The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About
Location Birmingham | ARB/RIBA courses BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch Architecture, Architect Degree Apprenticeship Level 7 | Head of school Jemma Browne | Full-time tutors 15 | Part-time tutors 19 | Students 437 | Staff to student ratio 1:17 | Bursaries available No
Undergraduate
James Hayward
Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Situational Ritual
Project title Writer’s Block
Project description Writer’s Block creates a space for local and visiting writers to be immersed in the atmosphere of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. The project responds to the annual St Jordi’s Day celebration of literature, creating spaces associated with the creation of books, including manufacture, printing and binding, as well as writing. The architectural language of each intervention reflects the conditions of site and programme: the paper pulp solar screens, open façades to allow cross-ventilation for drying prints, and the use of small sections of locally sourced timber to minimise environmental impact and enable efficient construction within the tight urban site.
Tutor citation James’s project balances an imaginary return to small-scale industries with issues of potential loss of locality in Barcelona. By developing the project through physical models, they find a language through which individual identities with subtle references to history and craftsmanship start to emerge. Oliver Chapman
Postgraduate
Emily Haigh
Course MArch Architecture
Studio/unit brief The Modern Gazetteer: Inhabiting the City/Wall
Project title The Light Hus, Oslo
Project description The post-industrial condition of Oslo’s Filipstad has cut off this portion of the city from its fjord shoreline. In response, this project reintroduces activity along the shoreline, promoting inhabitation at the threshold of the city and nature. At the heart of the proposal is a civic building, The Light Hus, which provides views over new diving, swimming and bathing spaces. These stage-like spaces allow users to observe and play, creating a civic spectacle. With careful consideration of the use of colour and brick bonds, the intervention – through a concern with tradition, nostalgia, and social history – reactivates the fjord edge.
Tutor citation Rigorous group work, field research, material explorations and precedent studies informed this proposal. The building and landscape respond critically to a site in transition, drawing on the language and social heritage of Oslo. Michael Dring, Marina Mitchell-Heggs, Dan Aubrey
