visit the new blog for the 2009/2010 year at:

www.bsa-y1-habitation.blogspot.com

(image: Owen Street, Tipton by BAM Nuttall) 

As part of the students technology module, they were asked to submit a proposal for a brick retaining wall construction situated in Tipton. The winning entry will be fully realised as a live project. The submissions will be judged on design and buildability and judged by the contractor who is to construct the wall, BAM Nuttall.

Congratulations to the three winning entries. View the proposals here

(image: © BSA)

Review: 05.05.09

Final work for the student's [Birmingham] House  was reviewed. Common themes were passive daylighting, sustainable building material and communal external spaces.

See examples of student's work here

Consultation day 04.04.09

A family consultation event was organised between the school and Birmingham City Council as part of a research programme and to assist the students in the Birmingham House project. The participants  were selected to reflect the diverse residents of Birmingham including an ethnic minority family, same sex couple and an elderly couple.

There were 4 main task during the day to get the participants involved in discussing their issues with their current residence and neighbourhood:

SESSION 1

To determine the daily/weekly patterns of different household members of the existing home.

Time: 60 mins 

SESSION 2

To determine what changes need to be made to the existing home to better suit the family needs. Discuss the ideal home and to prioritise the spaces of most importance to the family.

Time: 40 mins

SESSION 3

Consider how the house should adapt to the family life cycle and discuss what changes are likely to happen in the home in 15 years time. How should a family house change to suit this?

Time 50 mins

SESSION 4

To consider the ideals of a city ccentre neighbourhood and the attitudes towards diversity and sense of community.

Time: 30 mins

View some of the output the participants created here

All the information is to be collated and distributed to our students to inform the next part of the project where they select a client to design the ideal Birmingham House.

image source: © Birmingham School of Architcture

OBJECTIVES

Keep a visual diary of one week designed in any format to inform and understand the living conditions as a potential design generator. 

Appraise a selected text concerning the understanding of housing typologies and its relation with living as a function. 

View selected work here

Full design brief for a Birmingham House to follow...

School Blog Project

Archinect is a website about making architecture more connected and open-minded to everyone. 

One of there features is the School Blog Project - recruiting architecture students from all over the world to document on their progress in education. 

Birmingham City University has their own contributer in the form of Chris Bravington, a Postgrad Diploma student with the blog under the '8 lies' guise showcasing the Unit's work.

It can be a useful reference for the younger students to see other students who have gone though the same process. Perhaps one of our first year students would like to contribute too!?

8 Lies

(all images © BCU)

top: NORD with students/  mid: STEEP matrix/  bottom: Outcome

NORD have a background in self generated work and deal with public consultation.  They came to our studio day for a workshop to assist the students in establishing the routine of various stereotype residents and as a result begin to define an architectural programme to fit those residents.

It was important to move away from an automatic response to what we think a house should be. We emphasised activities as infinitive verbs, situations as STEEP* conditions, and avoided the use of room categories. 

All this led to some interesting and amusing results! Many thanks to Alastair Forbes and Brian McGinley for their time and effort.

 

*(Social, Technological, Economics, Environmental, Political)

NORD

(image source: KKA @ myninjaplease.com)

As the new studio project kicks off, we are looking at precedents to inspire and inform the students in understanding typology its relation with programme.

Here, Kjellgren Kaminsky Architects demonstrate an adaptable housing scheme based on a modular parallelogram structure that involves changes in lifestyle and/or programme functions.

Villa Grow

KKA

Module Studio 05.03.09 - 30.04.09

INTRODUCTION

This project will look into typology, taste and programme. Typology can be defined as the study or systematic classification of types that have characteristics or traits in common. In this case, we will be considering houses characteristically specific to Birmingham. 

INTERVENTION

The reason for the study of typological models is that they can reveal a cultural logic which transcends regional variance and individual customisation. The ability to adapt basic typologies gives reference to cultural trends. Through these studies, architectural issues of a Birmingham House can be explored. 

PROGRAMME

Stage 1: to 19.03

To understand the requirements of the occupant, the students are to produce a visual diary of their week to which, they will assimilate a basic activity programme.

Appraise a selected text from one of the following to understanding the housing typology:

-Pamphlet Architecutre 9, Steven Holl

-Japan Architecture 9, House with no style

-Minimum Dweling, Karel Teige

-The English Terraced House, Stefan Muthesius

-RIBA Research Symposium 2008

Stage 2: to 30.04

Use research from stage 1 to develop a design proposal with regards to [Birmingham] House (details to follow)

(Tube map c.1990's)

Itinerary

06.02.09

11:30/ RIBA hq, Portland Place

14:00/ moving tour (underground, DLR)

16:00/ Laban Centre, Deptford

07.02.09

09:30/ Goldon Lane Estate & Barbican Centre

11:30/ Swiss RE & Lloyd's building

14:00/ St. Paul's & Information point

15:30/ Tate Modern

08.02.09

11:00/ Idea Store, Whitechapel

12:00/ Blizzard Building, Royal London

13:00/ Walking tour (Brick Lane & Shoreditch)

15:30/ Architecture Rooms, V&A museum