Design Yearbook 2015
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<strong>2015</strong><br />
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape<br />
Newcastle University
Contents<br />
Welcome 3<br />
BA 4<br />
Stage 1<br />
Stage 2<br />
Charrette<br />
Stage 3<br />
BA Dissertation<br />
Imaginative Use for Vacant Space - Bryony Simcox<br />
Age Friendly City Newcastle - Rose Gilroy<br />
4<br />
MArch 63<br />
Stage 5 - Semester 1<br />
Thinking-Through-Making Week<br />
Stage 5 - Semester 2<br />
Linked Research<br />
New Urban Energy Futures - Carlos Calderon<br />
MArch Travel Diaries<br />
MArch Dissertation<br />
Paradise Lost: A Study in Oceanic Re-synthesis - Rachel Armstrong<br />
Stage 6<br />
Research 128<br />
Taught Masters Programmes<br />
PhD / PhD by Creative Practice<br />
Future Venice 2: Zanzara Island - Rachel Armstrong<br />
Architecture Research Collaborative<br />
Architecture and Roadmap to Manage Multiple Pressures on Lagoons - Simin Davoudi, Paul Cowie<br />
Computing with Nature - Rachel Armstrong<br />
63<br />
128
Welcome<br />
Professor Graham Farmer - Director of Architecture<br />
Five years ago we (re)launched a <strong>Yearbook</strong> publication to sit alongside our Newcastle Degree Show<br />
and developing plans for an annual exhibition in London. Each is now well established and forms<br />
a key and particular moment in the academic calendar when we have opportunity to celebrate and<br />
reflect on a year’s hard work on behalf of our staff and students. The Newcastle Show presents and<br />
promotes our current student work within the regional context and the London Show enables us<br />
to connect and engage with a wider constituency of alumni and practitioners. The <strong>Yearbook</strong> is<br />
becoming an important record of the development of our School, programmes and students, as well<br />
as a reference to our shifting concerns and ambitions. There is no doubt that the work contained<br />
within the following pages continues to convey the evolving ethos of the School, as well as the<br />
diversity, sense of invention, energy, enthusiasm and relevance that continue to characterise and<br />
define our teaching and research.<br />
This has certainly been a year of positive developments. Prue Chiles and Rachel Armstrong joined us<br />
as Professors of Architecture <strong>Design</strong> Research and Experimental Architecture respectively, and Steve<br />
Parnell and Ed Wainwright have recently taken up new posts as full-time lecturers. Alongside the<br />
arrival of new colleagues we have introduced several new teaching and research initiatives and events,<br />
and integrated a wide range of new design projects and studios, each of which have delivered some<br />
excellent work at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. One key feature of this year’s design<br />
projects has been their international outlook, and whilst we retain a strong connection and concern<br />
with our city and region, a substantial proportion of our work has been focused on broader horizons.<br />
This year Stage 5 based themselves in Rotterdam for two semesters and the move to year-long<br />
studios in Stage 3 opened up a fascinating diversity of studio-related study tours and building visits<br />
in Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. Meanwhile, Stage 6 students have explored<br />
thesis design projects in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America with one student even launching an<br />
unmanned balloon 26km up into the stratosphere as part of his thesis research.<br />
Continuing with the international theme, in the Autumn the School jointly organised and hosted the<br />
11th AHRA International Conference; ‘Industries of Architecture’ which brought together academics<br />
and practitioners from across the globe to interrogate and debate the wider industrial, technical<br />
and socio-economic contexts in which architecture is both shaped and constructed. This conference<br />
has helped to cement and extend the School’s growing international reputation as a major global<br />
centre for teaching and research through the exploration of humanities-based, speculative and critical<br />
agendas. We also organised and hosted the ‘Computing with Nature’ International symposium<br />
in May and we will host the Utopian Studies Society 16th International Conference ‘Utopia and<br />
the Ends of the City’ in July. Within our regional context we have continued the development of<br />
design-build projects as a mode of architectural pedagogy and as a means to engage with, and to<br />
make a difference to local communities. The Warm Room at Kielder Village, designed and built by<br />
seven MArch students, follows the successful completion of the Stonehaugh Stargazing Pavilion last<br />
year. This project was shortlisted and prominently featured in the Architects’ Journal Small Projects<br />
Award <strong>2015</strong>. That external recognition was one of numerous successes in national and international<br />
competitions and particular mention this year goes to Nathalie Gilbert-Gray and Joseph Worrall<br />
who were placed first and runner-up in the RIBA Hadrian Medal for Part 2 with Ruth Pearn also<br />
runner-up at Part 1. More recently, Assia Stefanova was awarded second prize in the RIBA and<br />
Commonwealth Association of Architects 50th Anniversary International Competition ‘Visualising<br />
the Future of the City’ for her thesis project ‘The Floating Square Mile, London’. Congratulations<br />
to each of them.<br />
Finally, in the introduction to our 2010-11 <strong>Yearbook</strong>, I wrote about the precariousness of architectural<br />
education at a time when we were being faced with the uncertainty of a new funding regime in Higher<br />
Education. Having this year graduated our first cohort of students to come through that new system<br />
we now know that students were not only still keen to study architecture with us, but that they also<br />
want to do so in growing numbers. In recent years we have seen both the number of applications<br />
to our programmes and students who make us first choice rise substantially. Whilst the uncertainty<br />
surrounding architectural education has certainly not gone away, and we are facing impending<br />
structural changes driven by EU Directives and a recent RIBA review of architectural education, we<br />
can nevertheless look forward to the next five years with both optimism and confidence.<br />
3
Stage 1<br />
Stage one is a varied introduction to architecture, characterised by numerous workshops, visits and handson<br />
activities, and students respond to it with great energy. For the first semester Stage 1 architecture<br />
students share their modules with students who are on the BA in Architecture and Urban Planning.<br />
In the first week of term students take part in a number of intense design charrettes with all students from<br />
across the School. First year begins with a number of skill-building exercises involving measuring, observation<br />
and photography in buildings in and around Newcastle, as well as life and object drawing. Their first design<br />
project explores the domestic interiors of Pieter de Hooch through model-making and drawing. Students are<br />
then asked to make individual portfolios and curate their semester one work. Theory, history and technology<br />
are taught through lectures, seminars and group work, and are also integrated into the design teaching.<br />
In semester two, students start by studying a series of 20th and 21st century row house precedents before<br />
designing their own house for an artist on an inner-city site, where scale, function, materiality and<br />
construction of space are developed. There is a whole-year history trip to Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire,<br />
and an optional visit to the Sir John Soane Museum, London. A final semester two project focusses on<br />
unbuilt and lost architecture and asks students to convey architectural ideas through the use of digital<br />
media, before students bring together the great range of work they have undertaken for the portfolio.<br />
Year Coordinator<br />
Martin Beattie<br />
Project Leaders<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
Jennie Webb<br />
Martin Beattie<br />
Peter Kellet<br />
Contributors<br />
Alicea Berkin<br />
Andrew Ballantyne<br />
Andrew Wilson<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Astrid Lund<br />
Cath Keay<br />
Charlotte Powell<br />
Chris Beale<br />
Chris Elias<br />
Damien Wootten<br />
Deirdre Thompson<br />
Diana Leitch<br />
Emma Kirk<br />
Ewan Thompson<br />
Henna Asikainen<br />
James Longfield<br />
Jamie Morton<br />
Jenny Greveson<br />
Jenny Webb<br />
Joan Caba<br />
Johanna Hinchcliffe<br />
Kati Blom<br />
Keri Townsend<br />
Kevin Vong<br />
Kieran Connelly<br />
Lee Whitelock<br />
Matt Charlton<br />
Nikoletta Karastashi<br />
Peter Kellett<br />
Peter St Julien<br />
Richard McDonald<br />
Rumen Dimov<br />
Sana Al-Naimi<br />
Simon Brooke<br />
Smajo Beso<br />
Sneha Solanki<br />
Sophia Banou<br />
Steve Tomlinson<br />
Tara Stewart<br />
Thomas Kendall<br />
Thomas Lobb<br />
Toby Lloyd<br />
Tony Watson<br />
Tracey Tofield<br />
Yasser Megahed<br />
Students<br />
Aadil Toorawa<br />
Abell Eduard Ene<br />
Adenekan Lipede<br />
Agatha Savage<br />
Aishath Rasheed<br />
Alena Pavlenko<br />
Alexander McCulloch<br />
Alexander Gardner<br />
Alice Simpkins-Woods<br />
Alice Reeves<br />
Amber Farrow<br />
Ameeta Ladwa<br />
Andreas Haliman<br />
Angus Brown<br />
Anna Vershinina<br />
April Glasby<br />
Assem Nurymbayeva<br />
Benjamin Taylor<br />
Benjamin Maddix<br />
Chao Shen<br />
Charlotte Goodfellow<br />
Charlotte Armstrong<br />
Chi-Yao Lin<br />
Ciaran Horscraft<br />
Claudia Bannatyne<br />
Connor O’Neill<br />
Daniel Barrett<br />
Daniel Hill<br />
Daria Shvartchman<br />
Darren Watson<br />
David Jones<br />
Elisabeth Harris<br />
Eliza Hague<br />
Elizabeth Ridland<br />
Ella Merriman<br />
Elle-May Simmonds<br />
Emily Spencer<br />
Emily O’Hara<br />
Emma Burles<br />
Esme Hallam<br />
Farrah Colilles<br />
Fope Olaleye<br />
Gabrielle Beaumont<br />
George Oliver<br />
Grace de Rome<br />
Hannah Alexander<br />
Hannah Hiscock<br />
Harrison Avery<br />
Hector Laird<br />
Henry Valori<br />
Ho Yin Chung<br />
Huey Ee Yong<br />
Isabel Lyle<br />
Jack Ranby<br />
Jacob Smith<br />
James Kennedy<br />
Jennifer Betts<br />
Ji Chuen Ng<br />
Joe Dolby<br />
John O’Brien<br />
John Knight<br />
Jonathon McDonald<br />
Joseph Jennings<br />
Joseph Smith<br />
Juan Arbelaez<br />
Ka Chun Tsang<br />
Kate Byrne<br />
Kate Stephenson<br />
Katherina Bruh<br />
Katherine Rhodes<br />
Katherine Mitchell<br />
Kathryn Syddall<br />
Katie Longmore<br />
Kyran Weedon<br />
Laura Cushnie<br />
Liam Costain<br />
Lily Street<br />
Lily Travers<br />
Lucy Heal<br />
Marina Ryzhkova<br />
Marisa Bamberg<br />
Mark Laverty<br />
Matthew Hearn<br />
Matthew Layford<br />
Matthew Rooney<br />
Melitini Athanasiou<br />
Men Hin Choi<br />
Muhammad Asfand<br />
Natalie Mok<br />
Natasha Trayner<br />
Nial Parkash<br />
Nicholas Honey<br />
Nurul ‘Aqilah Binti Ali<br />
Octorino Tjandra<br />
Pannawat Sermsuk<br />
Paul Johnson<br />
Philippa McLeod-Brown<br />
Philippa Smith<br />
Prajwal Limbu<br />
Quynh Dang Le Tu<br />
Rachel Crowder<br />
Rachel Spencer<br />
Rebecca Rowland<br />
Regen Gregg<br />
Rhiannon Graham<br />
Richard Mayhew<br />
Robert Thackeray<br />
Robert Thurtell<br />
Rufaro Matanda<br />
Ryan Bemrose<br />
Ryoga Dipowikoro<br />
Sam Welbourne<br />
Samuel Nicholls<br />
Shien Min Gooi<br />
Shuyi Chen<br />
Simone Pearce<br />
Sirawat Thepcharoen<br />
Sze Choy<br />
Timothy Lucas<br />
Tristan Searight<br />
Trung Tran<br />
Tung Cao<br />
Victoria Harradine<br />
Vincent MacDonald<br />
William Mansell<br />
Wing Kei So<br />
Wing Kin Wong<br />
Yanjie Song<br />
Yee Yuen Ku<br />
Yi Shu<br />
Zhidong Liu<br />
Ziyun Wang<br />
AUP Students<br />
Alex Bowling<br />
Alex Robson<br />
Alexander Mackay<br />
Ali Alshirawi<br />
Ben Saunders<br />
Ben Szott<br />
Benjamin Church<br />
Boram Kwon<br />
Chia-Yuan Chang<br />
Christopher Hau<br />
Christy Yuen<br />
Eleanor Chapman<br />
Filip Ferkovic<br />
Hannah Knott<br />
Harley Wilkinson<br />
Henry Morgan<br />
James Ainsworth<br />
Jieyu Xiong<br />
Jonas Grytnes<br />
Lewis Seagrave<br />
Lok Leung<br />
Manveer Kaur Phull<br />
Nadine Landes<br />
Natalie Sung<br />
Nathan Wright<br />
Pham Phuong Anh<br />
Runyu Zhang<br />
Sam McDonough<br />
Sardar Dara<br />
Shehabeldin Fawzy<br />
Sheryl Lee<br />
Simona Penkauskaite<br />
Thasnia Haque<br />
Thomas Gibbons<br />
Wing Kin Wong<br />
Yeqian Gao<br />
Yilan Zhang<br />
Yilin Gan<br />
Yuxiang Wang<br />
4
A Room Beyond the Frame<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
The project focusses on orderly domestic interiors depicted by Pieter de Hooch in Holland during the mid to late seventeenth century. We begin by<br />
observing, drawing and modelling the fragment of the house in the painting, before designing a new room beyond it.<br />
6<br />
Top - Alena Pavlenko Bottom - Wing Kei So
Clockwise from Top left - Yanjie Song, Katherine Mitchell, Henry Valori, Philippa McLeod, Pannawat Sermsuk, Alena Pavlenko<br />
7
Urban Living<br />
Martin Beattie<br />
Students were asked to design a modest 3-bedroom row house, and studio for an artist and their family. The site, in the Ouseburn Valley, is an area close<br />
to Newcastle city centre, with a rich industrial past.<br />
8 Top left - Henry Valori Bottom - Yee Yuen Ku
Top - Wing Kei So<br />
Bottom - Trung Hieu Tran<br />
9
Unbuilt Architecture<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
ARC1016 is designed to introduce the use of digital media within the creative architectural design process. Digital communication tools are used to<br />
re-analyse and re-interpret three unbuilt and lost works of architecture: Cedric Price, Fun Palace; Louis Khan, US Consulate in Luanda; and John<br />
Dobson, Royal Arcade.<br />
10 Elizabeth Ridland The Royal Arcade
Top - Amber Farrow Fun Palace Middle - Men Hin Choi Luanda Consulate Bottom - Angus Brown Luanda Consulate<br />
11
Stage 2<br />
Students in Stage 2 are encouraged to take a series of progressively more challenging steps in their<br />
development as thinkers, designers and, ultimately, as people. An interlinked set of four studio-based<br />
design projects act as stepping-stones that negotiate students through the turbulent waters of architectural<br />
discourse and theory, ultimately depositing them on the brink of their final year. Emphasis is given to the<br />
relation of buildings and designs to particular social and physical contexts, as well as to the exploration and<br />
integration of sustainable technologies and materials, whilst a wide range of communication techniques<br />
and approaches are encouraged and developed along the way.<br />
That being said, in a way that is not altogether explicable to me personally, the experience of teaching in<br />
Stage 2 is far greater than simply the sum of its parts or projects. It isn’t the steps outlined above, rather the<br />
change they bring about in individuals that is fascinating to witness - to see students morph from design<br />
toddlers into inquisitive and adventurous young architects (despite our best efforts at times), is an exciting<br />
and profound experience.<br />
Year Coordinator<br />
Simon Hacker<br />
Project Leaders<br />
Simon Hacker<br />
Project Tutors<br />
Ashley Mason<br />
Astrid Lund<br />
Bill Tavernor<br />
Daniel Kerr<br />
Di Leitch<br />
James Longfield<br />
Jenny Webb<br />
Kate Wilson<br />
Kati Blom<br />
Kieran Connelly<br />
Tony Watson<br />
Contributors<br />
Alyssia Booth<br />
Assia Stefanova<br />
Carol Meteyard<br />
Ceri Turner<br />
Emily-Jayne Harper<br />
Ewan Thomson<br />
Imogen Holden<br />
Jamie Anderson<br />
Jessica Davidson<br />
Matas Belevicius<br />
Matthew Mouncey<br />
Michal Kubis<br />
Richard Taylor<br />
Roubini Hadjicosti<br />
Rumen Dimov<br />
Sabrina Lee<br />
Seva Karetnikov<br />
Simon Baker<br />
Simon Bumstead<br />
Students<br />
Adam Najia<br />
Adnan Qatan<br />
Aldrich Choy<br />
Alex Jusupov<br />
Alexander Ferguson<br />
Alexander Borrell<br />
Alice Farmer<br />
Alice Chilman<br />
Alicia Beaumont<br />
Aminul Khan<br />
Amy Callaghan<br />
Anna Denker<br />
Anthony Metelerkamp<br />
Antonis Kypridemos<br />
Antonius Tanady<br />
Arthur Bayele<br />
Ashleigh Usher<br />
Ashok Mathur<br />
Becky Somerville<br />
Benjamin Simpson<br />
Benjamin Martin<br />
Bethan Thomas<br />
Bethany Elmer<br />
Bradley Davidson<br />
Caitlin Latimer-Jones<br />
Cheuk Chung<br />
Chloe Weston<br />
Christopher Gabe<br />
Clement Ting Yiung Tang<br />
David Winter<br />
Declan Wagstaff<br />
Edgar Sin<br />
Ekrem Sungur<br />
Eleanor Brent<br />
Elise Khoury<br />
Ellen Peirson<br />
Emily Hinchliffe<br />
Erica Caballero<br />
Finian Orme<br />
Finlay McGregor<br />
Frances Grace Fen-Yi Lai<br />
Frederick Armitage<br />
Frederick Lewis<br />
Gaurav Kapoor<br />
George Entwistle<br />
George Parfitt<br />
George Marr<br />
Georgina McEwan<br />
Hayley Graham<br />
Hiu Lau<br />
Hoi Chau<br />
Holly Tisson<br />
Hsin-Wei Lin<br />
Ioana Vladoiu<br />
Ioi Tsang<br />
Iona Haig<br />
Ivo Pery<br />
Jack Cross<br />
Jack Ryan<br />
Jack Glasspool<br />
Jack Lewandowski<br />
Jaimie Claydon<br />
James Clark<br />
Jenna Sheehy<br />
Jennifer MacFadyen<br />
Jessica Wheeler<br />
Jie Lee<br />
Jordi Ryano<br />
Josephine Foster<br />
Julian Besems<br />
Justyna Jaroszewicz<br />
Ka Hei Surin Tong<br />
Kai Wing Phoebe Mo<br />
Kimberly Baker<br />
Kiran Milton<br />
Lauren Ly<br />
Loretta Ming Wai So<br />
Lucy Hartley<br />
Luke Rossi<br />
Luke Dunlop<br />
Lydia Hyde<br />
Man Chun Ip<br />
Marios Kypridemos<br />
Matthew Smith<br />
Matthew Langley<br />
Melissa Wear<br />
Meshal Hasan<br />
Michael Bautista-Trimming<br />
Michael Wilkinson<br />
Minfeng Zhou<br />
Mojan Kavosh<br />
Naomi Sivosh<br />
Natasha Heyes<br />
Nicholas Green<br />
Nicholas Harmer<br />
Oliver Crossley<br />
Patrick King<br />
Pui Chu<br />
Rita Mbabazi<br />
Rui Huang<br />
Samuel Fox<br />
Sara Kelly<br />
Scott Doherty<br />
Seyed Fard<br />
Sihyun Kim<br />
Simon Quinton<br />
Sin Yi Wong<br />
Sun Yen Yee<br />
Tanatswa Borerwe<br />
Thomas Reeves<br />
Thomas Badger<br />
Thomas Ardron<br />
Tooka Taheri<br />
Tsz Wai Fung<br />
Tulsi Phadke<br />
Wei Zhang<br />
Xavier Smales<br />
Yiwen Fu<br />
Yuet So<br />
Yuk Lun Chong<br />
Zhi Wei Chad Seah<br />
Zhuoran Li<br />
Zineb Khadri<br />
12<br />
Opposite - Group 11 Crossover Project
14 Top - Lauren Ly Organisation of staircases Middle - George Parfitt Prospect & Refuge Bottom - Christ Gabe Placed, Displaced
Top - Sihyun Kim Living on the Edge Middle - Alex Borrell Living on the Edge Bottom - Nick Harmer Living on the Edge<br />
15
16 Top - Jordi Ryano Living on the Edge Middle - Naomi Howell Living on the Edge Bottom - Oli Crossley Living on the Edge
Top - Sun Yen Yee Prospect & Refuge<br />
Middle, Bottom - Ben Simpson Prospect & Refuge<br />
17
18 Left - Allan Chong Prospect & Refuge Top right - Group 11 Crossover Project Bottom right - Group 13 Crossover Project
Top - Allan Chong Prospect & Refuge Middle - Chris Gabe Prospect & Refuge Bottom - Sun Yee Yee Prospect & Refuge<br />
19
20 Top - Lauren Ly Prospect & Refuge Bottom - Nick Harmer Propsect & Refuge
Top - Group 1 Crossover Project<br />
Bottom - Group 15 Crossover Project<br />
21
Charrette<br />
Charrette week starts our academic year in the School, bringing together a host of architects, artists, engineers, designers and thinkers to run a series of<br />
week-long workshops around a variety of themed projects. Students from every year of our taught design courses, both undergraduate and postgraduate,<br />
join together to film, record, design, engineer and make projects and pieces for a culminating exhibition.<br />
Charrette 1: ¡Vamos! Hub Space<br />
Nikolas Barrera & Sally Poore<br />
Charrette 2: Un-wasting Opportunities<br />
Amara Roca Iglesias<br />
Charrette 3: Materiality of Landscape<br />
Amy Linford<br />
Charrette 4: The Brick Crisis<br />
Chris Wilkins & Rachel Whitam<br />
Charrette 5: Drink the Bar Dry<br />
Ed Bennett, Alex Gordon & Ruairi Reeves<br />
Charrette 6: The Unseen & The Unheard<br />
Gareth Hudson & Jez Riley French<br />
Charrette 7: Thinking | Building | Thinking<br />
Kevin Gray & Chris Bell<br />
Charrette 8: # One week | One seat<br />
Libby Makinson & Shevaughn Gill<br />
Charrette 9: Machine for Living<br />
Matthew Lawes & Dan Kerr<br />
Charrette 10: Percep-polis<br />
Ruth Lang & Andrew Walker<br />
Charrette 11: Synaesthesia<br />
Tom Randle & Matthew Charlton<br />
22
Stage 3<br />
The now well-established social condenser charrettes week continues to open the 3rd year with exhilarating<br />
pace and thought-provoking briefs. The graduating year gives students the opportunity to pursue their<br />
own independent research undertaking a dissertation, with dedicated weeks throughout the semester that<br />
support their critical writing. Six design studios ran throughout the year, each with a distinct pedagogic<br />
intent and focus. The offer encompassed explorations of light and matter (Matter of Light), collections<br />
and curation (Show & Store), critical position in historic building extension (Building on What is Already<br />
Built), cross-over territories, limits and thresholds (Loose-Fit Urban Territories), critical imagination and<br />
tactile experimentation (Matter) and mechanisms of infrastructural renewal (Infrastructures). All these<br />
themes were reinforced by a field trip abroad. Whether Tenerife, Lisbon and Porto, Barcelona, Paris,<br />
Basel or the Ruhr Valley (Emscher Park), the trips presented an opportunity for students to immerse<br />
themselves in the culture, theory and practice advocated by each studio. The design projects also provide<br />
the opportunity to explore and test technological, theoretical or professional facets through non-design<br />
modules including technology, professional practice and principles and theories.<br />
Year Coordinator<br />
Daniel Mallo<br />
Project Leaders<br />
Aikaterini Antonopoulou<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Daniel Mallo<br />
David McKenna<br />
Ed Wainwright<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
James Longfield<br />
Josep-Maria Garcia Fuentes<br />
Kati Blom<br />
Kieran Connolly<br />
Matthew Margetts<br />
Sam Clark<br />
Zeynep Kezer<br />
Contributors<br />
Adam Sharr<br />
Aldric Rodriguez Iborra<br />
Alexis Lautier<br />
Amy Linford<br />
Ciara McDermott<br />
Damien Wootten<br />
Joan Caba<br />
Kevin Adams<br />
Kevin Gray<br />
Laura Harty<br />
Luca Reale<br />
Nick Szschepaniak<br />
Paul Grindley<br />
Pete Brittain<br />
Peter Mouncey<br />
Phil Oliver<br />
Rutter Carroll<br />
Simon Hacker<br />
Sophia Banou<br />
Stuart Dickson<br />
Tim Mosedale<br />
Students<br />
Aashiv Shah<br />
Abi Jones<br />
Adam Todhunter<br />
Adam Binns<br />
Adel Kamashki<br />
Adomas Novogrodskis<br />
Agnieszka Flis<br />
Aleksandra Murzina<br />
Alexander Minney<br />
Alice Ravenhill<br />
Anastasiya Kozina<br />
Anchal Shamanur<br />
Ariana Monioudis<br />
Babatunde Ibrahim<br />
Bernita Zhen<br />
Bonan Xu<br />
Bryony Simcox<br />
Carina Costina<br />
Chong Hui<br />
Ciaran Costello<br />
Clare Bond<br />
Connor Kendrick<br />
Damian English<br />
Darragh O’ Keeffe<br />
David Laidler<br />
Demetris Socratous<br />
Dominic Davies<br />
Edward Newcome<br />
Eleanor Gair<br />
Elizabeth Holroyd<br />
Elliot Hawrot<br />
Elliot Shaw<br />
Emily Blane<br />
Emily Ingleson<br />
Emma Gibson<br />
Florence Graham<br />
Fook Chin<br />
Francesca Barbour<br />
Hannah Auty<br />
Hannah Green<br />
Harry Thompson<br />
Harry Checkland<br />
Haw HII<br />
He Xu<br />
Hera Saqib<br />
Isobel Eaton<br />
Jade Moore<br />
Jake Richardson<br />
James Hunt<br />
James Killeavy<br />
Jasmine Tan<br />
Jessica Goodwin<br />
Jessica Barton<br />
Joanna Lindley<br />
John Harvey<br />
Joseph English<br />
Joshua Higginbottom<br />
Larika Desai<br />
Laura Sumardi<br />
Lauren Markham<br />
Lewis Darnton<br />
Linda Velika<br />
Lorna Clements<br />
Lorna Gallagher<br />
Louisa Treadwell<br />
Luana Kwok<br />
Luke Towner<br />
Lydia Mills<br />
Matthew Turnbull<br />
Matthew Plant<br />
Maximilian Taylor<br />
Ole Steen<br />
Oliver Wolf<br />
Olivia Ebune<br />
Oluwatofunmi Onaeko<br />
Philippa Skingsley<br />
Philippa Oakes<br />
Ping Ju<br />
Preena Mistry<br />
Ramez Khalil<br />
Randi Karangizi<br />
Raymond Boedi<br />
Richard Dunn<br />
Robert Cropper<br />
Robert Douglas<br />
Ruta Bertauskyte<br />
Sally William<br />
Sarah Hollywell<br />
Sarah Topley<br />
Shannon Maclaughlan<br />
Sharifah AlBarakbah<br />
Shauna Mcdonald<br />
Shiyun Chen<br />
Simona Kuneva<br />
Sophie Baldwin<br />
Su Denktas<br />
Vishal Mandaliya<br />
Wongani Mwanza<br />
Xiaoli Tian<br />
Xiaoxu Ban<br />
Yan Ming<br />
Yasmin Kelly<br />
Yee Chew<br />
Yejing Fan<br />
Yu Qiao<br />
Yung Leung<br />
Zewei Wu<br />
Zhangxuifu Wu<br />
24 Opposite - John Harvey Building On What Is Already Built
Studio 1 - Matter of Light<br />
Daniel Mallo & Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Matter of Light studio focuses on the relationship between light and materiality through a photographic and spatial exploration. Light stimulates<br />
materials, rendering them vibrant; in turn, materials have the capacity of capturing and revealing light. The market town of Richmond, North Yorkshire,<br />
with its highly varied roof-scape and rich topography offers the site for this exploration, whilst the intricate urban fabric allows the creation of unexpected<br />
routes and artificial topographies connecting disconnected parts of the market town.<br />
26<br />
Lauren Markham Light Institute
Top - Lauren Markham Light Institute<br />
Bottom - Joshua Higginbottom Matter of Light: Richmond Institute of Photography<br />
27
28 Top left - Haichao Wang Light Institute Top right - Philippa Skingsley Light Institute Bottom - Preena Mistry Light Institute
Top - Robert Douglas Light Institute Middle - Florence Graham Matter of Light Bottom - Elizabeth Holroyd Light Institute<br />
29
30 Top - Tofunmi Onaeko Light Institute Middle - Philippa Skingsley Light Institute Bottom - Preena Mistry Light Institute
Top - Xiaoli Tian Light Institute<br />
Bottom - Tofunmi Onaeko Light Institute<br />
31
Studio 2 - Show/Store<br />
Kati Blom & David McKenna<br />
Students develop a small scale prototype (or incubator) in order to establish a design methodology and programme for a larger proposal.<br />
In the first project, CHAMBER, we started with a small rehearsal space and a construction fragment. From these emerged a residential institute for a<br />
quartet of musicians. The graduation project, SHOW & STORE, began with a pavilion to store and exhibit a single object, extrapolated to a building<br />
to house a larger compendium.<br />
32 Top - Randi Karangizi Block and Print Bottom - Max Taylor A Mine of Information
Emma Gibson Soup Kitchen<br />
33
34 Top - Lorna Gallagher Wax Works Middle,Bottom - Max Taylor A mine of Information
Top left, top right - Randi Karangizi Block and Print<br />
Bottom - Elliot Shaw Show-Store<br />
35
36 Top - Hera Saqib The Frame House Bottom - Dominic Davies Maritime Museum of the Tyne
Yan Ming Show-Store<br />
37
Studio 3 - Building on What is Already Built<br />
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes, Kieran Connolly & Sam Clark<br />
This project challenges students to design a major addition to an existing heritage building. It requires understanding the existing building in all of the<br />
ways its architecture and materials express the values it sought to represent and serve at the time, and in the ways that these meanings might or might<br />
not be extended, enriched or transformed and reshaped by the new addition.<br />
38 James Hunt
Top - Adel Kamashki Animate Illuminate<br />
Bottom - Claire Bond The Organic Regeneration of Grainger Market<br />
39
40 Top - Adam Binns An Optional Necessity Bottom - Oliver Wolf Diagon Alley
John Harvey Building On What Is Already Built<br />
41
42 Top - Adel Kamashki Animate Illuminate Middle - James Hunt Building on What is Already Built Bottom - Adam Binns Optional Necessity
Vishal Mandaliya Bizzare Bazaar<br />
43
Studio 4 - Loose-Fit Urban Territories<br />
Aikaterini Antonopoulou & Chris French<br />
The aim of this studio was to take on the question of architecture’s territoriality, to explore architecture’s role in negotiating boundaries and in bridging<br />
different social, spatial, and programmatic situations. The site for the various investigations was the extended territory of the river Tyne, a critical<br />
historical, socioeconomic armature around which the cities of Newcastle and Gateshead were and are organised. In response to the increasingly<br />
problematic treatment of architectural territory in processes of city planning - namely the widespread hardening of borders and boundaries between<br />
(economic, programmatic, etc.) conditions - this studio developed a series of architectural propositions and associated territories that aim to re-orient<br />
the city toward a loose-fit urban assemblage more befitting the nature of, to use Andrea Branzi’s term, the ‘city of the present’.<br />
44 Anchal Shamanur Loose-Fit Urban Territories
Left to right, from top - Olivia Ebune, Hannah Auty, Sharifah AlBarakbah, Louisa Treadwell, Edward Newcome, Adam Todhunter, Linda Velika, Demetris Socratois<br />
45
46 From top: Linda Velika, Olivia Ebune, Demetris Socratous, Adam Todhunter
Top - Edward Newcome Elswick Cycleway Bridge<br />
Bottom - Sharifah Safira AlBarakbah Irving’s Play[Ground]<br />
47
Studio 5 - Matter<br />
Graham Farmer & James Longfield<br />
The studio worked with two related projects and explored the meaning of concrete as a construction material within the NE region. In the first project,<br />
‘Mass’ students developed proposals for an archeological centre in Newcastle’s Castle Garth and evolved a design position through direct material<br />
experimentation and techniques of casting and carving. The second project ‘Memory’ engaged with more recent urban histories and worked within the<br />
context of controversial 1960’s ‘Brutalist’ architectures in Durham.<br />
48 Sophie Baldwin Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past
Left - Lewis Darnton Mass: Urban Archeology Centre<br />
Right - Fook Hai Ivan Chin Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past<br />
49
50 Top - Aleksandra Murzina Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past Middle,Bottom - Chong Hei Hui Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past
Top - Aleksandra Murzina Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past<br />
Bottom - Sophie Baldwin Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past<br />
Middle - David Laidler Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past<br />
51
52 Top - Richard Dunn Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past Bottom - Joseph English Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past
Top - Chong Hei Hui Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past<br />
Bottom - David Laidler Memory: Archive of the Recent Urban Past<br />
53
Studio 6 - Infrastructures<br />
Ed Wainwright, Matthew Margetts & Zeynep Kezer<br />
Infrastructure forms the substrata of our lives. We live in amongst a web, a network of connections that intersects almost all areas of urban and rural<br />
environments. These infrastructures are always, to some extent, physical - they have a material existence that is in a constant state of flux: as technologies<br />
change, their distribution channels alter too. And they leave legacies that offer the potential to be rethought, reimagined and reintegrated into the fabric<br />
of the city. Infrastructures studio asked students to intervene in these webs of connections, in the Northeast and London’s urban motorway, the A40,<br />
proposing architectural tactics that responded to social and cultural contexts in the spaces on, under and between infrastructure.<br />
54 Xiaoxu Ban The Westbourne Park Boat Centre
Adomas Novogrodskis A40 London: Edible Infrastructures<br />
55
56 Top - Xiaoxu Ban Middle - Francesca Rose Barbour The Building Blocks Bottom - Ole Petter Steen Counter-Consumption: Self-Storage and Exhibition Tour
Raymond Boedi The Living Wall<br />
57
BA Dissertation<br />
LEGO and Architecture - Toying with Construction<br />
Jessica Barton<br />
LEGO can be considered one of the leaders in toy manufacturing, establishing itself culturally in the<br />
world of play. This thesis addresses the notion of ‘play’ within the architectural realm through the<br />
conducting of investigations into LEGO in its many forms. Research into the brand identity and<br />
company values provided evidence of LEGO’s determination to be perceived as a creative tool, in<br />
both the child and adult world.<br />
With reference to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I have evaluated the importance of play and how<br />
it has proved to be a prerequisite for childhood development. Through historical research into the<br />
modernist movement I have distinguished the relationships between LEGO as a construction toy<br />
and the built environment. It is through play that we experience our first connections to the world of<br />
architecture. By implementing a critical study into the construction of LEGO’s interpretation of Frank<br />
Lloyd Wright’s Iconic building, Fallingwater, I have determined how LEGO can be considered an<br />
informative tool in understanding famous architecture and the works of some of the most recognised<br />
architects of our time. A further study into the LEGO Architecture Studio Set has strengthened my<br />
findings and established how LEGO can be used in the professional world as a creative tool, aiding<br />
the understanding of important architectural concepts and ideologies. The triumphs of the LEGO<br />
company are indisputable and something that must pay tribute to the corporation’s ability to strike<br />
a successful balance between innovation and tradition, relaying a powerful message to its audiences<br />
of learning through play.<br />
Sustainable Social Housing Performance and Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies -<br />
Empirical evaluation of occupant behaviour and home energy use in low-carbon affordable<br />
housing schemes in South Tyneside and Hebburn in the United Kingdom<br />
Ole Petter Steen<br />
In recent years several new low-carbon social housing projects are being constructed across the UK<br />
in an ongoing endeavour to significantly reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions in the nation.<br />
Despite the increasing interest in sustainable homes and energy performance, the occupants’<br />
behavioural patterns and their effect on energy consumption are seldom taken into consideration.<br />
This paper reflects on the dependant interactions between consumption and human behaviour<br />
in their material, cultural and social context. The present study examines the findings of a postoccupancy<br />
evaluation conducted at two low-income housing estates in the North-East of England,<br />
both Code 4 and above. The emerging findings from the survey indicate that there is significant<br />
correlation between building performance and occupants’ behaviour, as energy-consumption seems<br />
to reflect previous habits and levels of comfort. Most occupants were generally dissatisfied with<br />
the information provided, further preventing the competent adoption and use of energy-efficient<br />
technology. The aim is to carefully assess these factors that obstruct the effective use of sustainable<br />
communities, in order to provide areas of recommendations for future low-carbon developments.<br />
Architecture and BSED - <strong>Design</strong>ing Classrooms in Pupil Referral Units to Improve the<br />
Concentration and Behaviour of pupils with Behavioural Social and Emotional Difficulty<br />
Preena Mistry<br />
Research into the Government’s current design guidelines of Pupil Referral Units showed that information<br />
on designing for the specific needs of pupils with Behavioural, Social and Emotional Difficulty<br />
appeared to be lacking. This dissertation deconstructs existing government design guidelines<br />
of PRUs, to identify key areas of information on classroom design that could be expanded upon.<br />
The identified key areas of design are reviewed in relation to pupil behaviour through journals, articles<br />
and books and tested through case studies. This includes data from both PRUs and standard<br />
schools, assessing the effect of Thermal Comfort, Form, Furnishings, Layout and Lighting of Classrooms.<br />
Using data from a combination of the literature review, case studies, interviews and questionnaires,<br />
a proposal of design guidelines specifically for classrooms in PRUs for pupils with BSED is the<br />
product of the dissertation; tailored to improving concentration and behaviour. Using feedback from<br />
architects that have previously designed PRUs, the proposed Guidelines have been formatted to be<br />
easily understood by both architects and the client.<br />
58
Imaginative Use for Vacant Space<br />
Bryony Simcox<br />
The SEEDS Conference <strong>2015</strong> explored ways to stimulate regeneration and create thriving<br />
places through reuse and placemaking. Hosted in Sheffield, two days of site visits and<br />
key talks and discussions championed examples of ‘meanwhile’ and temporary uses across<br />
Europe and drew together Architects, <strong>Design</strong>ers, Ecologists and Engineers. This incredible<br />
event was all about transferring practices and great ideas from one city to another, where<br />
forgotten, stalled and abandoned spaces (this could be an empty site, a demolished<br />
building, or an existing structure) are reused and inhabited.<br />
Temporary Use can be seen as a seed, which is tactically planted to stimulate mature<br />
growth. Seeing the land as the world’s most valuable resource, we need to plan for changing<br />
land use and think of cities like gardens. This means enabling ‘start-ups’ (companies,<br />
activity groups, charities, etc.) to mature and evolve, through providing them with the<br />
space and resources to do so.<br />
“Shared urban development involves the connection of people to place” said Ines-Ulrike<br />
Rudolph of tx-office for temporary architecture, and leads to a culture of participation<br />
whereby mixed users take control of city spaces. By coding private, semi-private, public<br />
and transformation spaces, we can develop a structure of ownership (such as collective<br />
gardens in residential areas acting as a ‘common ground’).<br />
Championing short-term reuse as an important and accepted part of long-term planning<br />
policies is SEEDS’ durable legacy. The project’s manager Sara Parratt-Halbert elaborated<br />
that temporary can be used as a catalyst for investment and skill-building in cities,<br />
whereby knowledge sharing changes the question from why to how, and challenges the<br />
way in which we traditionally measure value - we need to expand this to consider social,<br />
environmental and future value.<br />
By encouraging community-led design, temporary approaches can change the way that<br />
we work with professionals, and can even be antagonistic, coercive and provocative. Ryan<br />
Reynolds started Gap Filler Christchurch as a series of informal projects filling ‘gap sites’<br />
in the city after the 2011 earthquakes, and opened up these spaces as a time of liberation<br />
and possibility for people to participate and have influence in city rebuilding. Many of<br />
these projects encouraged play and were intentionally undertaken without permission;<br />
“implicitly challenging power structures” and tactically providing outlets for positive<br />
processes in the community.<br />
‘Eventification of space’ sees solid institutions adopting the culture of temporary uses to<br />
create credibility (e.g. Granary Wharf, Leeds, and the Toffee Factory, Newcastle), and<br />
dynamic events programmes are not only adopted by grassroots groups and alternative<br />
businesses but also large-scale commercial bodies. Temporal exclusivity creates new appeal,<br />
and Toby Hyam of Creative Space Management recognised this desire for stimulating city<br />
experiences: “physical places have to excite, entertain, and do more than serve”.<br />
Temporary Use is about creating an ‘agency’ which is a bridge-builder between the administration<br />
and civil society, connecting temporary users, landowners and other institutions.<br />
Sue Ball of MAAP explained that existing power structures need to be reconsidered for a<br />
structure to allow things to self-generate in the city, and it’s about “developing this new<br />
cultural and creative ecology”. Rigid roles of planner, urban designer, architect and engineer<br />
leave no room for the people to act out imaginative activities in what should be<br />
precisely their space. Those that use the vacant space, and those that own it, need a shared<br />
vision of mutual beneficial interests for successful temporary use.<br />
1. Top (author’s own): Street furniture<br />
on Fenham Hall Drive as temporary<br />
prototypes to test and explore scenarios<br />
for future street improvements<br />
2. Middle (http://bit.ly/1GIdxo5):<br />
‘Eventification of space’ as market takes<br />
place at Granary Wharf in Leeds<br />
3. Bottom (credit: Glen Jansen): The ‘Pallet<br />
Pavilion’, Gap Filler Christchurch’s 22nd<br />
project<br />
When asked what ingredients are needed for a successful future involving fluid ‘meanwhile’<br />
use, Emily Berwyn of Meanwhile Space responded with: “local knowledge, bravery<br />
(the ability to take risks), and lots of people just wanting to create, participate and do<br />
stuff!” More than this is about building physical cities and the buildings within them,<br />
the SEEDS Conference <strong>2015</strong> revealed a new urban agenda, about building connections,<br />
coalitions, and communities of people.<br />
59
Age Friendly City Newcastle<br />
Rose Gilroy<br />
In 2011 Newcastle joined the global network of cities who are working toward being `age<br />
friendly`. This network created by the World Health Organisation in 2007 is a response to the<br />
fusion of two global trends: urbanisation such that by 2007 half of the world’s population live<br />
in cities and ageing such that the global share of older people (aged 60 years or over) increased to<br />
11.7 per cent in 2013 and will reach 21.1 per cent by 2050. 1 The twenty first century then is the<br />
time when we will grow old in urban landscapes that need to respond to our ageing bodies and<br />
our need to remain physically, economically, socially and emotionally connected if we are to make<br />
those extra years worth living.<br />
In Newcastle we have ambitious aims. We want to go beyond simply adding older people into the<br />
existing mix. Our vision is of a city transformed that takes account of the changing age profile<br />
when planning for the future; takes an asset-based approach to the role of older people in the city;<br />
and removes the indignity and dependency from some people’s experience of old age. How can<br />
this be achieved in a city labouring under severe spending cuts that affect services for all groups,<br />
including older people?<br />
An Age Friendly Newcastle would<br />
• Celebrate the diversity of city through improved branding, ‘Currently Newcastle is a party<br />
city but not everyone gets an invitation’; How do we increase the offer for older people<br />
while not destroying the buzz that draws in young people including students? This is a<br />
tough challenge. We may be aware of the health and public safety implications of being<br />
a hard drinking city but a lot of people are employed in making Newcastle a magnet for<br />
party goers.<br />
• Make the city accessible with apps that provide key information on public toilets; blue<br />
badge parking; loop hearing systems; safe places etc. The University’s MyPlace project that<br />
involves both Professor Rose Gilroy and Dr Tim Townshend from the School is exploring<br />
with a range of citizen co-creators how they see and use the city- how can this be a better<br />
experience?<br />
• Create a city which is easy to walk around, giving priority to non-car users; Armelle<br />
Tardiveau and Dr Geoff Vigar are working with Sustrans and the City Council on pro<br />
cycling strategies.<br />
• Provide more housing in the city centre for people who want to live at the heart of<br />
things; Rose Gilroy is working with the Quality of Life Partnership and the Housing and<br />
Communities Agency on increasing the diversity of housing choices for older people. Most<br />
people want `rightsizing` not `downsizing` but there is also an appetite for the reciprocal<br />
support offered by co-housing. For those whose choice is to move to sheltered housing that<br />
is targeted at people, PhD student Sam Clark, is being sponsored by one of the country’s<br />
leading providers, Churchill Retirement Living, to explore the design needs of current and<br />
future retirees.<br />
• Increase the diversity of what the city has to offer. Recent reports on retail trends suggest<br />
that the high street, as we know it, needs to change. The big super-store coupled with shopand<br />
drop services and e-commerce, have transformed British shopping habits. This provides<br />
opportunities for making new choices. Since the recession, many retailers have retreated<br />
to the small, inner core of shopping streets. Beyond this buoyant zone, there is an area of<br />
churning businesses. Why not remodel a group of empty shop units into multi-generational<br />
housing? Why not insert pocket parks, crèches, learning spaces, clinics? The RIBA’s Silver<br />
Linings 2 report provides inspiration for new approaches and generated a lively debate when<br />
presented in Newcastle in September 2014.<br />
One of the aims of the Age Friendly Newcastle is to understand the lived experience of ageing in<br />
different neighbourhoods, in order to make best possible use of reduced budgets for elder care<br />
and the once-thriving city third sector. Rose Gilroy with Northumbria University, the Quality of<br />
Life Partnership and Elders Council worked together on a small public engagement project with<br />
public conversations at its heart. Our ‘place’ was Fenham and Wingrove wards in Newcastle’s<br />
inner west end. In terms of ‘people’, we drew on Elders Council’s considerable networks in the<br />
area and 22 people aged early 50s - 80s, joined our conversations. They drew on a range of<br />
backgrounds, experiences, issues, challenges, coping strategies, frustrations and individual and<br />
community resources.<br />
Our public conversation has been happening in different ways:<br />
By holding three half day workshops to engage in and develop conversations about staying put<br />
and staying well.<br />
1. http://www.un.org/en/development/<br />
desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/<br />
WorldPopulationAgeing2013.pdf<br />
2. Parkinson, J, Hunter, W and Barac, M<br />
Silver Linings: The Active Third Age and<br />
the City (RIBA, 2013)<br />
60
By inviting project participants to take part in a week long arts residency to work with<br />
Skimstone Arts, a Newcastle based, multi-disciplinary arts organization, to further develop<br />
workshop conversations and issues raised. A 40 minute performance, ‘Doorbells of Delight’ was<br />
collaboratively produced and premiered during the project. Our audience of 55 people including<br />
participants, their friends and family and people from mainly third sector community and arts<br />
organisations, added to our conversation by taking part in post-performance discussions. A revised<br />
second performance widened our audience to include those from statutory services and our<br />
conversation deliberated further on intergenerational understanding of being an older community<br />
member.<br />
By developing a project blog (http://www.hces-online.net/websites/Elders/). This provided an<br />
opportunity to keep our conversation live, share it within and beyond the participant group and<br />
keep people updated and in touch. Elders Council also gave updates through their newsletter.<br />
Overall, we learned that by holding open conversations with simple prompts, we were able to<br />
gather a wide range of stories and insights. In the moment, people shared ideas and exchanged<br />
information and in some cases, this led to immediate action. Also by using a variety of research,<br />
media and creative tools, such as our performance, project blog and participant, ‘findings booklet’,<br />
we enabled people to contribute in different ways.<br />
61
MArch<br />
Sam Austin<br />
What can architecture do? Where might architectural thinking take us? Newcastle’s twoyear<br />
MArch fosters a research-led approach; one that challenges students to stretch their<br />
architectural and critical imaginations, to think harder and more deeply about what<br />
architecture is and what it could be. Work is diverse, threaded by an interest in architecture<br />
as a collective, cultural endeavour. Projects interrogate architectural production in all its<br />
aspects, from material processes, to modes of design, representation and construction, to<br />
the ways that architecture shapes - and is shaped by - the society and culture in which it is<br />
situated. With varied opportunities for specialisation, MArch allows students to develop<br />
their own fields of expertise and to curate these in a distinctive portfolio.<br />
As an RIBA accredited Part II programme - the second of three steps towards qualification<br />
as a UK Architect - MArch is geared to develop advanced skills in analysis, representation,<br />
design and technical resolution through projects of considerable scale and complexity.<br />
But it is also rooted in the belief that architectural training must go beyond professional<br />
competence. MArch draws on the diverse expertise of ARC, the School’s multidisciplinary<br />
research collaborative, to push explorative ways of working and thinking architecturally.<br />
Students are encouraged to undertake original investigations into issues and techniques<br />
at the forefront of contemporary developments in architecture and beyond - from<br />
synthetic biology to the space of the psyche - while at the same time grounding their work<br />
in a specific material, social, cultural and intellectual context. Cross-studio reviews and<br />
symposia support a lively exchange of ideas and challenge students to position their work<br />
in relation to trends in architectural production and discourse.<br />
Teaching in MArch cuts across common distinctions between design, technology and<br />
history and theory, promoting an integrated approach that treats all aspects of architecture<br />
as opportunities for critical creative enquiry. Studio modules play a central role,<br />
incorporating lectures, seminars, consultancies and workshops spanning the curriculum,<br />
as well as cross-year events such as Charrettes and Thinking through Making. Projects are<br />
undertaken in small design-research studios, each exploring particular issues or themes that<br />
resonate with the research interests of tutors. Briefs invite an open process of investigation<br />
between staff and students, encouraging the development of an independent approach and<br />
distinctive critical stance, all grounded in rigorous research. In stage 5, two semester-long<br />
projects set in a major European city interrogate the complexities of architecture’s relation<br />
to context, from urban to detail-scale, allowing students to test new approaches, methods<br />
and ideas. With most of the prescribed curriculum covered, stage 6 is freed up to focus on<br />
a specific interest or question, pursued in depth through a year-long thesis project.<br />
MArch offers further opportunities for specialisation alongside design studio. Students<br />
opt to pursue independent research through a dissertation, to join a linked research studio<br />
where they work on a live research project led by a member of staff, or to take a tailored<br />
set of modules from one of our other specialist Masters programmes, such as <strong>Design</strong> and<br />
Emergence, or Urban <strong>Design</strong>. Bridging between the two years of MArch, these spark ideas<br />
and develop skills that feed into thesis projects. The School also has a series of exchange<br />
agreements with leading schools of architecture in Europe and around the world, including<br />
KTH Stockholm, National University of Singapore, and The University of Sydney. MArch<br />
students can study abroad for one or two semesters of stage 5, and the programme benefits<br />
from the diverse skills and experiences of students who join our projects.<br />
63
Stage 5<br />
Stage 5 is a year for in-depth experimentation: for exploring architecture in all its cultural, social, political,<br />
material and historical contexts, for testing new approaches to design, representation and technology.<br />
Briefs emphasize critical thinking and require students to engage with current debates in architecture and<br />
society at large. The year’s work focusses on a particular international city - this year Rotterdam - beginning<br />
with an intensive week-long study visit, including architectural tours, excursions, talks, group urban<br />
analysis and social events. Students undertake a critical reimagining of the city through two semester-long<br />
projects which challenge them to work at two radically different scales - first urban, then detail. Framing<br />
design as a rigorous, as well as speculative process, they foster design-research skills and interests in preparation<br />
for stage 6.<br />
In semester 1, Plan Rotterdam asked students to engage with the urban fabric of the city, its historical layers,<br />
cultural currents and social differences. The project was taught as four distinct studios that each took<br />
on a different urban area and issue. Common themes include the interplay of buildings, infrastructure,<br />
land and water in a city below sea level, architecture’s role in the production of images, experiences and<br />
lifestyles, and the politics of regeneration in a place renowned for visionary architectural and urban ideas.<br />
The project is paired with the Tools for Thinking about Architecture module, which introduces a range of<br />
critical approaches through lectures, workshops and seminars.<br />
Semester 2’s Rematerializing Rotterdam switched focus to material and technical imagination, taking detail,<br />
construction and atmosphere as opportunities for creative and critical exploration. The brief asked students<br />
to interrogate a [g]host architecture - built or unbuilt, in Rotterdam or elsewhere - and to reimagine<br />
it in the contemporary city. A detail and environment lecture series, supported by expert consultancies,<br />
encouraged students to pursue a technical specialism that embodies the intentions of the project.<br />
Year Coordinator<br />
Sam Austin<br />
Project Leaders<br />
Aikaterini Antonopoulou<br />
Ed Wainwright<br />
James Craig<br />
Nathaniel Coleman<br />
Prue Chiles<br />
Sam Austin<br />
Contributors<br />
Adam Sharr<br />
Alistair Robinson<br />
Amy Linford<br />
Andrew Ballantyne<br />
Ashley Mason<br />
Ben Bridgens<br />
Bruce Peter<br />
Cat Button<br />
Chantelle Stewart<br />
Daniel Mallo<br />
Dominic Weil<br />
Gareth Hudson<br />
Geoff Shearcroft<br />
Han Meyer<br />
James Longfield<br />
Jonnie McGill<br />
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes<br />
Kati Blom<br />
Katie Lloyd Thomas<br />
Kieran Connolly<br />
Leon Walsh<br />
Martin Beattie<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
Miguel Paredes<br />
Neveen Hamsa<br />
Nita Kidd<br />
Patrick Devlin<br />
Rachel Cruise<br />
Sandra Costa Santos<br />
Sarah-Jane Stewart<br />
Simon Hacker<br />
Steve Coombs<br />
Steve Richardson<br />
Tahl Kaminer<br />
Thomas Kern<br />
Tim Bailey<br />
Tom Brigden<br />
Zeynep Kezer<br />
Students<br />
Alanah Honey<br />
Alexander Burnie<br />
Alyssia Booth<br />
Anna Cumberland<br />
Carrie Yee<br />
Chris Bulmer<br />
Corbin Wood<br />
Emily Page<br />
Emily-Jayne Harper<br />
Ewan Thomson<br />
Greg Walton<br />
Greta Varpucianskyte<br />
Imogen Holden<br />
Jack Lines<br />
Jack Scaffardi<br />
Joshua Long<br />
Katherine Gomm<br />
Katherine Lai<br />
Kevin Vong<br />
Lee Whitelock<br />
Matas Belevicius<br />
Matthew Clubbs Coldron<br />
Matthew Jackson<br />
Matthew Mouncey<br />
Megan Jones<br />
Mundumuko Sinvula<br />
Peishu Han<br />
Rob Paton<br />
Roubini Hadjicosti<br />
Rumen Dimov<br />
Ruth Sidey<br />
Seva Karetnikov<br />
Simon Baker<br />
Thierry Neu<br />
Thomas Henderson Schwartz<br />
Vlasios Sokos<br />
Wilson Kwan<br />
Erasmus Students<br />
François-Xavier Poudroux<br />
Iris van Dorst<br />
Jamie Goh<br />
Jessica Han<br />
Matus Antolik<br />
Nils Kubischek<br />
64 Opposite - Rumen Dimov The “Las Vegas”: On the crutches of the Brutalist dream
Manhattan On The Maas<br />
James Craig<br />
Inspired by Rem Koolhaas’s Delirious New York, the studio reinterpreted key ideas from the text, deriving ways to intensify the fragments of<br />
Manhattanism that already exist on Kop van Zuid - a cluster of ‘iconic’ skyscrapers in Rotterdam’s former docks. Through an interrogation of the<br />
constituent elements of Manhattanism, students developed a new critical mass of high-rise proposals for the area.<br />
66 Top - Matas Belevicius Elysium New York Middle - Seva Karetnikov Riek Bakker’s KVZ Showsroom Bottom - Group Masterplan
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Page 32<br />
Perspective views of the Artificial Mountains<br />
Left to right, from top - Kevin Vong, Joshua Long, Emily Page, Megan Jones, Matthew Clubbs Coldron, Robert Paton<br />
67
Artificial Grounds<br />
Aikaterini Antonopoulou<br />
The ground as the solid surface of the Earth, as the land that lies under our feet, and as the foundation on which anything built rests, has always served<br />
as a condition of a possibility of place. Rotterdam’s man-made territory calls for us to re-think our attachment to the ground as something pre-given and<br />
fixed. While exploring the role of the riverfront in contemporary Rotterdam, the studio developed proposals that serve as platforms between the local<br />
population and the water’s edge - challenging the ‘Manhattanisation’ of the city and generating new possibilities.<br />
68 Top - Lee Whitelock Re-connecting De Esch Bottom - Thierry Neu dis//connecting Katendrecht
Top - Simon Baker Piering into Delfshaven Middle- Mundumuko Sinvula Hard and Soft Edges Bottom - Anna Cumberland Waterplay<br />
69
Lijnbaan: A Rotterdam Guide To Shopping<br />
Sam Austin<br />
Love to shop. Live to shop. Shopping has become our number one pastime - or so we are told. But shopping reaches far beyond explicitly commercial<br />
spaces. Through an in-depth analysis of the iconic Lijnbaan - the first purpose-built pedestrian street in Europe - the studio investigated the tactics,<br />
narratives and spaces of contemporary commerce, culminating in a ‘Rotterdam Guide to Shopping’ and interventions that question the dominance of<br />
shopping in the city.<br />
70 Top - Imogen Holden 1.1:2 Bottom - Group Masterplan Site Model
Top - Christopher Bulmer Dance-Mall Middle- Alyssia Booth Clijmbaan Bottom - Rumen Dimov The Lijn<br />
71
Intoxicated Space<br />
Ed Wainwright<br />
Much has been made of the stimuli, behaviours, states and effects of the intoxicant and the intoxicated. But what of the spaces of intoxication - the<br />
intoxicated space? Investigating spaces of intoxication in Rotterdam, the studio created a taxonomy of intoxication abstracted in an installation of mapping,<br />
sound and light. Research findings informed the creation of a condenser of intoxicated spaces in the Schiehaven area of Rotterdam’s riverfront.<br />
72 The Condenser of Intoxication
Left to right, from top - Corbin Wood, Roubini Hadjicosti, Jamie Goh, Matthew Mouncey<br />
73
Thinking-Through-Making Week<br />
Thinking Through Making continues our theme of collaborations with artists, engineers, architects, musicians, thinkers and makers. This is for final<br />
year BA and MArch students in the second semester of the year. With a focus on material and making, this week-long series of lectures and workshops<br />
asks students to approach architecture through the process of making and drawing at large-scales, bringing material back to the core of architecture’s<br />
exploration.<br />
Material Processes<br />
Amy Linford<br />
Casting the Everyday<br />
Effie Burns<br />
Prime Matter<br />
Eleanor Wright<br />
The Visceral Membrane<br />
Holly Hendry & Amy Linford<br />
Thinking Building Thinking<br />
Kevin Gray<br />
Dynamic Chemistries<br />
Rachel Armstrong<br />
<strong>Design</strong> Products and Parameters<br />
Rachel Cruise<br />
The Problem with Matter<br />
Sandra Costa Santos<br />
Immaterial Practices<br />
Sebastian Kite<br />
Form Finding in Engineering & Architecture<br />
Steve Webb<br />
Concrete Constructions<br />
Sunghoon Son<br />
Creating Unique Materials<br />
Sunghoon Son<br />
Staging, Lighting & Photographing Drawings<br />
Tara Stewart & Damien Wootton<br />
74
Grounding Katendrecht<br />
Aikaterini Antonopoulou<br />
The studio departs from the premise that cities have no single ‘image’ that can be, in the words of Kevin Lynch, discussed empirically. The focus of this<br />
project is Katendrecht, the peninsula next to ‘Manhattanised’ Kop van Zuid, and its complex history. Through studies of the past as projected in the<br />
existing urban fabric and in historic maps, photographs, and descriptions, but also of the future, as illustrated in unrealised master plans and research<br />
projects, students proposed buildings that re-imagine and re-place Katendrecht in the centre of contemporary Rotterdam.<br />
51.9000° N, 4.4833° E - Institute for Innovative Flooding Solutions<br />
<strong>2015</strong> Tide Chart - Katendrecht, Rotterdam<br />
This infographic represents tidal predictions data for Katendrecht for the entirety of <strong>2015</strong>. The 365 days of the year are mapped anti-clockwise along the radii of a circle to highlight the cyclical<br />
nature of natural phenomena. The heights of the tides are then mapped out against consecutive concentric bands. Each resulting datum marks the height and time of each tide. The resultant shaded<br />
patterns highlight the two high tides (Higher High Tide and Lower High Tide) and two low tides (Higher Low Tide and Lower Low Tide) that occur daily on the Nieuwe Maas; the semidiurnal<br />
nature of the tides results in the pulsating wave pattern on the chart. The two white bands demonstrate Mean High Tide (+1.72m) and Mean Low Tide (+0.26m) averaged out across the year. The<br />
background radial shaded bands work to show the length of daylight hours daily. It is worth noting that all tidal heights are plotted against ‘Ordnance Datum Newlyn’ (Mean Average Sea Level), or<br />
0m. This ODN does not account for projected rises in sea level, of which the implications are relatively unknown.<br />
76 Top - Matthew Mouncey Institute for Innovative Flooding Solutions Bottom - Imogen Holden The Lost Voices of Katendrecht
Left to right, from top - Peishu Han, Roubini Hadjicosti, Matthew Jackson, Emily Jayne-Harper, Vlasios Sokos, Wilson Kwan<br />
77
Clichés, the Everyday and Super-Modernism<br />
Prue Chiles<br />
Rotterdam has been celebrated for its (super-)modernity - particularly for its architectural and design innovation - but it appears to be less successful as a<br />
whole, as a city to live in elegantly. This project looks in great detail at all the things that one needs to live. A series of investigations identified particular<br />
characters to design for and a personal ethnography around their way of living - a taxonomy of interrelated activities, relationships and responsibilities<br />
that is then translated into space, structure and detail.<br />
78 Matas Belevicius Fenix Food Factory
Left to right, from top - Carrie Yee, Matus Antolik & Jessica Han, Megan Jones, Alexander Burnie<br />
79
Spectres of Utopia and Modernity<br />
Nathaniel Coleman<br />
Surviving Rotterdam buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, examples of the ‘heroic’ period of modern architecture, are interrogated to consider how<br />
they not only harbour the ghosts of modernity but are also hosts of the spectre of Utopia that has struck fear into the hearts of architects (and others)<br />
since at least the 1950s. Through an investigation of these two core topics, students are challenged to propose a new, ‘alien’ structure associated with<br />
the study building.<br />
80 Top - Corbin Wood An Embassy for the City of Rotterdam Bottom - Simon Baker The Void
Left to right, from top - Katherine Gomm, Seva Karetnikov, Ruth Sidey, Robert Paton, Greg Walton, Christopher Bulmer<br />
81
Sublime<br />
Ed Wainwright<br />
Critical approaches to architecture are typified by the adherence to values of the small, of craft. Bigness, the value of scale, of collectivism and mass-production<br />
seem aligned, in our current set of resistant political arguments, solely to the pursuit of capital. This has not always been so. By exploring ten<br />
iconic Brutalist or proto-Brutalist Megastructures, students are challenged to rethink and reimagine the notion of buildings of social purpose, social mix<br />
and social ownership at scale - [re]materialising Brutalism and devising a material and detail strategy that induces a sense of the sublime.<br />
82 Rumen Dimov The “Las Vegas”: On the crutches of the Brutalist dream
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Page 98<br />
Left to right, from top - Matthew Coldron, Lee Whitelock, Emily Page, Joshua Long, Kevin Vong, Ewan Thomson, Alanah Honey, François-Xavier Poudroux,<br />
Alyssia Booth<br />
83
Testing Ground<br />
Graham Farmer, Peter Sharpe and Paul Grindley<br />
Students: Philippa Ramsay, Callum Brown, Tom Lobb, Philip Morris, Andrew Wilson, Alicea Berkin, Rhys Dunn<br />
The ongoing Testing Ground Linked Research Project provides the opportunity for students to collaborate with other disciplines in a range of ‘live’<br />
situations that challenge the conventional boundaries of architectural education and practice. This year the group has worked with artists and architects<br />
from around Europe on a proposed artistic intervention in Krakow, Poland and with artists on a live project at Dunston Staithes. They worked with the<br />
Vamos Festival on the design and construction of a ‘pop-up’ food stand and with the local community at Kielder Village on The Warm Room shelter.<br />
The Warm Room is the result of a continuing collaboration with the Kielder Art and Architecture programme and provided the opportunity for the<br />
students to be involved in a permanent design-build project. The structure provides an internal sheltered space and equipment charging point for<br />
stargazers who participate in overnight star camps, as well as a venue for community meetings, educational events and stargazing seminars. The timber<br />
framed structure was part prefabricated in the School before being transported to site. The Warm Room is clad in Siberian Larch and lined with birch<br />
ply with 3m tall windows allowing wonderful views of the Kielder landscape and sky.<br />
84
85
86
Curating APL<br />
Matthew Ozga-Lawn and James Craig<br />
Students: Simon Bumstead, Thomas Kendall, Richard Taylor<br />
Curating APL investigated opportunities to improve the identity Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape presents to<br />
both students and to 3 rd parties through a range of media. We undertook a number of projects but our main focus was on the <strong>Yearbook</strong> and the Degree<br />
Show with other events and media aiding us in our research, including the RIBA Moderator’s Exhibition and the AHRA IOA Conference.<br />
A key part of our research was to visit a range of degree shows from various schools of architecture and to collect a variety of yearbooks, both past<br />
and present, to investigate what works and what doesn’t work. This research also helped us to establish the role of these outputs within a school of<br />
architecture. Is it for the school or for the students?<br />
A culmination of the research led us to re-evaluate the <strong>Yearbook</strong> and Degree Show as a part of the University’s branding. We aimed to highlight the<br />
strengths of the School through curated outputs. This curation was key in relation to the <strong>Yearbook</strong> which had, in the past, become progressively less<br />
refined and thus a less successful and more cumbersome document.<br />
87
Slides, deckchairs and watercoolers:<br />
A study of informal interaction in the modern office<br />
Matthew Margetts, Cara Lund<br />
Students: Jamie Anderson, Sabrina Lee, Emma Kirk, Carol Meteyard<br />
Over the course of a year, this Linked Research Project investigated, tested, mapped and analysed a series of studies into the most contemporary issues<br />
surrounding modern office design. By working in partnership with Plus 3 Architects in Newcastle and the Environmental Psychology department at<br />
the University of Sunderland, we were able to combine a theoretical knowledge base with the realities of architecture practice to create a comprehensive<br />
study into the modern office.<br />
Through researching the history of office design in conjunction with popular theory of environmental psychology, we were able to combine two parallel<br />
lines of enquiry within the single realm of the office. It became evident through our research that at the forefront of current office theory is the need for<br />
informal interaction within the workplace. Historically, informal interaction between workers was actively discouraged and considered detrimental to<br />
office life. Recently however, with the rise of the virtual office model popularized by Google, there has been a marked increase in the desire for informal<br />
interaction within the workplace. This study focused on the promotion of informal, serendipitous interaction by studying the psychological aspects of<br />
different office components and suggesting optimum conditions for serendipitous encounters.<br />
By collaborating with professionals and testing our research on live projects we have been able to recognise its relevance from both a commercial and<br />
design perspective. Whilst this realm of practicality greatly informed our research, it is intended that the research can in turn provide an element of<br />
academic theory to architectural practice and inform design decisions.<br />
88
89
New Urban Energy Futures<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
My research projects involve understanding, modelling and designing for new urban<br />
energy futures. Themes include the effects of household practices on energy consumption,<br />
smart energy technologies, and developing new ways of planning for energy infrastructure<br />
in cities.<br />
Planning for energy infrastructure in cities<br />
This paper 1 presents the development, evaluation and application of a spatially referenced<br />
domestic building level framework (i.e. address level) to estimate domestic energy end-use<br />
demand baseline in sub-city areas. The paper’s core idea and conclusion is that unless<br />
knowledge and model estimating is available at an appropriate level, future UK local<br />
energy infrastructure planning will not be effective. Our framework innovatively combines<br />
a dataset, which includes detailed building surveys of 60,977 out of a total of 139,257<br />
dwellings, with a normalised national dataset (i.e. the English Housing Survey) and applied<br />
to a BRE Domestic Energy Model (i.e. Cambridge Housing Model) so as to establish<br />
an energy consumption baseline for the domestic stock in localised areas of Newcastle<br />
upon Tyne. Our validation results show a poor alignment with existing observed data as<br />
published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), particularly at<br />
neighbourhood scale. Our belief is that as spatial resolution is increased, local building<br />
and urban socio-economic and physical characteristics play a more important part in the<br />
estimation of dwelling energy consumption. Thus, we propose a taxonomy to holistically<br />
deal with the sources of uncertainty arising from these issues and the components of our<br />
framework.<br />
Effects of household practices on energy consumption<br />
This paper 2 proposes the initial formulation of an activity-based model framework to<br />
model and quantify the effects of household practices on energy demand in the domestic<br />
sector. Indeed, this socio-technical research is seeking to understand the effects of two<br />
salient aspects of the interaction between energy consumption and household practices in<br />
a scenario of imposed retrofitted: 1) take back effect; and 2) demand-side management.<br />
A conceptual framework and a detailed case study of 200 social sector households<br />
in Newcastle upon Tyne are proposed to bring together both the theory and practice.<br />
The paper reviews the UK low carbon agenda to provide an overview of the key policies<br />
for carbon reduction in the domestic sector involving retrofit insulation. It, then, briefly<br />
examines the take back effect and demand side management concepts to contextualise<br />
the emphasis of the proposed study. Further, it looks at practice theory for connecting<br />
socio-technical systems and reviews the urban energy modelling to simulate and quantify<br />
the interplay between technical and social systems (take back effect and demand side<br />
management). Furthermore, practices and modelling challenges at the local level are<br />
reviewed. Finally the case study is presented.<br />
Fig. 1. Illustrative Level N (national), Level R (regional) and Level LA (local authority)<br />
scenarios for residential energy demand.<br />
Adopted from [1].<br />
zones of the city to demonstrate different technologies and types<br />
of retrofit [3]. Our Table 1 shows that our three city zones can be<br />
categorised as suburban residential areas (i.e. as categorised by<br />
HOMES 2010 [4]) but have very different urban densities. Urban<br />
density is a key indicator for evaluating area-based retrofit energy<br />
schemes. A building centric retrofit programme may be suited to a<br />
low density suburban area such as Castle with 1.8 dwellings per<br />
hectare. A decentralised technological energy solution (e.g. district<br />
heating) may be more suited to high density suburban area<br />
such as South Heaton with 43.48 dwellings per hectare. Similarly,<br />
tenure and social demographic profile are useful urban descriptors<br />
for discriminating between future funding options and models of<br />
retrofit programmes. The funding models for social housing and<br />
private owned stock are likely to be very different. In our case, we<br />
have a representative mixture of predominant social groups: young<br />
C. Calderón et al. / Energy and Buildings 96 (<strong>2015</strong>) 236–250 237<br />
families (Group E see Table 1), Castle; educated young single people<br />
(i.e. university students, Group F see Table 1), South Heaton; and<br />
people living in social housing (Group B see Table 1), Westgate.<br />
Table 1 summarises our sub-city area descriptors.<br />
1.2. Current practice and challenges<br />
[5] provide an excellent review of current modelling techniques<br />
used for estimating residential sector energy consumption. Due to<br />
our data availability, namely, a spatially referenced building level<br />
dataset which includes detailed building surveys of 60,977 out of<br />
a total of 139,257 domestic dwellings, we followed a bottom-up<br />
engineering approach based on an “actual sample house data as the<br />
input information to the model” [5, p. 1828]. Ref. [5, p. 1828] state<br />
that “the bottom-up engineering approach is the only method that<br />
can fully develop the energy consumption of the sector without<br />
any historical energy consumption information” and that “these<br />
techniques have the capability of determining the impact of new<br />
technologies” [5, p. 1833] which, in turn, makes the method<br />
ideally suited for an area-based delivery approach favoured by LAs.<br />
Furthermore, a recent review of mapping and modelling domestic<br />
energy demand practice by [6, p. 1696] has also revealed that<br />
UK residential stock models have two key limitations: (1) lack of<br />
transparency and quantification of inherent uncertainties; and (2)<br />
resolution of spatial coverage. Our work extends recent studies<br />
on inherent uncertainties and transparencies [7–9] by providing<br />
an uncertainty taxonomy as to make our process transparent to<br />
stakeholders such as local policy makers. Our study is also based<br />
in one of the most comprehensive UK building level dataset and<br />
this has enabled us to address the second major limitation and<br />
develop a model with high spatial resolution (i.e. per dwelling or<br />
at address level).<br />
The Centre for Sustanaible Energy (CSE) address level heat map<br />
[10] is the UK’s most recent and best effort to provide high spatial<br />
resolution and coverage. CSE has acknowledged the model’s<br />
methodological and transparency limitations which, in turn, have<br />
undermined its use and validity by UK local authorities. A key limitation<br />
in CSE’s approach is the lack of building surveyed data. That<br />
means it has been made not knowing which energy efficiency measures<br />
have already been installed in the dwelling (e.g. loft and cavity<br />
insulation) and what type of upgrades or changes have been made<br />
to the dwelling heating systems. This is significant as energy insulation<br />
measures and heating systems efficiency are the two most<br />
important determinants of heating energy use after floor area [11].<br />
Similarly, CSE Heat map’s methodology relies on “multiple key factors”<br />
such as size, age, built form, tenure, rurality, and region being<br />
derived from the English House Condition Survey (EHCS) 2008 and<br />
Table 1<br />
Summary of sub-city area descriptors. The selected areas are a good representation of the city’s diverse demographic and housing stock/ownership.<br />
Descriptors<br />
Sub-city areas<br />
South Heaton Westgate Castle<br />
Urban density Dwellings per hectare 43.48 12.25 1.8<br />
Area type (%) Suburban residential 98.5 98.4 89.7<br />
City centre 0.0 0.0 0.0<br />
Other urban centre 0.0 0.0 0.0<br />
* **<br />
Village centre 1.3 1.0 8.1<br />
Hamlet/isolate 0.2 0.6 2.2<br />
Tenure (%)<br />
Owner occupied 31 17 78<br />
Private rented 38 14 7<br />
Rented from local authorities 24 49 14<br />
Rented from housing associations 7 20 1<br />
Demographics Dominant mosaic group Group E Group F Group B<br />
* HOMES 2010 [4] original categories were adapted to fit with those employed by Newcastle City Council.<br />
** Suburban residential equates to: older urban areas swallowed up by the metropolis, outer areas of cities characterised by large housing states, and residential areas of<br />
suburban areas.<br />
1. Calderón, Carlos, Philip James, Javier<br />
Urquizo, and Adrian McLoughlin. “A<br />
GIS Domestic Building Framework to<br />
Estimate Energy End-Use Demand in UK<br />
Sub-City Areas.” Energy and Buildings 96<br />
(June 1, <strong>2015</strong>): 236-50.<br />
2. Rodriguez, Macarena, and Carlos<br />
Calderon. “Modelling Approaches for<br />
Retrofitting Energy Systems in Cities.”<br />
disP - The Planning Review 50, no. 3<br />
(July 3, 2014): 76-89.<br />
90
MArch Travel Diaries<br />
Three awards are offered each year to help Stage 6 MArch students visit sites overseas that are key to their thesis projects. With a high number of strong<br />
submissions this year, awards went to proposals that promised original itineraries and unusual ways of seeing or recording cities and landscapes.<br />
Bio-Illuminating Tromsø<br />
Robert Arthur<br />
My thesis was very kindly supported by the School to travel up to the Norwegian island of Tromsø, which is 350km<br />
north of the Arctic Circle.<br />
In my opinion, Tromsø is probably the most beautiful place I have ever visited in my life. Tromsø, otherwise known<br />
as the “Capital of the Arctic” is considered the cultural capital of the region. The city has historically been an Arctic<br />
trading centre and a starting point for Arctic expeditions, and is the most densely populated area in the Arctic Circle.<br />
Snow-capped mountains and crystal clear fjords surround Tromsø, and many tourists travel here to photograph the<br />
aurora borealis or ‘Northern Lights’. I had orientated my trip of five days to observe the start of the polar nights; a<br />
seasonal period when the sun does not appear over the horizon. However, between 10am to 2pm, the island is bathed<br />
in a beautiful and ethereal light of deep blue, similar to our understanding of dusk; the Norwegians call this the ‘Blue<br />
Twilight’. It is mainly children who celebrate Mørketid (the start of the polar night) by lighting candles as a “welcome<br />
in the dark” and eat ‘bolle’ which are buns covered in sugar or chocolate to symbolise light and dark. The ‘Soldagen’<br />
(Day of the Sun) is more of a celebration.<br />
I managed to bring back samples of reindeer, elk and pickled herring, but the cherry on the cake was observing the<br />
silk-like ‘cloud’ of the aurora borealis in a deserted frozen forest, accompanied with a beer and bonfire of course.<br />
Malaga et Almeria<br />
Thomas Kendall<br />
The peninsular of Almeria is the largest and densest concentration of plastic greenhouses in the world, supplying 50%<br />
of Europe’s fruit and vegetables. In 40 years the region has been transformed from a desert to a ‘sea of plastic’. The<br />
greenhouses have become a hub for undocumented workers travelling from Morocco, Algeria and the sub-Sahara<br />
looking for a better life in Europe. I took a three day trip so that I could view this region first hand. To get to the<br />
peninsular I flew to Malaga and then drove 2hrs, along the beautiful south coast of Spain.<br />
When the peninsular came into view it was overwhelming to see what our demand for cheap produce had done to<br />
the landscape, images don’t come close to describing the scale. With only a day to visit the peninsular I chose key<br />
locations around El Ejido: visits to various sites within the greenhouses, the resorts of Almerimar and Aquadulce and<br />
then a trip into the mountains to view the greenhouses and the Mediterranean Sea. The greenhouses have created a<br />
lunar landscape, lifeless and grey. Driving through them I saw three people over 6 hrs. Concrete, to stop the spread<br />
of infection between plants, lines the roads with greenhouses creating a blank façade. Virtually impenetrable, the<br />
greenhouses were hard to view inside, a gap in the plastic of one gave me a glimpse to the interior activity.<br />
Despite the environment amongst the greenhouses being so hostile they have also created something spectacular. The<br />
view from the mountains to the Mediterranean was stunning. The sun reflected off the swathes of plastic, the name<br />
‘Sea of Plastic’ was perfect and it appeared to blend into the Mediterranean behind it.<br />
Goodbye Planet Earth<br />
- To 85,500 FT -<br />
Thomas Lobb<br />
After studying the basic principles of flight trajectories and mechanics, I used this newly acquired knowledge to<br />
undertake my own endeavour. These studies were put into practice to conduct a controlled and predicted flight to<br />
the upper stratosphere in Yorkshire, conducting a series of experiments and a video of the ascent on a journey as close<br />
to my site as I will ever get. The journey required me to understand the trajectories of an unmanned balloon flight by<br />
predicting the flight and safe landing in a designated region. I worked with the Civil Aviation Authority to gain access<br />
to controlled air space and with software developers, who I am currently beta testing flight control software with.<br />
On the 20th April <strong>2015</strong> I successfully launched a weather balloon over 85,500 ft into the stratosphere recording all<br />
the flight data along with and a video of the journey. After a successful 3 hour flight the balloon burst in the low<br />
pressure of the upper stratosphere and deployed its parachute to safely land within two miles of my predicted landing<br />
zone. The video shows the take-off, burst altitude video and the predicted landing. During the take off the payload<br />
hit a bush with a last-second heavy wind taking it out of our hands. Part of the tree was carried up until the balloon<br />
burst. When the balloon burst and the parachute deployed the branch was ejected off into upper atmosphere.<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3ED8ladqWE<br />
91
MArch Dissertations<br />
The 10,000 word MArch dissertation offers students the opportunity to undertake a sustained enquiry into a topic of particular interest to them and to<br />
develop their own modes of writing and presentation. Where appropriate the timing of the dissertation allows for topics explored to inform their final<br />
thesis design project. The research has a growing profile in the School, with two public presentations taking place in October and February, and the<br />
dissertation is now a feature of the Degree Shows in Newcastle and London.<br />
[XS] S M L XL<br />
Ceri Turner<br />
This dissertation looks at the role of scale within OMA’s Casa da Musica, taking as a starting<br />
point Koolhaas’ claim that its design resulted from a five times scaling of an unrealised project<br />
for a Dutch house. It considers three different modes of scaling - linear, volumetric, and acoustic<br />
- and their implementation in the building, uncovering a complex and playful layering of<br />
competing scales.<br />
Calculations, drawn representations, and audio simulations are used to rigorously examine<br />
classical, renaissance and scientific fundamentals of scale and to compare these with the use of<br />
scale in the the Casa da Musica. This reveals that there was no single scale used to derive the<br />
building; and certainly not the ‘five times scale’ that Koolhaas claimed. Various scales have been<br />
used simultaneously both within and on the façade of the Casa da Musica. The result is not a<br />
scaleless architecture but a multi-scaled architecture which purposely distorts and disorientates<br />
the user.<br />
To Render A Myth<br />
Jess Davidson<br />
Babel exists in the intriguing realm of myth. Its architectural premise arguably arises from<br />
ancient Ziggurats of Mesopotamia. However, from the acute selection of words in the fable we<br />
can distil literary themes. These themes serve allegorically to reflect linguistic theories on the<br />
evolution of language. The storyline works equally well framing the evolution of the meaning<br />
of Babel, one that appears to move between signifiers, the signified and the sign, in a dance that<br />
ratifies Babel’s relevance across eras.<br />
The research reads the story of Babel through George Steiner’s wide-reaching text on aspects of<br />
Language and Translation, After Babel. The first part of this study looks at key transformations<br />
of the tower of Babel - from the breakdown of the root word; to a concise literary text; to<br />
striking images in art - in an attempt to understand the sequential events that culminate in<br />
their translation, and what elements of myth remain ‘true’, stimulating a discussion about the<br />
representation of truth or “...the relation between language and what it is.”<br />
In the second chapter the study expands out from itself- from a discussion about the transition<br />
between languages and modes of communication to seeking an understanding of how we<br />
ourselves become the translator of our perceptive reality. The ambivalent nature of myths or<br />
fables engender a discursive mind. The perceived separation between the two states of existencethat<br />
of a manifestation of the tower of Babel and that which exists beyond physicality, something<br />
that Lyotard would refer to as Platonic in definition, becomes negated by the acceptance that<br />
The tower of Babel as an entity cannot be defined by these two states coupled together, but that<br />
these exist amongst a babble of other possible existences of meaning, all shouting to be heard<br />
and making Babel’s ‘reality’ a negotiation yet to be resolved.<br />
Three Newcastle Maps: On Cartography & Cultural Context<br />
Jenny Greveson<br />
Map users locate themselves in a place by aligning cartographic notation with reality. This<br />
location and alignment is often physical, relying on the faithful representation by the<br />
cartographer of both natural and man-made features. Yet this location goes beyond the physical<br />
when it is understood that the two-dimensional representation of a place on paper is a product<br />
of the time and culture in which it was created. Now the map becomes part of a wider context: a<br />
context that includes history, politics, economics, culture and society as well as physical features.<br />
It is also important to note that this context is constructed by an author with their own stories<br />
to tell, whether consciously or unconsciously, in order to draw the map. This adds another layer<br />
of complexity to the subjectivity of a document which most people imagine to be somehow<br />
objective. By reading three maps of Newcastle closely from this standpoint, this dissertation<br />
aims to discover what these three maps represent about their wider contexts.<br />
92
Building the Psychotropic House<br />
Angela Crosby<br />
The basis of this paper explores the possibilities of realising and building the psychotropic house,<br />
juxtaposing fact with fiction and fantasy with reality. This paper aims to equate the two ends of<br />
the spectrum, drawing from the imaginary in creating the pragmatic. Based on a short story by<br />
J. G. Ballard, written in 1962 describing his illusion of the Psychotropic house; the house which<br />
comes to life. The paper utilises Ballard’s visions and notions as the backbone of this study,<br />
extracting key elements that suggest the design for a new type of architecture that behaves and<br />
reacts in the same way as humans do, whereby the family home has the capability to recognise<br />
the emotional state of its inhabitants and reacts in accordance to that emotion.<br />
‘Observation No Be Crime’: An Exploration of Fela Kuti and His Spaces<br />
Mayowa Onabanjo<br />
The foundation of this project is the chaotic and complex life of one of the most prolific and<br />
provocative characters to come out of Africa; Fela Anikulapo Kuti. A man of controversy and<br />
mischief, Fela would become the bane of the corrupt Nigerian military dictatorship and the<br />
voice of the African people through his own genre of music; Afrobeat. This new type of music<br />
was one that would be indigenous to Africa and ‘Fela contended that Afrobeat was a modern<br />
form of danceable, African classical music with an urgent message for the planet’s citizens.<br />
Created out of a cross-breeding of Funk, Jazz, Salsa and Calypso with Juju, Highlife and African<br />
percussive patterns, it was to him a political weapon.’ This genre would influence others far<br />
beyond the continent both musically and politically, gaining Fela international recognition<br />
and respect. This was not just because of his prowess as a musician, but also because of his<br />
outspoken and unapologetic way of criticising the government and fighting for the rights of<br />
the underprivileged Nigerian as well as his enjoyment of shocking the upright sensibilities of<br />
the elite.<br />
Capsular Culture/ Searching for Utopia in Post-war Japan<br />
Michal Kubis<br />
This essay questions the contemporary role of utopian thinking (or the lack thereof) in - and<br />
its relevance to - the creation of the built environment. This is conducted via a study of various<br />
ways in which the concept of utopia has informed architecture in the context of post-war Japan,<br />
exemplified by three different ‘capsules’. These capsules are viewed and analysed as reflections<br />
of three radically opposed ‘ideologies’, each corresponding to a different ‘mode of spatial production’<br />
and linked to a specific period they are grounded in (although not exclusively) and<br />
most representative of. As a consequence of this, each of the capsules embodies a different<br />
manifestation of the utopian concept. In order to grasp these differences, a distinction between<br />
the concepts of utopia and heterotopia is observed and studied closely, which I maintain is<br />
critical in understanding the tensions between the three. This distinction then feeds into the<br />
essay’s conclusion, which relates the outcomes of the individual case studies back to the larger<br />
issue outlined initially.<br />
If my premise holds, the chosen examples will prove well situated to contribute to the discourse<br />
on this recently trending and extensively debated topic. What currency might there be in the<br />
notion of utopia today?<br />
Hallucinatory Space In Cinema: Real And Unreal Spatial Experiences<br />
William Slack<br />
My dissertation pursues an alternative space that is only experienced in the mind of an individual<br />
when hallucinating either from illness, extreme conditions or mind-altering substances.<br />
‘Hallucinatory space’ is a perceived vision that is deceptive and is not true to the external reality<br />
of the subject, but it is nevertheless experienced like any other form of space. Within this space<br />
exists a paradigm of visual architecture that can also be defined as hallucinatory architecture.<br />
Although this architecture is immaterial and metaphysical, it is still an articulation of space,<br />
form and light.<br />
Dissection of this imaginary terrain allows for exploration and extraction in the capabilities<br />
of the human mind. The thesis questions our fundamental understanding of our perceptual<br />
experience both real and unreal in the interpretation of our external world by interrogating<br />
hallucinatory spaces in cinematic representations.<br />
93
Paradise Lost: A Study in Oceanic Re-synthesis<br />
Rachel Armstrong<br />
To demonstrate the design principles in action the following drawings were created to produce<br />
soft, living architectures. The experiments were set up during the dynamic chemistry and<br />
architectural design class at Thinking-Through-Making week, held on 29th January <strong>2015</strong> at the<br />
Chemistry Outreach Laboratory, with stage 3, 5 and 6 students from Newcastle University. The<br />
principles were based on the Liesegang Ring experiment, developed by Raphael Liesegang who<br />
was interested in developing light-sensitive gels for photography. Liesegang rings are spatial timeindependent<br />
structures that are produced from the interactions between non-uniform fields of<br />
agents. Specifically, symmetry is broken by an initial spatial concentration gradient that prompts<br />
a wave of reagents to move through the system. Physical forces such as, diffusion and gravity -<br />
and chemical transformations such as, crystal precipitation - shape the interactions between these<br />
multi material dynamic agents. The width and spacing of the bands of crystal precipitation varies<br />
according to a variety of starting conditions, such as their distance from the origin of the imposed<br />
concentration gradient.<br />
The architectural objective was to choreograph the performance of enlivened inorganic salts - 1M<br />
solutions of Nickel, Chromium, Manganese, Iron II, Iron II and Copper II - in excitable media,<br />
which consisted of alkali-activated agar (IM ammonium hydroxide in 2% agar). Interfaces were<br />
established through diffusion waves and the periodic precipitation and re-dissolution of complex<br />
salts performed the role of an oscillator in the system. The gel enabled the selective permeability<br />
and movement of matter through the design field and the reaction-diffusion interaction between<br />
cation and anion pairings enabled material transformation to occur. Further complexity was<br />
introduced into these architectural actants by placing the system in an open petri dish, rather<br />
than the traditional vessel - a boiling tube. This encouraged lateral diffusion in the system and<br />
gave students access to multiple sites for choreographing a designed topology of multi material<br />
transformations.<br />
Procedurally, the modified Liesegang Ring experiment speaks of an origins of life style transition<br />
that is unconstrained by naturalized aesthetics, where the ‘qualia’ of interacting lively materials<br />
orchestrate new independent acts of creation. Stephen Jay Gould proposed that replaying the Tape<br />
of Life could test whether the natural realm had been generated through a dominant program,<br />
such as one produced by an omnipotent divinity. Gould argued that if we lived in a predetermined<br />
universe - then biological species would be very similar to those we recognize today. However, if<br />
environmental influences played a significant role in evolution, we might encounter seemingly<br />
alien kinds of life - which are in keeping with those that arise from the experimental fields of<br />
activated gels and enlivened minerals. Poetically, the ensuing experimental events are read through<br />
the text of Paradise Lost to graphically discuss how this alternative Nature is not of divine origin,<br />
but is borne from a new collaboration between empowered matter and secular human agency,<br />
which share a common project in their mutual, continued survival. Each drawing is therefore<br />
entitled using the two key design phases used to produce the experimental work - namely, the<br />
dominant oceanic pedagogy in the drawing (interface, oscillator, selective permeability, massive<br />
parallelism) followed by a quotation from Paradise Lost that relates the graphical events to acts of<br />
secular synthesis that produce soft, living architectures.<br />
94
“Streaking the ground with sinuous trace...”<br />
Paradise Lost, Book VII, p.481.<br />
“… more wonderful than that which by creation first brought forth Light out of darkness! …”<br />
Paradise Lost, Book XII, pp.471-473<br />
95
Stage 6<br />
In Stage 6 students undertake a year-long thesis with a self-generated brief, within a theoretical framework<br />
established by their chosen studio. Four studios were offered this year:<br />
Matter: Graham Farmer and Paul Rigby<br />
Infrastructures: Zeynep Keyzer and Matthew Margetts<br />
Strange Places: Adam Sharr<br />
Landscapes of Human Endeavour: James Craig and Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
The studios cover a broad range of issues, but are not expected to have the same outcomes. The students’<br />
individual thesis project is then tailored within the studio’s themes, to balance their own learning objectives<br />
and interests against those already covered in Stage 5.<br />
This is the fourth year Newcastle has run a studio-based thesis model. Each year the course is refined, and<br />
new innovations this year included a specific Technical Review, linked in part to the Thinking-Through-<br />
Making Week and an expansion of the Academic Portfolio. For the Technical Review students were<br />
encouraged through the year to develop a specialism or area of interest, relevant to their thesis, culminating<br />
in a focussed review attended by invited practitioners.<br />
This year witnessed an even more diverse range of projects than previous years. Many of the projects<br />
located the thesis within wider urban, landscape or strategic contexts, giving the projects a greater breadth<br />
and relevance. Sites varied from London’s Westway, to the partially realised elevated walkways of 1960’s<br />
Newcastle, to outerspace. This year also saw an increased confidence in representation and experimentation<br />
with thesis projects reaching an ever-wider range of conclusions.<br />
It has been a very successful year academically and we would like to express our gratitude to all the various<br />
contributors throughout the year.<br />
Year Coordinator<br />
Matthew Margetts<br />
Project Leaders<br />
Zeynep Kezer<br />
Matthew Margetts<br />
Adam Sharr<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Paul Rigby (FaulknerBrowns)<br />
James Craig<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
Contributors<br />
Pierre D’Avoine<br />
Hugh Campbell<br />
Pete Brittain (Fosters)<br />
Paul Grindley<br />
Kevin Gray<br />
David Bailey<br />
Mark Johnston<br />
Marc Horn<br />
Andrew English<br />
Colin Ritches<br />
Tim Bailey<br />
Daniel Kerr<br />
Steve Richardson<br />
Simon Withers<br />
Alistair Robinson<br />
Sam Austin<br />
Ed Wainwright<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson<br />
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes<br />
Prue Chiles<br />
Students<br />
Alicea Berkin<br />
Andrew Wilson<br />
Angela Crosby<br />
Assia Stefanova<br />
Callum Brown<br />
Carol Meteyard<br />
Ceri Turner<br />
Emma Kirk<br />
Inga Laseviciute<br />
Jamie Anderson<br />
Jenny Greveson<br />
Jess Davidson<br />
Jonathan Jones<br />
Mayowa Onabanjo<br />
Michael Boalch<br />
Michal Kubis<br />
Philip Morris<br />
Philippa Ramsay<br />
Rhys Dunn<br />
Richard Taylor<br />
Rob Arthur<br />
Sabrina Lee<br />
Simon Brooke<br />
Simon Bumstead<br />
Thomas Kendall<br />
Thomas Lobb<br />
Will Slack<br />
Will Whiter<br />
96<br />
Opposite - Assia Stefanova Evasion Island
Studio 1 - Landscapes of Human Endeavour<br />
James Craig & Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
Human endeavour has long been associated with expansive and unknowable landscapes, from George Mallory’s first attempt to ‘conquer’ the summit<br />
of Mount Everest in 1924 through to Felix Baumgartner’s recent skydive from a helium balloon 24 miles above the Earth’s surface. These projects<br />
are concerned with representing spatial experience seemingly irreconcilable with our own bodily perception, and each is sited between the chosen<br />
endeavourer’s psyche and the landscapes they are engaged with.<br />
98<br />
Assia Stefanova Evasion Island
Will Slack K7 Temple: Death of the Speed King 99
100 Top - Simon Brooke Suborbital Reichelt Terminal Bottom - Angela Crosby
Top - Jonathan Jones 497 Days<br />
Bottom - Jess Davidson Arctic Occupation<br />
101
102 Thomas Lobb Ophiuchus - Humanity’s Perpetual Fingerprint; The Rebirth Archive of the Human Body and Soul.
Thomas Lobb Ophiuchus - Humanity’s Perpetual Fingerprint; The Rebirth Archive of the Human Body and Soul.<br />
103
104 Alicea Berkin Seven Pillars of Wisdom / An architectural biography of T. E. Lawrence
Alicea Berkin Seven Pillars of Wisdom / An architectural biography of T. E. Lawrence<br />
105
Studio 2 - Matter<br />
Graham Farmer & Paul Rigby<br />
The studio seeks to challenge the passivity of matter in architecture and to develop approaches and methods that celebrate materialilty as a procedural<br />
medium in which and through we work, and by which we understand architecture. The centering of matter within the design process aims to challenge<br />
the predominant understanding of building materials as commodities, and the related tendency to view buildings as static assemblies of inert or neutral<br />
products.<br />
106 Philip Morris Hygromorphic Material Research and Large Scale Application
Will Whiter Bamboo for Humanity<br />
107
108 Carol Meteyard The Hemp Moors
Robert Arthur Bio-Illuminating Tromsø<br />
109
110 Ceri Turner Park Hill: A New [Re]generation
Ceri Turner Park Hill: A New [Re]generation<br />
111
Studio 3 - Strange Places<br />
Adam Sharr<br />
This studio is about strange, unique places - places that have distinctive cultural, social and/or material qualities - which are so particular that architecture<br />
made there will be like architecture made nowhere else. Students have selected their own places to work with, ranging geographically from Las Vegas and<br />
Lithuania to Sellafield, Edinburgh’s Calton Hill, Wallsend’s former shipyards and Newcastle’s 1960s high level walkways.<br />
112<br />
Jamie Anderson For the Undecided.
Jamie Anderson For the Undecided.<br />
113
Purifying Paradise<br />
Grey water purifying plant stretching out from the back of Caesars Palace<br />
0 50 100m<br />
114 Simon Bumstead Purifying Paradise
Thomas Kendall Sea Crossings<br />
115
116 Emma Kirk Peripatetic Journeys Through Newcastle
Inga Laseviciute Healing Plokštinė<br />
117
118 Michael Boalch The Energy Landscape
Museum of Shipping<br />
Mauretania Court<br />
Top - Sabrina Lee Learning from Narrowboats<br />
Bottom - Jenny Greveson Amazon Model Village<br />
119
Studio 4 - Infrastructures<br />
Matthew Margetts & Zeynep Kezer<br />
This year saw the launch of Infrastructures as a parallel studio run jointly between Stage 6 and Stage 3. For Stage 6 the studio focused on infrastructure<br />
as the background, sometimes taken for granted, or invisible systems that support contemporary everyday life.<br />
Travelling 10km west from Kings-X to the M25, The A40 (including the elevated Westway) was used as a loosely defined territory for the students<br />
to apply their emerging hypotheses to. Projects explored themes of permanence, change, systems, interdependency, scale, community, tangibility and<br />
sustainability.<br />
120<br />
Callum Brown Maxi Mini Mall
Michal Kubis Refresh Paddington<br />
121
122 Mayowa Onabanjo Wasting Space
Richard Taylor Westbourne Park Electric Services<br />
123
124 Philippa Ramsay Fortress London
walkway lighting, signage and services<br />
drainage gutter<br />
services along bridge<br />
prefabricated concrete bridge deck<br />
roadway lighting, signage and associated services<br />
Long Perspective Section A-A<br />
Andrew Wilson A Public Convenience<br />
125
126 Rhys Dunn Data centre decentralised power source
Rhys Dunn Data centre decentralised power source<br />
127
Research at APL<br />
This has been a great year for architectural research in the School, in terms of recognition, achievement and<br />
future development. APL was rated an outstanding 4th in the country for Research Impact and Research<br />
Power, in the Research Excellence Framework. We hosted two important international conferences<br />
that also involved our students: in November 2014, around 180 delegates participated in Industries of<br />
Architecture, the 11th Architectural Humanities Research Association International Conference and in<br />
July <strong>2015</strong>, members of the Utopian Studies Society came to Newcastle for their 16th Annual Conference<br />
Utopia and the End of the City.<br />
Postgraduate research in architecture continues to flourish with strong masters programmes in architectural<br />
and emergent design and other specialisms such as Sustainable Buildings and Environments and Urban<br />
<strong>Design</strong>. With changes in the UK funding landscape we are also seeing more students go straight into our<br />
rapidly expanding PhD programme. We continue to make PhD studentships available, and congratulate<br />
Sana Al-Naimi for her success winning a Northern Bridge award. Dr Tom Brigden’s PhD thesis ‘The<br />
Protected Vista: An Intellectual and Cultural History, As Seen from Richmond Hill’ was one of two<br />
commendations in the 2014 RIBA president’s awards for research, and he is now joining us for a 3 year<br />
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. Our students publish widely, and have presented papers this year<br />
nationally and internationally, including Canada, Sweden, Finland and Chile. Our creative practice<br />
programme is one of the largest in the country, and is greatly enhanced by two new appointments: Prue<br />
Chiles has joined us as Professor of Architectural <strong>Design</strong> Research and Rachel Armstrong took up the<br />
new post of Professor of Experimental Architecture and has already launched a new MSc in Experimental<br />
Architecture.<br />
Cultures and Transition<br />
Andrew Ballantyne<br />
Ian Thompson<br />
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes<br />
Martin Beattie<br />
Peter Kellett<br />
Sam Austin<br />
Zeynep Keyzer<br />
Futures, Values and<br />
Imaginaries<br />
Adam Sharr<br />
Andrew Ballantyne<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Ian Thompson<br />
Kati Blom<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
Nathaniel Coleman<br />
Neveen Hamza<br />
Steven Dudek<br />
Mediated Environments<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
John Kamara<br />
Katie Lloyd Thomas<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson<br />
Neveen Hamza<br />
Rachel Armstrong<br />
Sam Austin<br />
Steven Dudek<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
Adam Sharr<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Daniel Mallo<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
Matthew Margetts<br />
Prue Chiles<br />
Rachel Armstrong<br />
Social Justice,<br />
Well-being and Renewal<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
Daniel Mallo<br />
Kati Blom<br />
Nathaniel Coleman<br />
Peter Kellett<br />
Prue Chiles<br />
Specifications,<br />
Prescriptions and<br />
Translations<br />
John Kamara<br />
Katie Lloyd Thomas<br />
Matthew Margetts<br />
Simon Hacker<br />
Zeynep Kezer<br />
Visiting Professors,<br />
PhD examiners and<br />
contributors:<br />
Professor Dana Arnold<br />
Sebastian Aedo Jury<br />
Sophia Banou<br />
Dr Camillo Boano<br />
James Craig<br />
Professor Mark Dorrian<br />
Professor Paul Emmons<br />
Professor Katja Grillner<br />
Professor Katherine Gough<br />
Dr Amin Kamete<br />
Thomas Kern<br />
Astrid Lund<br />
Professor Julia Morgan<br />
Professor Dejan Mumovic<br />
Charlie Sutherland<br />
Professor Robert Tavernor<br />
Ed Wainwright<br />
Tony Watson<br />
PhD students<br />
Rand Agha<br />
Ni Ketut Agusintadewi<br />
Oluwatoyin Akin<br />
Sana Salman Dawood<br />
Al-Naimi<br />
Mabrouk Alsheliby<br />
Katriina Blom<br />
Sarah Cahyadini<br />
Xi Chen<br />
Sam Clark<br />
Kieran Connolly<br />
Yun Dai<br />
Abdelatif El-Allous<br />
Yohannes Firzal<br />
Stephen Grinsell<br />
Jose Hernandez<br />
Chen-Yu Hung<br />
Ulviye Kalli<br />
Antonius Muktiwibowo<br />
Thomas Kern<br />
James Longfield<br />
Mohamed Elnabawi<br />
Charles Makun<br />
Najla Mansour<br />
Ashley Mason<br />
Yasser Megahed<br />
Catalina Moreno<br />
Mohammed Mohammed<br />
Oluwafemi Olajide<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
Paola Figueroa<br />
Macarena Rodriguez<br />
Usue Arana<br />
Maimuna Saleh-Bala<br />
Tugce Sanli<br />
Pattamon Selanon<br />
Khalid Setaih<br />
Dhruv Sookhoo<br />
Tijana Stevanovic<br />
Deva Swasto<br />
Wido Tyas<br />
Javier Urquizo<br />
Xi (Frances) Ye<br />
MPhil/MA/MSc Students<br />
Alejandra Cruz<br />
Junwei Cao<br />
Lu Chen<br />
Yuyang Chen<br />
Xiaotang Cui<br />
Yunyu Dai<br />
Dong Deng<br />
Yuyang Ding<br />
Peishu Han<br />
Laura Harty<br />
Hifzani Hidayat<br />
Haoyuan Li<br />
Huiyang Li<br />
Shue Li<br />
Zhenhan Li<br />
Chang Liu<br />
Ruimin Ma<br />
Meilani Martini<br />
Lai Shun Mok<br />
Xiaoyou Mu<br />
Kenji Nagari<br />
Nasim Haghighi<br />
Zhengjuan Ni<br />
Christos Papantoniou<br />
Alina Pavlova<br />
Zheyu Qian<br />
Mengying Qiao<br />
Matthew Rose<br />
Kaushik Sheth<br />
Linfeng Shi<br />
Yana Shymanovich<br />
Lingxi Song<br />
Yu Su<br />
Tian Sun<br />
Johan Perez<br />
Quang Vu<br />
Hui Wang<br />
Xianghe Wang<br />
Zitao Wang<br />
Meng Xu<br />
Wanyi Yang<br />
Jinsheng Yu<br />
Xi Zhang<br />
Yun Zhang<br />
Miao Zhou<br />
128
MA in <strong>Design</strong> and Emergence (MA_DE)<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson & Rachel Armstrong<br />
Contributors: Carlos Calderon, Luis Hernan, Carolina Ramirez Figueroa<br />
The role of the designer is changing. Computational techniques and digital technologies have made the design of many types of product and service a<br />
process of interacting with different complex information and material systems. The form of a Zaha Hadid building, for example, is not only the result<br />
of the architect’s will, but is rather an emergent process of modelling data and transforming virtual abstractions into material outcomes. A smart phone<br />
is not a static object, shaped by a product designer, but rather an interface which changes based on our interactions with it, and the context in which<br />
those interactions are made. Contemporary practices across a range of design fields are beginning to merge. In the future, product designers will become<br />
architects, and to build a smart phone an interaction designer may need to know something about urban design as well as software.<br />
The work presented here is from the final projects of the 2014 graduating year and includes experimental work from Nikoletta Karastathi, who<br />
investigates the material computation potential of knitted fabrics and Tunc Karkutoglu, who investigates the design potential of cymatics.<br />
130 Tunc Karkutoglu
Nikoletta Karastathi<br />
131
MA in Urban <strong>Design</strong><br />
Georgia Giannopoulou, Tim Townshend & Daniel Mallo<br />
Contributors: Ali Madanipour, Suzanne Speak, Rose Gilroy, John Devlin, Richard Smith, Aidan Oswell, Montse Ferres, Joan Caba, Armelle Tardiveau,<br />
Dermot Foley, Mark Siddall, William Ault<br />
The MA in Urban <strong>Design</strong> is a well-established interdisciplinary programme at Newcastle University that draws on expertise from the disciplines<br />
represented in the School, namely Architecture, Planning and Landscape. The programme brings to the foreground a strong agenda of social and<br />
ecological engagement together with a relational approach to built environment and public life. Three distinct design projects punctuate the year and<br />
are supported by theory courses and critical debate around the practice of Urban <strong>Design</strong>. The projects introduce students to contemporary and topical<br />
themes including Urban Agriculture which allows us to rethink urban regeneration through the lenses of grass-roots processes whilst engaging with<br />
the strategic thinking of a large territory. The European field trip to Nantes (France) focused on Landscape Urbanism engaging students to address<br />
time and ecology in post-industrial landscapes at the same time as articulating infrastructural methods for designing with uncertainty. Finally, Housing<br />
Alternatives examines new models of co-housing and more sustainable aware ways of living. The year concludes with the Urban <strong>Design</strong> Thesis, a major<br />
research-led design project.<br />
132 Top - Peishu Han, Chang Liu, Xianghe Wang Nantes Project Bottom - Quang Vu, Hifzani Zweardo, Samuel Csader South Shields Project
Top - Lorna Heslop, Alina Pavlova, Yun Zhang Nantes Project<br />
Bottom - Lorna Heslop, Matthew Rose, Matus Antolik South Shields Project<br />
133
MA in Architectural <strong>Design</strong> Research<br />
Aikaterini Antonopoulou<br />
Contributors: Sam Austin, James Craig, Ed Wainwright, Sophia Banou, Sebastian Aedo Jury<br />
The MA in Architectural <strong>Design</strong> Research is a design-based international Masters programme that focuses on the relations between architecture and<br />
today’s complex urban conditions. The programme allows the development, through a series of interlinked project stages, of major design projects that<br />
engage the full range of architectural scales, from the urban/territorial strategy to the detail, along with their theoretical extensions, which critically<br />
reflect upon these projects and situate them in relation to positions in contemporary architectural discourse.<br />
This year the course, organised in collaboration with the stage 5 MArch programme, focused on the city of Rotterdam and ran under the theme of<br />
“Artificial Grounds”. The aim was to study the making of land and its relationship to the water and to the surrounding territories. Through studies of<br />
the existing context of the river and its architectural relations with the city, the students develop highly programmed architectural proposals based on<br />
new, artificial grounds. Our explorations were framed by the discourse on the role of the waterfront in the contemporary city: as an opportunity for<br />
space-making at the water’s edge or as a possibility to re-connect the inhabitants of the city to the water, or even as a chance to re-shape the image of<br />
the city and to re-brand it internationally.<br />
134 Peishu Han Quarantine Island
Peishu Han Materialising Interface<br />
135
MA in Architecture, Planning and Landscape - <strong>Design</strong><br />
Nathaniel Coleman<br />
Contributors: Sam Austin, Nathaniel Coleman, Thomas Kern, Astrid Lund, Edward Wainwright, Tony Watson<br />
This programme aims to give students a critical understanding of key aspects of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, and the relationship<br />
between these disciplines. It offers a particularly wide range of choice for specialisation and combines design studio sessions, lectures and individual<br />
research projects. The Programme is ideal for students from Architecture, Urban <strong>Design</strong>, Planning or Landscape backgrounds. It is especially valuable<br />
for international students seeking a UK qualification as it offers a range of modules which set UK approaches to the three disciplines in a global context,<br />
allowing students to make their learning relevant to their own country. It provides an especially useful grounding for students considering progressing<br />
to PhD, or for those who wish to add a range of skills to an existing professional qualification in another discipline.<br />
The approach to this programme is characterised by a high degree of interaction with your tutor and the other students. The precise style of teaching<br />
depends upon the modules selected, but as with other taught programmes you will be exposed to design studio teaching, lectures, tutorials, workshops,<br />
seminars and project work<br />
136 Yu Su Chinese Culture Centre
Top - Ken Mok Chinese Culture Centre<br />
Middle, Bottom - Yuyang Chen<br />
137
MSc in Sustainable Buildings and Environments<br />
Neveen Hamza<br />
Contributors: Ian Gray., Sonia Kempsey, Walter Story, Wael Nabih, Steven Kennedy (Grimshaw Architects), Samuel Austin,<br />
Daniel Kerr (MawsonKerr partners), Chris Grainer (OPUS)<br />
MSc students in SBE use building and urban performance simulation tools and a deeper understanding of building physics to underpin their design<br />
approaches. The design studio includes working on two challenging live projects.<br />
Alston is the highest market town in England, with a derelict town centre that boasts an old mill (the High Mill) housing a historic water wheel built by<br />
Smeaton. A place of rich history from silver and lead mining, to a community that hosted Italian prisoners of war, to a modern-day isolated centre with<br />
ceramic and pottery artisans and an ageing community. We were approached by the local residents’ representative to take on the challenge of proposing ideas<br />
to reinvigorate the town centre that would promote sustainability (socially, economically and in energy consumption). The High Mill building is situated in<br />
a valley and overshadowed by hills from three directions, and prevailing winds from the main entrance to the Mill. The students used building performance<br />
tools to maximize utilization of daylight, views and the possibility of using renewables. Community engagement with various inputs from design and<br />
structural tutors led to interesting proposals that are now being curated for a full exhibition for a wider community audience.<br />
The Sunderland Royal Hospital is the second live project working closely with the estate departments to improve the 1960’s building. The occupants<br />
complain about drafts in winter and overheating and less effective natural ventilation in the rooms year round. The project addressed possibilities of aesthetic<br />
improvements, and insertions of social interaction spaces while moderating the indoors climate using building performance simulations. Students also<br />
expanded their explorations to look at climate change scenarios and environmental architectural concepts that can prevent the need for cooling.<br />
138 Alejandra Alvarez
Top - Kenji Nagari<br />
Middle, Bottom - Yana Shymanovich The WaterMILL 300 health and climbing centre in Alston<br />
139
PhD and PhD by Creative Practice Students<br />
Towards a Synthetic Morphogenesis for Architecture<br />
Paola Carolina Ramirez Figueroa<br />
p.c.ramirez-figueroa@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
www.syntheticmorphologies.com<br />
Synthetic Morphologies is a design exploration project that emerges from a growing<br />
design discourse on the possibilities afforded by Synthetic Biology. The 21st century<br />
is poised to be the era of biology, very much like the 20th has been the age of digital<br />
information. The notion comes from recent advances from Synthetic Biology in<br />
manipulating and creating new living organisms that exhibit unprecedented traits<br />
in nature. <strong>Design</strong>, as many other fields, has felt the influence of such a paradigmatic<br />
shift. In architecture, for instance, a growing body of speculative work imagines a<br />
future material reality enacted by hybrids of machine and living organisms, whereby<br />
building are grown rather than constructed.<br />
Yet, Synthetic Morphologies poses the possibility that, in fact, Synthetic Biology<br />
presents design with a more profound challenge-one that stirs the restating of the<br />
discipline of design itself. To think, for instance, of buildings which are grown out<br />
of pre-programmed living organisms is, in effect, to continue the classic paradigm<br />
of design wherein the designer is an almighty giver of form. I propose an alternative<br />
approach-an organicist-inspired material practice for synthetic biology.<br />
I believe the intersection of design and synthetic biology invites us to think<br />
of design as a negotiation between different actors, some of which include the<br />
chemical environment, mechanical conditions, designers and living organisms<br />
themselves. Throughout my doctoral research I’ve engaged in different projects<br />
which characterise and trace the evolution of the speculative discourse initiated by<br />
synthetic biology, and which eventually leads to the notion of a biologically-oriented<br />
material practice: a technique to engage with the processes of designing through and<br />
with living organisms.<br />
Grid and Plenum: Universality, Ubiquity & Uniqueness in Contemporary<br />
Architecture<br />
Kieran Connolly<br />
k.i.connolly@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Rem Koolhaas’s polemical essay “Junkspace”, written at the turn of the millennium,<br />
recalls a contemporary landscape of generic sameness, latent with subliminal<br />
and ideological messages. The text rejects traditional ideas of architectural space,<br />
dissolving ideas of order, type and hierarchy into a chaotic amalgam that is<br />
apparently ordered and bound together by its globalised ubiquity. Junkspace,<br />
as Koolhaas describes it, is the space of material human waste that has become<br />
a measure of modernity. Fourteen years after the publication of this seminal<br />
essay, the first year of this research has examined a Junkspace par excellence - the<br />
suspended ceiling. Organised on a standard grid of 600mm x 600mm, set-out using<br />
aluminium sections, supporting lightweight tiles, it repeats, room after room in<br />
what can be seen as an almost limitless horizontal expansion. The suspended ceiling<br />
has become a seemingly ubiquitous feature in twenty-first century architecture, as<br />
recently demonstrated by Koolhaas himself at this year’s Venice Biennale.<br />
Using Koolhaas’s observations as a starting point, the research has focused on the<br />
relationship between the repetitive organisational qualities of the aforementioned<br />
grid and the void spaces it conceals above - known as the Plenum. These spaces not<br />
only deal with ventilation, but also hold an ever-increasing network of services that<br />
give comfort and “power” to the inhabited spaces below.<br />
Through a series of investigations, often recalling the evocative imagery and<br />
representation techniques of the radical Italian design collective Superstudio, this<br />
relationship has been explored in order to expose our growing reliance on “serviced”<br />
space. As such, the thesis examines these forgotten, hidden but vitally important<br />
environments of Junkspace, in order to explore a much broader question - how<br />
reliant are we becoming on these concealed service spaces? And what impact does<br />
this have on the field of architecture?<br />
140 Top, Middle - Paola Carolina Ramirez Figueroa Bottom - Kieran Connolly
The Contemporary Role and Transformation of Civic Public Architecture: The<br />
Case of Tripoli’s Central Municipal Building, Libya<br />
Abdelatif El-Allous<br />
abdelatif.el-allous@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Space Thickening and the Digital Ethereal:<br />
Production of Architecture in the Digital Age<br />
Jose-Luis Hernandez-Hernandez<br />
j.l.hernandez-hernandez@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
www.digitalethereal.com<br />
Digital Ethereal came about as a design discourse on digital technologies, and the<br />
invisible infrastructure underpinning it. I believe our interaction with this landscape<br />
of electromagnetic signals, described by Antony Dunne as Hertzian Space, can be<br />
characterised in the same terms as that with ghosts and spectra. They both are<br />
paradoxical entities, whose untypical substance allows them to be an invisible<br />
presence. In the same way, they undergo a process of gradual substantiation to<br />
become temporarily available to perception. Finally, they both haunt us: ghosts, as<br />
Derrida would have it, with the secrets of past generations; Hertzian space, with the<br />
frustration of interference and slowness..<br />
But it is these same traits of Hertzian Space that affords the potential for a spatially<br />
rich interaction with information systems, one that more closely resemble the<br />
interaction with real architecture. The challenge however lies in how to design with<br />
systems that are fundamentally invisible. They can be ‘translated”- changing their<br />
modality into one which is tangible. This modality change is however always laced<br />
with cultural charges, which changes the nature of Hertzian Space.<br />
In order to take advantage of hertzian space, I advocate for a creative practice aimed<br />
at creating new objects, indexed to hertzian space, but which also captures the<br />
cultural and social complexity imbued in the use of such technologies. I call this new<br />
series of objects the digital ethereal. The design work created throughout this project<br />
blends together disciplines and techniques such as performance, photography,<br />
design, programming and electronics.<br />
Shared Identity: Buildings, Memories, and Meanings<br />
Stephen Grinsell<br />
s.j.grinsell@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
News stories about either the decision to save or demolish many buildings of the<br />
1960’s and early 1970’s regularly use the noun monstrosity, usually prefaced by the<br />
word concrete. However, not all concrete buildings create animosity. The recently<br />
demolished Birmingham Central Library, whilst derided by Prince Charles as<br />
looking like “a place where books are incinerated, not kept” (Birmingham Mail,<br />
2014) is also commonly and affectionately called the “Ziggurat”, a reference to the<br />
stepped terraces of ancient temples. David Parker and Paul Long in their article<br />
‘The Mistakes of the Past’? Visual Narratives of Urban Decline and Regeneration’<br />
write “For all their faults, the buildings of the 1960s and 1970s currently being<br />
destroyed supplied Birmingham with an identity” (Parker and Long, 2004 p.18).<br />
Buildings are given their identity and meaning, or more accurately, given a<br />
multiplicity of meanings, by those who gaze upon them and allow the building<br />
to impact upon them. This impact, or the experience as a result of that gaze, stirs<br />
emotions and evokes memories, memories that heighten a sense of identity. This<br />
identity then becomes a shared identity as people share their memories, and what<br />
the building means to them.<br />
Parker, D., & Long, P. (2004). ‘The mistakes of the past’? Visual narratives of urban<br />
decline and regeneration. Visual Culture in Britain, 5(1), 37-58.<br />
Natural Ventilation: An Evaluation of Strategies for Improving Indoor Air<br />
Quality in Hospitals of Semi-Arid Climates<br />
Mohamed Mahgoub Elnabawi<br />
m.elnabawi-mahgoub@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Learning from Vernacular Natural Ventilated Residential Houses in<br />
Mediterranean Climate Zone of Lebanon; and Developing its Application<br />
Methods in <strong>Design</strong>ing Contemporary Housing in Beirut<br />
Najla Mansour<br />
n.mansour@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Top, Middle - Jose-Luis Hernandez-Hernandez<br />
Bottom - Stephen Grinsell<br />
141
A Coincidental Plot, For Architecture<br />
Ashley Mason<br />
ashley.mason@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Practiceopolis: The City of Architectural Practice<br />
Yasser Megahed<br />
yasser.megahed@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
This Research sets out to interrogate a dominant stance towards technology that<br />
prioritises a narrow approach to architectural production, which I have identified<br />
as Techno‐rational practice. The imaginary city of Practiceopolis is introduced as<br />
a site for the critical reading of diverse contemporary architectural practices. This<br />
reading draws from the philosopher Andrew Feenberg’s classification of varying<br />
stances towards technology.<br />
Practiceopolis is a city built on diagrammatic relations between nine theoretical<br />
modes of practice covering a wide spectrum of the contemporary architectural<br />
world. Its morphology is set out according to the influence of technology and<br />
technical knowledge in shaping different modes of architectural practice. It<br />
highlights tensions between what Feenberg might call Determinist/Instrumentalist<br />
approaches on the one hand, and Critical Theory/Substantivist approaches on the<br />
other. Practiceopolis has two dimensions; the first sets out a parallel world created<br />
as a tool for mapping the multiplicity of modes of architectural practice, of which<br />
Techno‐rational approach is only one. The second maps architectural practices<br />
critically from a dedicated map library in the city of Practiceopolis, located at an<br />
intermediate place between the Instrumentalist and Critical-Theory stances of<br />
technology.<br />
On Repetition: Photograhpy in/as Architectural Criticism - Working through<br />
the Archives of Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich’s German Pavilion and the<br />
North American Concrete Grain Elevators<br />
Catalina Mejia-Moreno<br />
c.mejia-moreno@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
www.travesiafoundation.org<br />
“Many of us, maybe all of us, look at some images repeatedly, but it seems that we do not<br />
write about that repetition, or think it, once written, worth reading by others”.<br />
T.J.Clark. The Sight of Death. An experiment in Art Writing. (New Haven and<br />
London: Yale University Press, 2006) pp. 9<br />
In the photo-archives of two of the most recognised British architectural historians<br />
of the late XXc - Robin Evans and Reyner Banham - two iconic buildings come<br />
across repeatedly, almost compulsively. In Evans’, the Barcelona Pavilion (1929-<br />
reconstructed 1986) and in Banham’s, the Buffalo Grain Elevators (late XIX<br />
Century). While these slide sets can be understood as the result of the empiricist<br />
English tradition and the relevance of direct experience for the buildings’ histories<br />
and criticisms, they are also evidence of a wider phenomenon in architectural<br />
history: the drive to re-visit, the compulsion to re-photograph and the instinct<br />
to repeat. In this context, my PhD project questions photography as the inherent<br />
means of repetition in architectural history, while arguing that the photograph as<br />
material object and object of representation also performs as the criticism itself.<br />
By studying two important moments in time for the photographic dissemination<br />
of the two aforementioned buildings, and by understanding the material history<br />
of photographs as commodities and objects of transaction, I critically examine the<br />
relationship between architectural history, architectural criticism, and photographic<br />
and ideological techniques of (re)production.<br />
Architecture for All in the megacity: Spatially Integrated Settlements in<br />
Istanbul Dominated by Desirable Affordable Housing that Values More than<br />
the Total Cost of Construction and Land Values<br />
Ulviye Nergis Kalli<br />
u.n.kalli@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Impact of Community Participation on Peri-Urban Development Projects in<br />
Akure, Nigeria<br />
Oluwatoyin Akim<br />
o.t.akin@ncl.ac.uk<br />
142 Top - Yasser Megahed Middle, Bottom - Catalina Mejia-Moreno
Cities, People, Nature: An Exploration<br />
Usue Ruiz Arana<br />
u.ruiz-arana@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
mynaturehood.tumblr.com<br />
With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, it is the nature<br />
within the city that has the potential to enhance people’s lives on a daily basis. The<br />
city-people-nature trinomial raises a number of questions that form the basis of this<br />
research. My first installation, to coincide with this year’s ‘Landscape, Wilderness<br />
and the Wild’ conference explores two initial questions:<br />
Is there a boundary between the natural and cultural in the city?<br />
The relation between nature and culture is complex. The classical notion of nature is<br />
the world devoid of human interaction or activity; and urbanization, the antithesis<br />
of nature. At the other end of the spectrum there is the notion of nature as a social<br />
constructed phenomenon, and the idea that nature as the untouched doesn’t exist<br />
anymore, as human activity has affected the whole world. What is evident is that<br />
cities depend on nature to survive and vice versa, and it is therefore difficult to see<br />
where one ends and the other starts.<br />
Could the expectation of nature in the city be challenged and what could we tolerate<br />
within the urban?<br />
Within the city we tend to arrest the progression of nature in order to maintain<br />
landscapes and spaces looking a certain way, and avoid the chaos or fear that might<br />
result from a ‘wild’ nature. ‘Wilderness’ is found on abandoned sites, on former<br />
industrial sites, in the cracks of the pavements, in the joints of the walls, reclaimed<br />
by nature whilst waiting to be developed or cleared out. Are looks the reason why we<br />
arrest nature, and how is nature experienced through the other senses?<br />
Revealing <strong>Design</strong>: A Dialogic Approach<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
matthew.ozga-lawn@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/staff/profile/matthew.ozga-lawn<br />
My research project attempts to reveal hidden or overlooked agencies within the studio space and<br />
the representational modes therein, which is normally conceived of as a neutral zone through<br />
which designs are simply ‘transmitted’. In my study, the studio is conflated with a rifle range.<br />
The studio, in adopting the characteristics and agencies of the military space, opens architectural<br />
representation onto codes and phenomena normally considered to be outside its remit. These<br />
phenomena are drawn into the project through historical and theoretical links established by the<br />
rifle range space.<br />
My research blurs the agencies of the military and studio spaces, revealing coded agencies that<br />
we as designers often take for granted in how we relate and engage with representational artefacts<br />
in the studio.<br />
Usage of Thermally Comfortable Outdoor Space through the Lens of Adaptive<br />
Microclimate<br />
Khalid Setaih<br />
k.m.setaih@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Becoming Planners and Architects: the Formation of Perspectives on<br />
Residential <strong>Design</strong> Quality<br />
Dhruv Sookhoo<br />
d.a.sookhoo@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
After the Blueprint: Questions around the Unfinished in New Belgrade<br />
Tijana Stevanović<br />
t.stevanovic@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Modelling the Effects of Household Practices on Heating Energy<br />
Consumption in Social Housing. A Case Study in Newcastle upon Tyne<br />
Macarena Beltan Rodriguez<br />
m.rodriguez@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Crisis of Traditional Identity in Built Environment of the Saudi Cities. A Case<br />
Study: The Old City of Tabuk<br />
Mabrouk Alsheliby<br />
m.alsheliby@ncl.ac.uk<br />
Top - Usue Ruiz Arana<br />
Middle, Bottom - Matt Ozga-Lawn<br />
143
The Impacts of Owners’ Participation on ’Sense of Place’,<br />
the Case of Tehran, Iran<br />
Goran Erfani<br />
g.erfani@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
A key aspect for urban designers and managers concerns how urban transformation<br />
arising from regeneration of inner-city areas is associated with `sense of place´.<br />
Although much academic work tracks individual sense of place, little interrogates<br />
the community aspect and its link with urban renewal. This study investigated how<br />
the urban renewal schemes in Tehran, Iran have attempted to adopt the owners’<br />
participation into their planning and implementation. It concentrated especially on<br />
diverse ways that different stakeholders perceived the methods of these schemes and<br />
the significance for community sense of place.<br />
The study examined the urban renewal projects conducted by the municipality<br />
of Tehran which concerns these areas as deprived neighbourhoods with various<br />
physical, social and environmental problems. Two cases were studied, namely the<br />
Oudlajan bazar and the Takhti neighbourhood, which both are located in the inner<br />
city (district 12). Despite similarities, they are distinctive cases. Oudlajan, which<br />
has outstanding heritage value to the city, is a commercial public space. The Takhti<br />
project was about the residential private space. In addition, each case had diverse<br />
socio-cultural and physical transformation. The selecting of the distinctive cases<br />
shaped a better picture of urban transformation in Tehran.<br />
The techniques applied seek to represent different types of participants, by means<br />
of local observation and semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders<br />
in these schemes. Additionally, to elicit what constitutes the interrelationships<br />
between people and place, Photo Elicitation Interview (PEI) was carried out. The<br />
photos captured by the residents were discussed with them to reveal the potential<br />
impact of urban renewal projects on place-based community attachment, identity<br />
and satisfaction in the eyes of individuals. Concurrently, planners, managers<br />
and developers were interviewed. To signify the intersubjectivity, the results and<br />
evidence from the previous phases were separately discussed with other participant<br />
and non-participant residents in the renewal schemes. Furthermore, the study<br />
considered the potential and limitations for sense of place associated with the urban<br />
regeneration schemes.<br />
Making Byker: The Situated Practices of the Citizen Architect<br />
James Longfield<br />
j.d.longfield@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
My work draws from the site-based architectural approaches employed in Byker by<br />
Ralph Erskine and Vernon Gracie, to explore a mode of practice where the skills and<br />
expertise of the professional overlap with the personal commitment of the citizen to<br />
the social and political context of their location of residence.<br />
Through a series of projects, drawings, made pieces and activism, within the<br />
Byker area, where I now live, my thesis traces the nature of a situated approach to<br />
architectural practice, reflecting on convergences with conventional practice, as well<br />
as identifying key points of divergence where my work steps beyond professional<br />
boundaries to engage in a directly personal way.<br />
The trajectory of these actions are observed and recorded in order to describe an<br />
alternative approach to producing and appropriating the built environment, before<br />
finally questioning whether architectural practice, in its professionally bound form,<br />
is capable of delivering a social architecture.<br />
Quality Control and Quality Assurance in Construction - Case of Tower<br />
Buildings in Libya<br />
Salem Tarhuni<br />
The Conservation of Twentieth Century Architecture in China<br />
Yun Dai<br />
y.dai@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
144 Top - Goran Erfani Middle, Bottom, Opposite - James Longfield
Comprehensive Intelligence in Sustainable Courtyard House Architecture<br />
Rand Agha<br />
r.h.m.agha@ncl.ac.uk<br />
A Spatial Carbon Analysis Model for Retrofitting the Guayaquil’s Residential<br />
Sector - GURCC as a Case Study<br />
Javier Urquizo<br />
j.urquizo@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
Looking Towards Retirement: Alternative <strong>Design</strong> Approaches to Third-Ager<br />
Housing<br />
Sam Clark<br />
s.clark4@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
UK society was first categorised ‘aged’ during the 1970s, and is currently heading<br />
towards ‘super-aged’ status, whereby 20 per cent of the population will be aged sixty<br />
five and over by the year 2025. Indeed scientific evidence indicates linear increases<br />
in life expectancy since 1840, such that UK population ‘pyramids’ are now looking<br />
more like ‘columns’, with fewer younger people at the base and increasing numbers<br />
and proportions of older people at the top. There are 10,000 centenarians living in<br />
the UK today, with demographers anticipating a five-fold increase by 2030. Half of<br />
all babies born this year can expect to live one hundred years.<br />
Housing plays a significant role in sustaining a good quality of life, and there is<br />
growing opinion that moving to specialist or more age-appropriate housing has<br />
a positive impact on the wellbeing of older people, as well as potential benefits<br />
to the property market as a whole. Recent design research includes a competition<br />
commissioned by McCarthy & Stone to ‘re-imagine ageing’, and an RIBA report<br />
illustrating future scenarios in which ‘Active Third-Agers’ have made a huge impact<br />
on UK towns and cities. Both initiatives were predicated on the idea that today’s<br />
older population (colloquially known as the ‘baby-boomers’) have alternative and<br />
more demanding lifestyle expectations that are likely to drive a step-change in<br />
housing choice for older people.<br />
Sam is working in collaboration with national house builder, Churchill Retirement<br />
Living, to further explore the needs and aspirations of those entering retirement. In<br />
this instance a PhD by Creative Practice is being used as a vehicle for applied design<br />
research that will contribute to contemporary visions for retirement living.<br />
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Future Venice 2: Zanzara Island<br />
Rachel Armstrong<br />
Zanzara Island proposes to grow an island from microfilms and the plastisphere.<br />
It takes the form of a synthetic body and artificial metabolism that invites the anchoring of tiny<br />
islands of microbial life - including bacteria and algae - to remove micro plastics from the lagoon<br />
through the production of natural ‘nets’ or biofilms. The composite of microplastics and biofilm<br />
forms the basis for a new kind of soil that is used to create a new island in the Venice lagoon. This<br />
becomes the site for a laboratory that asks questions about the materials, practices and ways of living<br />
as an ecological vision for future Venice.<br />
Every year around 20 million tourists visiting the city leave behind 13 million or so plastic bottles.<br />
Many of these end up as landfill, or are discarded into the canals and lagoon. Here they are broken<br />
down by the mechanical action of the waves and photo degradation into micro plastics. These enter<br />
the food chain and poison the wildlife. It is not possible to physically remove these fragments from<br />
our ecosystems because of their size and position within the water, floating in suspension several<br />
centimetres under the surface.<br />
Zanzara’s agglutinating plastics invite algae colonies, such as diatoms, with heavy silicon skeletons to<br />
make them their home. As rafts of biofilms weave their membranes around the plastics, they produce<br />
long yards of thread-like materials, which are knitted into mats by the tides and eddies.<br />
Zanzara’s multi material bones therefore form the shallow building blocks of a soil-like body that<br />
begins to decompose into an island and acts as an attractor for non-living matter such as human<br />
refuse, decay and dirt. The living plastic and biological composite quietly grows under the lagoon<br />
surface over a region that stretches approximately 500 metres in a southeast direction from San<br />
Michele, the island cemetery for the city.<br />
The first inhabitants of Zanzara Island are not human. Its stagnating pools however, provide the<br />
breeding grounds for the most deadly animals on earth where rafts of eggs and tiny breathing<br />
tubes of mosquito larvae punctuate the tight menisci of the shallows, like straws. Yet, most of these<br />
metamorphosing creatures are not destined to produce new populations of egg-layers, but bear the<br />
hallmark of the male sex. They are genetically modified flies where an unusually high percentage of<br />
the progeny carry the nectar-seeking proclivities of the Y chromosome. After hatching they stumble<br />
over the choppy waves to the mainland to find females, barely keeping the species alive.<br />
Zanzara Island does not yet exist. Its story however is beginning as a collective experiment at the<br />
IDEA Laboratory of the Vita Vitale exhibition, designed by Artwise for the Azerbaijan Pavilion at the<br />
56th Venice Biennale, <strong>2015</strong>. It is commissioned by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation as the Vita Vitale<br />
exhibition that looks to Azerbaijan’s future, and beyond its geographic borders, to spotlight the artists<br />
and scientists confronting the ecological challenges we face globally.<br />
The experiment takes the form of eight tanks in which beach plastics from the Lido were harvested<br />
and are being cultured with native biofilm-producing consortia from Venice. These will be developed<br />
over the course of the exhibition that runs from May to November and analysed to take the project to<br />
the next stage and develop the systems that can actively produce this environmentally remedial fabric.<br />
The exhibition’s Laboratory, is hosted by IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action)<br />
and further reinforces our connection to our environment. Particular focus is given to Vita Vitale’s<br />
own immediate environment that is located only a few steps from the Grand Canal, and drawing<br />
inspiration from Venice’s ecological concerns. The IDEA Laboratory convenes scientists, artists, and<br />
designers to spark dialogue about synthesising our technological capabilities and our living realm. At<br />
a time when the human race increasingly consumes and jettisons natural resources and manmade<br />
products, the collective voices of Vita Vitale’s artists and scientists resonate throughout Ca’ Garzoni.<br />
They challenge us to confront the potential dangers of ignoring the messages that Vita Vitale<br />
conveys, while simultaneously suggesting creative tools and ideas for securing ‘all the world’s futures.’<br />
The laboratory brings together the practices of artists and designers around the experimental theme<br />
of creating a new island for the city from two major problems that are faced in the waterways -<br />
microplastics and eutrophication. The overarching question is - can micro algae be used as a natural<br />
net to trap micro plastics? And if this is possible, how does this change the way we can work with<br />
this possibility to produce new places, new materials and alternative artisan practices for the area?<br />
The IDEA Laboratory becomes a new kind of laboratory, whose boundaries are extended beyond<br />
the exclusive confines of a scientific research environment. It also invites multiple disciplines into its<br />
space as an ‘ecology of practices’. It is a site for experimental design work, coordinating centre for field<br />
work and plans a series of conversations with the science and technology community for the autumn.<br />
146
147
ARC - Architecture Research Collaborative<br />
ARC has just entered its second year since formation, and under the co-directorship of Katie Lloyd Thomas and Martyn Dade-Robertson, is committed to supporting<br />
and publicising the quality and breadth of research of all staff and PhD students in architecture, at whatever stage of their career. Our ranking as 4th in<br />
the UK for Research Impact and Research Power in the Research Excellence Framework has been a great start.<br />
ARC comprises a diverse group of scholars with backgrounds in design practice, participatory action, engineering and construction, digital design and emergence,<br />
ethnography, architectural history and critical theory. We recognise the opportunity our specialisms can bring to shared problems and questions, and aim to<br />
stimulate innovation and foster connectivity between methodologies that are too often isolated from one another. We have structured ARC through a dynamic<br />
and evolving pattern of research themes that cut across the conventional divisions of design, technology and, history and theory research, and are home to the<br />
international journal arq (Architectural Research Quarterly) which shares our focus on multidisciplinary and practice-based research.<br />
This year we launched our website www.research.ncl.ac.uk/arc and are developing a new collaborative project ‘Mountains and Megastructures’. Amongst many<br />
other achievements, Martyn Dade-Robertson and his team won a £300,000 EPSRC grant for their project ‘Computational Colloids: Engineered bacteria as<br />
computational agents in the design and manufacture of new materials and structures.’ Nathaniel Coleman and Adam Stock have a Leverhulme Trust International<br />
Research Network grant for their 3 year project investigating the conceptualization of the future across the Arts and Humanities. Adam Sharr’s book Demolishing<br />
Whitehall: Leslie Martin, Harold Wilson and the Architecture of White Heat, co-written with Stephen Thornton, won a commendation in the RIBA Presidents<br />
Award for Outstanding University-located Research and Rachel Armstrong was appointed Scientific Curator of the IDEA Laboratory at the Azerbaijan Pavilion’s<br />
Vita Vitale exhibition at the Venice Biennale <strong>2015</strong>.<br />
Tuning in to T Dan Smith<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson<br />
Mediated Enviroments<br />
http://thecreativeexchange.org/<br />
This project is funded through the AHRC Creative Exchange research hub and<br />
involved a short collaboration between arts and humanities scholars, technology<br />
researchers and the creative industries. The project specifically examines the archive<br />
of T Dan Smith, a controversial local council leader in Newcastle through the 1960s<br />
and 70s and looks at new ways of unlocking the archive through the use of mobile<br />
technologies and media.<br />
Collaborators: The Amber Collective, Amblr, Culture Lab - AHRC CX Hub<br />
CURE: Creative Upcycled Resource<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
This cross-disciplinary research project brings together architecture, engineering,<br />
social sciences, and business. It explores the technical, social, economic and design<br />
related barriers to material upcycling, and seeks to propose solutions to enable<br />
widespread, creative re-use of designed products and packaging.<br />
U-TEC Cafe<br />
Collaborators: CeG - Newcastle University, Newcastle Business School<br />
Replicas<br />
Adam Sharr, Zeynep Kezer<br />
Futures, Values and Imaginaries<br />
Replica architectures employ selective ideas of the past to construct the image of<br />
states, cultures, organizations or powerful individuals in the present, often operating<br />
in service of radically conservative ideologies. Promoted through the rhetoric of<br />
reconstruction, replica projects are seldom ‘literal’ reconstructions. Rather, they<br />
involve the tendentious reclamation of historic architectural or urban forms to<br />
reinforce particular national or cultural identity narratives, however counterfactual<br />
their historical veracity. The idea of Replicas was the subject of a session at the SAH<br />
conference in Chicago in <strong>2015</strong> and this material will now form an edited book<br />
Collaborators: Society of Architectural Historians Conference, Chicago, <strong>2015</strong><br />
148
Utopias and Architecture<br />
Nathaniel Coleman<br />
Futures, Values and Imaginaries<br />
Utopian thought, though commonly characterized as projecting a future without<br />
a past, depends on golden models for re-invention of what is. This general theme<br />
encompasses a range of projects examining the social and formal dimensions of<br />
architecture through the concept of utopia and integrating architectural thinking<br />
into Utopian Studies. The projects and outputs range from the interdisciplinary<br />
Utopography workshop to a special issue of Utopian Studies as well as Lefebvre<br />
for Architects, recently published by Routledge, and papers for journals including<br />
the Journal of Architectural Education, Architectural Research Quarterly, and the<br />
Journal or Architecture.<br />
Coleman N. Architecture and Dissidence: Utopia as Method. Architecture and<br />
Culture 2014, 2(1), pp. 45-60.<br />
Energy, Society and Cities<br />
Carlos Calderon<br />
Mediated Environments<br />
These projects involve understanding, modelling and designing for new energy<br />
futures. Themes include the effects of household practices on heating energy<br />
consumption, smart energy technologies, decentralised energy, energy systems<br />
to reduce fuel poverty and developing new ways of planning for spatial energy<br />
infrastructure in cities. This work is supported by contributions from Your Homes<br />
Newcastle, Newcastle City Council and Newcastle Science City and involves<br />
collaborations across fields of architecture, engineering and planning.<br />
Collaborators: Newcastle City Council, Your Homes Newcastle, Newcastle Science City,<br />
Cambridge Architectural Research<br />
Byker Hobby Rooms<br />
James Longfield, Adam Sharr<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
This project was investigated as part of Linked Research with Stage 5 and 6 students<br />
on the MArch degree program. The project investigated the unique phenomena of<br />
the hobby rooms in the Byker redevelopment which are currently under-occupied.<br />
By investigating their intentions and mapping the spaces of current hobby activity<br />
the project developed speculative proposals for alternative hobby spaces that offered<br />
greater flexibility and specificity. The project concluded with the construction of key<br />
items of furniture which imagined the hobby rooms as specific mobile spaces, able to<br />
support a process of redevelopment.<br />
http://makingbyker.wordpress.com<br />
Collaborators: The Byker Lives Project<br />
Bacilla Vitruvius<br />
Martyn Dade-Robertson, Carolina Figueroa<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
Vitruvius suggested in his texts On Architecture that ‘architecture is an imitation of<br />
nature’ (Vitruvius, 2009) but what happens when architecture becomes nature and<br />
we begin, through the design of biological systems, to become architects of nature?<br />
This project explores the relationship between architecture and the emerging field of<br />
Synthetic Biology. The project explores both the applications of Synthetic Biology for<br />
new types of building material and the implications of architectural design practice<br />
on the development of Synthetic Biology.<br />
Collaborators: Northumbria University, The Centre for Synthetic Biology and<br />
Bioexploitation<br />
149
Architecture’s Unconscious<br />
Kati Blom, Nathaniel Coleman, Andrew Ballantyne,<br />
Katie Lloyd Thomas, Sam Austin<br />
Social Justice, Wellbeing and Renewal<br />
This project is built around a series of informal meetings including architects, artists,<br />
philosophers and scholars of cognitive science and psychoanalysis. The project aims<br />
to uncover the processes of environmental perception - with particular emphasis<br />
stories of unexpected, non-verbal encounters which are born of and a pre-linguistic<br />
sensation of space. These incidental sensuous encounters with place -whether labelled<br />
as unconscious or not - are vital when discovering the qualities of spaces.<br />
Collaborators: Isis Brook (Writtle University), Lorens Holm (University of Dundee),<br />
Wolfram Bergande (Bauhaus- University Weimar)<br />
Re-interpreting Sustainable Architecture<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Futures, Values and Imaginaries<br />
This research aims to bring together recent debates in philosophy and social /<br />
cultural theory to the study and practice of sustainable architecture and urbanism. In<br />
adopting a critical, comparative and interdisciplinary perspective and by theorising<br />
sustainability, my aim is to bring the discussion of a sustainable built environment<br />
centrally into the social sciences and humanities.<br />
G. Farmer (2013) Re-contextualising <strong>Design</strong>: Three ways of Practicing Sustainable<br />
Architecture. Architectural Research Quarterly, 17(2),<br />
G. Farmer & S. Guy (2010) Making Morality: Sustainable Architecture and the<br />
Pragmatic Imagination. Building Research and Information, 38(4), 368-378.<br />
S.Guy & G.Farmer (2001), ‘Re-interpreting Sustainable Architecture: The place of<br />
Technology.’ Journal of Architectural Education, 54(3) Feb. pp140-148<br />
Demolishing Whitehall<br />
Adam Sharr<br />
Futures, Values and Imaginaries<br />
In 1965, the architect Leslie Martin submitted to Harold Wilson’s Labour<br />
government a plan to rebuild London’s government district, Whitehall. Presented<br />
to an administration which had been elected on the promise of remaking Britain in<br />
the ‘white heat’ of technology, the plan’s architecture embodied the 1960s idea of an<br />
imminent jet age that seemed not just possible but imminent. Our co-written book,<br />
Demolishing Whitehall, tells the story of the Whitehall plan and investigates its<br />
inherent tensions between ideas of technology and history, science and art, socialism<br />
and elitism.<br />
Collaborators: Stephen Thornton, Politics, Cardiff University<br />
Industries of Architecture<br />
Katie Lloyd Thomas, Adam Sharr<br />
Specifications, Prescriptions and Translations<br />
Developing out of research and an earlier symposium on architecture’s technical<br />
literatures ‘Further Reading Required’ (The Bartlett, 2011) this international<br />
conference took place at Newcastle in November 2014. IOA invited architectural<br />
theorists, historians, designers and others to explore the industrial, technical and<br />
socio-economic contexts in which building is constituted that are all too often<br />
sidelined within the architectural humanities. IOA also hosted a number of openstructured<br />
debate-oriented workshops with the aim of bringing into the discussion<br />
those working in building, technology, law, practice management, construction or in<br />
industry together with researchers in the architectural humanities.<br />
Collaborators: Tilo Amhoff, University of Brighton Nicholas Beech, Oxford Brookes<br />
University ProBE, University of Westminster John Gelder, NBS Sofie Pelsmakers, UCL<br />
Energy Institute Rob Imrie, Sociology, Goldsmiths Emma Street, Real Estate &Planning,<br />
University of Reading Liam Ross, ESALA<br />
150
Visualising Energy<br />
Neveen Hamza<br />
Mediated Environments<br />
http://www.eviz.org.uk/<br />
This project is based on the EPSRC funded Eviz (Energy Visualisation for Carbon<br />
Reduction) project. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of engineers<br />
and designers to develop applications which close the gap between abstract, invisible<br />
energy flows and people’s desire to understand their energy use and become more<br />
energy efficient. The key idea is to increase understanding of energy dynamics as<br />
a function of occupant behaviour and building characteristics and to allow experts<br />
to make better predictions of energy efficiency and design buildings around human<br />
behaviour.<br />
Collaborators: Plymouth University, University of Birmingham, University of Bath<br />
Landscape Visions<br />
Ian Thompson<br />
Futures, Values and Imaginaries<br />
This project, led by a landscape architect/photographer in collaboration with<br />
landscape archaeologists, an oral historian and a specialist in heritage interpretation,<br />
considers the legacy of land reclamation within the Great Northern Coalfield,<br />
following the closure of the last deep mines. We aim to understand the reclamation<br />
process, not just the social, political and economic drivers, but also the visions which<br />
shaped the reclaimed landscape. How did these arise? What was not valued and what<br />
has been lost?<br />
Collaborators: Dr Arieti Galani (heritage studies), Professor Sam Turner, Dr Oscar<br />
Aldred (archaeology), Sue Bradley (oral history), McCord Centre for Historic and Cultural<br />
Landscapes, Durham County Record Office, Woodhorn Museum Northumberland<br />
<strong>Design</strong> Pedagogy as Material Practice<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
This research explores the role of material practice as a means to connect design,<br />
pedagogy, research and social engagement. This work provides the opportunity for<br />
‘live’ experimentation with materials, performance and varying modes of design<br />
practice.<br />
Stonehaugh Stargazing Pavilion<br />
G. Farmer (2013) Re-contextualising <strong>Design</strong>: Three ways of Practicing Sustainable<br />
Architecture. Architectural Research Quarterly, 17(2),<br />
G. Farmer & M. Stacey (2012) In the Making: Pedagogies from MARS. Architectural<br />
Research Quarterly, 16(4), 301-312<br />
Rethinking Heritage<br />
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes<br />
Cultures and Transition<br />
http://valuablereside.upc.edu/<br />
This project examines the modern conceptualization of heritage and its associated<br />
preservation and conservation techniques and policies. The research takes an<br />
interdisciplinary approach and includes anthropologists, geographers, political<br />
scientists and scholars in tourism. It deals with both theory and particular case<br />
studies, and is currently funded through several competitive grants in Spain and<br />
Chile, with collaborators in the US, UK, Italy, Chile and Spain. The project relates<br />
research to professional practice and teaching -like the international workshop<br />
“Valuable-RESIDE”, funded by the EU.<br />
Collaborators: School of Architecture of Barcelona-Valles, UPC-BarcelonaTECH<br />
(Spain); Universidad de Concepción (Chile); Politecnico di Torino (Italy); West Chester<br />
University of Pennsylvania (US). FIC Barcelona Architects.<br />
151
Architecture and the Machinic Unconscious<br />
Andrew Ballantyne<br />
Cultures and Transition<br />
Our responses to architecture have a cultural dimension, but our cultures are ways<br />
of dealing with our instincts--inherited from millions of years of evolution. Modern<br />
humans have been around for tens of thousands of years, identifiable buildings for<br />
only about 10,000 years, since the global warming that brought the Ice Age to an end.<br />
This project draws together some insights from the recent literature of evolutionary<br />
psychology and the schizoanalysis of Deleuze and Guattari in trying to understand<br />
how we unconsciously interact with one another in and through buildings. Most of<br />
what we do, we do unconsciously. What can we learn from our animal-becomings?<br />
-- from burrowing, nest-building, the construction work of ants and beavers, and the<br />
territorializing effects of music.<br />
Beyond Representation<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn, James Craig<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
This project seeks to better understand architectural representation through an<br />
interrogation of its limits; the vastness of landscape, and the internalised space of<br />
consciousness. The research stems from an investigation into landscapes of human<br />
endeavour - in which both limits are potentially at their most extreme - with a project<br />
examining the bodies of ‘failed’ attempts to conquer Mount Everest. The research is<br />
developing in conjunction with an MArch studio exploring these themes.<br />
Craig J, Ozga-Lawn M. Everest Death Zone. Paper for Emerging Architectural<br />
Research 2014, 1(5).<br />
Curating APL<br />
Matt Ozga-Lawn, James Craig<br />
Research by <strong>Design</strong><br />
Curating Architecture, Planning and Landscape is ongoing research into the<br />
dissemination of the School’s outputs and identity, including the annual yearbook<br />
and exhibitions, online materials and publications and conference materials. The<br />
work includes wide-ranging research into these forms of communication, including<br />
analysing materials from Schools across the UK and further afield. The aim is to<br />
generate key understandings of how APL could present and curate its identity.<br />
Newcastle University School of Architecture Planning and Landscape <strong>Yearbook</strong> 2014<br />
Collaborators: Thomas Kendall, Simon Bumstead, Richard Taylor, Ed Wainwright<br />
The Edge of State<br />
Zeynep Kezer<br />
Cultures and Transition<br />
In my current project, I examine the Turkish government’s efforts to modernize<br />
Eastern Anatolia and consolidate its authority over the region’s ethnically and<br />
religiously mixed population over the last century. I am especially interested in the<br />
expansion of the state apparatus-through the build up of institutional structures,<br />
military installations, transport & communications infrastructure, and resource<br />
extraction-and the resistance it encountered, with a view toward understanding the<br />
limits of state capacity and official ideology.<br />
“Spatializing Difference: The Making of an Internal Border in Early Republican<br />
Elazıg, Turkey” in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (forthcoming,<br />
December 2014)<br />
152
A participatory-design study for Cobalt Business Park<br />
Armelle Tardiveau, Daniel Mallow<br />
Social Justice, Wellbeing and Renewal<br />
Cobalt Office Park is the largest of its kind in the UK with 12000 workers. Located<br />
in North Tyneside, this edge city environment, is neither urban in the traditional<br />
sense, nor a greenfield science or technology park yet constitutes a highly significant,<br />
and under-researched, type of place in people’s daily lives. Greater or lesser ecological<br />
sustainability can be enacted and take root in such spaces; for this the project seeks<br />
to engage Cobalt workers, particularly in optimising their work-life balance as well<br />
as engaging local residents in extending existing sustainable practices in such ‘nonplaces’<br />
bordering their residential areas.<br />
Collaborators: Prof Geoff Vigar (PI) Dr Abigail Schoneboom (urban sociologist)<br />
Building Lifecycle Integration<br />
John Kamara<br />
Specifications, Prescriptions and Translations<br />
This research explores the hypothesis that effective integration of the different<br />
interfaces (e.g. information/knowledge, organisations) over the lifecycle of a building<br />
will enhance its performance (with respect to how it supports the immediate and<br />
changing business needs of clients/users and other actors that interact with it, and<br />
how its impact on society and the environment is optimised). Current work is<br />
focused on the interface between clients and the design/construction industry at both<br />
the development and handover stages of a project.<br />
Kamara, J. M. (2013) “Exploring the client-AEC interface in building lifecycle<br />
integration,” Buildings 3(3), 462-48<br />
Building the Nation State<br />
Zeynep Kezer<br />
Cultures and Transition<br />
Building the Nation State In Building the Nation-State, I examine how space<br />
and spatial practices mediated Turkey’s transition from empire to nation-state. By<br />
juxtaposing the making of new spaces, responding to the demands of a new politicocultural<br />
order, with the obliteration of ethnic and religious enclaves characterizing<br />
the Ottoman way of life, I expose the interdependence between the creative and<br />
destructive forces in this process. My survey of broad ranging spatial transformations<br />
demonstrates how state formation operates at multiple and interdependent scales<br />
from that of the individual body to that of regional geopolitics.<br />
Building the Nation-State: State, Space and Ideology in Early Republican Turkey<br />
(University of Pittsburgh Press for the Politics, Culture and the Built Environment<br />
Series, forthcoming in 2014)<br />
Problems of Translation<br />
Martin Beattie<br />
Cultures and Transition<br />
This research aims to understand the processes by which different cultures meet in the<br />
context of avant-garde architecture, art and literature. In particular the project maps<br />
and compares the linkages and spread of modernism between European and Indian<br />
avant-gardes, through its art and architecture of the 1920s. Specific case studies<br />
include analysis of the Bengali artist Gaganendranath Tagore along with the Bauhaus<br />
painter Lyonel Feininger and the collaboration between Rabindranath Tagore, the<br />
Bengali poet, novelist, and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature and Sir Patrick<br />
Geddes, the Scottish town planner at Santiniketan.<br />
‘Problems of Translation: Lyonel Feininger and Gaganendranath Tagore’ at the<br />
Fourteenth Annual Indian Society of Oriental Art Exhibition, Kolkata, India<br />
Collaborators: Association of Art Historians<br />
153
Architecture and roadmap to manage multiple pressures on lagoons<br />
Simin Davoudi & Paul Cowie<br />
Lagoons and estuaries are located at the interface between land and sea and the transition between fresh<br />
and salt water. They represent highly dynamic and productive ecosystems with a very complex structure.<br />
Lagoons are characterized by the transition from land to coast and the boundary of land and water.<br />
The coastal transitional environment encompasses the physical boundary of land to water and water<br />
to sediment as well as water to air. This creates a very dynamic environment with respect to physical<br />
processes like sedimentation as well as biological processes. Estuaries and lagoons are among the<br />
most productive marine ecosystems in the world. They are strongly influenced by rapidly changing<br />
conditions resulting in a naturally stressed system. The abundance of natural tolerant species makes it<br />
difficult to distinguish between natural stressors and anthropogenic ones.<br />
Lagoons are also sites of high human activity as they formed natural harbours and protection against<br />
storms in historic times. Abundance of fish has formed the basis for settlements and economic<br />
development. In modern times tourism is a major driving force for its regional development. Multiple<br />
pressures originating from urban, industrial, agricultural, and recreational activities has resulted in<br />
conflicting interest between the different stakeholders depending on the proper functioning of the<br />
lagoon. Balanced ecologic, social, economic and cultural development is required.<br />
The ARCH project (2011-<strong>2015</strong>) is funded by the European FP7 programme. It has developed<br />
participative methodologies in collaboration with policy-makers, practitioners and other stakeholders<br />
to provide roadmaps for management of the multiple pressures affecting lagoons (estuarine coastal<br />
areas) in Europe. It has examined the ongoing social and ecological interactions in 10 lagoon case<br />
studies covering all major seas surrounding Europe (Baltic Sea, Norwegian Sea, North Sea, Atlantic<br />
Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea). Each case study site has developed an evidence-informed,<br />
participatory process to engage with stakeholders and identify key areas for action.<br />
Following the production of the State of the Lagoon report a series of stakeholder participation events<br />
were held to develop a vision for the future. The visions for the future were developed as scenarios with a<br />
range of methods being employed by the case studies. The Lesina case study (Italy) used graphic comics<br />
to illustrate the possible future of the lagoon given certain circumstance.<br />
The last stage in the process was to develop a roadmap for the future. This is intended to be the bridge<br />
between the science, stakeholders and the policy process. A particularly good example of this process<br />
was to be found in the Razelm-Sinoe Black Sea Lagoon in Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. This<br />
extensive lagoon system (850km2) is connecting the southern part of the Danube delta to the western<br />
part of the Black Sea and is part of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site. During<br />
the final stages of the ARCH process local government officers took on board the State of the Lagoon<br />
report and actively participated in the roadmap workshops with a view to this informing their strategic<br />
plan for the area.<br />
The ARCH consortium consists of 11 teams of researchers from multiple disciplines and from 9<br />
European countries [Norway (lead partner), the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Romania,<br />
Poland, UK and Greece]. They cover areas such as coastal management, marine ecology, environmental<br />
chemistry, climate change, economics, governance, spatial planning and urbanism. The Newcastle<br />
University team is led by Professor Simin Davoudi and includes Dr Paul Cowie and previously Dr<br />
Elisabeth Brooks. The team is based at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and<br />
collaborates with the Newcastle Institute for Sustainability.<br />
Newcastle University hosted the final conference of the project in June <strong>2015</strong> with approximately 45<br />
delegates from across Europe discussing the ARCH method and coastal zone management in general.<br />
Key note speeches were given by Prof. Mike Elliot, Director of the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal<br />
Studies, University of Hull; Russell Gadbury - Marine Planning Manager, Marine Management<br />
Organisation; and Prof. Selina Stead, Professor of Marine Governance and Environmental Science at<br />
Newcastle University. The debate at the conference concentrated on how to bridge the science - policy<br />
divide as well as how to engage stakeholders meaningfully in the process.<br />
154
Computing with nature<br />
Rachel Armstrong<br />
The Computing with Nature event was held on 14-15 May <strong>2015</strong> at the Hancock Natural History Museum.<br />
It brought an international interdisciplinary group of collaborators that are interested in finding<br />
ways to work directly with natural forces as a way of sorting, ordering, valuing and constructing<br />
our living spaces. Natural computing involves developing spatial tactics and design programs that<br />
enable us to choreograph the networks of biochemical reactions that constitute a metabolism.<br />
These link the living world to nature, and enable ‘life’ to make the most of its local resources.<br />
It’s the scope for altering these metabolic connections that was under discussion by scientists,<br />
architects, designers and historians. The aim of the event was to build a network of collaborators<br />
that collectively enable us to move away from modes of practice that inevitably damage ecological<br />
systems. By identifying new approaches where the metabolically active world can perform useful<br />
work in ways that do not needlessly lock out our resources from the living world, we may find<br />
ways of designing and engineering with ‘life’ as a material. Potentially the conversations that<br />
arose from this two day event will help establish the new platforms for human development. The<br />
ultimate aim of this project within an experimental architectural practice, is to identify the tools,<br />
materials, technologies and methods that may provide architects with ways of constructing spatial<br />
experiences that speak of ongoing futures between human and environment. These may avert the<br />
inevitable extinctions already written for the Anthropocene - so that we may collectively continue<br />
to thrive as a community of life on Earth.<br />
Participants include: Andrew Adamatzky (University of West England), Rachel Armstrong<br />
(Newcastle University), Andrew Ballantyne (Newcastle University), Gary Caldwell (Newcastle<br />
University), Martin Dade-Robertson (Newcastle University), Jamie Davies (Edinburgh<br />
University), Martin Hanczyc (University of Trento), Michael Hansmeyer (Southeast University in<br />
Nanjing), Arne Hendriks (Amsterdam), Johnjoe McFadden (University of Surrey), Juan Nogales<br />
(University of Madrid) and Ian Wylie (Editor, Northern Correspondent).<br />
Computer rendering courtesy Dan Tassell.<br />
155
Edward Bennett<br />
1974 - <strong>2015</strong><br />
Much loved architect, friend and tutor.
Newcastle University School of<br />
Architecture, Planning and Landscape<br />
<strong>Yearbook</strong> ‘15<br />
Editorial Team<br />
Mariya Lapteva<br />
Matthew Ozga-Lawn<br />
Rumen Dimov<br />
Vsevolod Karetnikov<br />
Special Thanks<br />
Graham Farmer<br />
Jill Mawson<br />
Kelly Weightman<br />
Sam Austin<br />
& Linked Research Group<br />
“Curating APL” 2014-15<br />
Printing & Binding<br />
Statex Colour Print<br />
www.statex.co.uk<br />
Typography<br />
Adobe Garamond Pro<br />
Paper<br />
GF Smith<br />
Colourplan, Citrine, 350gsm<br />
First published in July <strong>2015</strong> by:<br />
The School of Architecture<br />
Planning and Landscape,<br />
Newcastle University<br />
Newcastle upon Tyne.<br />
NE1 7RU<br />
United Kingdom<br />
w: www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/<br />
t: +44 (0) 191 222 5831<br />
e: apl@newcastle.ac.uk<br />
ISBN 978-0-7017-0252-6
£10
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