Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2007
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CO NT ENT S
85 Graduate School
86 Design Research Lab
90 Emtech
93 Landscape Urbanism
97 Histories and Theories
99 Housing and Urbanism
102 Sustainable Environmental Design
106 Building Conservation
108 PhD Programme
10 9 Visiting School
11 0 VSP: One-Year Programme
111 VSP: 15-Week Programme
112 Summer School
113 Winter School
11 4 Summer D-Lab
11 5 Global Schools
11 6 Visiting Teachers/AA Abroad
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I N T R O DU C TION
AA School: Teaching, Learning and Architecture
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Brett Steele
Director, AA School
London, September 2007
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A A LEGACY
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A BRI EF H IS TORY
Founded in 1847 ‘by a pack of troublesome The AA has at various times in its existence had
students’, the Architectural Association is Britain’s close ties to the modern movement and CIAM;
oldest and most vital school of architecture, an created programmes such as the School of Tropical
institution whose independence of thought and Architecture, a model copied widely by other
operation have been fought for by the generations schools of architecture; and provided a home to
of students, tutors and staff who have passed Archigram and its members. More recently the
through its doors. AA has strengthened its graduate design
In the first 50 years of its existence, the AA programmes, establishing the Design Research Lab
evolved from a gathering place for students seeking as well as new studio-based courses in Emergent
to improve architectural education, into a school Technologies & Design and Landscape Urbanism.
offering a four-year programme of evening classes. Perhaps most enduringly, the AA has
A day school was added in 1901. In recognition of championed the unit system of study, an open-
the AA’s early influence and success in establishing ended structure in the Intermediate and Diploma
a formal system for the education of architects, the Schools which gives unit masters and students great
RIBA granted an exemption from its professional independence of movement and thought in the
examination to AA graduates in 1906. pursuit of specialist interests. The system is now
In 1917 the AA moved to its current premises almost universal in architecture schools, and
in and around Bedford Square. Apart from a brief endures at the AA in the form of units of
relocation to Hertfordshire during the Second identifiable character and heritage, some
World War, this Georgian square in Bloomsbury, disappearing and being replaced, others evolving
one of London’s most beautiful, has been the over time.
setting for a remarkable project. In its modern An atmosphere of robust debate and
history, through the chairmanships of Alvin competitive spirit – qualities central to the unit
Boyarsky (1971–91), Alan Balfour (1992–94) and system – pervades the school and lies at the heart of
Mohsen Mostafavi (1995–2004), and now under the AA’s vitality and success.
Director Brett Steele (elected in 2005), the AA has
Below: Akram Abu Hamdan, Embankment project, Dip 9, 1978
been home to teachers and students whose theory
Right: John Frazer, Housing project, Third Year, 1965
and practice have been central to the shaping of Overleaf above: Christine Hawley, Brighton Arcade, Dip 6, 1975
architectural discourse today. Overleaf below: Martin Pawley, NFT project, Fourth Year, 1962
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Alex Haw, Lighthive exhibition in the Front Members’ Room, photo Sue Barr
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A A TODAY
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A R OUN D T HE AA
36 Bedford Square is the AA’s anchor, housing the shared spaces and central gathering spots foster
Lecture Hall, Exhibition Gallery and Director’s exchanges across the school.
Office, Digital Prototyping Lab, Workshops and Following First Year, taught in an open and
Model Workshop, Dining Room and Bar, Library, collaborative studio environment, Intermediate and
Triangle Bookshop, Materials Shop, Computer & Diploma Schools are organised around the AA’s
Electronic Media Labs and First Year Studio. unit system, created more than 30 years ago as a
Additional classroom and studio space is located form of teaching that challenges conventional
next door, in 37 Bedford Square, and around the architectural curricula and pedagogy. Students
corner, on Morwell Street. The AA’s immediate select and join a unit based on a research and
neighbours include the British Museum, the British project agenda that becomes the focus of their
Library, UCL and a great many entertainment studies for the entire year.
options in Bloomsbury, Soho and Fitzrovia. The Graduate School has eight programmes,
Some 15 minutes’ walk away from Bedford three of which are studio-based. All courses of
Square is John Street, where the graduate design study encourage participation in the AA’s lecture
programmes are based. Some 150 miles away is one programme, in conferences, symposia and
of the AA’s most significant expansions of recent exhibitions. Media and Technical Studies, as well as
years: Hooke Park, a 350-acre woodland site in History & Theory Studies, offer classes and skills
Dorset that is used by units and graduate across all levels of the school.
programmes with specific interests in innovative
timber construction. The site includes workshops Below: Back Members’ Room at opening of Projects Review 2007,
photo Valerie Bennett
as well as living quarters.
Right: Intermediate Unit 2’s ‘Wet Hair’ Pavilion installed in
Each year the AA draws approximately 500 Bedford Square, July 2007, photo Sue Barr
students from 50 countries into an intensive
learning environment. Overlapping premises,
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UNI T TR IP S
The brief for every undergraduate unit and Brussels, Cap Martin, Capri, Caracas, Cologne,
graduate programme includes travel as a group, Colombo, Como, Copenhagen, Côte d’Azur,
either for project research, or to participate in Dubai, Genoa, Guangzhou, Helsinki, Hong Kong,
workshops with other organisations or attend Istanbul, Lyon, Macao, Marseilles, Miami, Monte
conferences and symposia. In addition to the AA’s Carlo, Mount Rigi, Mumbai, New York, Panama
Hooke Park facilities in Dorset, and short trips City, Paris, Patagonia (on the right is an image of a
elsewhere in Britain, destinations last year included shelter pavilion constructed as part of Emtech’s
Alabama, Amsterdam, Auroville, Barcelona (below Chilean workshop), Porto, Prague, São Paulo,
is an image of VSP students outside Barcelona’s Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Tokyo,
Forum building) Basel, Beijing, Belem do Para, Toulouse, Universidad de los Andes and Venice.
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AA student work, from the Foundation course and Jae Won Yi, Fourth Year) the following two
through to the PhD programme, is the school’s pages illustrate the work of 14 other prize winners.
greatest asset. In recognition of this excellence, the These in turn are followed by projects from Dan
AA awards prizes and distinctions at all levels. In Marks, Diploma Unit 16 and Jesse Sabatier,
addition to last year’s Nicholas Boas Travel Award Diploma Unit 11, who were awarded AA Diploma
winners (Jose Tovar-Barrientos, PhD; Sayaka Honours.
Namba, Second Year; Erlend Skjeseth, Third Year;
Award for Excellence in Intermediate Technical Studies Holloway Trust and Award for Excellence in Intermediate
Shintaro Tsuruoka, Intermediate Unit 2 Technical Studies Amandine Kastler, Intermediate Unit 9
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Award for Excellence in Diploma Technical Studies Award for Excellence in Diploma Technical Studies
Bart Schoonderbeek, Diploma Unit 11 Isabel Pietri Medina, Diploma Unit 5
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AA Diploma Honours
Jesse Sabatier, Diploma Unit 11
B
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AA Diploma Honours
Vi
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Madelon Vriesendorp’s ‘archive’ of incongruous figurines, photo Shumon Basar
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A A FU TURE
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YE A R AHEA D
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Spread from Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design Benedict O’Looney pavement-sketching his London tour, photo Valerie Benett
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designers to prepare proposals this autumn for a Intermediate and Diploma Schools this year
redesigned AA Files which our new Editor Thomas emphasise the AA’s renewed focus on the making
Weaver and I look forward to relaunching in of comprehensive, innovative building designs – a
February 2008. focus glimpsed in an incredibly diverse range of
briefs being put forward this year that will return
The AA Visiting School 2007/08 to the AA a wide range of architectural approaches
Over the past decade the AA School has taken the pursued through experimental building and large-
lead amongst UK-based schools in developing an scale design projects. In the Intermediate School,
extensive programme of visiting schools – short Marianne Mueller and Olaf Kneer (assisted by
courses available to outside students, teachers and tutor Yacira Blanco) lead a new Intermediate
architects as well as the AA’s own students. This Unit 1 focusing on the radically changing typology
past August the AA successfully launched summer of public buildings. Nannette Jackowski and
programmes in Singapore and Shanghai, following Ricardo de Ostos will direct Intermediate Unit 3
on last spring’s workshop in Istanbul. Collectively towards narrative architectures and a culture of
the workshops brought together students from elegant architectural drawing, as one of many
around the world (participants from 20 countries new units this year emphasising in-depth
joined in the Shanghai Summer School alone). This explorations of drawing and other design media. In
year I am excited to announce a strategic expansion Inter 5 Stefano Rabolli Pansera and Peter Ferretto
of the global AA Visiting School, which will now will also explore fictional architectural narratives
include new short courses open to both visiting through film and other architectural image-making
students and AA students in many other cities, techniques. New Intermediate Unit 6 tutors
beginning this autumn in Hooke Park and followed Jonathan Dawes and Dagobert Bergmans will take
by a new AA Winter School in Dubai in early as their agenda an ‘architecture of the uncommon’
January 2008 and a return to Shanghai next exploring the perception of building fabric. After
summer. As we go to press, we are currently four years, Yusuke Obuchi steps away from
negotiating additional visiting short courses and Intermediate Unit 8 to focus on a busy DRL year,
design workshops in Mumbai, Mexico City, Turin and in his place Chris Yoo joins Eugene Han in
and Istanbul for next spring and summer (be sure carrying forward the unit’s exploration of
to check aaschool.net throughout the year for the computation and its application to architectural
latest news on these events). A new, coordinated design. Christopher Pierce and Christopher
global AA Visiting School offers, as we already Matthews will lead a new Intermediate Unit 9
know, immense potential for expanding the titled ‘Mis-Architecture’ focusing on the production
presence, identity, influence and knowledge of the of drawings initiated by an examination of drawing
AA throughout the world. We are all looking cultures outside architecture. Intermediate Unit 10,
forward to its growth and development. led by new tutors Claudia Pasquero and Marco
Poletto, will invent eco-machinic prototypes for
AA Schools 2007/08: New Faces local Mediterranean cultures. Overall, the
Our undergraduate units, courses and graduate Intermediate School will be nearly 30 per cent
programmes include many new members of larger than last year.
academic staff who will provide fresh ideas in our Two new Diploma Units have been formed this
Undergraduate School. Foundation and First Year year that will carry forward agendas already
courses remain largely unchanged this year, and known within the school (each has taught for six
both have shaped agendas within their studio-based years in our Intermediate School). In Diploma Unit
courses tailored to students entering into a lifetime 9 Natasha Sandmeier and Monia De Marchi will
of learning and working as architects. Renovations pursue their interest in new iconic architectures as
to our First Year Studio will allow us to better part of a brief for a twenty-first-century church
accommodate another expanded intake at this sited in Rome. Oliver Domeisen will lead Diploma
important entry level of our five-year programme, Unit 13 in designs for a new school of architecture
while last year’s class moves up into a considerably located in Bedford Square, continuing the unit’s
enlarged Intermediate School. Changes in both interest in architectural ornament and history.
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Finally, among the list of new faces, I am pleased to join the other tutors in this year’s enlarged
welcome back Francesca Hughes, who returns to Sustainable Environmental Design programme.
the AA and Diploma Unit 15 with Noam Andrews
to direct a unit that will explore an interest in AA School 2007/08: New Spaces
‘hyper-contextual’ locations in Vietnam. Alongside Last year’s re-building of our Bedford Square
these three new units in the Diploma School, ten facilities, which began with the creation of our new
others will carry forward aims and agendas from AADP Media Suite and its neighbouring Digital
last year. Following a successful 2006/07 at Hooke Photography Studio, has continued over the
Park, this year Andrew Freear and Elena Barthel summer. The AA has been joined by Jeroen
are stepping away from their unit duties to focus on Armijde, who has moved to London from Hong
the development and delivery of the AA’s Hooke Kong to become the head of our new AA Digital
Park Strategic Plan, which will set up the future of Prototyping LAB located in the former home of
this exciting resource for the coming years. the Photo Library, which now occupies the ground
One of the most important features of our floor of 37 Bedford Square. Over the summer,
Undergraduate School this year is a recognisable Trystrem Smith was appointed new head of the
shift towards more overt forms of design – and AA’s Model Workshop, which has undergone a
particularly comprehensive, experimental building reorganisation that will take this important student
design. A clear indication of this renewal – which is resource in new directions.
carrying with it a return to cultures of drawing, Finally, the year begins with the setting up of
building typology, new approaches both to context new communication outlets to share information
and building materials – can be glimpsed in another around the school – most notably, an AA Student
important feature of the Undergraduate School: our Handbook, which will serve as a valuable resource
tutors have all prepared comprehensive, detailed for all 500 of our students, containing expanded
year-long design briefs for their units which will written briefs for each of our undergraduate units
be accessible online to all of our students. and providing comprehensive details about how
In our Graduate School, new teachers will our tutors have organised the teaching, learning
be developing coursework in several of our and expected outcomes for the year. This
programmes. Kristine Mun, a PhD candidate at the information, together with the syllabuses of our
AA, will lead this year’s ‘Synthesis’ course in the graduate programmes, will also be made available
DRL. Nikolaos Stathopoulos joins as a Tutor, online through aaschool.net. All of us here at the
Professor George Jeronimidis joins as visiting staff, AA are looking forward to this coming year and the
and Juan Subercaseaux joins as project consultant continuing work we all share in developing the
for a larger Emtech programme. Alfredo Ramirez architectural space of the AA School itself.
joins Landscape Urbanism as a workshop tutor;
Kathryn Firth joins Housing and Urbanism; and Brett Steele
finally, Ruchi Choudhary and Rosa Shiano-Phan
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AACP
AA Curatorial Practices/Cultural Products (AACP) conversations, dialogues, symposia and book
is a think- and action-initiative directed by Shumon launches. One of the new strands will be called 4x4,
Basar focusing on the expanded fields around where four sets of four themed lectures are lined up
contemporary architectural practice. It sets out to over the Autumn and Spring Terms. AACP will host
create a new, engaging space of discourse for the a series on critics/curators and clients/patrons as
school where architecture can entangle with other part of a long-term look at the power of those who
forms of cultural production. enable. AACP will also programme two symposia
Curators, editors, critics, collectors, clients – around the Clip/Stamp/Fold exhibition in
content-makers and content-deliverers are here to November 2007, as well as an event on 8 May 2008
stay. Contemporary architectural culture has also on contemporary political and spatial theories.
felt these systemic effects; not since the Independent Halfway through both the Autumn and the Spring
Group of the 1950s and the promiscuous 1960s has Terms, AACP will organise the schoolwide student
architecture been so readily taken up by the art and presentations, S.H.O.W., which give an opportunity
curatorial worlds. A Diploma History and Theory to see work from the previous year as well as work
course will investigate some of the key ‘sites for in progress.
curating content’, aided by a number of guest The curatorial programme this year exhibits
experts from related fields. some of the new concerns we hope to pursue in
Historically, architects have often excelled as years to come. There are numerically fewer shows,
writers, editors, publishers, proselytisers and but each one is more ambitious in scope, often
curators. Is this by accident or by design? The occupying both the Gallery and the Front Members’
fundamental operating tactics of curatorial and Room. Certain shows that originate at the AA will
editorial practices reveal startling similarities to the tour thereafter, to venues such as Casco (Utrecht)
ways in which architects select, organise and and Aedes (Berlin). Together with the Exhibitions
configure information and matter. As part of the Department, AACP hopes to inaugurate an annual
Third Year History and Theory course, ‘From guest curator slot to encourage new ways of
Architecture to Architecture’, four seminars will exhibition making, as well as provide a critical
look at the ways in which cultural characters – such London venue for important touring exhibitions
as ‘The Artist’ and ‘The Prophet’ – have provided such as Clip/Stamp/Fold.
stereotypes whose clichés lovingly persist.
The 2007 Sharjah Biennial invited artists Gustav Metzger, below,
AACP fosters space for cultural discourse,
and Michael Rakovitz, right, to realise ambitious projects as part
inquiry and hypothesis. This involves shaping the of the theme ‘Art, Ecology and the Politics of Change’.
public programme, with the Director’s Office, into
a typologically structured sequence of lectures,
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P UBL IC PR OG RA MMES
Each year architectural theorists and practitioners, Lecture Series or Artist Talks (held in smaller
writers, digital and performing artists, musicians venues around the school), these events bring
and art historians are invited to speak at the AA. together different parts of the school and form an
Whether as part of the Evening Lecture series essential component of an AA education. A
(generally held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the selection of speakers from recent years is listed
Lecture Hall) or as Visiting Theory Seminars, Open below.
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Research Clusters were set up in 2005 in order to be made in current research fields. These themes
foster new spaces of discourse, inquiry and will be the basis for a series of calls for research
connectivity within the AA. Cluster events to date proposals from the school community. The criteria
have ranged across a huge spectrum, encompassing for such proposals are that research must produce
publications, roundtable discussions, conferences, a full-scale material artefact and provide
special performances, lectures and workshops as comprehensive documentation of the research
well as an international design competition. process. The completed work will be the subject
Aimed at cutting across the various academic of an AA conference and an exhibition at the new
units and programmes, each cluster is designed to Architecture Foundation in London during
span an 18-month-long period. The first cycle of Spring/Summer 2009.
clusters concluded in January 2007, after which a The Architecture of Innovation cluster focuses
call for new clusters was addressed to the entire on the demands of the knowledge economy.
school community. Today’s transnational culture foregrounds learning
Clusters extending into a second term include and innovation, cultivating new patterns in how we
Environment, Ecology and Sustainability (EES), live and work. These shifts challenge the ways cities
curated by Werner Gaiser and Steve Hardy, and the have engaged in the planning and development
New Media Research Initiative, curated by Joel process, encouraging them to seek new instruments
Newman, Theodore Spyropoulos and Vasilis and approaches to promote urban innovation
Stroumpakos. environments. Architects are increasingly involved
At the heart of the EES cluster is an open with multidisciplinary teams in this pursuit,
competition – Environmental Tectonics v2.0 – working together with experts in business
that seeks out innovative ideas, design projects, development and urban policy to generate an
techniques and initiatives relative to environments, urbanism suited to the knowledge economy. This
ecology and sustainability. The deadline for entries cluster provides a platform for developing this
for this competition is 24 October 2007. For more expertise and a forum for engaging with scholars,
details see aaees.net. business leaders and government in search of new
For its second cycle, the New Media cluster urban tools. The cluster is global in outlook –
looks to explore the issue of interface in building on the AA’s international research base –
architecture. It will initiate a series of critical and local in its focus and orientation. Future
dialogues within the school and set up a research workshops will link international student and
fellow residency to bring London-based experts faculty work at the AA to challenges facing the
directly into the AA. Ideas developed through this contemporary development of the London
residency and the cluster as a whole will be metropolitan region.
discussed in a one-day symposium on architectural As a way of capturing the diversity of cluster
interface. events, a scholarly online journal of architectural
Two new clusters for the coming 2007/08 research is being developed, hosted by the AA in
year are FAB: A Platform for Material and collaboration with AD Wiley, with themed
Manufacturing Innovation, curated by Alan discussion and edited commentary. The journal will
Dempsey, Theo Lalis and Yusuke Obuchi, and the collect the research column entries in the printed
Architecture of Innovation, curated by Lawrence version of AD as downloadable PDF files in an
Barth. The FAB cluster fosters interdisciplinary archive section, and will also feature other material
exchange between the school and outside in a similar format, some originating from within
participants who share a common interest in the the AA, and others via Helen Castle at AD. During
culture of production. Its primary aim is to 2007/08 links will also be set up between relevant
facilitate novel research into innovative techniques sections of the AA website and those of AD and the
and technologies of fabrication and manufacturing, Triangle bookshop.
and explore their potential impact on future
architectural production. Over FAB’s duration, a Image: ‘Her Noise’ Archive organised by the New Media Cluster,
photo Marcus Leith
number of themes and agendas will be identified
through which it is hoped significant advances can
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AA DI GI TAL P L ATFORMS
Design and research undertaken by AA students It has also produced DVDs to accompany the
and staff are the greatest assets of a school annual Projects Review publication. The AA DVDs
renowned for its cutting-edge educational attempt the impossible task of encapsulating one
approach, quality of work and experimentation. whole year of the entire school, with around 4,000
The remit of Digital Platforms is to design and images and 80 videos showing hundreds of projects
develop a series of applications that will from Foundation to Graduate levels, as well as
communicate and archive schoolwork and material from the lectures, exhibitions and
activities, both for public use and as an internal publications programme. The DVDs represent the
information resource. first step in the long-term project of creating a
In the past year the Digital Platforms team has digital archive of the school’s best work.
launched aalog.net, an informal diary of school life
to which AA staff contribute news, images and aaschool.ac.uk
notes, and redesigned the AA website to make the aaschool.ac.uk/aadvd
school’s work its most prominent component. aalog.net
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Over the last two years the output of AA original double husband-and-wife incarnation of
Publications has engaged more intensively with the OMA in the mid-1970s. Curated by AACP
work of students and staff in the school. Morpho- Director Shumon Basar and Stephan Trüby, the
Ecologies, Typological Formations, Before Object – exhibition in January and February will bring
After Image, Bodyline and Manifesto for A together around 40 paintings and drawings (many
Cinematic Architecture are five recent titles that of them never shown before), around 10,000
have emerged from the Diploma School. The postcards of Americana, and an ‘Archive’ of
coming year will see the publication of work from incongruous scale models, figurines and
the Graduate programmes and Research Clusters paraphernalia as well as a life-size version of ‘The
together with a relaunch in February 2008 of the Mind Game’. An accompanying book will include
AA’s long-running house journal, AA Files. contributions by Charles Jencks, Beatriz Colomina,
Other books will be tied to major exhibitions. Douglas Coupland, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Charlie
The first of these, appearing in October, is Forms of Koolhaas and others.
Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic David Greene’s Disreputable Projects –
Design, coedited by AA Art Director Zak Kyes and evidence of his ‘increasing disinterest in form and
Mark Owens. FOI offers architects ‘a subversive, wilful drift towards invisibility’ – are documented
contrary view of architecture culture’ that is in a publication and 40-year retrospective
‘surprising, delightful and sometimes utterly exhibition in April and May. In collaboration with
bewildering’. As AA Director Brett Steele writes in a number of designers Greene will revisit signature
his preface, ‘Sometimes it is others who are best works such as the Logplug and The Bottery and
able to animate the walls (and not just boundaries) review them in relation to current construction and
of a field of human knowledge as stable and serious modelling techniques. The show and book are
as architecture’. curated and edited by First Year tutor and writer
The World of Madelon Vriesendorp is the title Samantha Hardingham, with David Greene.
of the first large-scale exhibition on the Dutch-
Right: Commissioned print for Forms of Inquiry by Task
born, London-based artist who was part of the
Overleaf top: David Greene inside one of his ‘disreputable projects’
AA
A AWORDS NNOO 2
WORDS
ANTI
ANTI-
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OBJECT
OBJ ECT
Kengo
K engo K
Kuma
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A A S CH OOL S
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F O U NDATION
The AA’s one-year, full-time architectural Foundation
course marks a period of transition, to be used to
question both theory and practice in the study of
spatial issues, to experiment not with one set of values
but with various strategies of design. Emphasis is also
placed on transforming careful observation and
research into fabrication. Students develop working
processes that result not just in sketches, plans and
models, but in the reality of built structures as urban
interventions.
Although the Foundation unit operates
independently of the course leading to the AA
Diploma, it draws on the resources of History &
Theory, Media and Technical Studies. Using teaching
methods that embrace architecture, art and other
spheres of design, the course is particularly flexible
and able to incorporate diverse ideas. This provides
students from a variety of backgrounds with the
opportunity to engage with the rich educational,
cultural and social life of both the AA and London
itself, while also allowing for time to focus on
personal development and objectives.
The Foundation course is open to all self-
motivated students with an interest in architecture.
Some of the applicants who join have already begun
their studies in architecture, engineering or art; some
have in mind a change of career; and others come
direct from school.
The course capacity is around 20 students, and
from the outset the teaching focus is on the individual,
with regular one-to-one tutorials. At the same time
creative teamwork is encouraged through group
discussions, collaborations and peer assessment.
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FOUNDAT I ON
Miraj Ahmed, Saskia Lewis, Theo Lorenz
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F I R ST YEA R
The First Year at the Architectural Association
introduces students to architectural design, critical
thinking and experimental ways of working, with
an emphasis on preparing young architects for the
challenges facing the profession in the twenty-first
century. In recent years architectural practice, learning
and knowledge have been profoundly transformed by
the arrival of new communication, information and
media technologies which continue to change what
it means to be an architect. The AA’s First Year
programme addresses this challenge by preparing
students for the complexities of the professional,
critical and cultural activities associated with
architectural innovation and experimentation today.
Each year young students from around the
world come to the AA and, joining those who have
spent an initial year in the AA’s Foundation Unit,
begin the five-year AA Diploma Course. In First Year
students gain knowledge, skills and experience in a
strategically diverse range of design ideas, agendas
and interests from which they begin to form their own
architectural identities and personalities. The year is
organised around the combination of a year-long
Design Studio, History & Theory Studies and Media
Studies. Together these courses lead to the preparation
of a portfolio of the year’s work, the successful
completion of which becomes the basis for entrance
into the AA Intermediate School.
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FIR ST YEA R
Valentin Bontjes van Beek, David Greene, Samantha Hardingham, Nicholas Puckett,
Nathalie Rozencwajg, Martina Schäfer
Pedagogy
The goal of First Year Studio is to create a flexible
and changing framework which exposes students
to diverse ideas and encourages an environment
of experimentation. This requires students to
proactively develop links between the different
projects and ideas to develop their personal
interests. This very nonlinear approach equips
students with a broad range of skills, and stresses
the importance of asking pertinent questions of
their designs and ideas.
Teaching methods will vary throughout the year,
ranging from an ‘open studio’ where all the tutors
act as a resource pool for the students, to small
Introduction groups working with specific topics and different
areas of expertise.
First Year is taught within an open and shared
workspace, the Soft Studio, in the heart of the main Course Organisation
AA building. In this studio all students and staff In the Autumn Term students are exposed to a range
work together across a range of diverse and of architectural concepts, techniques and working
structured design agendas, interests and areas of methods. The term is organised into a series of three
expertise. During the course of the year students compact self-contained projects which cover digital
are exposed to a series of projects led by different and physical means of design, material inquiries and
members of our teaching staff, who organise a production as well as conceptual thinking skills.
sequence of increasingly complex projects that During this term students will work both in
explore different forms of drawing, modelling and groups led by a team of two tutors and as individuals
communicating architectural strategies. The main within smaller groups led by one tutor.
work of the year – a comprehensive design project – In the Spring Term an initial short project will
prepares students for the rigours of the unit system be followed by a comprehensive design project
that operates within the Intermediate and Diploma supported by shorter workshops, Technical Studies
Schools. and Media Studies. Students will deploy ideas and
This studio organisation offers a unique setting lessons learned in the initial phase to develop their
– at one of the most crucial stages of a young own approach. They will work in groups for the
architectural career – that strategically exposes first shorter project and individually for the second
students to a range of experimental, critical and project, each time led by a team of two tutors.
technical forms of teaching, enabling them to begin The Summer Term’s work focuses on iterative
to take individual positions in contemporary production through a direct response to and
architectural debates and discourses from which to development of the design project. Students will
build their academic and professional careers. The divide into six groups, each working with one tutor,
location of the studio gives students constant access who will set a specific task: the revisiting of the
to input from the culture and resources of the AA designs of the previous term. Every other week
and their fellow students from across the school. specific open studio days will be used for cross-studio
The wide horizon of differing project types, agendas discussions that will relate the work back to the
and teaching approaches allows First Year students larger FY learning experience. On these studio days
to prepare portfolios that open up many different each group will share their developed projects with
possible paths through the school in their future the other groups.
years, reflecting the importance the AA places on
our students’ uncovering their own, highly specific Image: Final presentation, ‘Beauty Project’, 2006/07
architectural identities.
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Requirements with Zaha Hadid in scripting and parmetrics, and with Sony on
an installation for PlayStationPortable. He is currently researching
the bounds of collaborative design as a tutor at the Royal College
The principal course requirement is participation
of Art, and his work examines the new design processes afforded
in the year-long design studio, including daily work through programming and digital simulation.
and tutorials in the studio. All the developed work Nathalie Rozencwajg has worked with Erick van Egeraat and
is presented at the end of each project and compiled Architecture Studio on projects in London, China, Athens and
in the year-long portfolio, which is a consistently Mecca. She is cofounder of r_ar|e, an office for research,
architecture and experiment. Her interest lies in exploring the
formatted combination of all projects and the basis
transition from the surface to three-dimensionality, modular
for the end-of-year final assessment of the course. systems and architecture’s ephemeral qualities.
In addition to the Design Studio each student Martina Schäfer is an architect and partner of Foresites, an
selects four First Year Media Studies courses, two architecture and design practice based in London. She has taught
each in the Autumn and Spring Terms from the list at the AA since 2004 and previously at Kassel University and the
University of Kentucky. She received her professional education
of those on offer. Students write three short essays
from the University of Stuttgart, Ecole d’Architecture de Lyon and
throughout the year as part of the First Year SCI-ARC and has practised in Germany and the US.
History & Theory Studies Course, and prepare a
project analysis submission as part of First Year
Technical Studies. All supplementary studies
incorporate introductions to their specific areas and
integrate with the studio project in the Spring Term.
Special Events
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I N T ERMEDI AT E
The Intermediate School prepares Second and Third
Year students for RIBA Part 1. It provides the basis
for development through experimentation within the
structure of the unit system. There are currently nine
units covering a wide variety of issues, ranging from
materiality to social issues, spatial perception and
methods of conceptual thinking.
In parallel with the unit work, further skills are
developed through taught courses in History &
Theory, Technical and Media Studies, and
Professional Practice. Each of these programmes
works with specialist advisers, bringing in expertise
from internationally recognised artists, theorists and
engineering consultants. Each makes a valuable
contribution to the unit work while also requiring
an independent submission.
Additional experience is gained through interaction
with other parts of the school in events such as open
and combined juries and evening lectures.
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Material Matters
Although globally present, brick is one of the few
materials that is in essence locally articulated, its
proportions, surfaces and material qualities varying
according to its place of production. Brick – nothing
more than mud and silicates – is also one of the
oldest and most commonly used building materials,
often associated with anonymous architecture.
The unit seeks to harness the dual capacity of this
Mineral Architecture expressive material to act as both structure and
enclosure. We will exploit its ability to deal econo-
Building Public mically with complex 3D-geometries as much as
Realistically, most public buildings are no longer with straight lines, as well as its almost automatic
located within the public sector. The radically production of ornament.
transforming typology of public buildings, with The unit understands the act of building as a
their changing briefs and new strategies of cultural practice. Oscillating between the abstract
implementation, will form the basis of the unit’s and the concrete, we use process-based design
research in the first term. We will involve life clients, methods interlaced with an interest in the physical
organisations and private-sector stakeholders presence of buildings, their social relevance
in our search for new organisational modes that and contribution to the locale. Students will work
deliver buildings for the public today. through one coherent building proposal from
strategy to detail, from envelope to interior.
Social and Geometric Organisation
In both expressionism and the baroque, distortion aainter1.net
of form was a means to achieve an emotional
effect. As part of its investigation of the relevance Marianne Mueller and Olaf Kneer are AA graduates and company
directors of Mueller Kneer Associates (muellerkneer.com). The
of form-making, the unit will actively research
practice’s work has been recognised through the ‘AJ Corus 40
the potential of spatial deformation to productively under 40 Awards’ and has been selected for the XXIII UIA World
organise human processes. Through a series of Congress of Architects. Olaf has previously taught at the UCL
workshops, we will develop complex spatialities Bartlett, Marianne at the University of East London and held a
that will be tested in relation to their social guest professorship at the TU Berlin, leading the chair of Design
and Construction.
performance, emotional effect and their capacity
Yacira Blanco is a graduate of the AA Landscape Urbanism
to orchestrate use.
programme and of Simon Bolivar University in Caracas,
Venezuela. She has previously worked with Mueller Kneer and
Monolithic Construction for IDOM on the realisation of Zaha Hadid’s Euskotren
– Single Material Articulations Headquarters in Durango, Spain. She is currently working with
The ‘Einstein Tower’ by Erich Mendelsohn not AHMM on an infrastructural development for London.
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IN T ER MEDIAT E UNI T 2
Martin Self, Charles Walker
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IN T ER MEDI AT E U NI T 3
Nannette Jackowski, Ricardo de Ostos
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IN T ERMEDIAT E UNI T 4
Mark Hemel, Nate Kolbe
At the beginning of the twentieth century the design Image: Kim Bjarke and Helena Westerlind, Intermediate Unit 4
of passenger ships was influential in the concurrent 2006/07, super-high-rise
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IN T ER MEDI AT E U NI T 7
Markus Miessen, Matthew Murphy
Publics
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IN T ER MED IAT E U NI T 8
Eugene Han, Chris Yoo
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IN T ER MED IAT E U NI T 10
Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto
Hands On
The unit’s working method will combine an
extended digital platform with intensive hands-on
workshop experiences. The digital platform will
allow development of abstract diagramming skills,
performance testing and scenario modelling.
Moreover the unit will implement a blog and
exploit go-to meeting technologies for remote
tutorials (for example, with Dr Eyal Nir-Paracloud)
and prototyping sessions with the unit’s industrial
partners (from the TWDC2008 network). The
Eco-Machines hands-on component will involve three intensive
events: a field trip in the Autumn Term; an
The unit will work on the invention and installation in Istanbul in the Spring Term; and a
construction of eco-machinic prototypes, which workshop/prototyping event over Easter in Turin
differ from traditional architectural models and (with the unit affiliated to the Turin World Design
industrial design prototypes in two respects. First, Capital 2008 network).
they refuse a purely representational role, deriving
their material definition from a direct engagement Claudia Pasquero is a graduate of the Turin Polytechnic and the
AA’s Environment and Energy programme. She is co-founder, with
with the surrounding environment. Second, they
Marco Poletto, of ecoLogicStudio (ecoLogicStudio.com) with
are progressively refined through an open process which she has recently completed a public library in Turin and an
where both performances and targets co-evolve. installation called STEM for the 2006 London and Venice
These eco-machines will therefore be at the same architectural biennales. She has taught at a number of universities
time performance-oriented and programmatically including East London University, Turin Polytechnic, Kingston
University, UDLA Mexico City, IAAC Barcelona, ITU Istanbul
opportunistic; intensely site-specific as well as
and Bilgi University. Her work is available online at
typologically undefined. They will embody a
blog.tropicalondon.co.uk.
combination of material prototypes (developed Marco Poletto, like Claudia Pasquero, graduated from Turin
through direct testing) and a strategic manual Polytechnic and the AA’s E&E programme, and has worked for
(based on on-site observation, abstract Battle McCarthy as an environmental designer. He has been design
diagramming and systemic evaluation). tutor on the MA in sustainable design at the UEL London, a
technical tutor in the AA’s Dip 2 unit and co-tutored the AA’s
recent Fibrous Structures Workshop. Recent publications include
Historic Process ‘Artificial Ecological Infrastructures’ in Cluster magazine and an
The unit will begin its investigations by observing account of a six-month long research project he led, Informal City:
local cultures where a critical point of development The Caracas Case Project, published by Prestel in 2005.
has recently been reached, giving rise to a sudden
Image: Aqva Garden installation, Milan, 2007
social, economic or environmental mutation. The
focus will be on local systems with a certain degree
of ‘tradition’ – i.e., a consistent economic and
cultural flow – that have been tipped into
disequilibrium by an enlargement of their network
of territorial and global connections. Specifically,
we will look at the Mediterranean basin, where
traditionally rich and inert local networks are being
transformed by the expansion of the European
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D I P LO MA
The AA Diploma School offers opportunities for
architectural experiment and consolidation. With a
broad range of units available, organised to provide
diversity in areas of interest and teaching methods,
the aim is to marry high levels of technical proficiency
to complex intellectual agendas in an atmosphere
of lively and informed debate. During the two years
of the course, in an environment that fosters the
development of creative independence, students will
begin to find their voices as designers and to articulate
individual academic trajectories within the overarching
context of the unit structure. Students are encouraged
to challenge preconceptions and build on their
existing skills in the design projects that form the core
of their studies. In the Diploma School, students learn
to refine research skills and develop proposals
incrementally over extended periods. Throughout the
year, design work is supported by study tours, visits,
seminars, juries and workshops with invited experts
in London and at Hooke Park in Dorset.
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DIP LOMA U NI T 3
Pascal Schöning, Rubens Azevedo, Julian Löffler
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DIP LOMA U NI T 5
George L Legendre
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DI PL OMA UNI T 6
Christopher C M Lee, Sam Jacoby
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D IP LOMA U NI T 7
Simon Beames, Kenneth Fraser
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DI PL OMA U NI T 9
Natasha Sandmeier, Monia De Marchi
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DI PL OMA U NI T 10
Carlos Villanueva Brandt
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D IP LOMA UNI T 1 2
Eva Castro, Holger Kehne
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DI PL OMA U NI T 13
Oliver Domeisen
Build in Truth
Everything has been done before in some way
or another. The only thing that changes is
technology.
Frank Gehry, from Sketches of Frank Gehry
(directed by Sidney Pollack), 2006
The re-emergence of ornament depends on the
availability of mass-customisation technology
within building processes. Dip 13 intends to
develop generative combinatory reconfigurations
of production sequences to achieve new material
effects.
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DIP LOMA U NI T 15
Francesca Hughes, Noam Andrews
Mass Mutation
The history of architectural types constitutes a
fossil record that like its species’ counterpart is
plagued by gaps: missing transitional architectural
objects and sudden originations make anatomical
novelty difficult to account for. As Thomas Hunt
Morgan showed with his wingless, eyeless fruit
flies, it is always the recessive, unexpressed, genetic
component, silently distributed in a population,
which causes spontaneous mass mutation. In the
past the unit has looked at how economic islands
drive the extreme adaptation (or extinction) of the
flora and fauna of architectural reproduction. This
year we turn to that other engine of sudden
origination, catastrophic effect.
The radical change in Vietnam’s economic
New forms come into being not through the climate is fast being registered in its own endemic
modification of details of their morphology but types: the rivers of bicycles that flowed through
through abrupt, large scale reorganisation of Hanoi only a couple of years ago are now seas of
entire anatomical systems. motorbikes. The ghost islands, which the Red River
Jeffrey H Schwartz, Sudden Origins, 1999 swallows and rebuilds each wet season, are in the
sights of Japanese developers. The US sees alternate
The General Council is pleased to announce that trade routes and strategic military positions. China
on the 11th January 2007 Vietnam became the is just next door. As this guarded economy now
150th member of the World Trade Organisation. bares itself to global capitalism (and other old
WTO enemies) all sorts of strange things go bump in the
night.
Saltation Nation The unit maintains its ongoing association
Like the American West, Vietnam is a context more with structural engineer Matthew Wells. In
highly articulated in film than in fact. After Opium, addition, this year there will be consultation with
Indochine, Rambo and Communism, it is now a riverine geomorphologist Dr Alan Zeigler and
complex construction of nostalgia and serial liaisons with the Hanoi Millennium 2010 EU ASIA
renewal. Add to this an economy that has suddenly URBS Programme. Unit trip to Hanoi.
entered Asia’s fast lane: with GDP growth at 8.5
per cent, Vietnam is Brazil’s main competitor in Francesca Hughes taught at the Bartlett for six years before
joining the AA in 2003. Author/editor of The Architect:
coffee, has plans to overtake Thailand in rice and is
Reconstructing her Practice (MIT Press 1996), she is currently
even selling tea to India. completing a book that examines the category of error within the
context of architectural culture and production. Hughes Meyer
Room for Doubt Studio is a multidisciplinary practice whose first building received
Dip 15 returns to its critical pursuit of the perversely an RIBA award in 2005 and whose work has been published in
AR, ANY and Art Forum, as well as by Merrell and Routledge.
specific through the generation of hypercontextual
Noam Andrews graduated from the AA in 2005 and has since
adaptations to extreme economic and cultural
worked for offices in London and New York. He has built his own
environments. Behind architecture’s current faith in work in New York and Florida, recently recorded a pop album in
the instrumentalist premise, we find belief in Argentina and is currently engaged with projects in architecture,
technology’s impartiality is stronger than ever: music and film.
optimisation is the new epistemological deliverance.
Photo Hans Kemp
But the room for doubt left by the undeclared
cultural indeterminacy in every system, material or
other, is always fertile ground for radical invention.
This is the site of the unit’s operations.
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architecture of the 1970s and the idea of ‘discipline the idea of the architectural event within
autonomy’ – the conception of architecture as architectural design; this is frequently associated
an escape from the commercialisation of the with the work of Bernard Tschumi. The second is
profession. the more general concern within philosophy and
Against this interpretation, the seminar will historical speculation as to what exactly we mean
focus on a more proactive idea of autonomy: by designating something an event. What exactly is
architectural form as a mode of questioning a historical event? Can the idea of a historical event
architecture’s complicity with power and its and the architectural event enrich each other? This
representations. In order to sustain this alternative question is asked with reference to recent urban
conception, the seminar will attempt a genealogy events through the filters of catastrophe and
of the idea of autonomy itself by providing an intervention.
integral vision of its evolution as seen through
politics, poetics and productions that have Bookbuilding
challenged the cultural hegemony of capitalism. William Firebrace
Architectural theory and the evolution of the city Suppose, just for a few short weeks, we consider
over the last three centuries will be seen as the the matter of buildings. Yes, those constructions
synthesis of this challenge. of glass, brick, steel and timber, sometimes banal,
sometimes fantastic, occupied in any number of
Curating Content ways, which were once a central concern of
Shumon Basar architecture.
This course focuses on contemporary manifestations Each student will create for himself/herself
of ‘content curation’ and the current discourses a book based on six existing buildings. Simple
surrounding them. It is structured into four topics – enough? But what seems like an elementary
The Magazine, The Book, The Exhibition and exercise quickly becomes fluid and complex.
The Biennial – each explored via a talk by AACP First, we will consider how buildings can be
Director Shumon Basar and a conversation with described, what can be achieved in words that
invited guest editors, curators and critics. ‘Curating cannot be achieved in images. Second, we will
Content’ will measure the mutations of form taking question how and why we choose to include
place in contemporary culture, both as theoretical particular buildings. Why are certain buildings
dilemmas and as instrumental praxis. considered interesting or worthy? Which ones go
with which? How do these buildings create a set,
Goodbye Dubai so that one follows on and develops from another.
Paul Davies What are the rules for such a set? Size/shape/
In the recent past some architects have treated colour? Buildings beginning with a particular letter
Dubai as if it were design’s Promised Land. of the alphabet? And third, how is all this to be
Magazines are full of the clean luxury and rarely presented? A book needs the same care and thought
offer any serious representation of other dimensions with materials and form as a building. It also is a
of the site. This course shows the results of a recent kind of construction, with its own paper technology,
trip to Dubai and seeks to capture the less than its own relationship to the hand and eye.
ideal aspects of the place and some of the Ah, bookbuildings: this could be a life project,
absurdities currently being produced by architects. a passion. It could develop endlessly, like a complex
Davies’ interest lies in the notion of Dubai as ‘Vegas game. Maybe it could even make money.
with no fun’ and in contextualising the city within Bookbuilding will be completed, without fail,
global postwar development. on time and on budget, and with due elegance.
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course examines the nineteenth-century discovery rethinking these issues. The meaning of complexity
of entropy in thermodynamics and its diffusion as and the status of design in the context of digital
an idea among writers, artists and designers. production will be examined. Through a series of
Among those studied are Olmsted, Bataille, readings and discussions we will explore the
Pynchon, Smithson and Matta-Clarke, in a ‘tour’ relationships between complexity and ornament,
ranging from the picturesque garden, via the ruined and the engineered, computation and
formlessness and feedback, to current probes into consciousness, the primitive and the prima donna,
chaos and emergent ‘complexity’. the automatic and the authored.
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changing notions of space, and traces the role Open Courses/Lecture Series
they have played in the shift towards the dynamic
in contemporary theory and design research in Nothing
architecture and the city. Mark Cousins, Fridays at 5.00pm in the Autumn
and Spring Terms
The Nature, Possibilities and Limits of This lecture course takes up the issue of the
Representation Nothing and the way it plays a productive role in
Dalibor Vesely different arenas of culture. It will start by
Most of the questions facing architecture today considering the issues of negation in terms of
are linked, directly or indirectly, to the problem propositions and the relation of negation to what
of representation. This is clearly apparent in the the series will analyse as negative objects and
growing preoccupation with the new possibilities negative spaces. It will then consider issues of
of digital representation and virtual realities. The nowhere, of nobody and of never.
course will address the changing nature and role
of representation in the formation of projects, Artist Talks
in the creation of new spatial configurations, and Organised by Parveen Adams, Fridays at 7.00pm
in the resulting physiognomy of structures and in the Spring Term
buildings. Another important question will be the A series of Artist Talks will be held in the Spring
possibilities and limits of drawings, models and Term. A full schedule will be published during the
digital representation. All these issues will be Autumn Term.
discussed in a contemporary as well as a historical
context. The main intention is to establish closer History and Theory Studies Director
Mark Cousins directs the AA’s Histories and Theories
links between the work in the studio and the new
programmes at both undergraduate and graduate levels. In
ways of thinking presented in the lectures and addition he is Visiting Professor of Architecture at Columbia
seminars of the course. University and Visiting Professor designate at the University of
Navarre, Pamplona. He is a founding member of the Graduate
Myths and Theories of Sustainable Architecture School at the London Consortium.
markcousins@aaschool.ac.uk
Simos Yannas
Many architects and students take sustainable
History & Theory Studies Staff
environmental design for granted, as if it were Parveen Adams works in the fields of art, film, performance and
now standard practice. Others see environmental psychoanalysis and currently directs the Postgraduate
performance as a mere genetic corollary of the Psychoanalytic Studies programme at Brunel University and is also
digital revolution. For others still, energy and on the teaching faculty of the London Consortium. Her
publications include The Woman in Question, and The Emptiness
environment are technicalities best dealt with
of the Image.
outside architecture. The course will start by Pedro Ignacio Alonso has practised independently and taught
dispelling such myths, which continue to obscure design and theory of architecture at the Universidad Católica de
the development of an architectural discourse of Chile, where he received his masters. He was Visiting Professor at
sustainable design. Far from being an issue of the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 2001 and is currently a
PhD candidate at the AA.
engineering, the environmental performance of
Pier Vittorio Aureli studied architecture at IUAV in Venice and at
buildings is fundamentally a matter for architecture, the Berlage Institute. He is about to complete his PhD thesis at the
being a direct outcome of programmatic, formal Berlage/TU Delft. Aureli coordinates the second-year research
and operational choices made, or ignored, by programme at the Berlage and is Guest Professor at the Accademia
design. Sustainable environmental design requires di Architettura in Mendrisio and at TU/Delft.
Shumon Basar is a writer, editor and curator and AACP Director
essential architectural knowledge that recent
and AA Summer School co-director. Co-founder of sexymachinery
generations of architects simply did not receive. and contributing editor at Tank magazine. Recent edited books
The course will introduce key concepts and criteria, include With/Without (Moutamarat/Bidoun) and Cities from Zero
providing the cognitive grounding and critical (AA Publications). With Stephan Trüby, Shumon is co-curating
framework needed for design research and The World of Madelon Vriesendorp, which will tour
internationally after its debut at the AA.
applications.
Paul Davies has lectured at the AA since 1997, predominantly on
the subject of Las Vegas and entertainment architecture. He writes
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for Modern Painters and other magazines, and is coeditor of The Tania López Winkler is an architect and exhibiting artist. Her
Architect’s Guide to Fame (2005). photographs and art installations have been shown and published
Christiane Fashek is an architect. She has received degrees from internationally. She has lectured in England, France, the US, Italy,
the University of Notre Dame, the DRL and the London Spain, Poland and Mexico. She holds architecture degrees from
Consortium. Previously she worked at Eisenman Architects on the ITESM in Mexico and the AA, where she is currently pursuing her
Santiago City of Culture. PhD which explores the urban as a form of reading, and proposes
William Firebrace is author of Things Worth Seeing. He is the private detective’s clue as a semantic device for understanding
currently finishing one book, Wake Up, and starting another, this process.
Memo for Nemo. Simos Yannas is Director of the AA’s MSc & MArch programmes
Valeria Guzman-Verri completed a degree in architecture at the in Sustainable Environmental Design and the academic
University of Costa Rica. Between 1999 and 2004 she worked as coordinator of the School’s PhD Programme. See those pages for
an architect and consultant, and in 2000 received an Honorable a fuller bio.
Mention at the V Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in Costa
Rica. She obtained a masters degree in Histories and Theories of Opening image: Zamri Arip and Neill Grant, scale studies, HTS
Architecture at the AA and is currently working on a PhD which 2006/07
looks to frame twentieth-century modifications to the notion of
the ‘faraway’ .
Brian Hatton has taught at the AA for more than 20 years. A critic
for many art and architecture journals, he has written studies of
Dan Graham, Cedric Price, Zaha Hadid and Langlands & Bell,
among others.
Marina Lathouri studied architecture in Greece and then at the
Berlage Institute and at the Sorbonne. She has taught studio at
Pennsylvania and at Cambridge. She recently completed her PhD
on twentieth-century urbanism.
George L Legendre is Unit Master of the AA’s Diploma Unit 5 and
has been Visiting Professor at ETH Zurich and Princeton
University since 2003. He is the author of IJP: The Book of
Surfaces (AA Publications, 2003). His practice, IJP Corporation
(ijpcorporation.com), is presently building a 1,000-foot-long
bridge in Singapore.
Frances H Mikuriya received her masters from the Graduate
School of Architecture at Columbia University and BArch from
the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently completing her
PhD at the AA on ‘Time Space Pathologies’.
Sandra Morris has been lecturing on landscape issues at the AA
for many years. In addition to History & Theory Studies, she is
currently teaching in the AA’s Landscape Urbanism graduate
programme.
Martin Self holds a degree in aerospace engineering and is
currently completing the Histories and Theories MA at the AA.
He was a founder member of the Advanced Geometry Unit at
Arup, where he has worked as a structural engineer with many
internationally prominent architects.
Brett Steele is Director of the AA School. His research and
writings can be found online at resarch.net
Teresa Stoppani has taught architectural design and theory at the
IUAV and at the AA and is currently Senior Lecturer in
Architecture at the University of Greenwich, where she directs the
MA in Architecture programme and co-ordinates the Architecture
Histories and Theories programme. She is working on a book
entitled Manhattan and Venice: Paradigm Islands of Space.
Dalibor Vesely was an AA Diploma Unit Master in the 1970s.
Since 1978 he has taught a Diploma Studio at Cambridge as well
as graduate courses in the history and philosophy of architecture,
and has developed work in the phenomenology of artificial
intelligence, on the nature and meaning of communicative space,
and the poetics and hermeneutics of architecture. Recent
publications include Architecture in the Age of Divided
Representation (2004).
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MED IA ST UDI ES
Eugene Han
Required Courses
Media Studies courses are a required part of the
First Year and Intermediate School, furnishing
Introduction students with the knowledge and skills associated
with a wide range of contemporary design,
Media Studies at the AA includes required courses communication and fabrication media. Under-
for First and Second Year undergraduate students. graduate students in their Fourth Year are actively
Courses that are available for Second Year students encouraged to expand their knowledge and
are also open to Fourth Year Diploma students. interests by participating in courses available to
Additionally, Media Studies offers a range of the Intermediate School as an elective option.
computing classes as well as optional events and These weekly courses are taught by AA Unit,
short-term projects that are available to students AV, Workshop and Computing staff, as well as by
from across the Undergraduate and Graduate invited outside architects, artists, media and other
Schools. Together the many classes and special technical specialists. Each term-long course focuses
events comprising Media Studies expose students to on the conceptual and technical aspects of a
the work of architects, artists and other specified topic of design media, and emphasises a
practitioners, to the innovative skills associated sustained development of a student’s ability to use
with traditional forms of architectural media and design techniques as a means for conceiving,
representation as well as today’s most experimental developing and producing design projects and
forms of information, communication and strategies.
fabrication technologies. Like many other design In a change from previous years, AA First Year
disciplines, architecture has been profoundly students are now required to participate in four
affected in recent years by the development of new introductory First Year Media Studies courses
design technologies. The link between architectural throughout the Autumn and Spring Terms,
innovation and creative thinking has long been a completing their Media Studies requirement with
motor of the school’s sustained experimentation a bound submission containing their work
with new media. throughout the year. Second Year students are
At the AA, as long ago as the 1960s, pioneers required to select one course in the Autumn Term
such as Archigram engaged with new mediums of and one course in the Spring Term from those on
communication as an essential extension of their offer in the Intermediate school. These courses
radical architectural experiments. In the 1970s the culminate in a bound submission containing the
AA’s newly founded unit system included the term-long development of their projects, which
creation of a workshop for the construction of together with the installation of a final project
large-scale installations and other projects, which serves as the basis for student assessment. The
remains an essential part of the school today. In the course requirements as outlined must be successfully
early 1980s important architectural groups such as passed by every First and Second Year student.
NATØ emerged out of the AA’s unit system and Any Third Year student with an outstanding Media
challenged the conventions of architectural Studies submission from the previous year must
representation by working collectively across large- select and successfully pass one course from the
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Autumn Term offerings. Students who are not translation of objects into drawings and the
required take a Media Studies course and are new interpretation of sets of drawings into models.
to the AA are still encouraged to enrol in order to
familiarise themselves with the department’s Life Drawing
teaching staff as well as the full range of facilities Trevor Flynn
at the school. The figure will be used as a departure point as we
work through several exercises that enable us to
Resources and Facilities study tone, mass, line and simple underlying
Through their Media Studies courses students will structures, in a range of drawing media and in short
become familiar with the workings of key facilities and longer poses from male and female models.
in the AA School. These include the Electronic We will also explore concept sketches, viewpoint,
Media Lab; the newly established Digital biomorphic improvisations and remind ourselves
Prototyping Lab, which instructs students in of Matisse’s maxim ‘exactitude isn’t truth’.
techniques of laser-cutting, 3D printing and CNC
milling; the Workshop in Chings Yard, which Introduction to Information
features tools and fabrication facilities for large- Eugene Han
scale wood, steel and other materials; the Model This course will offer an introduction to the
Shop for fabricating plastic, acrylic sheet material, management and communication of quantity-
wood, vacuum-forming and other scale models; dependent numerical systems. Students will learn
Hooke Park, a 350-acre woodland site in Dorset to develop techniques enabling them to manage,
which operates as a showcase for experimental utilise and explain information-based
sustainable construction; the Digital Darkroom, environments.
Audiovisual Department and other facilities.
Materiality of Colour
Antoni Malinowski
First Year: Autumn Term Courses The potential of subtractive colour in creating and
manipulating space is the theme of this course. A
Site-Specific Portraiture series of workshops will allow students to develop
Sue Barr a sensitivity to the use of colour and tone in relation
Inspired by the work of August Sander, Walker to the dynamics of space and movement. Through
Evans and contemporary photographers such as this will be encouraged to find an individual
Philip Lorca di Corcia, the course will examine perspective to their research.
the relationship between photographic portraiture
and location. Students will discover how the
location or site of a portrait can inspire/conspire Intermediate: Autumn Term Courses
with a narrative within the image.
Epi-Textures 01
Is Drawing Projecting? Monia De Marchi
Valentin Bontjes van Beek The course will focus on CNC machining of a
The course will teach scaled drawing, orthogonal fabrication system based on the development of
projection, isometric projection and the principle local geometry variations. Criteria for projects
of perspective drawing. We will look at translations will be based on the 3D layering combination of
from a physical object to a drawn representation. complex surfaces. We will cover techniques such as
Nothing is real, everything is only more or less a double-side cutting and the use of different tools for
blurry projection – of reality? different layers in parallel with CNC fabrication.
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T E CHNICAL ST UDI ES
Michael Weinstock
Michael Weinstock
Master of Technical Studies
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there will be a morning lecture with TS staff, who building carry load. Well-known buildings are
will present the various ‘chapters’ of the study and analysed to show how strength and safety can be
aspects of the building along with appropriate predicted by calculation. Physical models are made
methods of analysis. Weekly work assignments and load-tested to illustrate deformation and
will be given for the small teams for each afternoon failure. Emphasis is also placed on finding idealised
session. During selected afternoon sessions staff conceptual models to demonstrate structural
will introduce students to the tools, methods and behaviour, in particular the stability of the whole
techniques of observation, representation and building structure. Examinations are made of how
analysis needed to investigate and explore the forces create stresses and deformations in
buildings. At the final session in December, each architectural structures, taking into account
team of students will present its case study ‘in material properties.
progress’. A comprehensive printed case study
document must be submitted during Hand-In Material and Technologies
Week, after the break, for final assessment. Second Year Optional Course
Carolina Bartram
Structures This course conducts an investigation of a range
Phil Cooper, Anderson Inge of materials used in contemporary structures,
This course aims to develop a feel for forces in including concrete, timber, brick and blocks, glass,
structures. Basic structural behaviour is fabrics and composites. Material properties,
demonstrated through models and theory, so that methods of manufacture, durability, cost and
students can see how shape and material influence appearance are significant factors that will be
the performance of real structures. To design a reviewed, leading to an understanding of how
structure requires making choices about materials, different materials can be used in a variety of
assembly and performance in use, so it is essential applications.
to have the tools to predict the behaviour of the
unbuilt object when it is still only an idea. After an Engineering the Future
introduction to the development of structural form Second Year Optional Course
through past centuries, common structural Ian Duncombe
elements and configurations will be examined in This course informs students about the broad and
order to gain an understanding of the behaviour fast-evolving role of environmental engineering in
of structures under load. During the lecture architecture, inspiring them to develop concepts for
programme students will design, make and test their own projects. As well as teaching some
a structural model as a competition. fundamental principles, lectures will demonstrate
ways in which cutting-edge technologies and
computer simulations can be used to develop design
Intermediate School concepts through an iterative process of ‘virtual
prototyping’, similar to design methods already
Second Year students take Structures and one used for many years in the car and aircraft
of two other courses offered. Third Year students, industries. Extensive use is made of case studies to
in addition to the Structures course, undertake a illustrate the principles and techniques.
Technical Design study as part of their main
project, which synthesises their individual Structures
architectural ambitions with an account of the Third Year Compulsory Course
material production of the proposal. Phil Cooper and Anderson Inge
The course introduces structural model analysis,
Structures inviting students to make and test scale models to
Second Year Compulsory Course predict the static and dynamic behaviour of
Phil Cooper and Anderson Inge structures under load. The theory and practice of
This course uses lectures and student presentations the effects of scale will become obvious from the
to examine how the structural elements of a model testing, and this will promote better intuition
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for predicting the behaviour of real, full-size confidently recreate them within the framework
structures. Analytical skills will be demonstrated of their own architecture. We will address
and used to make predictions. Observed behaviour manufacturing processes at either end of the
of physical models under load is used to establish technological scale, from craft to mass
the parameters of a detailed digital model which can standardisation. Students will make a study in
be analysed by computer. which components are isolated, analysed, altered
and reintegrated, to explore the appropriate use
Third Year Design Project of natural resources, energy, human effort and
Javier Castañon and Wolfgang Frese technology.
Students undertake a comprehensive design study
that explores and resolves the central technical Process in the Making
issues of their projects, in collaboration with Wolfgang Frese
individual unit agendas. The study records the The realisation of architecture requires a synthesis
strategic technical decisions made as the design between the quality of design and the way in which
develops, integrating knowledge of the environ- it is made. It is the joining of the processes that
mental context, use of materials, structural forms links the design of architecture with the art of
and processes of assembly. It also documents the building. This course aims to highlight and explain
research carried out in the process of developing the the complex forces at work when transforming
design. The individual projects are developed with architectural designs into built form. Particular
support from technical teaching staff within the attention is paid to the importance of inter-
unit and from tutorials with Javier Castañon and disciplinary collaboration, since the architect as
Wolfgang Frese. Seminars on specific relevant lead consultant has to constantly adjust and
subject are organised by the technical teaching staff evaluate his designs to address these often
and guest speakers as a means of further support. contradictory forces. The lecture series addresses
Assessment is by a panel of Technical Studies tutors these aspects through project case studies
and unit staff. highlighting the impact of various project members
on the design process. Guest speakers from other
consultancies and specialist manufacturers are
Diploma School invited to talk about their experiences of
collaboration within a project team.
Fourth Year Seminar Courses
Fourth Year students choose two courses from the Algorithmic Geometry
selection on offer and may attend others according Toni Kotnik
to their interests. The utilisation of computers in architectural design
facilitates the handling of complex geometry. In
Building Block Interrogation, general, such geometries are described, not by a
Technology and Systems (BITS) process of successive modelling of the final form,
Simon Beames but rather by means of an algorithmic
Built architecture is an organisation of component formalisation of the inherent organisational logic.
elements: BITS. In order to determine which BITS This course will offer an experimental introduction
are necessary to complete a design, choices have into algorithmic descriptions of geometry and their
to be made in relation to an understanding of use as organisational principles in architecture.
functional limits, manufacturing potential and
assembly criteria. The lecture series will explore Studies in Advanced Structural Design
material selection, tooling, manufacturing processes Wolf Mangelsdorf
and assembly at building, urban and global scales Structures are complex systems providing strength
in order to give students not only a basic and stability in buildings. This course will analyse
knowledge of individual materials, processes and these systems by disassembling them into finite
applications but also the ability to scrutinise the components and examining the geometry,
technology of these building elements and boundary conditions and material properties that
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define each element and its behaviour within the becomes input to modelling and simulation studies
global context. This approach, which has its using software aimed at achieving thermal and
parallels in element-based computer analysis visual comfort with minimum use of non-renewable
methods, provides a simple means of understanding energy sources. Students should bring their laptops
even the most complex structures. so that software demonstrations can be followed by
workshop sessions.
Technology Transfers or Technomimetics
John Noel Form, Energy and Environment
This course pushes the boundaries of previous Mohsen Zikri
studies by exploring the relevance of the The course explores the territories where
manufacturing of everyday objects and the architecture and engineering meet, focusing on
formation of living things to the technologies, the links between building form, energy and the
processes and materials used in the construction micro/macro environment. It reviews the
industry. From studies of food packaging development of building skins, as a critical
techniques, through automobile chain production influence on the behaviour and carbon footprint of
processes, to nanotechnology material research, a building, and presents passive energy design and
the aim of the course is to expand the student’s different methods of exploiting natural forces in
technical awareness beyond the realms of real projects. Sustainability issues are examined in
traditional construction and encourage the terms of their impact on building design and as an
application of these technology transfers to opportunity to generate exciting solutions that meet
architectural design. the occupants’ needs and generate good value. The
application of modelling tools is demonstrated in
Sustainable Urban Design the context of stretching the design boundaries of
Randall Thomas buildings. Completed buildings that have benefited
This course provides a detailed examination of from modelling by Computational Fluid Dynamics
the concepts and techniques associated with the (CFD) are critically reviewed, with a focus on
idea of the sustainable city, beginning with urban human comfort and energy use. To conclude the
morphologies and densities, particularly in relation course, students will be asked to undertake an
to energy. The design of individual buildings is assignment that combines case studies of completed
studied in this context, as are the urban effects buildings in the different climatic zones with the
of spatial planning, materials, light and water. conceptual design of a ‘building of the future’.
The course includes a case study of a large urban
regeneration project. Fifth Year Technical Thesis
The Technical Design Thesis is a substantial
Environmental Modelling and Simulation individual work developed under the guidance
Simos Yannas of Technical Studies staff. Tutorial support and
A hands-on technical course on the use of guidance is provided both within the unit and by
environmental design software for the generation Nikolaos Stathopoulos, Wolf Mangelsdorf, John
and assessment of climate data and the simulation Noel and Toni Kotnik. The central concerns of the
of solar, thermal and lighting processes in and thesis may emerge from current or past design
around real or virtual buildings. The course starts work, or from one of the many lecture and seminar
with an introduction to fundamental environmental courses the student has attended in previous years.
design parameters and with manual computations The thesis is contextualised as part of a broader
that illustrate the range of values these parameters dialogue synthesising technical concerns and
take and the effect they can have on the architectural agendas arising within the unit, and
environmental performance and energy balance its critical development is pursued through case
of buildings. This is followed by a study of adaptive studies, material experiments and extensive
comfort mechanisms relating to the different research and consultation. Assessment is by a
climatic, programmatic and operational conditions panel of Technical Studies tutors and unit staff.
characterising unit projects. All of the above then
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Open Course
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G R A D UAT E S CH OOL
The Graduate School offers eight programmes to
students with prior academic experience in architec-
ture and related fields who wish to pursue advanced
degrees in one of the world’s most dynamic design
environments.
The programmes can broadly be divided into
four types: the Graduate Design programme offers
studio-based, full-time, one-year or 16-month courses
focusing on advanced forms of architectural design,
and includes the Masters in Architecture and Urbanism
(MArch) from the Design Research Lab, the AA’s
innovative team-based course in experimental
architectures; Emergent Technologies & Design
(MSc/MArch), emphasising forms of architectural
design that proceed from innovative technologies;
and Landscape Urbanism (MA), investigating the
ways in which the processes and techniques that have
historically modelled the landscape are integrated
into the domain of contemporary urbanism.
The Graduate School also includes programmes
that offer one-year or 16-month full-time degrees in
Sustainable Environmental Design (MSc/MArch),
Histories & Theories (MA) and Housing & Urbanism
(MA). An AA Diploma (Conservation) is awarded in
the Graduate School’s two-year part-time Building
Conservation Programme. Advanced degrees are
awarded to candidates in the AA’s PhD programme.
All Graduate degrees are validated by the Open
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Introduction
Course Structure
As the world’s most internationally diverse
graduate design programme, with nearly all The DRL is a 16-month post-professional course
students and staff originating overseas, the DRL in architectural design, leading to a masters of
continues to explore the potential of today’s highly Architecture and Urbanism (MArch) degree. The
distributed digital design networks and tools four terms of study are divided into two phases.
targeted towards design innovations in architecture Phase I, a three-term academic year beginning
and urbanism. The tenth cycle of DRL students will each autumn, introduces skills, topics and
graduate in January 2008 and a series of special objectives through a combination of team-based
events are being planned to mark this anniversary. studio, workshop and seminar courses. In Phase II,
Over the past decade many of the world’s most beginning the following autumn, small self-
innovative architects, designers and theorists have organised design teams carry forward the first
visited the course as guest critics, including: Iñaki year’s work in the form of comprehensive thesis
Ábalos, Stan Allen, Wiel Arets, Andrew Benjamin, design projects. At the end of January these projects
Carolyn Bos, Mark Burry, Peter Cook, Xavier are presented to the entire school and to a panel
Costa, Lise-Anne Couture, Nathalie De Vries, of internationally distinguished visiting critics.
Hernan Diaz-Alonso, Winka Dubbeldam, Mark After this, in March, each team documents and
Goulthorpe, Nicholas Grimshaw, Zaha Hadid, presents the work completed in both phases in a
Jeffrey Kipnis, Rem Koolhaas, Tom Kovac, Sanford final book-length thesis submission.
Kwinter, Bart Lootsma, Ross Lovegrove, Greg
Lynn, Winy Maas, Detlef Mertins, Farshid Parametric Urbanism
Moussavi, Kas Oosterhuis, Wolf Prix, Ali Rahim, In January 2008 the DRL will complete the second
Jesse Reiser, Dagmar Richter, Robert Somol, Lars of three cycles of its Parametric Urbanism agenda,
Spuybroek, Ben van Berkel, Tom Wiscombe and with Phase II thesis projects proposing innovative
many others. forms of accelerated urbanisation for the Expo
2010 site in Shanghai, one of the fastest-expanding
Innovation, Collaboration and Parametric and densifying cities in the world. Phase I studio
Tools: Open Source Studio v.10.2 + 11.1 projects will shift towards an agenda concerning
The DRL explores the design thinking and skills distributed and compounding global urbanisation,
required to capture and control the endless with studio briefs deployed across four sites on four
proliferation of information in the distributed continents, including Moscow, New York, Brasilia
electronic realm of today’s rapidly evolving digital and Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE.
design disciplines. Self-organised teams address The DRL contests the perpetuation of urban
common topics through shared information-based design techniques that are incapable of managing
diagrams, models and scripts, applying new forms the extremely complex qualities of interaction,
of associative logic towards the conception and communication and exchange that characterise the
materialisation of comprehensive design proposals. twenty-first century city.
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changing physical, social, economic and political will be analysed and presented in relation to
space. Design projects begun in 2006/07 will be contemporary research on computation and
further developed, focusing on the 5.3km2 site of information systems. Team-based presentations
the Expo 2010 and its potential for post-Expo will examine these working methods and resultant
growth and densification. outputs as case studies for studio-based
Design teams will implement a range of experimentation.
parametric design procedures and urban strategies
aimed at intensifying specific programmes, Design as Research II: Computational Space
infrastructures and new spatial organisations, Yusuke Obuchi, Spring Term
working across scales of urbanism, architecture, An overview of computational approaches to
and material and structural systems. Briefs for the architectural design, strategies and processes.
Expo 2010 include distributed housing, vast forms Weekly readings on software technologies and
of interior urbanism, a commercial, cultural and design systems will relate computational work in
consular core, and mixed-use developments. art, music, new media, science and other sources
to contemporary architectural discourses around
parametric design. Teams will make weekly
Phase I Core Seminars presentations related to the readings and an
analysis of selected projects.
Design as Research I: Open Source
Yusuke Obuchi, Theodore Spyropoulos, Critical Projects: Urban-Isms
Tom Verebes, Autumn Term Tom Verebes, Spring Term
Pursuing design as a form of research raises a This survey of urban strategies and their associated
series of questions that this course will examine design techniques aims to orient and articulate the
in relation to larger technological, economic and current DRL agenda of Parametric Urbanism. It
cultural contexts. The seminar will explore ways of will investigate key projects of urbanism over the
associating design with forms of research, as well as last 50 years, comparing and debating two case
the implications of this for architectural practice, studies in each seminar session. Teams will make
representation, products, design documents and weekly presentations related to course reading.
media. Weekly sessions will include presentations
related to course reading.
Phase I Optional Seminars
Synthesis: Project Submission
Writing & Research Documentation Digital Tools: 3D Studio, Maya, Rhino,
Kristine Mun, Autumn & Spring Terms Catia & Macromedia: Software & Scripting
These weekly sessions will review the basics of Shajay Bhooshan, Kristof Crolla, Eugene Han,
writing, research and project documentation Chikara Inamura, Autumn & Spring Terms
related to DRL course submissions. Presentations These optional workshops provide an introduction
will cover research resources in London, the to the digital tools and systems used in the DRL,
preparation of thesis abstracts, writing styles and introducing basic skills needed to build and control
issues related to essays, papers and project parametric models and interactive presentations.
booklets. Tutorials will discuss ongoing research Sessions will build up to advanced scripting,
topics and seminar and studio presentations. programming and dynamic modelling techniques.
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material behaviours deriving from methodologies Theodore Spyropoulos is director of the experimental design
and processes directly connected to new practice Minimaforms and is a visiting research fellow at the MIT
Center for Advanced Visual Studies. He co-curates the AA New
technologies, considering their relation to micro-
Media Research cluster and has previously worked with the
scale structural diagrams in digital and analogue offices of Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid Architects.
modes of design production. theo@minimaforms.com
Tom Verebes is cofounder of OCEAN and OCEAN UK, and is
Phase I Design Workshop: a partner in ocean D. He studied architecture at McGill, LoPSiA
and the AA. The work of ocean D has been widely published and
Visualising Information
exhibited and Tom has lectured and taught across Europe, North
Spring Term America, the Middle East and Asia.
This Phase I workshop module will explore tverebes@oceanD.com
the systematic analysis of dynamic information
visualisation and its classifications. Visualisation DRL Programme Staff
Tom Barker has extensive applied experience in advanced
techniques will be examined in relation to
structures and new materials, as well as electronics and digital
references from information engineering, interface software. Projects include the capsules and boarding system of
design, ArtTechnology, economics and science. the London Eye, photovoltaic solar products for BP Solar, folding
shelters and Curvatex, a curved building composite technology.
Parametric Structures II: Lawrence Friesen studied at Dalhousie University, Canada, and
worked at a number of architectural practices in Canada before
Seminar Series and Design Tutorials
setting up the design geometry studio at Buro Happold. In the past
Tom Barker, Lawrence Friesen, Hanif Kara nine years he has participated in a number of complex projects
Spring & Summer Terms whose innovative realisation entailed digital fabrication.
This series provides a general overview of recent Hanif Kara is a co-founder of Adams Kara Taylor, a design-led
engineering and technical advances by presenting structural engineering practice whose collaborations include the
Phaeno Science Centre and Sarajevo Concert Hall. He has assisted
cutting-edge developments in the industry from the
various diploma units at the AA since 1998. Currently an
perspective of a range of multidisciplinary design examiner for the Institute of Structural Engineers.
professionals. The tutors will also meet regularly in Kristine Mun received her masters from the Cranbrook Academy
the Spring Term with Phase I design teams to give of Art and is currently pursuing a doctorate at the AA. She has
technical advice on ongoing studio projects. previously worked at NOX with Lars Spuybroek and is a co-
founder of ASPX, an experimental architecture studio in London
and Italy.
Christos Passas is an architect, completing AAGradDes in 1998.
Special Events He has since worked with Zaha Hadid with whom he led the
design for the Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, and is
A series of events will be held to mark the tenth currently working on projects exploring technology and design.
anniversary of the DRL, including DRL TEN, a
Visiting Staff & Workshop Consultants
major exhibition of the work of the DRL students,
Shajay Bhooshan, Kristof Crolla, Eugene Han, Chikara Inamura
staff and alumni, a book launch and a symposium
coinciding with a reception for the 300+ graduates Opening image: P_FAX DRL Phase II team, DRL-07, Verebes
of the programme. Studio
aadrl.net
DRL Directors
Yusuke Obuchi studied at Princeton, SCI-ARC and the University
of Toronto. He has worked at ROTO Architects and Reiser +
Umemoto and is cofounder of Foresites, based in London and
Berlin. He is currently on sabbatical from his role as Unit Master
of Intermediate Unit 8. yobuchi@aaschool.ac.uk
Patrik Schumacher is a director and project partner at Zaha
Hadid Architects. He studied philosophy and architecture in
Bonn, Stuttgart, London and the Institute for Cultural Science
at Klagenfurt University. He is a visiting professor at Columbia,
Harvard, Linz and other universities.
patrik_schumacher@hotmail.com
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Course Structure
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emtechlog.net
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Prototypical Urbanities:
Pingshan, Hebei Province, China
China’s economic boom, combined with migration
from the rural areas, is fuelling a high-speed
urbanism that is producing new cities in the
shortest imaginable time and completely changing
the face and character of the country’s older towns.
This directional urbanisation, propelled from
within the coastal zones into the countryside, has
brought even the smallest villages face to face with
the phenomena of globalisation, foreign capital and
generic architecture.
Introduction At the same time, the pace and scale of
development, particularly in the mega-cities of
Contemporary social and environmental conditions Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan, has
pose significant challenges to normative design highlighted the interrelated problems of mass
practices, stemming as they do from an increasing migration, pollution and the loss of arable land.
scarcity of resources and consequent shifts in The lack of an overarching urbanisation policy
economic, political and material processes. means that there are no mechanisms of negotiation
Landscape Urbanism sets out to develop new between economic interests, cultural traditions,
modes of practice that directly engage with these developmental pressures and existing ecologies. At
new conditions and the ways in which they a larger scale, China risks seeing its urban identity
continuously reconfigure the city. swamped by a generic pattern of indiscriminate
Landscape Urbanism’s methodology is urban sprawl.
multidisciplinary by definition. Expanding upon
the legacy of landscape design to consider the 400 New Cities
complexity of contemporary urban dynamics, it In 2000 the former civil affairs minister, Doje
integrates knowledge and techniques from a range Cering, formulated a plan to build 400 new cities
of disciplines such as environmental engineering, by the year 2020, to accommodate the migration
urban strategy, landscape ecology, the development from the countryside into urban conglomerations.
industry and architecture. According to this plan, 20 new cities need to be
The programme operates by synthesising established each year.
the dynamic and temporal forces that shape LU takes this formulation as the framework for
contemporary urban landscape with the generative the year’s research, testing the applicability of our
and organisational potentials of material developed methodology to the limit, then adjusting and
through abstract organisational systems. reformulating it.
The Landscape Urbanism MA programme is The resulting work will generate ‘proto-
a 12-month studio-based course designed for strategies’ for new large-scale agglomerations as
students with prior academic and professional a way of critically addressing the phenomenon of
qualifications. It comprises a design studio, mass-produced sprawl urbanisation. The test-bed
interrelated workshops and a series of lectures and for the year’s project will be Pingshan and the brief
seminars that serve as a backbone to the will be the documentation recently provided by
development of the projects. Chinese planning authorities, requesting its change
of status from county to a new city.
We will operate critically, seeking to produce
alternative templates of urbanisation based on
strategies that stem from embryonic processes
seeking the integration of cultural tradition,
regional ecological systems and economic
globalisation.
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Metropoli 2007/08
Eva Castro, Eduardo Rico, Alfredo Ramirez and
Fundacion Metropoli, Spring Break
This is the first of a series of workshops to be held
annually during the spring break in conjunction
with different LU collaborators. It is intended to
serve as an intensive test-bed for applying the
acquired techniques to a real project in a new
political context. The work will be developed in a
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Courses
Histories & Theories is a 12-month programme
designed to enable students to acquire a critical Architectural Form and History
understanding of contemporary architecture and Mark Cousins, Autumn Term
debates. We believe this is best achieved through an This course addresses the issue of how architecture
approach to architecture as an outcome of is experienced and judged. After looking briefly at
knowledge of histories and forms of practice. the contribution of thought in antiquity and in the
Our point of departure is modernism, considered in Renaissance, it moves directly to the central role of
terms of its architectural and urban projects, its Kant’s Third Critique, which establishes a discourse
narratives and controversies. Central to the courses of aesthetics that becomes a test for any doctrine of
is the investigation and critical reassessment of the experience of art within modernity. It shows the
twentieth-century architecture and urbanism, in link between Kant and Hegel and pursues that
terms of formal analysis and spatial organisation relation through the field of contemporary thought
and the different theories that engage with them. in Derrida, Benjamin and Freud.
A common concern of the different courses is the
relation of architectural theory to particular Modernist Narratives
projects. Systems of representation in architecture Mark Campbell, Autumn Term
are examined in order to develop a critical view of This seminar examines the formation and critical
both the design of architecture and the experience reception of several key texts in early modernist
of its effects. architectural discourse. It examines how ideas of
During the second term, students are required modernism were discussed and how these
to propose a thesis topic. In the third term, after discussions guided the architects of the modern
further development through research, seminars movement. Through a detailed consideration of
and individual supervision, the thesis outlines are these texts, the seminar will provide a forum to
presented to an invited audience of architects and examine how an identifiably modernist vocabulary
critics. The fourth term is devoted to the individual and agenda that was constructed during the first
work needed to finalise the 15,000-word thesis. half of the twentieth century came to be dismantled
In order to foster an external and collective in the years immediately prior to 1968.
pursuit of architectural issues, the course also
organises an annual trip to study some aspects of a Reinventing the Contemporary
city or an architect’s work. Recent trips have Marina Lathouri, Spring Term
included visits to Porto, Como, Marseilles, Paris Architecture has gradually assumed an increasingly
and Venice. important role in critical discourse. Not only has it
The course recruits a wide range of students. transformed itself by appropriating thinking from
Not all of them are trained architects, and some other disciplines but it has also started to transform
come from the humanities and social sciences, that very thinking. Seminar-based sessions will
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Design Workshop
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domain upon which the challenge of securing urban design practice and policy, and lectures internationally on
personal autonomy is drawn into an engagement issues of urbanism and urban design. She has taught at the GSD
and the Rhode Island School of Design in the US, at the University
with the forces of urban living. The essay draws on
of Toronto and most recently at the London School of Economics
the theoretical and historical writings of Michel Cities Programme. Her primary interests centre on urban
Foucault, Jacques Donzelot and Nikolas Rose. regeneration and the design of the urban public realm.
Hugo Hinsley is an architect with experience in housing,
Dissertation Seminar community buildings and urban development projects. He works
mainly in London and has been a consultant to many projects in
Summer Term
Europe, Australia and the US. He is a member of the research
This seminar is organised around the students’ committee of Europan and has taught, lectured and published
work towards the final dissertation and provides a internationally. Recent research includes London’s design and
forum for students to discuss work in progress with planning, particularly in Docklands and Spitalfields; urban policy
members of staff and invited critics. and structure in European cities; and housing and urban density.
Dominic Papa is an architect and urban designer involved in
practice, teaching and research. He is a founding partner of the
Amsterdam practice S333 .
Other Events Elena Pascolo trained and practised in South Africa and London in
the field of housing, urban planning and policy development. She
Students are encouraged to attend complementary is currently generating tools for assembling urban futures,
repurposing badlands and exploring ways of seeing transactive
courses offered by other Graduate School
urbanism.
programmes and by History & Theory Studies. The
programme also invites a number of academics and Opening image: Fitzrovia Study: layering of surfaces and volumes,
practitioners from all over the world to contribute H&U 2007
to its activities during the year.
aaschool.ac.uk/hu
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performance. In the Spring and Summer Terms the thermal and visual comfort in buildings with little
course continues the discourse on the theory and or no need for conventional energy sources and
practice of sustainable environmental design as seen mechanical appliances.
by its practitioners. These presentations provide the
opportunity to study some of the best
contemporary examples of environmental Other Events
architecture. Recent contributors to this course
have included Catherine Harrington and Ben The programme’s projects and pedagogic approach
Humphreys of Architype Architects, Bill Dunster of have been presented and exhibited in many
Zed Factory, Ian Taylor of Feilden Clegg Bradley countries. In the course of the last academic year
Architects, Brian Ford, David Lloyd Jones of Studio we had work published, presented and exhibited at
E, Mark Hemel of IBA, Rab Bennetts of Bennetts the PLEA 2006 Conference in Geneva, at
Associates, Richard Soundy of Corrigan Soundy Nottingham University’s School of the Built
Kilaiditi, Daniel Wright of Rogers Stirk Harbour & Environment, at the Institute of Greek Architects
Partners, Francis Aish and Irene Gallou of Foster & in Patras, the Engineering Excellence Forum in
Partners, Jolyon Brewis of Grimshaw & Partners, Abu Dhabi, the American University of Sharjah,
Andy Ford of Fulcrum Engineering, Dean Hawkes, Kuwait University Department of Architecture, the
Mario Cucinella and David Hirsch of MCA Federal University of São Paulo, the Catholic
Architects, Peter Chlapowski of PCKO Architects, University of Louvain, the Metropolis City
Alexandros Tombazis and other UK and Debates organised by the British Council in
international practices with a stated commitment to Athens, and at Harvard University. A major
environmentally responsive architecture. exhibition of selected projects and prototypical
structures from the programme’s last five years was
Environmental Modelling & Simulation held at Mile End Park’s Arts Gallery in East
Autumn, Spring & Summer Terms London in January 2007. Dynamic Structures, a
This is a hands-on course on the use of selection of last year’s projects, was shown at the
environmental modelling and simulation software International Conference on Building Low Energy
for studying solar, thermal and lighting processes in Cooling in the 21st Century, held on Crete, Greece,
and around real or virtual buildings. The course 27–29 September 2007. Recent publications have
starts with an introduction to fundamental included technical papers presented by staff and
environmental design parameters and their effects students in international scientific conferences,
on the performance and energy balance of several books marking longstanding collaborations
buildings. This is followed by the study of adaptive with research colleagues abroad and major articles
comfort mechanisms relating to climatic, in a number of architectural journals. Design
programmatic and operational conditions for research undertaken for the development of Lulu
different architectural typologies and urban Island in Abu Dhabi will be published in the
environments. Autumn Term.
The digital tools introduced in this course allow
designers to generate and analyse climate data, aaschool.ac.uk/ee
predict microclimatic conditions on urban sites,
SED Director
perform shading, daylighting, airflow, heating and
Simos Yannas studied at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de
cooling simulation studies, predict indoor Lausanne, the National Technical University of Athens and the AA
temperatures and other environmental conditions, Graduate School. He has been involved in environmental design
calculate energy requirements and assess research, teaching and consultancy since the 1970s and has lectured
environmental impact and life-cycle costs of in some 30 countries. His writings have been translated into a dozen
languages. His latest book Roof Cooling Techniques: A Design
buildings. Software demonstrations are followed by
Handbook was shortlisted for the RIBA Bookshops International
practical workshops. The purpose of using such
Book Award in Architecture. He was awarded the Passive and Low
software on team and individual projects is to Energy Architecture PLEA International Achievement Award in
provide reliable predictions that can inform design 2001. He is also the Academic Coordinator of the AA School’s PhD
decisions by guiding the research towards achieving programme.
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SED Staff
Klaus Bode studied building engineering at the University of Bath
and worked for Sir William Halcrow & Partners, K-Konsult and
Roger Preston & Partners with whom he was project engineer on
Foster + Partners’ Commerzbank, and on Rogers Partnership and
Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s Potsdamer Platz developments
in Berlin. He is a founding partner of the London-based BDSP
Partnership.
Ruchi Choudhary studied architecture in Gujarat, India and was
awarded an MSc in Architecture and PhD in Architectural
Technology from the University of Michigan. She worked in
architectural practice and as an energy consultant in New Delhi
and as an environmental researcher in the US. She has taught at
the University of Michigan and since 2004 at Georgia Institute of
Technology, College of Architecture.
Werner Gaiser studied architecture in Biberach, Germany and at
CSU Pomona, USA and attended the AA Graduate School’s MA in
Environment & Energy Studies in 2002–03. He worked as project
designer with Atelier Brückner in Germany and for the Design
Partnership in San Francisco before joining BDSP Partnership in
London where he was involved in the development of SUNtool, a
tool for sustainable urban planning. He is currently a partner with
Planquadrat-Gaiser Architekten.
Raul Moura studied architecture and urbanism at the Technical
University of Lisbon and worked for the Department of Strategic
Planning of Lisbon City Council, where he was principal urban
designer of the Alcântara-Rio Urban Redevelopment project. He
received an MA in Environment & Energy Studies from the AA in
1998 and has been teaching in the programme since 1999. He has
worked as a sustainability consultant with WSP Environmental
since 2002.
Rosa Schiano-Phan studied architecture in Naples, Italy followed
by an MSc in Architecture at the University of North London and
PhD at the AA specialising in the application of passive
evaporative cooling systems in residential buildings. She has
worked as an environmental researcher and sustainability
consultant with Brian Ford & Associates and WSP Environmental
and is currently a research fellow at the School of the Built
Environment, University of Nottingham.
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B UILDIN G CO NSERVATIO N
Andrew Shepherd, Judith Roebuck, David Heath
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P HD PR OG RAMME
Simos Yannas, Lawrence Barth, Andrew Benjamin, Nicholas Bullock, Mark Cousins, Jorge Fiori,
Hugo Hinsley, Marina Lathouri, Rosa Schiano-Phan, Peter Sharratt, Teresa Stoppani
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Special Events
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V I S I T IN G SCHOOL
Participation in the academic life of the AA is not
limited to full-time enrolment. Several shorter Visiting
School Programmes attract those who want to
participate in and contribute to the AA’s lively
architectural culture. Each school has a programme
tailored to a different length of study, topic and focus,
offering a full range of academic and professional
possibilities for experiencing the AA School both in
London and abroad.
The One-Year Visiting Students Programme in the
AA’s Undergraduate School units and Complementary
Studies courses offers the equivalent of a full year of
academic credit while the Spring Visiting Students
Programme attracts architecture students who wish to
pursue a semester-long course of study. The Summer
Architecture School is a three-week programme for
those who are contemplating a career in architecture
or a change from existing careers; the Winter
Architecture School in Dubai is a ten-day intensive
design workshop organised in collaboration with The
Third Line and the American University of Sharjah.
The Summer D-Lab is designed to attract advanced
students and mid-career professionals looking for an
intensive immersion in today’s most advanced design
software, hardware and production systems. Running
throughout next spring and summer will also be a
series of shorter workshops introducing design
projects and the AA’s teaching methodology to cities
across the world. A summer Visiting Teachers
programme welcomes groups of teachers sent by their
universities for a short course exposing them to the
full academic life of the AA; and finally, AA Abroad
Workshops offer overseas schools the opportunity to
arrange events featuring AA students and staff, where
they can experience AA teaching and learning within
their own venues.
VISITING SCHOOL.qxd:Layout 1 20/9/07 15:12 Page 110
Study Credits
Many overseas schools are prepared to grant credit
to their students during their study at the AA, and
arrangements for this should be made by the
students prior to their arrival in the programme, to
help clarify the kinds of Complementary Studies
courses, in addition to the unit work, they will be
required to attend. In recent years students have
come to the AA from countries throughout the
world to participate in the unique cultural life and
activities of the school.
Fees for the one-year Visiting Students
Programme for the 2007/08 academic year are
£13,839. Fees for larger groups are negotiable, and
enquiries should be made to the Registrar’s Office.
Applications should be made via the main
undergraduate application form.
For further information please visit:
aaschool.ac.uk/shortcourses/vsponeyear.shtm
or contact:
Alice Hudson
Registrar’s Office
admissions@aaschool.ac.uk
t +44 (0)20 7887 4051
The AA offers places to students from schools of f +44 (0)20 7414 0779
architecture overseas who wish to participate in the
activities of the AA as a year away from their home Image: A visiting student model-making in the AA’s Morwell
institutions. Students are accepted into the Second, Street studio, 2007
Third or Fourth Year, depending on their previous
experience and upon an assessment of a portfolio of
work submitted as part of the application process.
Students are expected to stay for the entire three
terms of the AA’s academic year, which begins in
October and concludes the following July.
Curriculum
The three-term, 32-week programme involves
students in all aspects of undergraduate life at the
AA, including participation in Intermediate or
Diploma School units, Complementary Studies
courses and the AA’s evening lecture series,
exhibitions and other special events. As part of the
programme students have access to the full range of
resources at the AA, including the workshops,
libraries, digital prototyping, computing and
audiovisual labs, and other facilities.
During the four-week break between terms,
students (subject to their visa status) are able to
travel abroad, experiencing the architecture and
cities of Europe.
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Studio Agenda
As in previous years the site will be located in
London and the studio will continue to explore
alternative architectural strategies based on
methods of diagramming, representation and
organisation in order to develop new design tools.
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SUMME R SCHO OL
Shumon Basar, Natasha Sandmeier
Coordinators
Shumon Basar is a writer, editor and curator. Studied at the AA
and Cambridge University. AACP Director and AA Summer
School co-director. Co-founder of sexymachinery and contributing
editor at Tank magazine. Recent edited books include
With/Without (Moutamarat/Bidoun) and Cities from Zero (AA
Publications). With Stephan Trüby, Shumon is co-curating The
World of Madelon Vriesendorp, which will tour internationally
Summer Architecture School
after its debut at the AA.
14 July to 1 August 2008
Natasha Sandmeier (nss@fromform.net) is an architect and
partner of fromform and Big Picture Studio. She is Unit Master of
The three-week full-time Summer Architecture Diploma 9 and also co-directs the AA Summer Architecture
School offers an exciting approach to anyone School with Shumon Basar. She was project architect for the
interested in exploring architecture as a profession Seattle Public Library at OMA, and at other offices in the US.
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WIN T ER SCHOOL
Markus Miessen
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SUMMER D-L AB
Eugene Han
Applications
The AA Summer D-Lab is open to current
architecture students, recent graduates and mid-
career professionals wishing to further their
understanding of digital and computational design
concepts, operations and their applications.
Applicants should have a working knowledge of
computers, and some previous software modelling
experience is preferred. It is recommended that
participants bring their own laptop, but this is not a
requirement. Computers and equipment, software
and prototyping materials will be provided.
Summer D-Lab
4 August to 15 August 2008 Registration & Timetable
The programme runs from Monday 4 August until
Over the past decade, advanced design experimen- Friday 15 August. Interested applicants are
tation within the AA has played a groundbreaking encouraged to contact the school as soon as
role in teaching the potential of digital design, possible. Fees for the course are £1,550.
manufacturing and communication technologies in An application form is available online at
the conception, design and development of new aaschool.ac.uk. For further information contact:
architectural and urban projects. The new Summer Sandra Sanna
D-Lab offers visiting architects and students an ssanna@aaschool.ac.uk
opportunity to explore this important new area of t. +44 (0)207 887 4014
architectural work in the context of the AA’s f. +44 (0)207 414 0782
renowned teaching environment and culture of
architectural innovation and experimentation. Image: Summer D-LAB students, 2007
Course Organisation
The D-Lab is organised as an intensive two-week
course combining seminars and design workshop
exercises with presentations and discussions with
teaching staff and visiting critics. Each student’s
work will be guided towards a design thesis
presented as a finished design workshop project at
the end of the two weeks. These projects will
provide a solid foundation for the further
development of their interests and abilities.
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GL OBAL SCHOOLS
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The AA’s innovative teaching tradition attracts the Each year AA staff and tutors participate in short-
interest of academic visitors from all over the term architectural design, research and other
world. In response to this interest we offer a short workshops at schools of architecture and cultural
programme to give teachers of architecture an venues throughout the world. In recent years AA
opportunity to participate in the teaching and events have been arranged in more than two dozen
research of the school and engage in a debate about countries, exposing students and staff in many
the aims and strategies of architectural education. diverse settings to the unique forms of creative
The programme offers involvement in the teaching, teaching, learning and exploration that are the
review and assessment activities throughout the hallmark of the school.
school and the opportunity for detailed discussion As part of these activities the AA welcomes
of ideas and methods of education. Immersion in the opportunity to arrange workshops and other
the culture of the school through its programme of events relating to the ongoing areas of research and
lectures, seminars and exhibitions is encouraged. design within all parts of the Undergraduate and
Visits are also organised to important examples of Graduate Schools. In recent years AA staff and
architecture and planning in London, a city that students have participated in projects in Italy,
offers a rich historical and contemporary record Germany, the Netherlands, the US, Greece, Hong
and is a laboratory of urbanism and architecture. Kong, China, Japan, Estonia, Croatia, Mexico and
The programme is open to a small group of many other countries, benefiting from the exchange
participants who are currently teaching architecture of learning that these shared events offer. Many of
or related subjects, and will run for three weeks in these events have been arranged during the four-
June 2008. Applicants will be selected on the basis week breaks between terms, and during our July to
of a short written proposal which should include a October summer holidays.
statement of their teaching and research experience An important part of the year-long architectural
with an outline of the issues of architectural agendas within the units in the Undergraduate
education that they find particularly interesting and School and the programmes of the Graduate School
challenging. are unit trips taken at strategic points of the year to
Applications, with an attached curriculum visit projects, offices, schools and cities throughout
vitae, should be submitted as early as possible, and the world. During these visits students and staff
no later than 7 March 2008. There is no fee for the have presented their work or pursued research
programme. projects investigating all aspects of architectural
and urban life at these destinations.
Enquiries and applications should be addressed to: Overseas institutions seeking further
Registrar’s Office information regarding the possibility of arranging
AA School ofArchitecture visiting workshops, as well as exhibitions, symposia
36 Bedford Square and other special events, should contact:
London WC1B 3ES Brett Steele
t. +44 (0)20 7887 4000 Director, AA School
f. +44 (0)20 7414 0779 director@aaschool.ac.uk
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R E SOU RCES
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the collection is primarily for use Microstation, Rhinoceros, 3D Studio technology, supporting teaching
within the school, we operate as a Max and Maya. throughout the AA. It lends equipment
commercial photo library, lending The software workshops for First to staff and registered students, assists
slides for publication in books and Year students will take place on guest speakers presenting lectures,
journals worldwide. We also publish Mondays, those for Intermediate and documents public events and operates
cards and postcards from the collection Diploma students on Wednesdays. a Video Studio within the Electronic
and hold regular exhibitions featuring They will consist of a six-hour Media Lab.
the work of photographers who have teaching session (10.00am–1.00pm AV equipment for teaching and the
made the biggest contributions to the and 2.00pm–5.00pm) and will be held public lecture series is booked through
collection in recent decades. in Morwell Street Studio Room 101. an established procedure. Staff and
The Photo Library holds the video The advanced software courses students should liaise with the relevant
archive of AA lectures, dating back to consist of six weekly sessions, starting coordinator at least one week prior to
the 1960s and including titles by in Week 3 (from 15 October). They when the equipment is required. The
Cedric Price, Robin Evans, Reyner will be held in the back room of the department is unable to provide
Banham, Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Electronic Media Lab and will take the support for late or impromptu classes.
Hadid. There is also an expanding form of a two-hour teaching session Students wishing to borrow
collection of more than 500 feature (9.00am–11.00am) followed equipment (such as video cameras or
films by directors from Tarkovsky to immediately by a one-hour tutorial. sound recorders) should speak to the
Jarmusch, Herzog to Fellini, Kubrick In addition to the courses there will AV Manager to check availability and
to Wenders, to be viewed in the library be software-specific Tips & Tricks discuss conditions. Those borrowing
or borrowed overnight. sessions on Saturdays. These sessions equipment from the AV department
are open to all AA students and offer are fully responsible for its security
the possibility to discuss software- and care. An agreement form must
related questions about portfolio work be signed to this effect. Groups may
with the relevant course teacher. The borrow equipment as part of a well-
teacher will guide the group through defined unit project on or off school
different ways of achieving their goals. premises only after discussion with
The Spring Term programme offers the AV Manager. Students are
introductions to the advanced use reminded that loan requests should
of selected software packages for be made between 2.00pm and 5.00pm
interactive presentations, digital 3D and that most equipment is lent for a
modelling and the preparation of files period of two days.
for digital fabrication. There will be The Video Studio is an open area
eight full-day Saturday workshops in for those undertaking video and sound
the Electronic Media Lab back room, work. Courses run within Media
starting in Week 2 (from 14 January). Studies allow students to develop skills
in this area. For those not able to take
these courses, instruction can be found
E L E CTRONIC MEDIA L AB with the AV Manager. Programs
Term-time hours: commonly used include Final Cut Pro,
9.00am–9.00pm Monday to Friday Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and
10.00am–2.30pm Saturday Garage Band, additional software is
aaschool.ac.uk/electronicmedia.shtm sourced based on demand. Outside
The proliferation of digital design of teaching times, the area is run on a
technologies has had a profound effect booking system that allows students
on architecture and other design to work in a focused manner. Staff and
disciplines. As part of its educational students must be aware that this area
remit, the AA intends to equip its is for video and sound work only, and
students to use the current leading that they may not occupy the space
design systems and software packages without prior agreement. Unit-based
to the fullest extent. projects (those outside of Media
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Studies) are possible if arranged in
Flash, AutoCad, Rhinoceros and Maya advance; teaching staff should speak
will be introduced as compact one-day AUDI OVI SUA L L A B to the AV Manager so time can be
workshops in the Autumn Term, with Term-time hours: allotted, and students are advised to
separate sessions for First Year and 2.00pm–5.00pm Monday to Friday discuss proposals at an early stage to
Intermediate/Diploma students. aaschool.ac.uk/audiovisual.shtm assess their viability.
Separate six-session courses will cover The Audiovisual Department is
more advanced software applications: concerned with display and sound
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AA Council
The AA Council – the governing body
of the Architectural Association (Inc.) –
is elected each year by the membership
of the Architectural Association
including staff and students. The
Architectural Association is governed
TRIA N GLE BOOKS HOP constitutionally as a charitable
10.00am–6.00pm Monday to Friday AAIR company, the primary object of which
t 020 7631 1381 f 020 7436 4373 listen: aaschool.ac.uk/radio is the running of a school of archi-
info@trianglebookshop.com contact: radio@aaschool.ac.uk tecture. The Architectural Association
trianglebookshop.com Created and produced by students (Inc.) is both a Registered Charity and
Situated in the front basement of the of the AA, AAIR broadcasts music, a Company Limited by Guarantee and
AA is London’s best architectural interviews, events, documentaries, its Council are the Trustees of the
bookshop, the Triangle Bookshop, field and found recordings, Charity and Directors of the Company.
which is run independently by Derek compositions, spoken word and The Council of the Architectural
Brampton and Alan Young. Triangle various other shows contributed by Association for 2007/08 is as follows:
aims to stock every recent book on listeners. AAIR projects include Radio President
architecture and has an extensive Anacapri (radioanacapri.com) James Eyre OBE BA(Hons) AADipl
range of both English and foreign and AAIR Salon evenings at the AA RIBA
titles. A large number of magazines are with live performances by students Vice Presidents
also stocked, and subscriptions can be and invited artists. Alex Lifschutz BSc
provided. The bookshop is able to The two images above show AAIR Dennis Sharp AADipl MA RIBA
supply recommended course books Salon, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Honorary Secretary
and any title that is in print. May 2006, photo Martin Holtkamp. Kenneth Powell MA HonFRIBA
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ADMINISTRATION
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How to Apply for a Scholarship David Allford Scholarship Stephen Lawrence Scholarship
Undergraduate applicants must Colin Ashton Alex Osei-Bonsu
complete the main application form This full-fee (three-term) scholarship This award, in memory of the young
no later than 14 January 2008, stating has been set up to honour the memory man who was murdered in a racist
their interest in an AA Scholarship in of David Allford, a partner of YRM attack on 22 April 1993, has been
the ‘Scholarships and Awards’ section. Architects and trustee of the AA established with the support of
Students whose work is considered to Foundation. It is funded by David Stephen Lawrence’s family, the Stephen
be of scholarship standard will be Allford’s friends and family and is Lawrence Trust and a number of
asked, after an entry interview, to awarded to a British student who generous private donations. Appli-
complete a Scholarship application demonstrates both academic cations are particularly welcome from
form, provide financial information excellence and a need for financial aid. members of ethnic minorities entering
and prepare a portfolio for the the First Year. Applicants must
Scholarship Committee. For further Baylight Scholarships demonstrate both merit and the need
information contact: Toby Burgess, Ben Burley, William for financial aid.
t +44 (0)20 7887 4051 Paul, Edmund Fowles
admissions@aaschool.ac.uk Thanks to the generosity of the Eileen Gray Fund
Baylight Foundation, headed by Sarah-Louise Huelin, Korey Kromm,
How to Apply for a Bursary for AA Past President Crispin Kelly, a Anna Schepper
Undergraduate Students number of full-fee scholarships are The Eileen Gray Fund for AA students
Bursary application forms are available to British students entering was established in 1980 by the
available from the Registrar’s Office the Diploma School. Candidates need distinguished architect and furniture-
from the end of March and should be to demonstrate both outstanding merit designer’s niece Prunella Clough-Taylor.
returned by mid-May. The Under- and financial need. A bequest received from Ms Clough-
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Taylor in 2000 has expanded the scope Nicholas Boas Travel Award
of this fund, which now awards a Jose Tovar-Barrientos, Sayaka Namba,
series of bursaries and scholarships Erlend Skjeseth, Jae Won Yi
every year to talented students in need A travel award open to AA students
of financial assistance. who wish to study Roman architecture
and urbanism has been established
Marjorie Morrison Bursary in memory of AA graduate Nicholas
Neill Grant, Ina-Marie Kapitola Boas (1975–1998). It provides funds
Marjorie Morrison MBE, AA Slide for a one-month architecture study visit
Librarian from 1935 to 1975 and based at the British School in Rome.
researcher until 1985, bequeathed a
generous sum to the AA Foundation. A V Custerson Award
The sum was increased by donations Jesse Randzio
from among Marjorie’s friends. Anthony Custerson was passionate
about Hooke Park and the use of
Enid Caldicott Bursary indigenous and sustainable sources of
Lawrence Lek, Sevil Pius timber, and he left a generous legacy to
A bursary was established in 1978 in support students working in this area.
memory of Enid Caldicott, who was Open to all AA students, the annual
involved with the AA first as a student award of £7,500 provides funding to
and then as a member of staff, working carry out projects associated with
for 35 years in the Library. It is timber and Hooke Park.
awarded annually to British students. F E ES
Anthony Pott Memorial Award
Max Lock Bursary Defne Sunguroglu Fees are reviewed annually. For the
Timothy Dempers As trustees of this fund, the AA offers academic year 2007/08 they are as
Max Lock studied at the AA from an award of not less than £2,000 to follows:
1926 to 1931 and taught at the school assist a study project related to
during the late 1930s. The bursary is architecture and design. The award is Undergraduate School
funded by his generous bequest to the intended to fund original study or the Foundation: £12,318
AA Foundation. publication of completed work. Further Five-year undergraduate
details available from the AA programme: £13,839
Elizabeth Chesterton Bursary Fund Secretary’s Office. 15-week Spring Visiting Students
Tessa Katz programme: £7,195
AA alumna and former Councillor Michael Ventris Memorial Fund
Dame Elizabeth Chesterton OBE left This award offers up to £2,000 to Graduate School
a generous bequest in support of bur- candidates of at least RIBA/ARB 12-month MA and MSc: £15,939
saries for British students at the AA. Intermediate status or equivalent. 16-month MArch: £21,270
The fund was established in 1957 in PhD: £14,280
Anne Gregory Bursary memory of Michael Ventris and in Graduate Building Conservation
Erin Dickson appreciation of his work in the fields of Diploma (day-release course):
A bursary is offered each year in Mycenaean civilisation and £4,659
memory of Anne Gregory, who died architecture. It is intended to promote
while in her first year of studies. study in those areas and is available There is an additional £30 member-
to support a specifically defined and ship fee and £35 student forum fee per
R D Hammett Bursary achievable project. The closing date for year.
Erlend Bakke-Eidsaa applications is 31 October 2007.
This long-term bursary is funded Further details are available from the AA Assistantships
by the generous bequest to the AA AA Secretary’s Office. A limited number of assistantships
Foundation of graduate R D Hammett. are offered to students who are
SOM Award and Internship experiencing financial hardship.
Mercers’ Bursary This award comprises of one-term’s Students work between seven and
Daniel Piker fees at the AA, as well as a paid 10- ten hours per week, providing
This one-term bursary has been made week internship at SOM, London over administrative or secretarial assistance
available since 2002 thanks to the the summer holiday. The award is open in return for an agreed remission of
generous support of the Mercers’ to new and existing AA students part of their fees. New students
Company, the City of London’s entering the Diploma School. Further wishing to apply will be told the
premier livery company. It is awarded details available from the AA procedure when they register at the
annually to a British student. Registrar’s Office. beginning of the academic year.
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language school, and book and pass MArch 16-month course in Data Protection
the examination before 31 August Sustainable Environmental Design Upon registration in the school
prior to entry in the Autumn Term. Five-year professional architecture students will be required to sign a
degree (BArch/Diploma equivalent) statement consenting to the processing
of personal information by AA Inc in
AA Diploma in Building compliance with the requirements of
Conservation the Data Protection Act 1998. Data
This two-year part-time (day release) will only be disclosed internally to
course is open to students or members of the AA staff who need to
professionals with Part 2 (RIBA/ARB) know; and when required, to third
or equivalent recognised qualifications. parties outside the AA in accordance
Suitably qualified members of other with the Act. Data will not be
disciplines (e.g., surveyors, planners) provided to third parties for direct
may be considered. marketing purposes.
Q UALIFICATIONS
MPhil/PhD Plagiarism
MA 12-month courses in Candidates for MPhil/PhD research Plagiarism is treated as a very serious
Histories & Theories degrees are expected to have reached a offence and the AA School may impose
Housing & Urbanism level equivalent to that of an MA/MSc all or any of the following penalties on
Second Class or above Honours or MArch course and must show a student found guilty of it:
degree in architecture or a related evidence of previous experience in • expulsion from the school
discipline from a British university, their proposed areas of research. • suspension from registration at
or an overseas qualification of the school or from particular courses
equivalent standard (from a course Application Date for such period as it thinks fit
lasting not less than three years in a Students are asked to apply by • denial of credit or partial credit
university or educational institution 14 January 2008 (application fee £30). in any course or courses
of university rank). Late applications will be accepted • an official warning
up until 4 April 2008 (late fee £60).
MA 12-month course in Applications made after this date will Door Security Policy
Landscape Urbanism be accepted at the discretion of the From time to time it may be necessary
Professional degree or diploma in school. Enquiries to: to amend the AA’s normal open-door
architecture/ landscape architecture Graduate School Admissions policy for 36 Bedford Square. Entry
or urbanism. Registrar’s Office may be gained at these times by using
t +44 (0)20 7887 4067 the AA Membership swipe card or the
MSc 12-month course in f +44 (0)20 7414 0779 entry buzzer.
Sustainable Environmental Design gradinfo@aaschool.ac.uk
Professional degree or diploma in
architecture, engineering or other Graduate and Undergraduate
relevant disciplines. Assessment
Full information will be given in the
MSc 12-month course in Student Handbook 2007/08.
Emergent Technologies & Design
Professional degree or diploma in Equality
architecture, engineering, industrial/ The AA aims to create conditions to
product design or other relevant ensure that students are treated solely
disciplines. on the basis of their merits, abilities
and potential, regardless of their
MArch 16-month course in gender, colour, religious/political
Architecture and Urbanism beliefs, ethnic or national origin,
(Design Research Laboratory) disability, family background, age,
Five-year professional architecture sexual orientation or other irrelevant
degree (BArch/Diploma equivalent). distinction.
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N OT ES
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Editors
Pamela Johnston, Thomas Weaver
Editorial Assistants
Clare Barrett
Marilyn Sparrow
Aram Mooradian
Art Direction
Zak Kyes
Design
Matilda Plöjel
Wayne Daly
Architectural Association
School of Architecture
36 Bedford Square
London
WC1B 3ES
t + 44 (0)20 7887 4000
f + 44 (0)20 7414 0782
info@aascchool.ac.uk
aaschool.ac.uk