'Life on the River Lea'

Link to photographer Sam Napper's work on life along the River Lea...

presentation unit programme 2015-16

architecture & water documentary by AR

Here is a short documentary in three parts by the architectural review, that looks at the London's relationship and opportunities related to water. An introduction to some issues related to the topic.

Unit A 2015-16 : Tottenham Archipelago

This year (2015-16), Unit A will have a closer look at the relationship between Architecture and Water. We will set out to investigate a network of water-landscapes in the Upper Lea valley, that run along the eastern edge of Tottenham, East London.

These man-made landscapes continue to adapt to and serve London in close relation to changing demands of the ever growing population; from historic pastures for agricultural production to the waterways of the early industrialisation, over to facilitating waste and sewage treatment and reservoirs providing up to a quarter of London’s drinking water.

We like the idea of water becoming integral part of a building brief and architectural proposal. Water could be explored as means to reconcile architectural detail with landscape context, local and trans-local conditions and design- with environmental strategy, aiming to develop new forms of hydro-architectural typologies.

We are looking forward to tell you more about this on Market-day, Tuesday 29th September.
(image above: Umlauftank Berlin by Ludwig Leo)

27 March : Final Crit

Invited panel of guest critics:

Emu Masuyama [link]
Nicolo Stassano [link]
Raphael  Tzlee
Suzanne O'Connell [link]

collage workshop

sketch model workshop

political precedence

here is more political precedence project that takes on a larger urban territory and deals with sequential transformation over time. LINK

intervention & brief precedence

Here are is an example of an architectural response to an existing site condition (a topographical edge). I thought this might be useful as your sites are all slightly unusual.

A new space is inserted here, but also a new type of connection created between the two levels. Intertesting for you at this stage is maybe that there is a formal programme inside the new space (library), and an informal programme above, that is solely generated by the roof.  Very resourceful and strategic. LINK

Fri 23 Jan sketch model workshop | 10.00 - 18.00

We will start the sketch model workshop at 10.00 sharp with an introduction.
the workshop will last the entire day and we will have a short pecha-kucha style presentation at the end.

you will need to have your finished site model in 1:500 (1mm grey card) with you. (obviously)
Please bring the following model making materials and tools:

- model-making tools, incl. cutter, ruler (scale-ruler), cutting-mat, scissors, etc. (or adequate other underlay to cut things)

- wood-glue and masking tape, etc. (NO glue-guns!)

- model making materials, e.g. all kind of other card than grey card (which you made your model of): white card / other coloured card / cardboard / or something like a recycled or left over bits (e.g. cereal box!?)  all approx. 1mm thick and flat.  Also bring a few sheets of different kind of textured paper or / newspaper / tracing paper / etc.



Please bring the three following sheets from your portfolio print-ed out as A4/A3 size:
(you have done that work, simply print. if hand-drawn bring hand-drawing.) Those three sheets will be a critical resource / starting point for the workshop and are important to have at hand on the day. Don't forget them.

1. sheet with Urban axo with furniture intervention
2. sheet with Axo drawing of cast / mould, showing Junction / new spatial quality
3. sheet with your key field-trip precedence (Cologne) drawn up

Fri 19 Dec - 13.30 meet up entire unit

It would be great to meet up with all of you briefly at 13.30 today before everybody shots off into the Christmas break.

I will hand out your feed-back sheets with comments and marks from Tuesday - but have also some general thoughts I would like to share with you before this term is over.

See you in the studio at 13.30

Mid year reviews

Following students will present on Tuesday, 16th:

Aaron, Darlyn, Damola,  Klevi ,  Janquiel ,  Jonan, fillippos,  Elias, Gannaty, puja, hassan, Nicoletta, Marija, Viviane, silas, yaprak.

Rest of students on Friday, 19th:

Andreas, ola, Jose, karwan, shiduo

Running order will be announced on the day. (Different from above list).

Make sure you are all there before 10.00. (If not you will not present)

drawing requirements Mid Year Review

Please find attached list of drawings - as a general / minimum guideline  - of what you are expected to show for the MID YEAR REVIEWS next week.

As previously announced we will run this as an open crit / wall presentation, which means you will have to print all your work in full size (A1) / or bring original sized hand-drawings and all of your work done this year and pin this to the wall.

make sure that you also bring along all of your casts / moulds / and other physical models you made, your field-trip sketch book and your site-diary from your many site visits.

You will have maximum 10 minutes to present your work. 15 min for questions / comments afterwards. We have invited Keita and Mo from unit H as our guest critics.


Please remember these mid term reviews form critical part of your assessment of the entire year. We expect everybody to present (no matter how much or little work you have) and to actively participate in open discussions on projects on both days (16th +19th)

These two days of reviews are very important to show you where you currently stand with your work, but also where your project might be heading to during the next term.

To engage in a discourse with external critics and presenting to an audience forms also part of the everyday life of a professional architect - important skills to develop and gain experience.

what students to present on what day to be issued on Friday.
running order announced on the day.

Tue 9 Tutorials Urban Furniture

Tutorials via sign-up list on the day from 10.00 onwards.
Remember to bring all your work in and if you are working on CAD make a print-out (A3 bw is fine)

Please remember to bring a few of your photographs (printed out) of the area you will be inserting your 'urban furniture'.

drawing (right) by Marija Stoliarova

Fri 5 Dec Lecture 10.00 + Tutorials

We will have a look a selection of portfolios of former Unit A students first thing in the morning. I think this is useful at this stage to show you how to connect individual pieces of work / bits of observations and personal lines of enquiry of you work.

Most of you are working with Indesign already to compose your drawings and sheets. If not yet, it's a good time now to try to get hold of a copy and set this up on your machine.

After this morning session I will run through the very basics of indesign for those of you that are new to it (20 min).

Rest of day working in the studio and tutorials through sign-up list as usual

Tue 2 Dec - Tutorials

Studio day with Tutorials from 10.00 onwards.
sign up in morning on the day. first come first served.

Come and work in the studio.

Make sure you have again all your drawings & relevant info with you (every tutorial - no excuses!):

urban furniture drawing, urban axo drawing with sections, 1:200 cross section with time-line and programme, 1:500 long-section (both sections with key plan indication your section line in plan), urban moment and all relevant info in terms of qualities of human occupation / activity / programme you wish to engage (photos, sketches, etc),  finished field-trip precedences drawn up / documented plus photos / sketches from sketchbook etc,  2D sections and axonometric drawings of your junction-models/ cast drawing, documentation of the model-making design process (version one / two / three /  with demoulding, etc. ), journey drawing ( day 1) + communication of other personal readings along the viaduct and your study area.

planning ahead / mid year reviews etc.

A reminder that we will be holding the MID YEAR REVIEW as a pin-up / crit with invited guests in the studio on Tue 16 and Fri 19 December. We expect each of you to present all your work up to that date in from of drawings pinned to the wall and models. We expect that you attend on both days.

We are aware that the academic year finishes late this time, but also starts late with the first studio day on Tue 13 January.

Make sure that you are not missing those above dates. They form part of your formal assessment.

Tue 25 Nov | Tutorials + Lecture at 14.00

10.00 - 13.00 tutorials about your field-trip drawings:

14.00  SHORT LECTURE / INTRODUCTION TO BRIEF FOR NEXT THREE WEEKS.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!! EVERYBODY NEED TO ATTEND THIS.


14.30 - 18.00 : 
TUTORIALS ON URBAN MOMENT.
BRING IN ALL YOUR WORK ON YOUR LONDON SITES / URBAN MOMENTS YOU HAVE DONE SO FAR: JOURNEY DRAWING, CROSS- AND LONG SECTIONS, URBAN AXONOMETRIC / 4-D DRAWING WITH TIME, PHOTOS AND RESEARCH OF ACTIVITIES, TRACES, HUMAN OCCUPATION, SITE DIARY, ETC.

+ MOULD + CASTING DRAWINGS + DOCUMENTATION OF PROCRESSES.

drawings by Irena Stoeva (top left), Marija Stoliarova (top right), Puja Singh Verma (bottom)

Friday field-trip drawings tutorial

We hope you enjoyed the field-trip and had time to catch up with some sleep, too in the meantime. 

As explained, we would like to see at least one building (key moment of a building) you saw on the field-trip drawn up properly. This should be partly based on your sketches, partly of additional research /info you have. 

Think carefully what means of representation or a combination of drawing techniques you choose. section / axo / cut away axo / plan. etc. 

Remember it's about communicating your personal reading of a special moment you were interested in (as we saw multiple buildings of one architect you may find it useful to compare?, just a thought)

Remember to bring your sketchbooks and key photos supporting your drawing(s) above.

Drawings: MAKK Museum by Janquiel Anselmini (top) and Bruder Klaus chapel by Makros Andreas Stergios (below)

field-trip guide book + INFO

The field-trip guide book is currently being printed and will be ready at 12.00
If you see this message and you are in school - make sure you pick one up...

I HAVE e-mailED YOU DETAILED information on the field-trip.
PLEASE CHECK AND READ CARFULLY. (programme / meeting point, hostel address, etc...)

Tue 11 Nov

Studio tutorials from 10.00 onwards. Tomorrow is about drawing your urban axonometric. 

Bring finished mould/cast axo with fourth dimension (time) . If cad then printed out.

Bring the start of your urban axo  constructed in similar technique as the above mould/cast axo.

Bring all relevant info about your urban moment such as notions of occupation, etc.

Bring urban cross section and long section.

Fri 7 Nov : Tutorials and working in studio on Axos

Tutorials from 10.00 onwards, sign-up in morning. Bring your current drawings and work on your axos (of cast & mould and urban moment) in the studio. If drawn in computer please also have a print-out (A3 size is fine) to sketch over.

Tue 4 Nov: 4D-drawing workshop 10.00-18.00

We will run a four-dimensional drawing workshop in the studio on Tuesday.  Start 10.00 sharp with briefing / lecture and workshop in studio until 18.00. We are asking you to attend the entire day.

Please bring the usual drawing equipment: tracing paper & detail paper, pencils, rulers, pens, masking tape, etc..  You may want to bring your computer too if you are efficient to draw on it. important that you are able to print out at end of day for pin-up.

In preparation for the drawing workshop on Tuesday it is essential that you produce a line-drawing of a minimum of 3 orthogonal cross sections through 3 different panes of your last (most complicated) plaster cast. see sketch. Scale 1:1. It will be essential that you measure the cast, so it is an accurate drawing. It must be in front of you when you draw. It should be a simple line drawing with 0.35mm lines for where you cut through and 0.08 for elevations / dotted for things not visible. Please bring this drawing with you printed out.

Also in preparation and in advance of the workshop, please read the short text 'Beyond the model' by Marie Ange Brayer which we uploaded to the unit A dropbox. Link here

drawing (top) by Filippos Kasiotis

more casts...

There are 6.5 bags of plaster & the herculite2 labelled with Unit A, on the table in the metal workshop, on which we de-moulded our casts today. This is unit A plaster bought from our material budget and use for you solely!

Please make sure you return any plaster- leftovers again to this pile, and keep an eye it is not consumed by other students or other units. 

Tue 28 - Junction workshop

Following Friday's visit to a specialist casting workshop in Leyton, we will run a mould-making and casting workshop on Tuesday at school. We have invited Roey Hunt for the day - an opportunity for you to tap into his knowledge and make use of it! We are starting from 10.00 sharp and will finish at the end of the day. Please print and bring your sections (cross and long-section) drawings with you. Important to have those for reference while mould-making.
You may want to bring some timber material for your 'inserts' into the box. We will supply the box however to get things going straight away. The workshop will be done in groups - so the full house attending is essential.

Fri 24 Oct Casting workshop visit in Leyton

We visited a specialist casting workshop in Leyton, that is run by fabricator and maker Roey Hunt. We participated to the full process by starting to make a plywood mould (negative space), mixing up  plaster and pouring it into the mould. After the plaster was set, we finished by demoulding to reveal a warm, solid plaster object.

Prior to the casting workshop visit, I had many pre-conceived notions concerning techniques of casting and was to some extent a self-proclaimed expert. I was assured I would enter the workshop as a casual observer, but I was wrong! Practically everything I had previously held to be true was mistaken, from the method of mixing plaster, to the setting time (hint: it’s not 40 minutes!). Moreover, the idea that the mould itself could become as important as what you’re trying to cast, and the process of making it was interesting, and this changed the way I now look at the process of casting and model making in general.

Text by Silas Koopmans (year 3)

Tue 21 Oct | studio workshop 10.00

We will do a workshop on occupation and time and start at 10.00 sharp. We will do a briefing in the morning and expect everybody to attend the entire day.

Please bring in a print-out of your finished sections (full size at 1:200) and the long-section at 1:500 as well as your journey drawing and you site-diary.

Have your drawing equipment and tracing paper / detail paper with you. If you are drawing on computer - bring you laptop, too. 

Please read the text we handed out last week in preparation for tomorrow (Karen Franck), see post below.

Think about what specific activities you observed on your variou site visits. What was going on in the proximity of your section-line / in the area of your fragment? what are people doing? what traces of activities did you encounter? Did something occur? Did you speak to anybody? What different times and days have you visited our study area. What changes have you noticed? some of those questions will become a starting point for tomorrow....

please bring in raw material of those observations. sketches, photographs, scripted conversations, etc....

Fri 17 Oct | Pin-up in groups from 10.00

Remember to work as a group / speak to each other and produce the drawings collaboratively. Each group will produce three cross sections 1:200 and one long section 1:500.
All four sections should be of coherent quality. Either hand-drawn or CAD. Those should be line drawings!
You will have to go back to visit site to gather more first hand information /  survey your section-line & fragment utilising your site-diary and record details you find.

drawing by Hassan Sheikh

fragments along the line & teams

Battle of Cable Street

Battle of Cable Street 4 Oct 1936,  The Socialist LINK
Wikipedia LINK

Tue 14 Oct | Section workshop

We will run a SECTION WORKSHOP all day on Tuesday. We are starting at 10.00 in the studio.

Please bring the following: pens / pencils / drawing equipment. a couple of sheets A1 tracing paper. detail paper. SCALE-RULER (important!). masking tape. it could also be useful to bring your computer (w access to more site-visit photographs)

Remember to also bring your site-diary (sketchbook) and your finished JOURNEY DRAWING with you.

How to travel to Cologne?

We heard some of you are considering flying to Cologne. Just to reiterate: we are recommending travelling by train, remember what our project site is about this year, so experiencing distance, speed and landscape and trans-local conditions is something that will form essential part of your understanding and position for your project this year.... Also there is something special about approaching Cologne by train....something we want you to experience. 

Cologne hostel booking / payment

We have had confirmation on the hostel front. it's £80 for 4 nights. very cheap that is! We have to move quickly though, to secure the reservation. I will issue you a form on Friday, that you have to take to UEL Cashiers and pay this. You will receive a payment confirmation, that needs to come back to me. Easy.

Cologne field-trip

field-trip dates:  Fri 14 Nov to Tue 18 Nov

TRANSPORT: 
As usual you have to arrange your own return transport for this trip. Book your own tickets.
We are taking the following trains which you can book as one ticket either via Deutsche Bahn or via Eurostar. The entire return journey should cost about £100. Book as soon as you can - as prices only will go up. You don't have to travel on exactly the same trains as us - but to give you an indication of when we get into Cologne and depart.


14 November    London St Pancras to Brussels Midi          06.50-10.07
                                Brussels Midi to Cologne  (with Deutsche Bahn)  10.25 - 12.15

(we know that there is not much time for changing trains - we think we'll be OK as we travel light / small lugguage) Alternatively from the DB trains you can take the Thalis train (different company!) from Brussels to Cologne which gives you a bit more time to change platforms, but arrives a bit later in the afternoon. Which is OK - we want to see one of two small things in central Cologne that afternoon)

18 November    Cologne to Brussels Midi                              15.43 - 17.35
                         Brussels Midi to London St Pancras             18.56 - 19.57

You may decide to stay a bit longer afterwards by yourself, if you want. There won't be a tutorial on Fri 21 Nov as those days are used for the trip.

Remember that you are responsible to check your personal VISA requirements, depending on your passport. In case you need a visa - sort this ASAP - as this may take time. You will travel through BELGIUM and into GERMANY.  


HOSTEL

We are in the process to make a reservation for all of us in the local youth-hostel in Cologne.
It will cost about 25€ per night / person - approx 100€ for the 4 nights. Rooms will be dormitories and with boys and girls in separate rooms. what else!

We will put up a list in the studio for the accommodation booking / reservation - which you should put you name down if you want to stay in the hostel. So far we know. More precise info to follow on the hostel.

You may also organise and sleep elsewhere. However we like the idea of all of us staying in the same place (we have always done it that way)  - as we are also planning to do a few seminars / drawing workshops at the end of the day. So it's handy.


Things we will see / draft itinerary Cologne:

Cologne Cathedral + Gerhard Richter window

Domplatte (City Reconstruction / Infrastructure), Schwarz

Kolumba Museum, Peter Zumthor / G Böhm

Museum for Applied Arts, 1957 by Rudolf Schwarz

Bensberg City Hall, G Böhm

Gürzenich, Rudolf Schwarz

Wallraf-Richard Museum, OM Ungers

OM Ungers Houses 1 and 2


Outside Cologne:

Wuppertal Schwebebahn

Essen: Zeche Zollverein / OMA + others

Bruder Klaus Kapelle, P Zumthor

Neviges Church, G Böhm