Interested in studying your Part 3? Find out about the course from current student, Bradley Sowter

Kent School of Architecture and Planning’s PDip Architectural Practice course enables students to complete their professional training and follows the ARB’s criteria for Part 3, thereby enabling graduates who have completed all three examinations to apply for professional registration as Architects in the UK. We are currently seeking ARB prescription and RIBA validation. Find out from current student, Bradley Sowter about his experience studying on the course.

Why did you choose to study at Kent?

Having studied my bachelors (ARB part 1) and MArch degree (ARB Part 2) at the University of Kent, I was attracted to the prospect of Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) providing the PDip Architectural Practice (pending ARB Part 3) course.

What attracted you to the course?

The way in which the course was structured attracted me. I wanted a course that would suit my professional career. As a commuter, I would struggle to find time after work to attend evening lectures – which is a common course structure for PDip Architectural Practice. At KSAP, the intensive structure meant that I could solely focus on my academic studies and absorb as much information as possible. This also meant that I could focus on the relevant modules without the need to wait for upcoming lectures.

What have you particularly enjoyed about your studies/time here?

I have particularly enjoyed the cross over between academic studies and my professional career. During my Part 1 and Part 2 years out in industry, I was unaware of contracts and the management side of architecture. Whilst studying PDip Architectural Practice, I developed the knowledge and confidence to discuss such matters at Work. I would have in-depth discussions with directors at my practice about our contractual obligations, and how we could manage the project more effectively.

Which module did you enjoy the most, and why?

My favourite module was Professionalism, Clients, Users and the delivery of services (AR857). In this module, we created a RIBA manifesto, as if we were standing as a candidate for the RIBA presidential elections. This was a great opportunity to voice my opinions on the architectural industry. It was a chance to write down areas of the industry that I am passionate about changing, such as, diversity and climate change. This module has translated in my professional career, looking at these themes within the practice, and how to improve them.

What about the teaching?

The teaching of this course has been supportive.  Due to size of the course compared to undergraduate studies, that has enabled a more individualised approach to teaching, understanding that every student is different.

Having external speakers from specialised areas such as construction law, CDM, RIBA and the local council have been fundamental to our understanding of these subject matters.

How did this course improve your employability prospects for your chosen career path?

This course has enabled me to progress in my career. This is the final stage of my journey to become a qualified architect since starting in 2011 at KSAP. This PDip Architectural Practice will open many avenues.

What are your future plans/aspirations?

My immediate plans after completing the course is to register with the Architecture Registration Board (ARB) to become a qualified Architect. My plans for the future are to teach at a university level and possibly start my own architectural practice. I hope that I can inspire the new generation of students that have decided to venture into the world of architecture and design.

Finally, what advice would you give to graduates thinking of coming to Kent to study at postgraduate level?

Similar to your first year of undergraduate studies – be prepared to learn a lot of information fast. Unlike ARB (Part 1) and ARB (Part 2), you will be learning architecture from a whole new perspective; i.e. you will be learning about the business side of architecture as well as the legal and contractual sides. If are willing to embrace this side of architecture you will have a greater understanding of the symbiotic relationship between design and business.

Dr Ambrose Gillick creates workshop as part of Open City and Celebrating Architecture

BA (Hons) Architecture Stage 3 Coordinator, Dr Ambrose Gillick, recently created a workshop for Open City and Celebrating Architecture, as part of their Learning From Architecture programme ‘of design-based activities for home learning and teachers’. Dr Gillick’s workshop titled, ‘My Town‘ gets children to think about their own dwellings within their home towns, and how it relates to the spaces and places around them, along with the exploring the idea of journeys.

Architectural Visualisation student, Adam Lancaster-Bartle, nominated for a Rookie Award

A big congratulations to MA Architectural Visualisation student, Adam Lancaster-Bartle, has been nominated for a People’s Choice Award at this year’s The Rookies; the 10th Annual Rookie Awards celebrates, ‘young creatives in visual effects, animation, games, virtual reality, motion graphics and 3d visualisation.’

Adam’s project, titled, ‘What was // What is // What has never been’ looks at Cincinnatti Library (1874-1955), Outhouse (2015) and the Christopher Nolan film, Interstellar (2014) respectively.

In regards to the three projects, Adam writes, “The “Old Main” library, built 1874 by Architect J.W. McLaughlin, was once one of Cincinnati’s most stunning buildings… and one of the country’s most beautiful public libraries. Now it’s a parking garage. The building, which was located in Downtown Cincinnati at 629 Vine St. – just a few blocks from the current Main Library – was demolished in 1955.

Outhouse (2015) by Architects Loyn + Co is a purpose-designed, highly sustainable site-specific live-work home for two artists, constructed as a replacement dwelling in a remote location within the Forest of Dean. The site lies in a sensitive rural location and comprises 4 acres on a south-facing gently sloping, wooded hillside. Winner of the BBC’s Peoples vote for the RIBA Stirling Prize Shortlisted for the RIBA House of the Year.

Taking inspiration from Christopher Nolans Interstellar, this project is an adaptation of the Cooper Station, a centrifugal spaceship, spinning on its axis, creating artificial gravity. The conceptual idea behind this project explores the notion of transporting current habitats of earth to a new celestial exoplanet, recognising the various extremes of earth, creating a broad and varied habital range, with the hopes that at least one ecosystem will adapt to its new home.”

You can view more of Adam’s work at our End of Year Show 2020, find out more about Adam’s Rookies entry here, and cast your vote by sharing on Facebook!

Professor of Planning, Samer Bagaeen, contributes to Localis’ C19 Housing Recovery Essay Collection

Professor of Planning, and MA Urban Planning and Resilience programme director, Samer Bagaeen, has written an essay titled, ‘Our participatory future’ in response to the theme, ‘The role of housing in supporting the most vulnerable in society’ for the Localis essay collection titled, ‘Building for renewal: Kickstarting the C19 housing recovery‘.

The collection, “encompasses how housing policy and the planning system could be directed to promoting opportunity and prosperity, building sustainable communities as well as supporting lives and engaging with society during the recovery.” It also seeks to answer the question, “What measures can be put in place to create an environment conducive to growth, enabling the housebuilding industry to get back to work safely and deliver the Government’s target of one million new homes by 2025?”

Professor Samer Bagaeen writes, “These are interesting times: people keeping at least two metres form each other; a substantial number of schools closed; all public gatherings cancelled; the UK Government and those around the world putting together ever-increasing stimulus packages; landlords not collecting rent; the homeless being told to stay put in hotels free of charge; and workers furloughed on full pay in some cases.

In more than one city, in England, local authorities went on the hunt for innovative solutions to seek ideas from their residents about the path for a green future. This was before the increasingly louder and louder calls for a green future in the post COVID19 world began to take hold. With pollution in some cities halving on account of the lockdown – lower vehicle emissions as people ditch their car, attention has also shifted to the carbon emissions caused by our built environment and what can be done to reduce these.

As a forum for sharing ideas, citizens’ climate assemblies have gained traction in cities like Oxford and Brighton and Hove. These assemblies bring together a small number of residents (50 in the case of Brighton and Hove), randomly selected to reflect local demographics, alongside a panel of advisors to help shape how a city could address the climate crisis and prioritise actions to take forward.”

Read more, and download the full essay collection here.

Find out more about Architectural Conservation in Kent and Beyond

Kent School of Architecture and Planning are pleased to announce that we are hosting an online event for you to find out more about the world of Architectural Conservation with Programme Director, Dr Nikolaos Karydis, Senior Lecturer, Dr Manolo Guerci, and PhD student, Anske Bax on Tuesday 30 June at 14.00.

Never has it been so important to have the right skill sets and experience in the job market, now more than ever is the time to invest in higher education to better your chances. The MSc Architectural Conservation provides an invaluable process in delivering a theoretical knowledge to Heritage Conservation, and perhaps even more rewarding is the on-site experience within the modules. Participation with conservation professionals and organisations, provide a unique opportunity of seeing the multiple sectors of conservation practice, helping you to decide the right direction for a truly exciting and rewarding career.

2:00 – 2:30. ‘Recapturing Lost Architectural Heritage’, lecture by Dr Nikolaos Karydis

This lecture presents recent research in the visualisation of historic buildings in Turkey, Italy and the UK. It also shows how this research informs our teaching in the MSc programme in Architectural Conservation and presents recent student proposals for the repair and reuse of historic buildings in Kent.

2:30 – 3:00. ‘Studying Conservation in Kent’,  Anske Bax and Nikolaos Karydis

MSc in Architectural Conservation alumnus Anske Bax discusses with Nikolaos Karydis, the programme director, about his experience of studying architectural conservation and the way in which his postgraduate course prepared him for his current doctoral research in the University of Kent.

3.00 – 3.30. ‘Why do we preserve and why does it matter?’, Dr Manolo Guerci

This lecture asks a fundamental question when it comes to our understanding of the very complex factors that govern decisions on how we deal with our heritage. In particular, the lecture will highlight what is perhaps the main issue: how we manage a balance between those categories which naturally make a building worth preserving and those (many) controversial instances, across all periods. For, whilst regulations do exist – and vary according to different contexts, their interpretations depend on many factors (political, historical, cultural, economic, etc.). The module is therefore concerned with the historical and cultural aspects behind this complex scenario, so as to provide with an appropriate background for the choices that need to be made when approaching conservation.

If you’d like to attend this free online event taking place on Zoom, email ksapadmissions@kent.ac.uk to book your place.

Howard Griffin takes part in Creative Folkestone and South East Creatives’ Tech Week

MA Architectural Visualisation programme director, Howard Griffin, alongside Paul Simms and Fabrice Bourrelly, will be presenting at Tech Week, organised by South East Creatives and Creative Folkestone with their talk titled, ‘Designing architecture in a virtual space’ on Tuesday 16 June at 10.00am BST.

This talk will look at how gaming technology changes the way we think about design. In this discussion, Paul, Fabrice and Howard will explore the ways (Architectural) design is going through significant changes as 3D, VR and gaming technologies are maturing and becoming increasingly adopted across industries such as automotive, aviation and fashion whilst becoming affordable.

All talks will be live-streamed via the Creative Folkestone Facebook page; they are also inviting up to 10 people to join in the room via Zoom to take part in the live Q&A element. Places are limited so book your place.

PhD Student Anske Bax takes part in Online Reading Marathon

GIANCARLO DE CARLO AT 100 – Online Reading Marathon participation with Kent University and the Kent School of Architecture & Planning.  

By Anske Bax

What is it?

A public marathon of reading and visiting the works of Italian architect Giancarlo De Carlo. Promoted on social media through Instagram among the initiatives by the Committee for the Centennial of Giancarlo De Carlo. The reading marathon organised by Professor Antonello Alici of the University of Politecnica delle Marche, is entrusted to students and housed in De Carlo’s places and architectures in Italy and abroad. The two-years long programme promotes a research network of schools and institutions; inviting master and doctoral students to participate in a marathon of re-reading and re-visiting the writings and projects by Giancarlo De Carlo. The four-minute readings seek to encourage research seminars and symposia. Kent School of Architecture was one of the international institutions to have participated in the readings on the 2nd May 2020.

Who was Giancarlo de Carlo?

Giancarlo De Carlo (12 December 1919 − 4 June 2005) is a major figure in the architectural debate and practice of the 20th century for his capacity of reading contexts and exploring the tensions of the city. He built his first theoretical steps on William Morris and Patrick Geddes and revived the legacy of Giuseppe Pagano and Edoardo Persico. In 1993 he was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal, following the suggestion of Colin St John Wilson, who praised him as ‘the Master of Resistance’ and  ‘the most lucid of his generation of architect-philosophers-in-action’ – for his tireless critical action within the Modern Movement.

University of Kent’s involvement and perspective

International collaboration and wider project participation are very much the norm at the Kent School of Architecture and Planning. A mindset that I noticed almost immediately upon joining the school as a doctoral student. These proud collaborations including the marathon reading for Giancarlo De Carlo harness a wider academic unity and through peer involvement encourages one to open one’s mind in architectural theory. These projects are thanks to the wonderful staff of our department, including my experience made possible by the kind efforts of Dr Manolo Guerci and fellow PhD colleague, Benedetta Castagna.  It was a true honour to be asked to read an extract (Reading 7.1) by Giancarlo De Carlo about the work of Le Corbusier. The Swiss born architect who De Carlo identified as someone who was able to create a defined architectural language, but at some point, it lost connection with the reality of the contexts. A clear statement of De Carlo’s conception about the Modern Movement. My reading is one of many enlightening texts on the Instagram page. I would encourage anyone to participate in this two-year project by emailing myself or Benedetta Castagna.

 

Howard Griffin organises online conference as part of Architecture Media Politics Society

Howard Griffin, a member of the Centre for Research in European Architecture (CREAte) and the Digital Architecture Research Centre (DARC) has organised a conference called Connections: Exploring Heritage, Architecture, Cities, Art, Media and is part of the Architecture Media Politics Society (AMPS) research organisation’s series of major international conferences. AMPS sees the definition, debates and concerns of the built environment as intrinsic to those at the heart of other social, cultural and political discourses. Its focus is cross disciplinary and draws on the media, politics and the social sciences. It invites participation from all sectors: architects, planners, policy makers, artists, academics, the public and community activists. It functions as an open access platform for publication, a forum for debate through conferences and workshop, a conduit for book publications.

The conference, which will be hosted online on the 29 – 30 June 2020, notes that, particularly in recent months, the ‘digital’ is ubiquitous across all disciplines connected with life in cities: urban history, architecture, planning, art, design, media, communications, and more. As the tools we use today merge and blur across disciplines, this conferences asks educators and professionals to consider the following. How can we best manage, direct and utilise the unique potentialities of this interdisciplinary and technological moment? Are we rethinking objects of art and design from the past and future? Are we reconsidering modes of communication, styles of teaching and ways of living? Are we seeing new links between designed objects, visualised spaces and cultural meanings? Are we understanding creative, documentary and media practices in new ways? Are we developing our own knowledge through the technologies, tools or thinking of other disciplines?

A number of staff and students at the University of Kent will be presenting papers. Howard Griffin will be presenting about his virtual reality project, created with MA Architectural Visualisation students in his paper, The Future of the Past: Reconstructing St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury.  Head of School, Professor Gerald Adler will present his paper titled, ‘Script, Nondescript’, Professor Gordana Fontana Giusti will present her paper titled, ‘Designing Public Spaces to Empower Citizens: Reversing the Subject / Object Relation in Smart Cities’, and PhD student, Rafaella Siagkri will be presenting her paper titled, ‘Understanding and Preserving Cultural Heritage in Expressionist Architecture Using Virtual Reality.’

KSAP Online End of Year Show 2020

Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) are excited to announce that we will be hosting our End of Year Show 2020 as an online exhibition this year.

Head of School, Professor Gerald Adler, writes, “What a year this has been, our fifteenth since the establishment of the School at the University! We began last September on an optimistic note: last summer we had gained continuing and unconditional validation from the RIBA for our Part One and Two programmes. This is no mean feat, and I thank all colleagues for the work involved in this, and all students whose work we used as evidence and who engaged in lively discussions with the Visiting Board.

We also launched two new postgraduate programmes: the PGDip Architectural Practice, our Part 3 course run by Peter Wislocki, and a new MSc in Bio Digital Architecture, directed by Tim Ireland. We are currently going through the process of seeking RIBA Validation and ARB Prescription for the Part 3, and hope to have our first graduates later this year.

We have welcomed new colleagues to the School, as well as putting some seasoned teachers onto a firmer footing with us. We have pioneered a new ‘Practitioner’ Contract, aimed specifically at design practitioners, and have engaged Felicity Atekpe, John Letherland, Fiona Raley and Alan Powers on fractional posts. While we were sad to say goodbye to Patrick Crouch last year, we have engaged Tim Meacham as our in-house artist, working mainly in Stage One.

Under Chloe Street Tarbatt’s direction, the BA (Hons) Architecture course has seen changes in the teaching pattern and use of space, where we now run design/technology studio in Stages Two and Three over two days. In the MArch, Michael Richards has built on the success of the programme by fostering the great diversity in approach afforded by the Unit system, which you will be able to explore in our online End of Year Show 2020, which I warmly invite you to join us in celebrating our students’ fantastic work.”

Welcome you to explore our End of Year Show 2020 which is now live.

 

Professor Samer Bagaeen discusses 5G on #PlanTalk

Professor of Planning, and MA Urban Planning and Resilience Programme Director, Samer Bagaeen, recently joined Peter Kemp from the Greater London Authority in a discussion titled, ‘5G – A Double Edged Sword?’.

#PlanTalk raises the questions, “How ready are we for this jump when some areas struggle even with 4G? How has Brighton performed as a hotbed for this technology? what technology is going to benefit? What are the planning implications for new masts? Do the social benefits for instance being able to plan for resilience outweigh the environmental impact? There are so many questions around this topic and the technologies linked to it such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and driver-less cars.”

Watch the full discussion on YouTube.