YEAR ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR AND FIVE
Tutors: Pete Silver, Will McLean, Simon Banfield, Scott Batty, Aleksandra Cannock, François Girardin, Chris Leung, and Andrew Whiting
Simon Banfield is an architect, educator and entrepreneur working on projects across the UK. Simon is interested in the hands-on act of construction within the building process.
Scott Batty is an architect with 30 years’ experience making, building, designing and shaping the profession of architecture. He devised the University of Westminster’s Sustainable Design Principles, and his work has been presented at the Architect’s Climate Action Network (ACAN).
Aleksandra Cannock founded architecture firm TAK Architecture and Design. She teaches students to create architecture grounded in sustainable practices.
François Girardin is an architect and educator, teaching design, technical studies and cultural context. His specialist interests are material technologies and digital fabrication.
Chris Leung is an architect and associate professor at The Bartlett (UCL). He tutors environmental design and fabrication strategy for final year degree and MArch students.
Will McLean lectures, writes and publishes about the technology of architecture. With Pete Silver, he has been commissioned to write a book due out in 2024: Sustainable and Regenerative Materials for Architecture: A Handbook (Laurence King).
Pete Silver is an architect and former building contractor, with many years of teaching experience. Pete has recently successfully registered a patent for his invention, Helical Structural Framework with Torsional Integrity.
Andrew Whiting is the director of HÛT Architecture. He has a particular interest in education and practice and teaches at Degree and MArch level. He is an RIBA Awards judge, and RIBA Part III Professional examiner.
The technical studies teaching in the School of Architecture + Cities has been designed as a linear progression from first year Undergraduate through to final year MArch. For each year of study, a lecture series underpins the structure of the teaching. In first year, Pete Silver delivers a lecture series that sets out an approach to the structure, form, material and environmental principles that constitute the ‘technologies’ of the built environment. Students were challenged to build a one- metre-high support structure for a rose, which could not bend, buckle, twist or sway.
In second year, Scott Batty runs the Site Diary assignment that affords many students their first experience of a construction site and introduces students to the Sustainable Design Principles. In third year, Will McLean delivers a lecture series on environmental design, highlighting sustainable approaches to construction, material choices, heating, cooling and remediation.
Consultant Surgeries
Consultant Surgeries are organised for our final year Degree and Masters students of architecture. This provides students’ access to professionals including architects (with specialist construction/fabrication knowledge), structural engineering, environmental engineering and materials science.
Visiting Lecture Series
Will McLean organises the Thursday evening ‘open’ lecture series, which highlights new technological developments in the fields of architecture, engineering and environmental design. This year, talks covered contemporary earth, stone, bamboo and natural polymer construction, as well as talks on camouflage, DfMA and fire safety. The talks were simultaneously streamed and recorded.
Archive of Technical Studies works from previous years:
BA and MArch Technical Studies 2016-2017
BA and MArch Technical Studies 2020-2021