These are Buildings
We’ve spent the last two weeks producing drawings and models - with the help of the model shop at AHMM - for our initial ‘Universal Building’ proposals. Focusing on form, frame, and floor, we produced different schemes and different ways of representing our schemes. These 1:500 models all tile together on our site model - we’ve made a bit of a mess of Canada Water! We will continue developing these proposals individually - assuming blank party walls on neighboring sites. We won’t assess the buildings as a collective urban fabric until the last segment of the studio, but putting them together is already a popular activity. So far our attitudes towards what makes a universal building are incredibly varied. We are continuing to develop these studies this week, before we move into detail studies of facade and structure systems.
In the meantime, we are continuing with our robust schedule of site visits and guest lectures. This week David Green from Archigram came to speak as part of our advanced theory seminar. He presented some original publications and we discussed ideas about nature and technology and a bit about the idea of the Universal Building. We also had discussions with Adrian Forty and Rowan Moore, looking at the origin of the London House and at London as a Slow Burn City, respectively. Rowan Moore concluded with a discussion of the influence of the media on architects.