Welcome to Unit A blog | School of Architecture | Oxford Brookes University

Sunday 30 October 2011

Compositing Textures


Vigo Gallery
Leonardo Drew 12 October – 11 November 2011
22 Old Bond Street London W1S 4PY

Saturday 29 October 2011

Kevin Green - Place without Place


Kevin Green's first solo show, Place without Place, comprises 13 works on paper derived from the artist's fictional narratives, which he bases on found images and observed elements of the City. Enticing questions about the distinctions between presentation and representation, the real and the imagined, the ordinary and the extraordinary, these drawings are blueprints for proposed moments to be inserted back into urbanity.

22 October – 21 January 2011
BuildinG Centre

Mount Pleasant Site Workshop London



This group workshop with master students in architecture of Brandenburg University of Technology and unit A of Oxford Brookes University presents a unique opportunity for dialogue about reading and interpreting the city and its opportunities.

9.30 Arrival / hello + group allocation.

10.00 Introduction by Tim Rettler (Design for London)

10.30 -17.30 Workshop

Essential reading: Kevin Lynch, The image of the city

Equipment: Coloured marker pens, sketchbook, digital camera (incl. cable for uploads)

Address: Phoenix Conference Centre, Phoenix Place, WC1X 0DG
(next door to the British Postal Museum & Archive)


LINK TO MAP
LINK DfL (Design for London)
LINK BTU (Brandenburg University of Technology)

Thursday 27 October 2011

Vendôme


Vendôme by Reed Kram and Clemens Weisshaar is a family of concrete stools, pedestals and tables that have been designed by a computer programme.
The idea of VENDÔME is to parametrically generate a family of objects with different typologies including stools, pedestals and tables of different height. The design is developed within and documented by a piece of software that generates an infinite number of proposals within a defined framework while flexibly reacting to changing parameters (as e.g. the height, width or depth of the object).

DEZEEN

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Thu 27 Oct Tutorials + Tech



Following on from Monday's pin-up here is an indicative outline what to get done by end of this week. project depending...

Finalise your brick drawing visualising all its qualities (geometric, spatial, material, etc. to appropriate scale and drawing conventions) Finalise your drawings  showing variations of bonds = the relationship + opportunity between individual modules.  Finalise your construction / assembly / components, 3d/ spatial visualisation (axo?).

-Finalise and clarify your drawing(s) showing the performance of your proposal (in use with its user & social side shown through a scenario)
- New: Produce a final close-up visualisation (collage, render or drawing) of one bond (arrangement) of of your choice. Front- on-view (elevation view) with spatial qualities (perspective?) / Scale 1:5. Minimum area covered A3 size.

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Indesign CS5 - help: As mentioned  - only for who needs help with this - I will do a quick run-through of the basic functions to get you going: tomorrow after tutorials from 17:00 in studio. (15 min.)

24 10 11 Pin-Ups
























Tuesday 25 October 2011

O.M.A. partners talk


Today's talk at the Barbican between the 6 partners of O.M.A. will be available via below's link soon. (note: the photograph is authentic!)

LINK

Joseph Beuys films and discussion


The Social Sculpture Research Unit and the MA and research programmes in Interdisciplinary Arts and in Social Sculpture at Oxford Brookes University are hosting the following talk:

Rainer Rappman from the Free International University publishing group in Germany:

"Every revolution begins with stupid questions"
Joseph Beuys: Ideas for Social Sculpture.


Date: Sat 29 Oct,  1 - 5 pm
Venue:  Oxford Brookes University
Photography Studio, Richard Hamilton Building, Headington Hill Campus.

The talk is free for students of Oxford Brookes, friends and others could contribute £5 toward costs.

LINK

Urban Futures Seminar Series


These lunchtime seminars are open events for students and staff with time for question and debate and are forming part of the Urban Futures Doctoral Training Programme. This is worth checking out and could be useful to help construct your personal critical position in respect to our social-material-spatial agenda this year.  


Wed 26th Oct 12.00 - 1.30pm
Dr Karen Lucas, 'A social perspective on climate change mitigation in transport'
venue: BG10 (Buckley building)

Tue 15th Nov 12.00 - 1.30pm
Dr Tim Jones, 'Moving around the city: the future role of walking and cycling'
venue: BG11

Mon 5th Dec 12.00 - 1.30pm
Dr Mark Burgess, 'Driving into the future. Facilitators and challenges in the transition from conventional to electric vehicles'
venue: BG11

LINK TO MORE INFO

King’s College, Taunton



The use a mix of four bricks and a lime mortar reflects the texture and character of the original sandstone stone walls.

AJ Buildings LIbrary

Friday 21 October 2011

Mon 24 Oct 17:30 | Nick Green talk


Nick Green is currently working for Raumlabor in Berlin; previously worked for Atelier van Lieshout, Rotterdam. He will give an informal talk to unit A exclusively, about his work experiences in-between and alongside his studies and personal investigations. He is Oxford Brookes and unit A alumnus (graduated in 2010).

in unit A studio space - Mon 24 Oct 17:30

LINK RLB
LINK AVL 
LINK UTC

Wednesday 19 October 2011

OxArch lecture Thu 20 Oct - Fielden Fowell Architects

We suggest that you go and see this lecture on Thursday evening.

LINK


Mon 24 Oct | 10:00 Lecture (AM-session_03), then Pin-up session


We will run a pin-up session on Monday - one group in the morning - one in the afternoon. You should pull together all your work over the last 4 weeks: initial observations, ideas, process work (models, sketches, etc), the social and the material, your design proposals and how it performs in context. This session is all about concluding your material and social idea/agenda with clarity, so we can move on to the next level. A3 sized reductions are OK at this stage. Key drawings bigger if necessary.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Street Talk



Here is the slideshow + voice over of the recent lecture by Oliver Schulze, Director of Gehl Architects: People first – putting the public back into the public realm, that was hosted by Movement for Livable London (4th October 2011). Very relevant to the next stages of your project - public platform, etc...
LINK

Friday 7 October 2011

Brick Factory Visit - Cattybrook Works



















LINK
Ibstock, Cattybrook, Over Lane, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4BX

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Thu 6 Oct

Reading references this week:
03_Constant Nieuwenhuys: New Babylon
04_Malcolm Gladwell_Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg
05_Zygmunt Bauman: Thinking Sociologically (all available on Unit A drop box)

Please bring also last weeks' work with you + £16 for travel to brickfactory (I will collect tomorrow)

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Unit A wins Ibstock Field-trip Travel Grant

We are delighted to announce that Unit A has won the Ibstock travel grant this year, this will reduce the cost for each student. Please sign-up ASAP for our Madrid field-trip using the list on the studio wall (latest by Friday 14th October).

Madrid field-trip 19th Jan - 23rd Jan 2012
Provisional itinerary:
Caxia Forum, Herzog de Meuron
Madrid Barajas International Airport, Richard Rogers & Antonio Lamela
Warehouse 8b, Arturo Franco
Refurbishment of the Logrono City-Walls, Pesquera Ulargui-Arquitectos
Celosia Residence, MVRDV & Blanca lleo
El Mirador de Sanchinarro Housing, MVRDV
Villaverde Social Housing, David Chipperfield
Temporary Market, Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos
San Blas Usera Health Center, Estudio Entresitio
Eco Boulevard, ecosistema urbano Arquitectos
Carabanchel Housing, Foreign Office Architects
Prado Public Realm, Alvaro Siza & Juan Miguel Hernandez de Leon
Manzanares Park, West 8

LINK IBSTOCK

Monday 3 October 2011

 
Compendium for the Civic Economy

LINK

OMA/Progress

OMA/Progress
6 October 2011 - 19 February 2012
Barbican Art Gallery

LINK

Sunday 2 October 2011

From Garden City to Green City



This series of lectures, accompanying the exhibition From Garden City to Green City, will look at what we can learn from the past century. They will cover the shift from the ideal of every family being able to grow their own food to factory farming and back again, from the reinvention of the pleasure garden for the Festival of Britain to modern sports parks.

Saturday 1 October 2011

Brick Replacement Service



LINK

Street talk - 4th Oct - Oliver Schulze (Director at Gehl Architects)






'Movement for Liveable London' has invited Oliver Schulze, Director at Gehl Architects for the October talk as part of their street talk series.
People first – putting the public back into the public realm. A journey from Copenhagen to the bike lanes of LA via taco trucks, snowball fights in Times Square, surface parking lots, Starbucks and Disneyland, etc.

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 7pm (bar open from 6pm) on 4th October.

LINK