reviews are often those who mark the work,so initial evaluation of the work will haveinevitably taken place.

The case for markingA recognized function of the review is toprovide you with practice in presenting andselling ideas to a panel such as you mightencounter in practice. It can be argued that ifwork is assessed by a panel of tutors on thebasis of what they have seen and heard inthe review, then the experience is broughtcloser to the real world scenario. Anotherfunction of the review is to provide you with adeadline and focus for the work – also goodpractice for the real world. Although therecould be a deadline without assessment, theknowledge that your work is going to bemarked tends to help you to focus! The atten-tion required for marking also allows manystudents to feel that their efforts are valued.In our experience this perceived attention toindividuals’ work by tutors has been sorelymissed when assessment has been removed.

The case for removing markingIf marking is one of the functions of the review,learning potential is decreased in a number of

Learning from the review 69

ways (Hall Jones 1996, Wilkin 1999). First,students are likely to be more anxious. Mildanxiety might improve performance but toomuch will reduce the students’ ability to retaininformation. Second, the review as assess-ment encourages the presentation of work asa final product and avoids discussion of theprocess. You are likely to avoid talking aboutthe difficulties that you had and the areas ofyour work that you feel are still unresolved ifyou want a good mark. Some would arguethat it is only by exploring and understandingthe process that we can learn about the finalproduct. Third, the students in a review mightnot want to question the work of theircolleagues because they are aware that theircomments might influence the tutors’ views.So marking can reduce learning potential bystifling students into a lack of participation.Marking the work can imply that the tutor has‘the answer’ (which is rubbish by the way!) –which can also leave students less likely tovolunteer their own opinions.

The realityIt is likely that your review will be a combina-tion of learning and assessment. Then,however, the final assessment of work (thatwhich results in marks) is not anonymous. Inmost other disciplines anonymity is obligatory.It is easy to see how personal opinions, charac-ters and relationships between staff andstudents could inadvertently affect assessment.

Researchers have suggested that if reviewsare removed from the marking systemperhaps they can take on a more educationalrole (Hall Jones, 1996). But then doesn’t thereview just become another form of tutorial?What will then fulfill the valid functions of thetraditional review?

You can learn from reviews in many ways and cancover many different skills and subject areas. In thefinal review it might be too late to apply specificfeedback to your work, but general principles aboutarchitectural design, construction etc. can be notedand applied to future work. Feedback could alsocover presentation techniques, both in terms ofyour work and your physical and vocal presenta-tion. You can learn a great deal by participating inother people’s reviews and by engaging in discus-sion so always look at it as an integral part of thecourse, not as an independent event. The reviewfulfills different functions for you at different stagesin your academic career, from seeking support andapproval from others to self-validation. Whateverstage, there are many techniques that you can useto make the most of the review as a learningexperience.

Asking for feedback

Ask your audience specific questions about yourwork during or at the end of your presentation.If there is something which you are unsure of,or a decision which is proving particularly diffi-cult, ask for other views on the matter.

Receiving criticism

Hopefully, you will have been interesting enoughin your presentation to provoke discussionaround your work. Your audience should offertheir observations, comments and criticism, andmight ask you questions.

If you are going to learn from the audience’sfeedback you need to learn to accept criticism.This is not always as easy as it sounds. It willhelp if you acknowledge imperfection and don’tever expect to have got it just right. As Anthony(1991: 35–36) quotes of a tutor, ‘Completing a

70 The Crit

Learning fromyour ownreview

‘A review that was reallyuseful was when I wasentering a competition. Iexplained the terms ofthe competition to theaudience and askedwhat aspects theythought I should changeand what areas neededmore work. They knew Ionly had another twodays, so it was allgeared to that. I also gotthem to help me make adecision on thepositioning of anotherbuilding on the site. Itfelt like we were allworking together.’ RS

‘You need constructivecriticism – this needs tobe positive as well asnegative. We all needencouragement.’Practising architect

project is an illusion. With experience, we justget better at creating that illusion. In otherwords, it’s never perfect – just a better approxi-mation.’ Don’t be intimidated if you seem to bereceiving a lot of criticism: sometimes a harshreview is a reflection of a good design!

Listening

How to listen

At the review you are so close to your work andthe effort that has gone into it that it’s easy tofind yourself on the defensive. You have to beable to explain your ideas and often you will beexpected to justify the decisions that went intoyour work. But explaining why you did somethingis very different from defending that decision tothe death. The point here is that if you listendefensively, without properly considering what isbeing said, you could miss useful suggestions.You should concentrate on getting precise infor-mation, understanding a problem or propositionand being stimulated into thinking of new ideas,rather than finding fault or just listening to bepolite.

Paraphrasing

Check that you have understood what is beingsaid by repeating it in another way and asking ifyou have understood correctly. Paraphrasing canbe helpful:

• when precise understanding is vital – e.g.someone is explaining the principles of aconstruction detail to you.

• when you are not sure that you haveunderstood – playing back what you under-stood the speaker to say so that you canaddress the area of difficulty instead ofhaving to guess at what you didn’t under-stand.


‘Particularly at theinterims you get lots offeedback, but it’sdifficult not to take itpersonally.’ Second yearstudent

‘When [students] hangup their work, they feelthey are hanging up apart of themselves. Ithink if weacknowledged [this] weactually might talkabout it quitedifferently.’ Tutor(Anthony, 1991: 107)

• when you are sure you have not under-stood! – do not simply say ‘I don’t under-stand, could you repeat that?’ Instead, saywhat you think the speaker could have meant.

• before you express a judgement aboutwhat is being put forward – it’s easy topass judgement without thinking throughwhat is being proposed. Paraphrasing willgive you time to try to understand thatposition more fully before you respond and itwill give the speaker time to restate his or herposition more clearly if necessary. Oftendisagreement comes from misunderstanding.

• before responding to a question – if aquestion is being used to obtain informationor to clarify understanding it is fair enough torespond immediately. If you suspect that thepurpose of the question is more devious orhostile you might want to find out the truepurpose of the question. You can avoid trapsby using paraphrase or by simply asking thespeaker why he or she wants to know.

(see Nolan, 1989: 188–189)

What to listen to

When it comes to feedback, only you can be thejudge of what is relevant and valid. Feedback isoften contradictory. Whatever people say, it isonly their opinion. It is your work and you haveto decide what goes and what doesn’t. There isno definitive right and wrong. Quality can usuallybe recognized by the majority, but there willalways be someone who disagrees. And who isto say that the majority is ‘right’? You should notnecessarily discount the extreme view, such asthat taken by architect Jean Cocteau:

‘Listen carefully to first criticisms of your work.Note just what it is about your work that criticsdon’t like – then cultivate it. That’s the part ofyour work that’s individual and worth keeping.’(Anthony, 1991: 75)

72 The Crit

Even if you don’t want to be this radical, it isworth remembering to have, as one tutor put it,the courage of your own convictions.

Responding to ideas in sketches

Take some paper to your review so that whensomeone offers an idea or comment ‘you canrespond by sketching your interpretation’(see cartoon 24) of what they have said. Usetracing paper to draw over your presentation aspeople make comments.

Recording the event

You are bound to forget half of what has beensaid either because you are nervous, orbecause so many points have been covered.Ask a friend in the audience to make notes onthe feedback that you receive. Before the reviewyou could ask your tutors if they would writedown their comments so that they are clear andyou can refer to them later. Try using ‘reviewsheets’ for this purpose; the example shown wasdevised for student use (see Review Sheet).

Another way to record the feedback is to use atape recorder so that you can listen to the wholething over again. Even better, ‘video the event.It will be embarrassing’ (see cartoon 25) but itwill alert you to aspects of your presentation. Doyou really do that with your mouth? ‘Were youlistening constructively?’ (see cartoon 26). Arethere comments you missed? Surely you don’tmumble and stand in front of your drawings! Nexttime you might avoid some of those things.

It went well, but you didn’t learn anything

For some people, the review will appear to gowell just because they have the gift-of-the-gab orhave produced a beautiful model/set of drawings


74 The Crit

Cartoon 24‘... you can respond by sketching your interpretation...’


Review sheet

Date:

Your name:

Project title:

Interim/final review (delete as appropriate)

Observers’ comments: (ask a friend to record comments made in the review)

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Your comments: (look back on the review comments)

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Self-assessment anticipated grade:

Tutors’ comments:

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Evaluation:

Concept: V. Good Good Average Poor Fail

Development: V. Good Good Average Poor Fail

Oral Presentation: V. Good Good Average Poor Fail

Graphic: V. Good Good Average Poor Fail

Models: V. Good Good Average Poor Fail

Actual grade:

76 The Crit

Cartoon 25‘. . . video the event. It will be embarrassing . . .’


Cartoon 26‘Were you listening constructively?’

etc. It can be frustrating to watch, especially ifthe tutors appear to be seduced by the presen-tation and don’t seem to study the content of thework. Even tutors have been known to admitthat, ‘...occasionally some (tutors) get carriedaway by the eloquence of a presentation plusbeautiful drawings and say “in spite of what wehave asked for, this is so good, we’re going togive you an A”.’ (Wilkin, 1999)

Research has shown how graphic presentationcan influence judgement of design quality. In astudy by Lowe, critics were presented with a setof seven schemes all re-drawn using the samematerials and conventions. Without presentationdifferences to hang their criticism on, the tutorsfelt unable to assess the relative value of designwork! (Hall Jones, 1996)

Not everyone will be seduced by exceptionalgraphic and vocal presentation skills or exces-sive use of jargon. The real test is still to ask thequestion, ‘Am I learning from the review?’ Youmight be someone who can fob-off criticism witha convincing-sounding explanation, but whileyou are busy talking, you are probably not listen-ing. Have you taken the time to think about thefeedback being offered? Have you checked yourunderstanding?

Checklist

• Ask your audience to address specific points.• Don’t be defensive about your work.• Listen constructively.• Use paraphrasing.• Record the event in some way.• Don’t let your talking get in the way of your

listening and learning.

Observing

Before you can participate you need to pay atten-tion to the presentations and discussions. Let’s

78 The Crit

Learning fromother reviews

face it, if you just sit at the back of the group anddaydream the day is going to be incredibly longand boring. By trying to understand, you willdevelop your skills in critical analysis and yourunderstanding of architecture. Make sure you canactually see what is being talked about. Don’t beafraid to go up to the work and have a closer look.Study presentation techniques and note whichare effective in review situations.

Listening

As you listen to the presenter and discussion,your head will be filled with associations andconnections and even completely unrelatedthoughts like ’What am I going to do with thoseBrussels sprouts?’ Your thoughts will covermore than the words that you are listening tobecause humans think so much faster than theyspeak. Speech is typically delivered at a rate of150 words a minute, whereas your thoughts willwhizz through an estimated 800–1000 words aminute (Nolan, 1989). You have to battlethrough all of this to try to understand and inter-pret what the presenter is saying. Try makingkeyword notes about your thoughts and associ-ations so that you can come back to them laterand continue listening to what is being said.

Use the appropriate type of listening. If youhaven’t understood the work presented, youcan’t offer constructive feedback. Waiting tospeak is not listening.

Offering constructive criticism

Participating in a review as part of the audiencemeans offering your thoughts, comments andideas and also asking questions for further clari-fication when necessary. Any old participationwill not do. Collaboration is what we need; thismeans that all participants are working towards


‘You can sometimeslearn from others –that’s why you need tosit and listen to all theother presentations.’Second year student

‘You can see otherwork and get ideas.’Final year student

a common goal. As mentioned previously, it isdifficult to receive feedback if it isn’t offeredwithin a supportive environment. That does notmean that you cannot challenge what you haveheard and seen, but any challenge should bewithin a supportive framework so that thepresenter does not become defensive andunable to listen.

Diagram 3 shows the importance of both‘challenge’ and ‘support’.

Think back to one of your reviews where you feltthat the criticism offered was constructive. Whatmade it constructive? What did the person whowas giving the feedback do to make you feelthat you could accept their views?

There are a few rules to bear in mind whenoffering feedback to someone else:

• Identify something specific you like aboutthe project presented. We all need to be

80 The Crit

High support

Low support

High challenge Low challenge

NO LEARNINGNo energy inthe occasion

NO LEARNINGCriticism seen

as attack

NO LEARNINGEffort

concentratedon support

LEARNINGUseful criticismin a supportiveenvironment

Diagram 3Challenge and support


‘Tutors could try tospark discussion morethan they do.’ Final yearstudent

told when we are doing well and yet this israre.

• Express negative criticism as specificchanges and ideas for action. It’s easier towork with specific ideas than generalcomments.

• Explain the purpose of any questions youask. It’s easy to interpret an unexplainedquestion as an attack.

Checklist

• Make sure you can hear and see the presen-tation.

• Make keyword notes as you listen.• Check that you are not just waiting to speak

or listening to find fault.• Offer constructive criticism.• Be specific in your feedback.• Explain the purpose of your questions.

Who can you learn from?

Tutors and students

Everyone can make a contribution to discussionand debate. Tutors are extremely pleased if youjoin in; it is very hard to be the only voice. Thetutors can learn and gain valuable insight fromyou. Each one of us has different experiencesand valuable memories to draw on. If youcontribute to the discussion, the learningprocess becomes a collaboration between thetutors and the students (and less like a class-room). Tutors often try to encourage discussionby picking up on interesting issues but they can’tforce you to speak. Don’t be afraid of lookingstupid; if you don’t understand something fully,the chances are that half of the rest of theaudience won’t understand either. When itcomes to speaking up, remember that yourviews are as valid as everyone else’s.

A tutor who has seen your work right through itsdevelopment might not have a great deal to addin the way of feedback. You might feel that it istheir role to stick up for you in your review.Sometimes you will be surprised by their lack ofsupport, so be prepared! They might want tomake sure you can stand up for yourself. Othertutors might try to explain or defend your work ifyour ideas are being misunderstood. Tutors whohave not seen your work before could haveentirely different views from the tutor that youhave been meeting regularly. It is difficult toaccept that views which conflict with those ofyour own tutor, or views which prioritize issuesdifferently can be equally valid. It is the variety ofviews that leads to the variety of solutions and,ultimately, to the variety in our architecturalenvironment. The world would be a very dullplace if everyone thought like you!

Visiting critics

Visitors might be practitioners, tutors from otherschools, experts in the relevant subject, clients orbuilding users etc. If the visiting critics have notbeen involved in the project during its develop-ment, there is more chance that they will havemisunderstood some aspect of the brief, or inter-preted certain points differently. Students and ex-students we interviewed had all experienced thevisiting critic who was ‘more concerned about“massaging their ego” and looking clever’(see cartoon 28) than giving constructivefeedback. Having said all of this, you will alsomeet visiting critics who are worth their weight ingold. They could see the project and your workin such a different way to you and your tutor, thatthey fill you with inspiration, breathing new lifeinto your work. Listen before you dismiss!

Occasionally, clients and users will be presentat your review. Their viewpoint will be extremely

82 The Crit

‘Students becometheir own greatestcritics.’ (see cartoon27). Third yearstudent (Wilkin, 1999)

‘External critics can bea good thing becausethey have fresh eyes,not having seen whatyou’ve been doing.Then again it can alsobe bad that they don’treally know what you’vebeen doing.’ Final yearstudent

‘Criticism is sometimeslevelled without muchapparent regard for thestudent’s growth, aseducators andrenowned practitionersparade their own talentsverbally.’ (Cuff, 1991)

‘It would be good if they[reviews] digressed togeneral points and hada thread of broaderintellectual discussionthat runs across thework so it’s lesspersonal and there isless criticism in thenegative sense of theword.’ Final year student


Cartoon 27‘Students become their own greatest critics’

84 The Crit

Cartoon 28‘... more concerned about “massaging their ego” and looking clever’

valuable and possibly very different to thestudent and tutor view. Don’t dismiss thesepeople as ‘not understanding architecture’ – it istheir ‘real’ views that are so valuable.

Tutors and students in other years

Make time to sit in on reviews held in otheryears. You can adopt the role of visiting criticand try to understand the work you see for thefirst time. Stretch your skills in critical analysis.

Learning from discussion

Discussion is a vital learning tool. It can expandto include wider issues associated with workpresented and to architecture in general. Bylistening to discussion and contributing todebate, you can further develop your own viewsand critical thinking about architecture which willfeed back into your own work, improving andenriching it.

Do you find that you just aren’t cut out forreviews? Or that reviews focus on design andpresentation skills and you don’t seem to beable to find what it takes to be a good designeror presenter? Do not despair!

First of all, students develop skills at differentrates. You might not ‘get it’ now, but if you hangin there, you might just find that everything fallsinto place later and you become a brilliantdesigner! Many students can describe a wonder-ful time when everything seemed to ‘click’.

Secondly, you might not feel that design is yourforte but it takes a great deal more than gooddesign skills to be a good architect. The major-ity of a practising architect’s time is spent doinganything but design. The world of practice


‘Not being a stellardesigner doesn’t meanthat you are a failure orthat you’re no good.Everybody in medicinedoesn’t have to end upbeing a surgeon ... thereare many other forms ofmedical practice thatare equally importantand respected. Thesame thing happens inarchitecture once youstart practicing (sic).There are many otherelements of the practicethat are equally asimportant and respectedin design. But mostschools are clearlycentred on design. ThatI know is a problem.’Cesar Pelli (Anthony,1991: 93)

Where doesyour forte lie?

moved away from this idea of the lone architectas ‘baumeister’ (master builder) long ago. Youshould be able to develop skills in a variety ofareas; perhaps you are the organized type whofacilitates the design team allowing it to functioneffectively. Increasingly, schools are recognizingthese and other important skills and are allow-ing them to have an impact on final grades. It isbecoming easier to specialize in your area ofexpertise.

Remember that grades neither ensure nordestroy your future career!

• Reviews can provide feedback on your workand on your presentation techniques.

• You can learn from your own review if youare prepared to listen to feedback rather thanbeing defensive about your work.

• Criticism should be given in a supportiveenvironment.

• You can develop your skills in critical analy-sis and your understanding of architecture byobserving and participating in the reviewdiscussion.

86 The Crit

Summary

Alternative reviews: 5


Synopsis The guide now describes some examples ofalternative review formats which you can imple-ment. We take the opportunity to share theexperiences of the Leicester and SheffieldSchools of Architecture in which a number ofalternative review formats were explored. Mosthave been tried at other schools around thecountry and worldwide and are regular compo-nents of the review repertoire. Alternativereviews are offered here as a way to foster moreappropriate attitudes and skills for today’s archi-tectural profession as well as improving learning.

Student life has changed considerably in theapproach to the new millennium. There are a lotmore of you, often paying fees, and in return youhave gained more power in your choice ofcourse and conditions of study. The balance ofpower has shifted (at least some way) fromprofessionals (teachers) to clients (students).

A similar shift in power is being called for in thearchitectural profession. It has often been saidthat a good client is as important to a good build-ing as a good architect. Today, clients are gradu-ally becoming more involved in the whole design

5 Alternative reviews

Take control

process. This is more than simply a shift inpower; it is the nurturing of a creativepartnership.

How is this shift being addressed in architecturaleducation? It has always been claimed that thereview provided the practice needed for interac-tion with clients and users. Yet the traditionalreview rarely encourages a creative partnership(Wilkin, 1999). The CUDE research project setout to address concerns that across theconstruction industry, relations with clients andbuilding users were not what they ought to be.Architects, in particular, were accused of aremote arrogance. At the Sheffield and LeicesterSchools of Architecture, independent educa-tional advisors investigated how the attitudes ofarchitects might be formed through their educa-tion. Both found that they had many criticisms ofthe traditional review process. In an attempt totackle this problem, a number of alternativereview formats and preparatory workshops weredeveloped.

The descriptions that follow explain how to setup a selection of ‘alternative reviews’. Most ofthese have been tried at Sheffield and LeicesterSchools, and some have been found in relevantliterature. You can set up many of these yourselfor persuade your tutors to try them. These areideas to build upon. These developments are stillevolving and have not been tested as yet bymore than anecdotal feedback. Some are onlymarginally different, some are radically different,none is new and the list is not comprehensive.Most can be applied to group as well as individ-ual presentations. We hope that the alternativespresented will encourage you to ‘work with yourtutors to develop other options’ (see cartoon29). You can have an influence on youreducation and most tutors will welcome it.

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Alternativereviews

Alternative reviews 91

Cartoon 29‘... work with your tutors to develop other options.’

Setting up your own reviews

The wonderful thing about student-led reviews isthat you can set them up alongside existingreviews. They have the added benefit of notneeding much tutor input at a time when classsizes are growing and there seems to be fewertutors. You don’t need to get tutors involved ifyou don’t want to. You probably already partici-pate in reviews like these on an informal basis,chatting with friends about your work and so on.Getting more people involved can be reallyvaluable. You can use the following guide to setup most of the alternatives described in the restof the chapter.

• Plan the structure of the review. How longis each student going to present? Are yougoing to present individually or in groups?When are you going to start, and when willyou have breaks?

• Structure the feedback. Agree specificquestions appropriate to the project, e.g. useof materials, children’s safety. Who will givefeedback to the presenter?

• Organize a location. If it’s a completelystudent-led review, then ‘it doesn’t have tobe in your school’ (see cartoon 30).

• Inform everyone. Give everyone a copy ofthe structure of the review in advance.

• Appoint a timekeeper. Students tend to bemuch stricter than tutors!

• Tutors’ role. The role of tutors, if they areinvolved (and willing), is to manage theprocess. Alternatively students from higher upthe school could be facilitators. Tutors mightsit at the back and find out what it is like!

• Arrange seats. Arrange seats in a single linesemi-circle around the presentation area.

• Organize feedback forms. Print a form foreach student. As their work is beingreviewed, ask someone to record thecomments.

92 The Crit

‘I actually had funlistening to my friendsspeak and address notonly the tutor but alsoall the rest of us...’Second year student

‘[I enjoyed] the lack oftutors’ incessant boringwaffle. The fact we gotinvolved.’ Second yearstudent


Cartoon 30‘... it doesn’t have to be in your school’

We used the student-led review at Sheffield topromote teamworking and communication skills.Most of the students involved really enjoyed it.Judging from feedback, the main advantages ofsetting up student-led reviews is that theyencourage lots of participation, allow you toshare problems with others who have beenworking on the same project, and are lessboring! Some students were sure that theprocess had been better without input fromtutors but the tutors felt frustrated at having theirtongues tied!

Role-play review

This is a way of trying to see the work throughthe eyes of non-architects.

• ‘Choose members of the audience torepresent the views of client, developer,planner, etc’ (see cartoon 31).

• Presentation by student(s).• Review panel prepares questions from the

point of view of their role.• Allow time for questions from each viewpoint

and discussion.

At Sheffield, workshops were held to developcommunication skills. Students then met witheither the client, user or expert for their projectwho asked questions from their specificviewpoint. This helped students to representthese specific roles in the reviews. Studentsfound this approach valuable as it allowed themto appreciate that there are different viewpoints,often contradictory, which an architect has totake into account with perception and sen-sitivity.

94 The Crit

‘We stayed totallyawake and interactivefor three hours ...Constructive, interestingand useful – I felt Ilearned a lot from otherpeople’s crits too.’Second year student

‘The whole thing seemsto work a lot betterwithout a tutor (sorry).’Second year student

‘Tutors need a chanceto say something tostop us sitting at theback, chatting, smokingand making paperplanes.’ Tutor


Cartoon 31‘Choose members of the audience to represent the views of client,developer, planner, etc.’

Introduce real clients and users

Perhaps the most obvious way to practise inter-action with clients and users is to introduce theminto the design and review process. This issomething that is requested repeatedly bystudents (Wilkin 1999) but is surprisingly difficultto organize. Provided that the contributions oflay reviewers and tutors are both valued, ‘itbroadens the debate’ (see cartoon 32) toinclude issues that are important to non-architects.

In one project at Sheffield at which clients andusers were present at interim and final reviews,students felt they learned the importance of thearchitect’s relationship with the client/user andhow to communicate with, and present to, non-architects.

Make the tutor do the work

• Brief a tutor on your work.• Get the tutor to present your work to the

review panel and note what was communi-cated and what was missed.

This model mirrors what often happens inpractice where only senior partners present thework of their staff to clients. You could alterna-tively ask another student to present your work.It encourages you to describe your work brieflyand clearly.

Exhibition review

Projects are often presented in practice in theabsence of the architect. Competition entries, inparticular, must ‘speak for themselves’. Projects ofbroad public concern are frequently exhibited toget feedback. Communicating clearly to lay-peopleis important, especially if they are to becomeeffective participants in the design process.

96 The Crit

‘[Reviews] should bemore about “learning topresent your ideas tolay-people.’ Practisingarchitect

‘This was very helpfulas presentation to adifferent group isdistinctly different topresentation toarchitects.’ Second yearstudent


Cartoon 32‘... it broadens the debate’

• Plan a presentation (drawings, models,slides, multimedia, etc.) in a coherent andlogical manner to be understood by lay-people unfamiliar with reading architecturaldrawings.

• Tutors examine the work without studentspresent.

When Leicester held an exhibition review, itworked well but tutors did question somestudents about specific points to ensure theywere not disadvantaged in assessment.

Private view

Planning an exhibition either in your school, alocal gallery, community centre, etc. allows youto discuss work and ideas in an informal atmos-phere. This gives you the freedom to choosewho you talk to about what, and for how long.Seeing the work as a whole, rather than a seriesof individual presentations, can encourage broaddebate about architecture.

• Plan an opening night and ‘invite members ofthe public’ (see cartoon 33).

• Each exhibit should be accompanied by awritten explanation.

• Ask everyone briefly to view all of theprojects.

• Spend time discussing the work withmembers of the public.

• Write down feedback, highlighting particularpoints with examples. Alternatively, assign asmall group to each exhibit to give feedback.

Selective review

This format need not include student presenta-tions. Tutors can focus on the key issues in theproject.

• Each student exhibits their work.

98 The Crit


Cartoon 33‘... invite members of the public’

• Tutors look at all the work and selectexamples of drawings, models, etc. that illus-trate the main points.

• Tutors explain the main points to the wholegroup, illustrating the points with the selectedexamples, followed by discussion.

• Short individual reviews can follow, if neces-sary, which can then concentrate on issuesspecific to each project.

See your work through others’ eyes

This is good way of testing whether or not yourarchitectural intentions have been met.Understanding how people react to differentspaces can help you in your future work.

• Pick an important space or aspect of yourdesign.

• Record how you intend people to react tothat space.

• Ask others to record their responses to thespace.

• Compare your intentions with the responses.

Meeting review

In a meeting format everyone is involved equallyand everyone is expected to contribute. This isa useful approach for small groups of up to tenfor tutorials and five for reviews.

• Everyone presents their key ideas in two orthree minutes.

• Each person then states the issues theywant to discuss.

• Arrange these in priority order as an agendafor the meeting.

• Give time for discussion on issueshighlighted in the agenda.

100 The Crit

Brochure review

This simulates a presentation to a small commit-tee.

• Prepare your drawings, photographs of siteand models, etc. and a short report in theform of a brochure.

• Provide copies for everyone.• Allow time for all to read and annotate the

brochures.• Give time for discussion with everyone able

to see a brochure and each other face-to-face.

Model review

Architects assume that clients and the publicunderstand their drawings but very often they donot and we rarely discover misunderstandingsuntil it is too late. Some cultures in the worldnever draw. Models are far more accessible tomost people. This format allows only models.

Students did this at Leicester for a completeproject and quickly developed a whole range ofalternative modelling techniques to cover theearly stages of design as well as presentation.These early stages are where it is most impor-tant that clients understand what is beingconsidered and from which they are largelyexcluded by traditional approaches.

Lecture review

Think you could give a better lecture than yourtutors? A short lecture presentation encouragesyou to investigate widely but then to distil thekey points in difficult subjects; useful forplanning any presentation. A series of shortsharp lecture presentations can be very effectiveand can stimulate you to ‘learn to learn’.


• Allocate or select research topics.• Distil your key points from all of the informa-

tion.• Pick visual material to reinforce your key

points.• Plan your presentations to identify what you

are trying to communicate and to whataudience.

• Prepare a short talk virtually word-for-wordand edit it down to three minutes.

• Give the lecture. You might find you canspeak confidently without reading.

• Get the audience to ask questions and givefeedback.

Workshops at Leicester were run on preparinga lecture, using the voice effectively, and prepar-ing and using overhead transparencies. Thesealso covered how to deal with questions andcriticism and encouraging openness to newideas. Staff were impressed by the difference alittle basic training could make but somestudents, particularly those from overseas, foundgiving a lecture intimidating and some, whoneeded the voice training most, missed thesession.

IT review

An IT review can range from a few ‘slides’ to amultimedia presentation combining slides withvideo, sound, animation and even interaction.You can reach a larger audience by using aprojector.

At the Leicester School, a design project wascombined with a course in computer presenta-tion skills. In successive weeks, first yearstudents learned the basics of computing, two-dimensional drawing, three-dimensionalmodelling, and presentation systems. By theend of the fourth week, they presented their

102 The Crit

design ideas on screen including enlargingparticular details to focus on issues underdiscussion; everybody could see relevantdetails and join in. Accessibility for students tosufficient systems needs careful planning. Thishigh-stress project was one which studentsrated highly.

Video-conference review

This is a technology that is developing rapidly andbecoming more affordable. Video-conferencing isa powerful tool for presentation and interactivediscussion and is being used increasingly inpractice. It provides an opportunity for morefrequent interactive communication combiningvisual and verbal material.

A video-conferencing review requires particularskills which need practice. The technology willdevelop but the principles remain. At the time ofwriting, there are two main systems: roomsessions like a meeting or lecture, and desktopsessions like a telephone call. Systems permitthe transfer of video, sound and digital files. Eachmedium can be pre-recorded or transmitted live.

For ‘room sessions’, limitations include that thetechnology is not yet widely available, it can beunreliable, and pre-booking is usually needed.Controlling the equipment requires expertise andconcentration that is difficult to combine withpresenting information and usually needs helpfrom technical staff.

Here are a few useful guidelines:

• Drawings need clear contrast, avoiding finedetail, and text must be large and clear.

• Keep quiet while somebody is speaking.Transmission is possible in only one directionat a time and needs a second or so to adjust.


• Excessive movement may appear eitherblurred or jerky because information haschanged more rapidly than it can be trans-mitted.

Make them shorter and with fewer people

Huge groups and long days of reviews are notsuccessful as a learning opportunity (Wilkin,1999). Try persuading your tutor that you don’tneed to be there all day (I know you’ll like thisone!). Divide the group up and only stay for halfa day.

Group reviews

This is a good way to encourage discussion ofbroader issues relevant to the project as awhole. It should also mean that the review paneldoes not need to repeat the same point againand again.

• Divide the students presenting into groups ofabout five people.

• The five students in one group then maketheir presentations one after another.

• Time is given after each group for feedbackfrom the review panel.

Double presentation

This method has the advantage that studentshave to be involved in giving feedback. It’s atwo-way thing – the student presenting benefitsfrom the additional feedback and the reviewerbenefits from concentrating on another piece ofwork.

• To each student presenting (student A),allocate a reviewer (student B). Give themtime to study the work before the presenta-tion.

‘It would be good if theydigressed to generalpoints and had a threadof broader intellectualdiscussion that runsacross the work so it’sless personal and thereis less criticism in thenegative sense of theword.’ Diploma student

104 The Crit

• Student A presents their work.• Student B then presents their assessment of

the project.• Tutors and others may then give further

feedback on the presentation.

Feedback forms

This is a useful addition to the traditional review.It avoids the situation where you forget what wassaid during the review.

Either:

• Put a feedback form on your presentationwith specified subject areas for comment,asking everyone to make a comment andperhaps even give a grade, or

• Give each student/tutor a review sheetsimilar to the ‘review sheet’ described inChapter 4.

• You can try alternative formats in addition totraditional reviews.

• You can suggest some alternative ideas toyour tutors. They will be pleased to know youare thinking about it.

• There are many alternatives you can set upyourself.

• You can use these examples as a spring-board for developing others.

• Even small changes that you can make toyour own review could have a big impact onyour learning.


Summary


Reviews and the future: 6


Summary This guide has focused on traditional reviews:surviving them, getting more out of them, anddeveloping alternatives. This final chaptersuggests new directions for the future becauseof what is called ‘the new professionalism’.Changing professional attitudes challenge us towork in a different relationship with clients. It ishoped that this guide will have taken youthrough a survival course and then launched youon the first steps towards more creative clientparticipation in the design process.

There is concern across the construction indus-try about the poor relationship with clients –architects are fanciful, planners say ‘no’, buildersare cowboys, quantity surveyors are killjoys,services go wrong, buildings are sick, and theprofessions do not talk to each other. This is nota healthy environment for an exciting, creativeindustry.

This distrust is so fundamental that it wasdecided to look at ways of fostering betterrelationships from where professional attitudesbegin, at the start of university courses. This

6 Reviews and the future

Reviews andthe future

was the origin of the CUDE Project (Clients andUsers in Design Education), to which referencehas already been made.

A variety of approaches has been taken includ-ing developing live projects and working moreclosely with clients and users. Dr MargaretWilkin, an educational consultant, was commis-sioned to examine how students became awareof client and user needs in the Leicester School.A comprehensive analysis was made of designprojects, investigating how students learned toconsider user needs and how they learned tocommunicate with clients and users. Dr Wilkinexamined project briefs, how projects were intro-duced to students, and the content and conductof tutorials. She found little specific reference toclient and user issues and was told that theywere addressed during final reviews. And sobegan her focus on final reviews by observation,interview and questionnaire with significantresults reaching far beyond the initial issues.

The value of this comprehensive independentstudy was that Dr Wilkin came with wide experi-ence of education but with no preconceptionsabout architectural education. This put herinitially in the place of first year students whoshe saw as being initiated at reviews into gameswithout written rules; the referees (staff) knewthe rules but the players (students) could onlydiscover them by breaking them and being ‘criti-cized’. This set up negative connotations with‘The Crit’ from the outset.

Dr Wilkin argued that, given the significantproportion of staff time devoted to interim andfinal reviews, we should do more to engender aneffective and positive learning experience.Students spent a lot of time looking at drawingstoo far away to see and listening to discussion

110 The Crit

Anindependentview

they could barely hear in noisy distractingstudios. Much of the discussion at reviewsfocused on poor aspects of poor projects, theroom layout discouraged discussion, andstudents were reluctant to criticize one another.Finally, Dr Wilkin asked why reviews werebroadly similar in style throughout three yearsand why no training in presentation skills wasgiven.

Far from being the forum in which client anduser attitudes could be developed positively,reviews were engendering from the outset thenegative attitudes of confrontation that theCUDE study was commissioned to change.Based on the traditional academic model ofdefending a thesis but supposedly now simulat-ing practice, the review was setting up an expec-tation of confrontation and moulding studentattitudes that would sour future relationshipswith clients.

These were challenges that could not beignored. We can make the excuses of ‘morestudents, less staff, more administration, moreresearch’ but they just reinforce the need forchange. This became the catalyst for develop-ing many of the alternative reviews alreadydescribed.

Old habits die hard and the review has servedarchitectural education for over a century and sothe alternative reviews replaced just some of thetraditional reviews; a revolution might be neededbut an evolutionary approach was adopted.

It would be difficult to compare traditional versusalternative reviews and such an analysis wouldmiss the main point. The alternative reviews areabout far more than removing negative aspectsof ‘the crit’, saving staff time, or using new

Reviews and the future 111

Fundamentalquestions

technologies. By far the most important outcomeis that they aim to foster an attitude whichrespects clients and users as potentially creativeparticipants in the design process.

What began as a study of information andattitude is evolving into the nurturing of ‘a newprofessionalism’ which questions almost everyaspect of the review culture. Why do we doreviews? What should students get out of them?Why do we present handcrafted finished work?Why do we present drawings at all? Why do wedefend rather than learn?

The ageing review, it seems, is in need of morethan a facelift; it is ‘facing the wrong way andusing too much mouth and not enough ear’(see cartoon 34). The next step is to develop awhole range of skills to encourage creative inter-action.

If this guide helps you to prepare for reviewseffectively, it has achieved its first objective of‘survival’. If it helps you to get more out ofreviews, it has achieved its second objective of‘reducing confrontation’. If it encourages you todevelop ‘alternative reviews’, that is a bonus.But if it encourages you to take ‘a step towards“creative partnership”’ (see cartoon 35), it willachieve long-term investment in your future andin a better future for the design and constructionindustry.

112 The Crit

More than afacelift

Reviews and the future 113

Cartoon 34‘... facing the wrong way and using too much mouth and notenough ear’

Cartoon 35‘... a step towards “creative partnership”’

114 The Crit

Anthony, K.H. (1991). Design Juries on Trial – the renaissance of thedesign studio. Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Cuff, D. (1991). Architecture: the story of practice. MIT Press.Hall Jones, S. (1996). Crits – an examination. Journal of Art and

Design Education, 15 (2), 33-141.Lewis, R. K. (1998). Architect? A candid guide to the profession. MIT

Press.Lowe, J. B. (1969). The Appraisal of Designs. RIBA Journal, 76 (9),

379-80.Nicol, D., Pilling, S., eds (2000). Changing Architectural Education. E

& FN Spon. (in press).Nolan, V. (1989). The Innovator’s Handbook – the skills of innovation

management. Sphere Books.Rethinking Construction: The Report of The Construction Task Force

(Egan Report, 1998). HMSO.Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: how professionals

think in action. Temple Smith.Tierney, E. (1996). How to Make Effective Presentations. Sage.Wilkin, M. (1999). Reassessing the Design Project Review in

Undergraduate Architectural Education with Particular Referenceto Clients and Users. An in-house report, produced for the CUDEproject at The Leicester School of Architecture, De MontfortUniversity.

Bibliography

Anthony, 7, 10, 23, 34, 37, 42, 51, 70–2,85, 96, 115

Assessment, 5, 11, 68–9, 75, 98, 105Attitude, 42, 49, 112Attitudes, 89, 90, 109, 111Audience, 5, 8, 9, 23, 26, 33–4, 36, 40,

42, 46, 49, 53, 55, 58, 60, 70, 73,78–9, 81, 94, 102

Body, 46, 51, 63Breath, 49, 60Brochure, 101

Challenge, 80, 109Changes, 37, 81, 105Client, 42, 46, 53, 89, 94, 96, 109–11Clients, 5, 7, 42, 49, 58, 60, 82, 89, 90,

96, 101, 109–12, 115Collaboration, 79, 81Communicate, 58, 96, 102, 110Communication, 41, 45, 63, 94, 103Community, 26, 33, 98Confidence, 9, 40, 41, 46, 49, 53Confident, 11, 26, 37, 40, 51, 55Confrontation, 11, 60, 111–12Constructive, 9, 13, 60, 70, 79, 80–2Control, 11, 16, 49, 89Controlling, 5, 103Crit, 3, 5, 9, 11, 45, 110–11Critic, 82, 85Critical, 5, 9, 19, 67, 79, 85–6Criticism, 9, 13, 70, 71, 78–82, 102, 104Criticisms, 72, 90

Critics, 72, 78, 82Crits, 46, 49, 68, 94, 115CUDE, 90, 110–11

Deadline, 3, 9, 32, 37–8, 68Debate, 10, 11, 16, 81, 85, 96, 98Defensive, 10, 46, 71, 78, 80, 86Discuss, 5, 6, 38, 60, 63, 68, 98, 100Discussion, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 33,

49, 51, 53, 58, 60, 67–70, 79,81–2, 85–6, 94, 100–1, 103–4,110–11

Drawings, 10, 23, 28, 33, 34, 38, 45, 53,55, 63, 73, 78, 98, 100–1, 110

Equipment, 33, 34, 45, 63, 103Evaluate, 8, 9, 28Evaluation, 5, 7, 68Exhibition, 8, 96Eyes, 46, 82, 94, 100

Face, 46, 49, 51, 55, 79, 101Feedback, 5, 8, 9, 28, 31, 49, 67–8,

70–3, 78–82, 86, 90, 92, 94, 96,98, 102, 104–5

Final, 3, 8, 9, 31, 33, 36, 46, 67–70, 75,79, 81, 82, 86, 96, 109, 110

Focus, 9, 13, 31, 40, 49, 51, 53, 68, 85,98, 103, 110

Focused, 49, 109, 111Formal, 5, 6, 8, 33, 42, 46Format, 7, 32, 33, 98, 100, 101Formats, 89, 90, 105

Index

Forum, 7, 8, 9, 111

Group, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 16, 23, 26, 32–3,36, 42, 79, 90, 96, 98, 100, 104

Groups, 10, 13, 33, 42, 92, 100, 104

Hall Jones, 69, 78, 115

Individual, 13, 23, 26, 72, 90, 98, 100Individually, 34, 92Informal, 5, 92, 98Interaction, 33, 53, 58, 90, 96, 102, 112Interactive, 33, 94, 103Interim, 8, 31, 67, 96, 110

Jargon, 10, 41, 55, 58, 78Judgment, 72, 78Jury, 3, 51Justify, 10, 16, 71

Lay, 5, 9, 96, 98Lecture, 101, 102, 103Leicester, 89, 90, 98, 101, 102, 110, 115Lewis, 55, 57, 115Listen, 16, 55, 60, 71–3, 78–82, 86Listening, 9, 34, 36, 42, 71, 73, 78, 79,

81, 85, 92, 110

Manage, 37, 42, 92Management, 9, 37, 115Managing, 45, 46, 53, 58, 63Marked, 5, 8, 67, 68Marking, 13, 34, 67–9Media, 32, 33, 98, 102Medium, 6, 8, 63, 103Meeting, 7, 5, 42, 82, 100, 103Model, 33, 60, 73, 96, 101, 111Models, 26, 28, 33, 45, 63, 98, 100–1

Negative, 3, 9, 70, 81, 82, 104, 110–11Negatively, 5, 60Nerve, 8, 45Nerves, 46, 49Nervous, 46, 51, 73Night, 5, 25, 28, 33, 37, 42, 98Nolan, 72, 79, 115

Objectives, 9, 25, 31Observation, 67, 110Observing, 67, 86

Paraphrase, 72Paraphrasing, 71, 72, 78Participants, 79, 96, 112Participate, 33, 37, 78, 92Participating, 67, 70, 86Participation, 19, 33, 69, 79, 94,

109Partnership, 90, 112Peers, 8, 9, 28, 67Performance, 42, 46, 49, 58, 69Planning, 23, 25–6, 31, 33–4, 42, 98,

101, 103Positive, 3, 5, 9, 13, 49, 51, 70, 110Preparation, 23, 45, 53Prepare, 23, 25, 28, 41, 45–6, 49, 55,

101–2, 112Preparing, 23, 25, 31, 34, 41, 102Presentation, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 16, 23,

25–6, 28, 31–4, 36, 40–2, 45–6,49, 51, 53, 58, 63, 67, 69, 70, 73,75, 78–9, 81, 85–6, 92, 94, 96, 98,101–5, 111

Profession, 89, 109, 115Professional, 42, 109Professionalism’, 109, 112Project, 5, 9–11, 23, 25–6, 28, 31, 46,

49, 51, 70, 80, 82, 90, 92, 94, 96,98, 100–5, 110

Props, 45, 63Public, 5, 7, 8, 10, 45–6, 96, 98, 101

Questions, 9, 25, 31, 34, 36, 40, 41, 53,70, 79, 81, 92, 94, 102, 112

Record, 73, 75, 78, 92, 100Relationship, 42, 69, 96, 109, 111Relaxed, 46, 49, 51, 63Role, 11, 16, 94

Sheffield, 89, 90, 94, 96Skills, 5, 8, 9, 10, 16, 28, 42, 45–6, 67,

70, 78–9, 85–6, 89, 94, 102–3,111–12, 115

Sleep, 5, 23, 37, 53Speak, 28, 33, 53, 58, 60, 79, 81, 92,

96, 102Speaker, 36, 71, 72Speaking, 45, 46, 81, 103Storyboard, 32, 34, 36Strengths, 9, 25, 26

Index 117

Supportive, 13, 80, 86Synopsis, 3, 23, 45, 67, 89

Time, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 23, 25–6, 28, 32,34, 37–8, 40–2, 49, 51, 53, 58, 63,67, 72–3, 78, 85, 92, 94, 98,100–1, 103–4, 110–11

Tips, 45, 53, 67Tutorial, 6, 8, 69Tutorials, 8, 100, 110Tutors, 5–11, 13, 16, 26, 28, 34, 37, 51,

68–9, 73, 75, 78, 81–2, 85, 90, 92,94, 96, 98, 100–1, 105

Unprofessional, 10, 53Users, 5, 7, 82, 90, 96, 110, 112, 115

Verbal, 5, 8, 23, 26, 28, 31, 33–4, 40,42, 103

Video, 33, 40, 73, 102–3Visual, 5, 25–6, 34, 42, 55, 102–3Voice, 46, 49, 51, 81, 102

Weaknesses, 9, 25–6Wilkin, 11, 45, 68–9, 78, 82, 90, 96,

104, 110–11, 115Workshops, 90, 94, 102

118 Index

Documents

Crit - An Architectural Student's Handbook