Unit 08

Unit 08: Both-And Midland cities III

Unit brief

This year Unit 8 will explore the language of architecture in relation to the ethics of construction.

We begin with Venturi’s definition of design which is ‘Both-And’ - that which embodies contradictory levels of meaning and use. We will propose buildings that allow inconsistencies and redundancies, encouraging the seemingly dissimilar to exist side by side. We will experiment with the form of civic architecture in Stoke-on-Trent, a city with a legacy of expressive building and industrial heritage that is now diminished. Branded the ‘Brexit Capital of Britain,’ the decline in the potteries has side-lined the six towns of Stoke, now aggregated together with no appreciable centre and a poorly developed public realm.

We will conduct workshops exploring the changing nature of construction, designing and making details, in parallel with our programme of seminars on architectural theory. In reading the Ten Books of Architecture by Leon Battista Alberti, and Robert Venturi’s Complexity and Contradictionin Architecture, we will compare the two texts, and will confront the Vitruvian assumption at the root of Alberti’s books - that when utility and structure are adequately addressed, beauty is the inevitable result. We will discuss how, over the course of the twentieth century, Modernism redefined the expression of structure and utility. Today, a new notion of truthful construction driven by efficiency dominates discourse - and it is within this contemporary palette that we will experiment.

The unit remains focused on public building and will again explore the potential of the individual artefact to influence the public realm. Our sites will be scattered across Stoke-on-Trent. Taking our cue from the characterful buildings of the industrial past, we will start by designing new council service centres for the constituent towns of Stoke. The unit will conclude the year with the design of buildings with public character, experimenting with the language of the ‘Both-And’ to define the civic in the every-day.

Image: Vanna Venturi House, Construction Drawings, Sepia Set, May 24-27th, 1963 © The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania

Details

Course	Architecture RIBA 2 - MArch Architecture MA
Tutors	Takero Shimazaki (t-sa) Summer Islam
Where	Goulston Street Room GS1-19
When	Monday and Thursday

Architecture Postgraduate Studios

1/2

Unit 02: Ideal World

Tony Fretton

Ideal World is about creating delight with the basic components of architecture: urban design, plan and facade making, construction and drawing.

Split frame image of Picasso drawing on glass

Unit 04: Virtual Laboratory | Adaptation to Extreme Topography

Jonas Lundberg, Andrew Grant and Nate Kolbe

Buildings and infrastructure of the Sicilian volcanic landscape in the vicinity of Mount Etna have integrated with the extreme topography by exploiting the available building material and construction methods. Unit 04 strives for an architecture adapted to the extreme topography but with character and ubiquitous qualities springing from a combination of digital design technique and a meticulous exploitation of the local volcanic and timber materials used in combination with emerging technology.

Unit 05: The House and Garden

Alex Ely and Michael Dillon

Focusing on first hand experience, developing working methods and understanding context, we will examine the complex constraints of modern housing. We will look at vertical living in London, and communal space as a method of improving connections between the interior and exterior of all dwellings.

Community centre and classrooms constructed by volunteers and Afghan refugees in Skaramangas Camp

Unit 06: Civic Edgelands

Professor Maurice Mitchell, Dr Bo Tang, Jane McAllister and Sandra Denicke-Polcher

A city, a countryside from a distance is a city and a countryside; but as you approach, they are houses, trees, shingles, leaves, grass, ants, legs of ants and so on to infinity: all this is enveloped in the name [edgelands] (apologies to Blaise Pascal in Thoughts). Unit 6 offers students a choice of three settings each consisting of migrant gateways and transitional settlements: Eleonas, Athens, Greece; Belmonte, Calabria, Italy or Kaningo, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Unit 07: Polyvalent Models

David Grandorge and Paloma Gormley

This year, the unit will focus on the practice of architecture as a partially autonomous discipline, addressing the issues of polyvalence and material culture in the design of a city scaled building and a structure that will be built at 1:1 on Margent Farm in Cambridge.

Unit 08: Both-And Midland cities III

Takero Shimazaki (t-sa) and Summer Islam

Unit 8 will explore the language of architecture in relation to the ethics of construction. Beginning with Venturi’s definition of design which is ‘Both-And’ - that which embodies contradictory levels of meaning and use, we will propose civic buildings in Stoke on Trent which allow inconsistencies and redundancies, encouraging the seemingly dissimilar to exist side by side.

Unit 09: Gigantism and the Baroque

Stephen Taylor, Theodoros Thysiades and Jamie Dean

Unit 9 will make large residential buildings in London that explore a shift in scale well beyond their immediate context. The Architecture of the Baroque will be explored for its artistic and compositional qualities of scale and distortion.

Unit 14: Roding Riverfront

Pierre d’Avoine and Pereen d'Avoine

Unit 14 will study the Roding River in Barking, East London. We will engage with a variety of protagonists with interests in the area to evolve proposals for the Roding riverfront and environs.

Unit 15: Good Values

James Binning, Ellie Howard and James Pockson

Unit 15 will work across Erith in the London Borough of Bexley, proposing projects for public sites across the town. Against a backdrop of deepening cuts to public services, ailing high-streets and a purge of industry from the city, we will explore forms of civic architecture, social enterprise and proactive policymaking with the potential to positively and radically renew the built environment.

Unit brief

Details

Architecture Postgraduate Studios

Unit 02: Ideal World

Unit 04: Virtual Laboratory | Adaptation to Extreme Topography

Unit 05: The House and Garden

Unit 06: Civic Edgelands

Unit 07: Polyvalent Models

Unit 08: Both-And Midland cities III

Unit 09: Gigantism and the Baroque

Unit 14: Roding Riverfront

Unit 15: Good Values

Cass Studios archive by year