The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About
Location Kingston upon Thames | ARB/RIBA courses BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch Architecture | Head of school Heba Elsharkawy | Full-time tutors 4 | Part-time tutors 58 | Students 353 | Staff to student ratio 1:18 | Bursaries available No
Undergraduate
Layla Carson
Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Custom Cut (Studio 3.6)
Project title Custom Cut: Chalk Quarry
Project description The project is based in a working flint quarry in the village of Caister St Edmunds, south of Norwich, which produces a lot of chalk waste. This is used in the project as part of a composite structure to minimise its carbon footprint. The initial quarrier’s dwelling expands to incorporate a chalk and hemp processing building, which can itself expand, or contract, as needed and can move according to changing areas of chalk extraction. Chalk from redundant structures can be exposed to the elements and allowed to decay and return to the earth.
Tutor citation Layla’s project synthesises a range of spatial and technical concerns at a regional, landscape, site and material scale. It demonstrates how underutilised bio-based resources, such as chalk and hemp, can be used to generate complex and sophisticated tectonic ideas and reveals how a regenerative approach to land management practices can coincide with a bioregional construction economy. Jamie Irving, Daria Moatazed-Kevani
Postgraduate
Emily Walker
Course MArch Architecture
Studio/unit brief Mass and Air (Unit 7)
Project title The Caxton Foundation
Project description The Caxton Foundation proposes the reuse of a public hall in Westminster into a centre for public assembly, interpreted through the lens of journalism. Large public rooms form a rich spatial sequence throughout the building, with a range of publicly accessible spaces promoted by the different forms of assembly within. With an understanding that it is crucial we re-evaluate the makings of our cities, this project prioritises material and tectonic research from the outset, exploring the potential of hybrid structural systems, looking to understand the performance qualities and limitations of stone and earth and the expressive potential of their construction. The new rooftop stands as a gift to the city, as a space for open assembly held within a lightweight structure.
Tutor citation Emily’s project responds powerfully to the unit’s concerns around how to make a good city. The building promotes different forms of assembly, addressing the need for public discourse and storytelling, from a re-interpretation of the former Caxton Hall to the Press Hall. Will Burges, Jade Huang, Tobias Jewson
