BSc Architectural Technology Year 2 BSc Architecture

Tabatha Mills, Jamie Ogilvie & Ian Casey

Tabatha Mills is Senior Lecturer at Westminster where she has taught for 17 years.  With an extensive variety of industry experience as a practicing Architectural Technologist, she established her own studio in 2005. Her research interests include passive design in heritage buildings and innovation in AT education. She has spent this academic year seconded to CETI as Academic Professional Development Fellow.

Jamie Ogilvie is a practicing Architectural Technologist and experienced Visiting Lecturer. As a CIAT Gold Medal winning alumnus of the course, he brings industry experience into studio teaching and learning, with a particular passion for the application of regulations to technical detailed drawing. 

Ian Casey has over 25 years’ experience post-RIBA qualification. He is a practicing architect and master planner with Pick Everard, working on large-scale projects. His studio teaching is enriched by his contributions in the fields of technical detailing expertise and a robust knowledge of technical design requirements.

YEAR 2: Willow Haven Care Farm Education Centre, Norfolk

Students: Ayomide Adesina, Jeremiah Adjepong, Lola Afasanwo, Ibraheem Ahsan, Dina Al Habash, Khadija Ali, Tomas Amaral, Dalton Amoussou-Doh, Kiara Barrientos, Lauren Browning, Harry De Bromhead, Nour Elhamdi, An Fedorova, Thomas Goldstone, Rad Jabbari, Patrick Lawrence, Ying Lin, Chantel Martinez, Stacy Mendonca, Chan Meng, Denisa Mititelu, Abu Osman, Diren Patel, Roberto Serafimov, Goldie Soora, Shayla Stratton, Zygi Svegzda, Anosha Tarar, Yousra Tendjaoui

In Semester 1, AT2 visited Hillfield Nursery in rural Norfolk to familiarise themselves with the site for this year’s design project and to meet and understand the clients’ needs. They also went to Natural Building Systems’ (NBS) HQ to learn about their novel ADEPT building system, a carbon-neutral construction system using demountable hemp-filled panels – or cassettes – that offers a breathable thermal material with which to construct any building that can be adapted, reassembled and reused.

Willow Haven Care Farm believes that removing people from their daily lives and immersing them in an active farm offers a unique combination of working with farm animals, producing good food, and providing therapy to act as a catalyst for change. Farm helpers experience a range of activities centred around small scale farming, hands-on group therapy, and individual work with an overriding family ethos: sitting together to share a fire, a story, a meal or simply take time to relax away from everyday pressures with space to play. They want to expand their existing provision on the new site at Hillfield Nursery.

The brief for Willow Haven Care Farm was to design an education centre to meet their various needs. It stipulated the requirement for a flexible space which could also accommodate simple cooking classes for children in groups of 20. A small office/admin space was also part of the brief, along with specific facility requirements including an accessible bathroom, handwashing facilities, and storage.

Using existing surplus cassettes in combination with other standard cassettes, students were asked to design an outdoor classroom building with a footprint of 50-60m2. While the client required a single-storey building, students were asked to create a feasible expansion of an additional floor to half the footprint.

AT2 Students analysed the site, researched precedents and developed designs through a portfolio including GAs akin to a Planning Application in Semester 1. Semester 2 involved getting to understand the necessary Building Regulations Approved Documents and technical precedents, resulting in a set of working drawings for construction.

Guest Critics: Tasha Greenfield (NBS Design Coordinator), Zack Ibrihimi (Eurban), Jackie (Willow Haven Care Farm), Robert (Hillfield Nursery), Krista Zvirgzda (NBS Operations Manager)

Special thanks: Chloe Donovan and the Team (Natural Building Systems)

Archive of Architectural Technology Year 2’s work from previous years:

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2016-2017

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2018-2019

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2019-2020

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2020-2021

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2021-2022

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2022-2023

BSc Architectural Technology Y2 2023-2024

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