Student work published in Middle East

4 December 2012: We do what we can to get the student work published and we were delighted to see that two of our MArch STB students got publicity for their work. Mimi Wadidy and Alejandro Carrasco's design of the 'Sikkas Tower' on our site in Abu Dhabi was published in DesignMena.com.

To quote their commentary:
"The vertical interpretation is said to create comfortable spaces which are shaded from the harsh desert sun and wind, and suitable for circulation and socio-communal activities – and courtyards found in traditional buildings of the region.

In the tall building design the traditional corridor is eliminated and instead the building uses a series of multi-storey stacked sikkas which open to the outside where they meet the building perimeter, thus framing key views and allowing for natural ventilation of circulation and social spaces.

These sikkas link to apartments, and also to a series of six-storey courtyards which act as the social hub of the building, creating gathering spaces where people can meet and children can come to play in the shade."

See More....

Lukasz and Ivan visit TB Studio

22 November 2012: We had a wonderfully busy day with visits from both Lukasz Platkowski (Gensler) and Ivan Jovanovic (BDSP). At lunchtime we also had a lecture from Alastair Guthrie (Arups) and he stayed for some studio time in the afternoon. Professor Shihong from Beijing was also with us, as was Yuri (Malaysia). Every student had a chance for one-to-one tutoring with all of them.

Ivan and Yuri have a look at Douglas's design (Rotterdam)	Ivan chats to Hao Li and Yang Li (Rotterdam)
Lukasz looks at Jeff Smith's design for Singapore

Michael Photiou shows Ivan his School Tower design for Singapore.

Vivek, Song and Weiqi discuss their triple tower idea with Alastair Guthrie.

The whole room is buzzing with everybody circulating, discussing their ideas.

The Rotterdam groups are deeply absorbed in conversation, while in the background, the Abu Dhabi groups talk to Phil. 

Tutorial progress with CCCC scheme

2 Nov 2012: our Culture Context Climate and Concept project is making progress, midway through the term. All the students have some sort of a scheme - it's always a nervous moment making that leap from analysis etc into an architectural idea that may fit the site. We are getting there!

The Singapore students are explaining their Tanjong Pagar schemes to DNC, Yuri and Phil.

Rotterdam students showing their first proposals for the Oude Havn site.

We have sites in Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, all with very different climatic conditions and social contexts. To make things more challenging, the R and S sites are over underground railway stations and tunnels.

A rather complicated proposal for Singapore!

Site Analysis presentations

25 October 2012: The large city groups delivered their presentations for each city, Rotterdam, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. After this stage, they form into individual or smaller groups of 2 or 3.

Singapore group

Singapore group

Rotterdam presenting

Rotterdam

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi

Days of Site Analysis

22 October 2012: In the early stage of the project, the teams are looking at their sites (Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi and Singapore) for a presentation of their models and site analysis. 

Rotterdam site is taking shape, using lasercut wood sheets



Singapore team focusing on their graphic material for the site analysis PPT presentation

Soha & Fahimeh design for Abu Dhabi published

23 August 2012: Congratulations to Fahimeh, Soha and Najla for getting their Abu Dhabi project - A New Shibam - published in the Scroope Journal. The journal editors called it a project "which we thought comprehensively engaged with environmental design principles and the contemporary issue of high-rise housing within a rapidly developing urban context"



Fahimeh and Soha (from Isfahan, Iran) are graduates from the MArch STB course, 2010-2011

Final crit of first semester

19 Jan 2012: We had the final crit of the semester, and everyone completed on time. We had Ivan visiting, Dirk was booked but couldn't get to Nottingham, and from in house we had Katharina Borsi and Amy Tang. Steve Fernandes called in for the afternoon to check on structures. One of our alumni from last year, Lee Bali, stepped in to take Dirk's place.

  This project was the star of the show, a mixed use twin tower scheme for Singapore with a special interest in PV solar capture and water autonomy, supported by some fantastic renderings in Cinema 4D (Pelin Gurkan and Soni Jue Shi).

The Oasis team explain their residential tower for Abu Dhabi, with a special interest in creating reed bed wetlands on sky courts using falling grey water. (Aaron Marriot and Clarissa Wenborn)
 There is still 10 days in which the students can rest and then do a bit of work to improve their artwork for portfolio submission at the end of January.

Talkback at the end of the day

We will try to post some more images, perhaps on issuu.com.

First Interim Crit 2011

Design idea for the corniche in Abu Dhabi

17 Mar '11: We are moving into the design phase of the 'Culture Context and Climate' project for 2011 and had our first presentations of the design ideas. We had 100% attendance with every group or individual having a design idea and agenda, and we were glad to see that some were surprisingly far advanced.

Idea for Multi use tower at Blackfriars, London

  We have sites in London, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, with widely varying climatic circumstances - as one of our governing principles is Sustainability, the emphasis is on a socially responsible agenda, not on sculptural shapes.
  The above scheme for Abu Dhabi attempts to discover a form that reflects the bioclimatic necessity of a hot dry climate, respecting traditional living patterns in Middle Eastern high density urban precedents - in this case, Shibam in Hadramaut, Yemen.
  The scheme, right, is a multi use tower for London, far more multi use than ones that have been called that, such as the Shard (mostly offices and a tiny proportion of residential). It looks ahead to the times when sea levels may rise intermittently or even permanently, and a new form of architecture needs to rise above the waters. The tragic events in Japan recently have shown how ever a rich and sophisticated society can have a major refugee problem in the face of massive natural disasters.