Category: News

Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt Are Looking for Part I & Part II Architectural Assistants – Deadline: 1st June

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt are currently considering applications from talented and enthusiastic Part 1 & 2 qualified individuals to work on some exciting new projects. The current workload includes housing, education, cultural, community buildings and one-off houses.

The chosen candidates will be exposed to a broad range of works and will benefit from our stimulating and collaborative studio environment.

Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt foster a culture for personal development, facilitating and funding progression towards Part 3 studies.

Sound communication and graphic representation skills are essential.

While we are always looking for talented people to join us, applications would ideally be received before the 1st of June.

To apply please visit: http://acgarchitects.co.uk/about/careers/ 

James Phillips Travel Prize: Proposal Deadline 30th April 2018

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

James Phillips Travel Prize

Background

The James Phillips Foundation is a charity established in 2015 in memory of James Phillips who died, aged 27, on Sunday 27 September 2014.

James was a partner at Make Architects, and studied architecture at the University of Kingston. The day after he died would have been his first day on Westminster’s Part 3 course. His brother Daniel completed his Part 1 BA Architecture here, and is now studying on the MArch.

James cared about architecture, photography and travel, and for his MA ‘Common Ground: An analysis of public space on an International basis’ he travelled to 24 countries to document – and photograph – their most significant public spaces.

The Prize

In 2016 the James Phillips Foundation very generously set up a travel prize of £1000 per annum for a Westminster architecture student in memory of James.

The only conditions are that the prize money must be used to facilitate travel, and that the goal of that travel should be photographed and archived on the James Phillips Foundation web-site within 6 months of the award being made .

Applications & Judging

The prize is open to all students enrolled at the Department of Architecture at the time of application, although the travel can be undertaken after graduating. Students should make a proposal of maximum 300 words + images demonstrating:

  1. How the travel will enable investigation of: either a subject beyond the normal academic requirements of their course, or a specific study for their course that would otherwise be unaffordable (e.g. dissertation, extended essay, studio project).
  2. Why they have chosen a particular destination, or destinations, and what aspect of ‘common ground’ they plan to investigate – and how.
  3. A draft travel schedule (in addition to the 300 words)
  4. How they use photography to enhance their work

Proposals will be judged against the following criteria:

  1. To what extent the proposed travel research will document and enhance knowledge of some aspect of common ground or public space.
  2. Feasibility of the proposed travel
  3. Quality of the proposal

Timetable

Notification of Prize: Monday 26 March

Proposal deadline: Monday 30 April (beginning of term 3) submit to Department Administrator: architecture-admin@westminster.ac.uk

Announcement of Winner: Friday 15 June (OPEN Awards Evening)

Call for Papers: International Journal of Islamic Architecture, Special Issue: “Field as Archive / Archive as Field”, Deadline 30th July 2018

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

This special issue of IJIA focuses on the experience of carrying out archival work or fieldwork in architectural research, including research-led practice. How might this experience, with all its contingencies and errancies, be made into the very stuff of the architectural histories, theories, criticisms and/or practices resulting from it?

This question is rendered all the timelier due to recent and ongoing developments across the globe, not least in the geographies relevant to IJIA’s remit. The fallout from the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ has escalated social, political, and economic crises and, in certain cases like Libya and Syria, has taken an overtly violent turn. Major countries with a predominantly Muslim population, such as Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia, have witnessed restrictions on civil liberties. Moreover, the word ‘Islam’ has become embroiled in various restrictive measures introduced in countries whose successive administrations have otherwise laid claim to being bastions of democracy and freedom, such as emergency rule in France and travel bans in the US.

Others with significant Muslim populations, such as India and Russia, have seen nationalist and/or populist surges, often with significant implications for their minorities. Such developments have engendered numerous issues of a markedly architectural and urban character, including migration, refuge, and warfare, protest and surveillance, as well as heightening the risk of contingencies and errancies affecting archival work and fieldwork.

Whereas this risk and its materializations are typically considered unfortunate predicaments and written out of research outputs, how might a focus on architecture at this juncture help write them back into history, theory, criticism, and practice? What might this mean for the ways in which architectural research is conceived and carried out under seemingly ‘ordinary’ circumstances – those that appear free from the risk of contingencies and errancies affecting archival work and field work?

Deadline for submissions: 30th July 2018

For more information: https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=204/view,page=2/

Call for Papers: Architecture and Culture “The AHRA Review of Books”, Deadline: 30th June 2018

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When Architecture & Culture, the Journal of the Architectural Humanities Research Association, was first launched in November 2013, the intention was to include book reviews. We have a designated editor for book reviews, and we have sporadically published essays that review books, when those essays concern the theme of a particular journal issue. What we have not done is to dedicate a regular section of the journal to book reviews, or to solicit new books from publishers (who send them, regardless).

Here, we broach the issue of book reviews by foregrounding the suggestion that to review is more than to formulate a critique of something, it is “to look at or to examine again … to look back upon” (Collins English Dictionary). Our interest is to re-view the book review, to study its different roles and explore its possibilities for architecture’s various modes of production, dissemination and reflection.

Deadline for submissions: 30th June 2018

For more information: http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/pgas/rfac-cfp-book-reviews

Detail Design Clinic: Monday 26th March, All Day, M416

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Detail Design Clinic offered to 2nd Year students on their Des2B:Design and Detail Module is taking place today in M416.

The Detailed Design Study (DDS) is an investigation into materials and technology, at both detailed and strategic level, supporting the development of the Des2B developed design project.

The making of architecture – its construction and the experience of it – will be explored as strategic sketches and also a series of ‘Technical Moments’ or ‘Human Scale Details’ which make up part of the building envelope and together develop its design.

The lectures, seminars, tutorials and symposium serve as an introduction to the practice of ‘architectural detailing’; the process and rigour required to design the details of a building and the relevance of material choice to construction and environmental considerations.

Morning Session with:

  • Scott Batty Architect_UOW
  • Jeremy Young_Featherstone Young Architects
  • Wayne Head_Curl la Tourelle Head Architects
  • Theclalin Cheung_ Curl la Tourelle Head Architects

Afternoon Session with:

  • Scott Batty Architect_UOW
  • Jim Potter_Waind Gohil + Potter
  • Elantha Evans Architect_UOW
  • Andrew Whiting_HUT
  • Sangkil Park_MAKE

Volunteering Opportunity – Caukin Studio’s “Design, Build, Travel” Project

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Caukin Studio is still looking for volunteers to fill a couple of places on their Masama Project in Sierra Leone in November 2018, and the last four weeks of Savundrodro project, Fiji in August / September 2018.

More information along with the briefing documents can be found on the Caukin Studio’s website.

Christine Cai of DS22 Winner of the 125 Fund Award at the University of Westminster Alumni Awards

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Christine Cai’s final project with the MArch Design Studio 22 is titled the “Journey of Object [X]”. The project is based on an open research strategy used to study the communities of Persian Gulf particularly of the Strait of Hormuz.

As a part of the initial brief Christine was asked to design and make a device, which would help raise awareness of the silent communities surrounding the periphery of the Strait of Hormuz. Her design comprises series of lenses assembled with laser-cut components into a cloaking device that renders ‘Object [X]’ visible and invisible as it passes through the lenses. The device symbolises the informal trading communities of the Strait.

The 125 Fund helped pay for the materials and transport costs.

National Eisteddfod of Wales, Architecture Scholarship, £1,500 – Deadline: 14th March

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The Architecture Scholarship of £1,500 will be awarded to the most promising candidate to enable him/her to further his/her understanding of creative architecture.

The scholarship is open to those under 25 years before 31 August 2018 and born in Wales, or with one of their parents born in Wales, or who have lived or worked in Wales for the three years prior to that date, or able to speak or write the Welsh language.

Candidates will be expected to present a digital portfolio on a closed CD, readable on Mac and PC platforms. A letter explaining how it is intended to put the scholarship to use should also be submitted. The work submitted may be displayed in the Visual Arts Exhibition during the National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Selectors: Paul Harries (University of Wales Trinity Saint David), Sara Hedd Ifan (Powell Dobson Architects)

Closing date: 14 March 2018

Application form: http://ow.ly/2SWf30gZfUO

Further information:

Robyn Tomos, Visual Arts Officer, National Eisteddfod of Wales,
40 Parc Tŷ Glas, Llanishen, Cardiff CF14 5DU
tel: 0845 4090 300
E: robyn@eisteddfod.org.uk
www.eisteddfod.wales

Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA): MArch DS23 visit to Brunel Building in Paddington

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Yesterday morning, MArch Design Studio 23 visited Brunel Building construction site.

Brunel Building is an innovative new workplace located on the Grand Union Canal opposite Paddington Station. The scheme includes significant improvements to the public realm, and when complete will create a new section of canal towpath to link the Paddington Basin with Little Venice. (Fletcher Priest)

The architects behind the project are Fletcher Priest and the contractor is Laing O’Rourke.

This visit was part of a 3-stage programme with Laing O’Rourke under the theme of DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly), which links with DS23‘s design brief this year.

The programme, which also included a seminar with students and Laing O’Rourke on DfMA at the University of Westminster, as well as an upcoming visit to the Laing O’Rourke Explore Industrial Park Workshop, has been organised by Scott Batty.

PLAYweek: Westminster Construction Society Educational Trip to BRE Innovation Park

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Fri 16 February 2018 11:00-17:00

BRE Innovation Park

Launched in 2005, the Park at BRE’s headquarters in Garston, Watford, continues to set the standard for BRE’s Innovation Parks across the world. The Park started life as a small-scale demonstration of modern-methods-of-construction (MMC) and quickly developed in a facility rich in innovation.

The Innovation Parks feature full-scale demonstration buildings that have been developed by industry partners. These buildings display innovative design, materials and technologies which combine to address the development challenges facing regions across the world.

Travel Details

Date of Visit: 16 February 2018

Coach pick up at 11am – 11:30 am in front of Madame Tussauds

Journey time – approx. 1 hour 30 min

Arrive at BRE around 12:30 – 1:00pm

Audio Tour commences around: 1.30pm (lasting approx. 90min)

Coach to leave between 3.30-4:00 back to Marylebone Campus.

25 students, 5 members of staff, £5 each.

Students log in to buy tickets: https://www.uwsu.com/ents/event/197/

Organised by Scott Batty, Will McLean, Hussain Tawanaee