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Unit 12: The Extinction of Beauty

Unit brief

At a time when architects need to address the implications of their professional activity and their use of resources, the unit will concentrate this year on the idea of repair, of modest form, and the softer beauty found in nature.

The Japanese aesthetic of Wabi Sabi is a more earthy alternative to the modernist view of the importance of technological progress. In the alternative view, we live in the present and there is no progress. All things are impermanent, and all things eventually return to nothing. Things that are worn, imperfect and simple are revered.

The Unit will explore this alternative view in a first project to restore a dilapidated 500-year-old barn in Suffolk on open farmland. Working as a group, with the advice of a conservation architect, the Unit will survey the broken oak structure of the barn and the surrounding landscape, and then propose how to repair and return the building to its original form and condition. Like the original Primitive Hut, there will be no specific function for the restored barn.

Using this local sensitivity and knowledge of materials and construction, the main project will be the design of new housing and workspace in Ipswich, along the estuary of the river Orwell. The design of the housing will consider the fundamental requirements of living. Students will be encouraged to work in pairs.

In the early spring, the unit will travel by train to Paris and Northern France to visit modern housing and mediaeval towns, as well as the architecture of Le Corbusier and Lacaton Vassal.

Architectural drawing of the interior of a room, with many wooden-framed windows.
Image credit: Daniel Bunbury, Unit 12 2023-24

Details

Course Architecture RIBA 2 - MArch
Tutors Peter St John
Amy Grounsell
Where Goulston Street
When Monday and Thursday

Architecture Postgraduate studios

 
1/2
Street corner featuring modern and classic buildings with trees and a monument in foreground

Unit 02 RCA2 - A new building for the Royal College of Art

Tony Fretton

In 1963 The Royal College of Art opened a magnificent building in Kensington Gore, designed by architect H T Cadbury-Brown. In the 1970s the RCA proposed to construct another building on the adjacent site at the corner of Kensington Gore and Queensgate. Unit 2’s project in 2024-5 will be for this un-realised new building, focusing on creating strong interior and exterior character and using low energy materials.
Two images showcasing a building featuring a clock tower alongside a large architectural structure

Unit 04: Phenomenal Layers: A Stratified Approach to Design Innovation

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It is imperative to urgently address the environmental impact and energy consumption associated with building construction. Unit04 reconsiders the conventional use of materials and resources, as well as the tools of 1st person design, manufacturing, testing, simulation and spatial experiences explored via moving images, in favour of an architectural approach that contributes more to the environment than it detracts from it.
View of people next to photographs hanging on a washing line, with a park context in the background

Unit 06: After the Arrival City: Tavros

Dr Bo Tang, Robert Barnes and Shamoon Patwari

Unit 06 will explore prosfygika (refugee housing) and social infrastructure in the Tavros neighbourhood of Athens, Greece.
Three photographs of an architectural model of a greenhouse

Unit 07: Poetic Pragmatism III: Building Simply with Precision

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This year, the studio will once again be undertaking a live project, the construction of a greenhouse in a part of North London’s Green Belt that has become a little more ‘grey’ than green. The major project will address a self-build settlement on the same site.
Architectural drawing in monochrome, showing sketched buildings and landscape

Unit 08: City – Weather – Reuse Midland Cities IV - Coventry

Takero Shimazaki, Lily Markey, Jonathan Mortlock, Paolo Emilio Pisano

This year, Unit 8 will explore what it is like to work through reusing existing buildings, in order to create architecture that resonates with a city’s history and culture.
Stone arch with ornate circular plaque set in marble over wooden door and bust of a man on pedestal

Unit 09: Elements of Architecture & The Visual Pleasure of Buildings

Stephen Taylor, Han Wang

This year Unit 9 will address the pressing issue of affordable housing, across existing buildings through adaptive reuse on four sites within South Shoreditch, London. Amongst the many considerations an architect must engage with from communities and context to construction and cost, we will not be forgetting to talk about The Visual Pleasure of Buildings.
Architectural drawing of the interior of a room, with many wooden-framed windows.

Unit 12: The Extinction of Beauty

Peter St John, Amy Grounsell

At a time when architects need to address the implications of their professional activity and their use of resources, the unit will concentrate this year on the idea of repair, modest form, and the softer beauty found in nature. The Japanese aesthetic of Wabi Sabi is a more earthy alternative to the modernist view of technological progress. The Unit will explore this alternative view in a first project to restore a dilapidated 500-year-old barn in Suffolk on open farmland.