unit-code
In Unit 3 we are interested in environments that are embedded with wonder and fantasy, and in which the process of construction is embedded within the narrative of the portfolio.
This year students used ideas of birth and rebirth as drivers for their projects. Within this, the main theme was education. By considering how architecture might be taught and explored through acts of construction, experience and on-site performance, the boundaries between designing and making were blurred, as well as those between occupation and construction.
The concept of the designer-architect that exists today is relatively new, having come into existence around 500 years ago. Before that, architects were more hands-on in the construction process and tended to work in groups. The idea of the lone genius working in a studio and not getting their hands dirty on site did not exist. In addition, an architect was expected to be equally familiar with the designing of outfits, theatre sets, pyrotechnics and even snacks alongside the designing of buildings, as for centuries these activities were considered as inseparable. Bernardo Buontalenti, for example, while being a military expert, artist, theatre designer, engineer and architect, also found time to invent ice cream in the 16th century.
For all of the Bramantes, Borrominis and Berninis that make up the tourist trails of Rome, it was really in their ephemeral papier-mâché structures, designed to be burned, that previously unimaginable worlds were to be found. Taking from these traditions, we designed characterful buildings from the detail outwards, expressing the theatricality of our programmes in our buildings’ structures and performance.
We also considered how the bringing about of buildings might become a more communal activity, with the structures that result being adaptable and flexible, according to the changing demands placed upon them. We travelled to Paris, Hauterives and Firminy, where we engaged with buildings full of stories and ornament.