Thu 27, 10.00 Old Street Roundabout

Hello and Welcome to Unit A blog!

Our first day is a visit to the study area in London.
We meet at 10.00 at Old Street Roundabout (Northern Line) - under the trees  / promenade / public realm project by Tonkin Liu.

Here is a link to download a short chapter of Jan Gehl's writing we are asking you to read in preparation. 
LINK to text

Please bring with:
Nice sketchbook (minimum size A5) and a really good pen or soft pencil 2/3/4B (please no crappy bic-pens or super-hard 10H pencils...) your camera and an A-Z/map or equivalent (so you don't get lost).

We will stay outside all day and walk around, so dress accordingly. Lunch opportunities at whitecross street food markt. We plan to finish around 17.00 at the Barbican.

How to get there:

Travelling during rush-hour always takes longer....
LINK to map
LINK to TfL Journey Planner
LINK to TfL Tube Map

Unit A tutor team 2012/13

BA exhibition in London 25 June - 6 July

at Chetwoods Architects | 12/13 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R OQJ 

Mon-Wed 9:30-17:30 and Thu-Fri 9:30 to 17:00

In case you missed it

The Unit A wall and column from the end of year show. Next stop Chetwoods Architects

Fri 25 May - 6 June | End of year show

3rd & 4th floor of Abercrombie building, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus

Unit A publication available now

Unit A student work publication / magazine (170 pages) collecting this year's work is now available for preview & purchase (via print on demand) here.

LINK

Exhibition Teams

Madrid field-trip guide

Madrid field trip guide |

Thu 29 Mar - Y3 Cross Crits

The cross-crits will be held as digital presentation of your complete work of the entire academic year. (sem1 and sem2).
Make sure your file order is in place and copy your pdf to the machine beforehand (test that it works. no psd or idd files) Consider to bring some print-outs of key drawings (e.g. plans and sections) to scale + large enough to see from 3 meters distance, as well as all relevant models and material studies.

As usual - prepare what you want to say - clarity and connection between everything is essential. Sleep the night before. Everybody to attend full day - Y2 also welcome.  Start 10.00,  finish around 16.30

Visiting critic: Jean Teak Park (unit E) + Nicola Richardson

Mon 26 Mar - Y2 Cross crits

The cross-crits will be held as digital presentation of your complete work of the entire academic year. (sem1 and sem2).
Make sure your file order is in place and copy your pdf to the machine beforehand (& test that it works. no psd or idd files) Consider to bring some print-outs of key drawings (e.g. plans and sections) to scale + large enough to see from 3 meters distance, as well as all relevant models and material studies.

As usual - prepare what you want to say - clarity and connection between everything is essential. Sleep the night before. Everybody to attend full day. Start 10.00,  finish around 15.00

Visiting critic: Melissa Kinnear (unit D) and Anna Mansfield (Publica) - your new Unit A tutor.

Thu 15 Mar - Y2 Tech Review

The Y2 Technology Review will be in form of a pin-up crit in the morning (NR+CJ). Plans and sections essential. Check for hand-book for requirements on structure, constrcution (assembly) and environmental strategy. Don't forget your syndicated material and sem1 + models.

Y3 Technology tutorials in afternoon via sign-up list.

Mon 12 Mar Tutorials

Further to yesterday's crit - it's time to strategise about the overall narrative of your portfolio, so that you can plan ahead what key drawings you need to produce to convey the full depth of your ideas across all scales. Can you 'story-board' this please for Monday? Reflect on the feed-back and be clear of the core objectives & also what you personally want to get out of your project.

Interim crit Thu 8 March

Panel of guest critics: 
Nick Simcik-Arese (anthropologist / architect / DPhil researcher Oxford University)
Mike Stephens (structural engineer, Atkins)
Kathleen O Donnell
Aylin Orbasli
Jane Anderson
Laurence Walter (Unit A Alumnus)
Ralph Saull (Unit A Alumnus)

drawing list for interim crit Thu 8 Mar

- site analysis / mapping: basics (e.g. user-groups / transport / orientation / density / land-use, etc.) and personal interest / individual observations. You may need to add / refine / edit your site analysis drawings to explain / back-up your brief.
- syndicated material: drawings should explain the basic principle you developed (based on above observations) + detail incl. materiality and all working models + process
- edited theoretic references (refer reading references) integrated in drawings.
- public platform: final drawings + performative principles + connection to social and cultural context

- personal brief
- functional programme
- massing studies (from sem1)
- urban strategy 1:1000 - response to context (social + cultural; what is your way of creating syndications?
- site plan 1:500 (locating your building on site)
- 1:500 long/cross section with context / surrounding buildings
- all working models of building to scale (presented with context if possible)
- spatial sequence studies (building) long contextual sections - inside outside relationships - pubic realm- control of public private domain. qualities of thresholds.
- light, materiality & atmosphere: through models / collages / sketches / drawings
- plans to scale printed large enough for wall presentation (depending on project minimum 1:200 or bigger)
- 1:100 section(s)
- process / development of plans - design evolution. show key moves. key decisions.
- key hybrid detail (e.g. area of a threshold) as evolution of your syndicated material 1:10
- environmental strategy (integrated in drawings)
- structural strategy (integrated in drawings)
- edited precedences integrated at key stages during your design process.
(integrated in drawings)

South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre

ANAGRAM Architects

This buffer bay also acts like a breathing thermal barrier along the sun facing side. By situating the staircase and toilet stack in this bay, the internal workspaces are protected. The porosity of the wall ensures that the buffer bay is well ventilated and yet shaded so as to reduce the amount of heat transmitted to the workspaces. A six brick module is laid in staggered courses that create twirling vertical stacks and an undulating surface. The construction of the screen wall was a result of a five-week process of learning and un-learning masonry techniques on site. From verification of plumbness to the structural bonding of the brick courses, methods of brick laying were devised through a deep on-site collaboration between the masons and the architects. This single repeating brick module creates a visually complex pattern in the manner of traditional South Asian brise soleils.

LINK