Injection Magazine 2005, 'The Story of a Practice.' [Feature on Design Heroine Architects]

© Surface to Air Ltd 2006

INJE

CTIO

N “When Urban Splash was starting out, and even now,it was often hard to find out who the exciting young architects are, so this magazine is a great idea.”Tom Bloxham – Chairman, Urban Splash

“I’m very excited about this new magazine giving recognition and exposure to young architects. It’s importantthat the profession recognises and supports them.”Chris Wilkinson - Wilkinson Eyre Architects

“We see students’ work, we see established practices’ work. Injection will be the first magazine to let us see young architects’ work.”Jack Pringle – RIBA President, Pringle Brandon

“Young people have a lot to offer the profession if they are acknowledged - they can articulate where architecturemight be going.”Lee Polisano – President, KPF

If you are interested in advertising in Injection please contact: [email protected]

NEW BLOOD: ISSUE 001 MAY 2006

THE AOC

THOMAS HEATHERWICK

TOM BLOXHAM

MAKE

00:/ [ZER'O ZER'O]

DESIGN HEROINE

GLOWACKA RENNIE

CLARE POLLARD

Over the coming year Injection will explore six pertinent themes Architecture andwill be holding debates and events around the UK: London, Manchester,Glasgow and Bristol.

We are actively looking for young architects, creatives and professionals tobecome involved from outside London both Nationally and Internationally.

If you are interested in writing for Injection or becoming a member of the People in Space community: whatever your age, background, qualification orgeographical location, we invite you to join us by signing up on:

www.peopleinspace.com/join

Membership is free

Injection can be viewed online at:www.peopleinspace.com/injection

Please send Letters to: [email protected]

Next theme: Toxic - The Sustainability issue

Thanks to:

Advisory Board:Charles KnevittPeter Murray Will AlsopGarrick JonesClare PollardIndy JoharAoife KeigherRowan Moore

00:/ [zer'o zer'o] Samson Adjei Isabel Allen Simon Allford The AOCThe Architects’ JournalAdela Askandar Peter AyresJohn BirdTom BloxhamMarco Boettcher Manuel BurgerSally CohenGreg Cowan Design HeroineDream Bags Jaguar Shoes Jonathan FalkinghamAli Ganjavian Frances GannonHarriet HarrissThomas HeatherwickGlowacka RennieChristopher HoevelsAoife Keigher Vincent LacovaraMartin LeeJohn McAslanDarius NorellIan LathamLee PolisanoJack Pringle Pringle Brandon LLPAmanda Reekie RIBARIBA TrustKen ShuttleworthJonathan Stock Ruth SlavidGraham WiffenChris Wilkinson Suzi WinstanleyJamie Wood

‘THE MAGAZINE FOR AND BY YOUNG ARCHITECTS’

NEW BLOODISSUE 001

Holly Porter & Pascale Scheurer

Right now, a new movement is emerging in architecture. A group of young people and practices are redefining thearchitect’s role - as entrepreneurs, project designers, curators and cross-disciplinary collaborators. Through innovating newforms of practice, they are actively proving the value of their skills as architects to clients, policymakers and the wider public.Neither students nor reckless dreamers, they are team players who know their strengths and are proactively creating newmarkets for their work. These young architects are reacting to the current state of our profession: stagnant, introverted andreactive, hypnotised by the ideal of the ‘starchitect’ and desperately in need of modernisation.

Our magazine, Injection, aims to inject new blood into the thinking that is defining our profession and showcasethe young people, aged 24 to 34, who are doing things differently. In our first issue we feature six of these practices andindividuals: 00:/ [zer'o zer'o], the AOC, Design Heroine, Glowacka Rennie, Jamie Wood of Sheppard Robson and FrancesGannon of make. Our contributors, like ourselves, are young architects, artists, writers and designers working in the UK andinternationally.

This magazine is about giving talented young people a chance to illustrate their manifesto and experiment withnew ways of making architecture happen. Only through creatively thinking outside the box can we make our profession moreoutward-looking, diverse and responsive to the changing global landscape. If you have an opinion, we want to hear it.Whatever your age, background, qualification or geographical location, we invite you to join in. It’s time to open up theboundaries of the debate, punch above our weight and fight for good architecture like we give a damn.

Join People in Space: www.peopleinspace.com

Injection magazine is the voice of People in Space, the network community we created 18 months ago, of youngarchitects, creatives and professionals who are out there making the next generation of architecture happen. Over the comingyear we will explore six pertinent themes in architecture and hold debates and events around the UK: London, Manchester,Glasgow and Bristol. The next theme is ‘Toxic’.

‘You can’t solve a problem with the thinking that created it.’Albert Einstein

The Team

Founding Editors Holly [email protected] Pascale Scheurer

Columnists Fiona [email protected] Claire McKeown

Clare PollardAli Ganjavian

We would like to thank the following for their on-going support and financial assistance, without which Injection Magazine would not have beenlaunched: The Architects’ Journal, RIBA Young Practitioners Panel, RIBA/McAslan Bursary, the Injection Advisory Board, Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects - inparticular Lee Polisano, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, the contributors and everyone who’s been involved with People in Space and supported it.

CONTENTS:

Editorial 002The Guru 003Triple Bottom Line 004Dirty Pretty Things 006Postcard from….MadridArchiword 007Timeline of a practice 008What’s Hot What’s NotOn the Website 011

Graphic Design Ted [email protected] Paul Tupper

Cartoonist Richard [email protected]

Print Production Advisor Martin [email protected]

POSTERThe New Blood ProfilesEventscape 001Studio SnapshotWord on the StreetCrittersSuperseded

Guest Illustrator Suzi [email protected]

Photographer Elina Jokipiitel. +44 (0)7944 [email protected]

CONTENTS:

002

My Three Firsts

1 First JobWhen a friend of mine quit his first job and I

asked him why, he said to me. ‘My boss kept telling me what to do’. But I know what he meant. I’ve always had theambition in my life to set up my own company. My first jobwas as a porter in a department store, it taught me how tocommunicate effectively with people but more importantly, itmade me ambitious to do something else with my life.

2 First DevelopmentWhen I was a student I’d started my own

company selling posters, and I didn’t have any space forselling them.The smallest space I could get was 6000sqft inAffleck’s arcade in Manchester. So I sub-divided the indoormarket, sublet the space I didn’t need and then looked for anarchitect in the yellow pages to design it. Once it was up andrunning, I realised I was making more money from sublettingthe space than the posters. That’s how propertydevelopment became my business.

3 First Time I met the QueenThe first time I met the Queen was when I got

my MBE. I brought my mum and dad with me, which theyreally liked. She talked to me about Liverpool; she’d justbeen up there.

My Three Icons

1 The Barcelona Pavilion…it takes your breath away.2 The Eiffel Tower…I love it for its audacity as a temporarystructure. It’s also a great feat of engineering.3 Manchester Town Hall…in fact, most town halls. They’regreat because they were built by public subscription. Eachcity vied to build the biggest and the best town hall - theybecame the pride of the city. Public buildings nowadays havelost that: promoting mediocre architecture, many lacking asense of public ownership.

THE GURUTOM BLOXHAM Holly Porter

My Three Greatest Pleasures

1 Finding a crappy bit of land and working with greatarchitects to create something new.2 Skiing in Flemme in France3 Eating and drinking with friends and family… it’s thecompany that counts.

My Utopia

My Utopia would be to develop a fantastic newvillage in a ski resort with great architects and live there with all my friends and family, with interesting peoplecoming to stay.

However, for Urban Splash, I would like toimagine a future where we continue working with diversearchitects, developers, and the people who live in thecommunities that we’re building in. We want to continueexpanding across the country: we’re in Birmingham,Bradford, Walsall, Bristol, and Plymouth. We want to dobigger schemes than just a block. Quite often we’ve made amodest return on our building. But as an effect, thelandowners next door would quadruple their land value andbuild something rubbish on it. The more we develop intolarger schemes the more we can control things like thishappening.

My Advice to Young Architects

The best advice I ever had was from my uncle,who was a banker. When I was 21, I was thinking aboutsetting up my own business. His advice was very simple -he told me to just go out there and do it. In life, the earlieryou do things the better. You’ve got to grab opportunitieswhen they come around.

‘In life, the earlier you do things the better. You’ve got to grab opportunities when they come around.’

Born:Fleet, Hants 1963 Training:Manchester University, Degree in History and Politics

Walking the line between good design, social inclusion and profit is not a path many developers would choose totread, but that’s what makes Tom Bloxham unique.

Urban Splash, the Development company Bloxham founded with Jonathan Falkingham in 1993, had a simple plan:to transform brownfield sites in the North West into city centre loft space living- along the way creating good architecture, re-using existing building stock where possible and working directly with the communities that live there. Urban Splash arepioneers in urban regeneration and currently have projects throughout the UK.

Tom Bloxham is a creative entrepreneur who started his own business when he was 21. At 43, he is nowChairman of the Urban Splash Group with a property portfolio worth over £200m. He also owns several bars and restaurantsin Liverpool. He lives and works in Manchester.

003

I find it extraordinary that an intensely social,

‘big-bucks’ and controversial subject like architecture can

be divorced by intelligent people from its political and

ethical context. The term ‘Triple Bottom Line’ refers to three

interdependent aspects of our work - social, economic and

environmental (fig.1). Or, if you like, people-profit-planet,

nested and interdependent (fig.2) - without a living planet

to support us, there are no people, no society - and

without people there is nothing to spend our profit on.

Even the most profit-driven, cynical individuals have come

to realise that long-term, profits can be eroded by bad

social and environmental practice – particularly from a PR

perspective. Although things are changing - there are

moves to incorporate global politics and ethics into

architectural education - during my undergraduate training

these issues of practice were strangely absent. What was I

taught? Beauty, aesthetics, function, economy. The wider

impact of our work on other people and on the

environment was secondary at best. No wonder our

student exhibitions were filled with art galleries and follies

for the rich. The real world rarely impinged on these

cosseted environments. Politics and budgets were absent

- as were the people. The lack of people in our images

bore witness to the fact that we would never be able to

justify our rationale to non-architects outside the

comfortable confines of our witty, jargon-filled studios.

Economic Issues

Global economics increasingly affect

architecture in the UK. For example, the rising demand for

steel in the Far East has driven up costs and directly

impacted design. From a personal perspective, the

economic issues facing young architects are severe. Many

leave University crippled by student debt. Our early years

in employment are a baptism of fire in selling ourselves

and negotiating salary and conditions.

Fees are going down as architects compete

for commissions. While this is the free market working

correctly, it can have disastrous effects. According to Lee

Polisano, President of KPF, “when established practices

cut their fees, it leaves a disastrous legacy for the next

generation”. We need enough fee income to keep the best

talent in the profession, and to give a professional service.

Recently, the Building Schools for the Future

programme and the Olympics have created a buoyant

demand for architects, but supply is also being increased

from abroad - from the EU accession states and Germany

with its depressed economy. And then there’s outsourcing,

which many large UK practices have embraced

enthusiastically. So taking into account global

developments, should we still be producing 1200 Part 2

graduates each year? Conversely, British architects are good at

exporting their skills, so the same technologies and

processes of globalisation are also creating new markets

for us. Two of my friends from Diploma recently moved

abroad to lead architectural teams detailing outsourced UK

projects.

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINEPascale Scheurer

Social Issues

Regeneration was the buzzword of the

nineties, when it became more widely accepted that the

built environment and the process of construction have an

impact on how neighbourhoods function, economically and

socially. A wider set of ‘stakeholders’ are now accepted as

integral to the process of architecture - whether in local

planning consultation, collaborative design with end-users

or local sourcing of products and labour.

Many young architects such as Design

Heroine, 00:/ [Zer'o-Zer'o] and the AOC are involved in

participatory design. Many key decisions happen at the

stage before ‘architecture’, before RIBA Stage A, and what

is needed is not so much building experience but intelligent

critical thinking and consultation with the ‘real’ client - the

end-user. This is a real opportunity for young architects,

for example in schools, where their youth is an advantage

in communicating with the children. The BSF Champion of

a deprived borough said recently to an audience of 200

architects: “Whoever designs the schools for our borough

will be impacting the life chances of 50,000 people.”

The Environment

The environmental impact of architecture is

now recognised an intrinsic part of design, in many ways -

from the energy used in product manufacture and

transport, site selection influencing the building users’

choice of transport, waste reduction and product toxicity.

What was once considered marginal and ‘eco-freako’ has

become a legal obligation through the building regulations

and the planning system.But is the environmental agenda at odds with

good design, or intrinsic to it? Is it anti-architecture - an

unwelcome imposition, limiting our design capacity? Or is

the creation of beautiful spaces wrapped in toxic materials

and leaking precious energy, as Hundertwasser claimed,

“the physical incarnation of a criminal act”? To paraphrase

the ancient Athenians, considering the environmental

impact of design is surely the only way to leave our world

“not less but greater, better and more beautiful than it was

left to us”.Young architects and engineers have stepped

up to the challenge. At our People in Space ‘Seductive

Sustainability’ debate in February, six of them presented

projects, concepts and products such as One Planet Living

(Jane Durney of Bioregional), elegant wind turbines

(Richard Cochrane of XCO2), and Wakehurst Place

Millennium Seed Bank built for 500 years (Ingrid Chauvet of

MBP). This field represents a huge opportunity for the next

generation to find new entrepreneurial niches and have real

impact.

Triple Bottom Line - Use it to find your own path

In my Part 3 course I was taught to ask “What

am I going to sell, and to whom?” These questions brought

in the wider world of business, but obscured a more

fundamental one. I wasn’t often taught to ask “Why?” -

much less given the tools with which to seek the answer.

We are rarely asked to look closely at the

relationships between our work and the economy, society

and the environment, let alone to embrace these issues to

inform our work. They are commonly thought of as

constraints and dealt with grudgingly - but they can be a

tool to help us position ourselves and our work.

Le Corbusier railed against unhealthy slums

and sought efficient methods of production to deliver his

vision worldwide. Aalto and Scharoun looked for a regional

identity that would tie their work into its social context,

while Venturi saw beauty and life in Las Vegas. Many

successful contemporary practices built their USP around

environmental concerns, or the wider social issues of

regeneration. Think Cullinan, Feilden Clegg Bradley,

Erskine, Herman Herzberger.

An appraisal of values can be a steer towards

a new community. It will help you choose your clients

(including your employer), your practice partners, your

consultants and your staff. If you have 40 years of working

life ahead of you, that’s roughly 80,000 hours. Who do

you want to spend it with? Do you want to be inspired,

well-paid, amused, amazed, supported, challenged? An

unexpected clash of values can be painful and costly -

although of course it can also be a great creative

generator. Your values are a starting point for exploring

the ethos of your practice, a way of working or design

aesthetic. They may also open up new markets. You may

decide a global perspective is what you need - either from

a financial point of view, an aesthetic one or an ethical

position. This could be “think global, build local”, “why am

I building art galleries when two billion people worldwide

don’t have adequate shelter?” or “can I advise my client

on where to find the best in-situ concrete team in the

world?”Traditionally, the architect’s remit has been

defined by patrons and clients. But it’s possible to go

beyond that, and to define your own sphere of influence.

Do you want to make a small impact, or a big one?

Beyond the pay-packet, what will you be creating, who will

you touch? Do you want to speak through your work to

just one individual, or change the course of history?

Your position will change over time - we all

have epiphanies, regrets, awakenings, disillusionments,

hindsight, changes of heart and fall in love – at times we

all find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. So it

makes sense to take stock of where you stand as you

start out, and regularly throughout your career.

Once you have found some answers to the

fundamental question of “Why am I engaged in

architecture?” - even just a rough sketch of parameters,

interests and boundaries - the answers to the first

questions “What am I going to sell, and to whom?” just

Triple Bottom Line examines the economic, social and environmental factorsimpacting the profession now and in the future. In this issue Pascale Scheureridentifies opportunities for young architects who are prepared to take a widerview of their work.

‘Out sourcing, globalisation, pollution,

BSF, the Olympics. Young architects need

to get serious to survive.’

005

Where is the real beauty in architecture? Over the next six issues, Fiona Scott, a young architect at AdjayeAssociates, will be exploring places where we feel beauty in architecture is made tangible, who this beauty touchesand in what way.

Back in the 1970s Andy Warhol said, “The most beautiful thing in Tokyo is McDonalds. The most beautiful thing in Stockholm is McDonalds. The most beautiful thing in Florence is McDonalds. Peking and Moscow don’t have anything beautiful yet.”

Warhol was celebrating the accessibility of consumer goods to one and all, and by implication, global sameness in the modern world. These were the symbols that spoke the language of the masses. So what would have roused him today?Easyjet? Viral internet marketing? Mobile phone videos? Even as a witty provocation, his statement would hardly stand uptoday - the golden arches have become the poor person’s addiction. But it is beauty we are talking about here, not obesity:Warhol’s pop beauty points towards an attitude to accessibility that has far reaching resonances for architects now.

Plato believed beauty to be eternal and absolute. We can have flirtations with truth, purity and irony, but it’s notvery cool to talk about beauty in architecture. There is a whiff of political incorrectness about imposing such a subjectivejudgement. Architects fear coming across either as effete or frivolous, to the extent that some bale out altogether and appear tochampion ugliness. Other areas of design have embraced styling and aesthetic ‘experience’- however architecture, for the mostpart, still has issues with the evaluative, preferring in our dialogue defensive language of justification and rationale.

As a result, beauty tends to become the architect’s mysterious secret, alchemically introduced outside discussionswith the client. We hope we’ll find a way of bringing it in through the back door disguised as an economic imperative. In orderfor a cultural value, such as beauty, even to approach the importance of monetary value to a potential client (without having todefine a bald exchange rate between the two), architects need to be able at least to bring it into the discussion.

Let’s put aside John Prescott’s stereotype of the intellectually elite architect, and go back to Warhol’s language ofthe masses. Increasingly, consumer culture, in which accessibility is inherent, is informing the aesthetic language ofarchitecture. We are drawing from shop windows and three-dimensional billboards to make libraries, schools, art galleries,banks, community centres and town halls. If beauty is to be found in this, then it is in the clarity of the brand, the windowdisplay, access from the street, and potentially, generosity of space for browsing without buying. These are powerful messages,as Warhol’s maxim suggests. The aesthetic stakes are raised by the constant competitive reinvention in retail and advertising.

The influence of the aesthetic language of digital, information and communications technology on architecture isresulting in a glittering novelty. From Seoul to Southwark, in the built environment we are seeing a new prettiness, fleetingephemerality. Another evolving strand of aesthetic enquiry takes economy as its driver. Architects never quite managed topersuade the public at large of the nobility and sculptural power of rough cast concrete. Yet in the 1990s, raw cardboard, baldmdf and polycarbonate multiplied on a massive scale in homes throughout the country thanks to Muji and Ikea. Cheap productsare being imbued with a fresh, inventive beauty: texture, shine and pattern, decoratively cut, screen-printed or varnished.

Such is the drive towards originality in facades and cladding, you’d be forgiven for thinking that novelty is thebiggest challenge when it comes to beauty in architecture. Shiny, decorative and experimental buildings throw up their armsand say ‘look at me’, elevating their surroundings with a sense of drama like a woman in a one-off, couture dress. Thegimmickry and novelty must surely wear off, like a Christmas toy discarded when the batteries die. The bigger challenge is toestablish beauty in a more generic context: to my knowledge we’ve yet to come up with anything as elegant and adaptable asthe Georgian terraced house.

We have a tough time selling beauty to clients and planners, partly because the word has been missing from ourspoken vocabulary if not from the visual. When in comes to beauty, architects have great resources, built from both instinctand observation, but they shouldn’t have to be converted to hard currency before being brought to the table.

Whether we like it or not, beauty in architecture has less and less to do with permanent values. This is not acynical viewpoint, but rather reflects a heterogeneous culture that exists alongside speeded-up cycles of construction anddestruction. Nonetheless, whether taking on the aesthetics of novelty or constraint, I think we are witnessing an immediate andnon-intellectual pursuit of permissive beauty in architecture that is non-exclusive, and that may well have been a dream cometrue for Warhol.

DIRTY PRETTY THINGSFiona Scott

‘Beauty is the architect’s mysterious secret, alchemically introduced outside discussions with the client. We hope we’llfind a way to bring it in through the back door disguised as an economic imperative.’

006

TIMELINE OF A PRACTICEFEATURING: DESIGN HEROINE

In each issue, we will be giving a young architect achance to showcase their practice. The Timeline,drawn in the architects own hand, serves as amanifesto. Its aim is to illustrate where thepractice came from, where they are now and howthey see their future.

Our first Timeline showcases Design Heroine, anarchitecture and consultancy studio, specialising in theco-design of innovative buildings and spaces for learningand working. The practice was founded by HarrietHarriss and Suzi Winstanley in 2004 (more informationoverleaf).

010 009008

What’s Hot

Pushing the Boundaries of FormAdvances in computer programmes give rise to anexploration of form which was previously impossible.This, in turn, can spark new construction methods or anon-traditional use of old materials. Gehry's Guggenheim,the Gherkin or Future Systems’ cricket media centre allrelied on new CAD systems to make the design a reality.

CAD as an Extension of the Hand/Pen RelationshipUsing CAD should be entirely natural. Sketch-up is greatas it uses the fundamentals of hand drawing as a model.It's quick and intuitive, giving priority to communicatingthe idea.

Software Based on Real Building ComponentsThe plan/section system is entirely artificial, an obsoletelegacy of paper-based drawing. New systems allowcomponents to be assembled in 3D just as they will beon site, using up-to-the-minute information frommanufacturers and minimizing clashes in3-dimensionally complex designs.

Back to the Old SchoolWe may already be seeing a backlash against CAD. Acurrent Japanese competition, 'The Planless House'states under media: “You may use blueprints, pencil, ink,colour or photographs. NO ELECTRONIC MEDIA.”

What’s Not

Losing Your Drawing SkillsIf your average day is anything like mine, your 7.5 billablehours are mainly spent in front of a computer. Although I’mglad I don’t have to hand-draw a tender package, I do miss theact of drawing - the pressure of the pen, the varying positionsof the drawing board, working directly on the final product. Ifyour employer can draw a seductive sketch for a client, theyhave probably preserved their drawing skills by opting out ofmastering CAD.

Relying on Computers to Communicate IdeasOur work environments focus on the flat screen, but thepossibilities for communicating with clients go far beyond fly-throughs, renders and death-by-Powerpoint. The immediacy,depth and materiality of a hand-drawn piece or 1:1 maquettecan be utterly seductive.

Software Inhibiting Design Just as software can open up new realms of creativity, thedesign process can all too easily be defined and bounded by it.In complex applications, there is a danger that understandingthe program takes over from the reason for its use. Justbecause you can use it doesn't mean you should.

WHAT’S HOT/WHAT’S NOTClaire McKeown

What constitutes a trend in architecture? This column looks at the trends colliding to influence architecture,such as technology, theory, materials and society’s attitudes. In short, what’s hot - what’s not.

Part 3 – reviews of different courses, information resourceswww.peopleinspace.com/part3

Jobshop – latest job offers, insider knowledge on what it’s like workingfor different practices, how to get the best job for youwww.peopleinspace.com/jobshop

Designers’ Pin-Up – find collaborators for jobs and competitions or post up yourown skills and interests. Workspace, flatshares, equipment,buying and selling.www.peopleinspace.com/pinup

Lost the Plot? - Alice Klar Agony Auntwww.peopleinspace.com/losttheplot

Online Debates – take part in a debate or propose your ownwww.peopleinspace.com/debate

Groups – communities of interest such as Sustainability,Humanitarian, Manchester Young Practitionerswww.peopleinspace.com/groups

Events – upcoming events: www.peopleinspace.com/events

ON THE WEBSITE: INJECTION ONLINE

Join us online to find up-to-the-minute information on part three courses, jobs, competitions, events and debates. www.peoplinspace.comIf you are in advertising on our website please contact: [email protected]

001: CAD TECHNOLOGIES

011

Madrid is a great place for young architects. Incontrast to the UK, the majority of graduates come out ofUniversity aged 27 or 28 and go straight into setting up theirown studio. Being an architect is highly respected in Spain soit’s not hard to find clients. There’s lots of work around andalso a strong competition infrastructure from which we getnotifications coming in every week.

To get started, you can go to the Caja deArquitectos (the Architects’ Bank) and say “I’ve got thiscommission, and these are my clients - but I need to set up apractice and the infrastructure to deliver it. I need four staff,plotters and a car for site visits. What do you think?” If they likeit they will lend you the money to start up. Young practicesaren’t scared of spending money. The attitude is: “If you’re anarchitect, you’ll make it.”

There are less legal and planning hold-ups in Spainthan in the UK – so you can be more dynamic and creative,and projects get off the ground much quicker.

We are particularly interested in how spaces andobjects communicate to people. ‘Locutorio Colon’ is a publicspace intervention – we installed six phone booths whichprovide free calls to Latin America for a month. It’s a projectabout displaying emotions in the city – people are callinghome, communicating with their family. So we wanted to createquite a comfortable, domestic feel inside, but not too much ofan art piece from the outside, which is plywood. It’s in PlazaColon – which is ironic, because Colon (ChristopherColumbus) once said that he conquered and communicated –here we just communicate.

Currently we are also collaborating with alandscape architect on a project involving floating landscapesdestined to arrive in Paris by river. With another practice we arealso working on a housing project in the east of Spain. We arelearning all the time. We also both teach: I teach a productdesign master-class at Madrid’s International School of Design.Key also works with a practice in Switzerland.

POSTCARD FROM ...MADRIDAli Ganjavian

Across1 Gamble on the sport of kings (4,3,6)8 Vertical part of step (5)9 Quivering effect in music (7)10 Location of Alsop and Störmer’s library (7)12 Turn away, ward off (5)13 Price list (6)15 Factory-made house transported to (or assembled on) site (6)18 Apply finish to stone, bricks, etc (5)19 Row - bolt (7)21 Circular room or building often domed (7)22 Parisian theatre (5)24 Paxton’s creation for the Great Exhibition (7,6)Down1 Low wall on edge of balcony, bridge, etc (7)2 Donkey (3)3 Flashlight (5)4 Place in burial chamber (6)5 Outdoor (4-3)6 Engaged, reserved (6,3)7 Architect of Battersea Power Station (5)11 Craft of working wood (9)14 Shipping area to south of Ireland (7)16 Equilibrium (7)17 Sudden brief storm (6)18 (Of) old Greek order (5)20 Greek ‘forum’ (5)23 Distinctive period (3) ANSWERS TO ARCHIWORD ON REVERSE

ARCHIWORD

Ali Ganjavian is a 26-year old architect. After studying at UEL and the RCA, he returned to Madrid and set up inpractice 18 months ago with Key Portilla Kawamura. He currently works and lives in Spain. If you are living or workingabroad, and would like to write about your experiences, please e-mail us at [email protected]

‘Young practices aren’t scared of spending

money. The attitude is: “If you’re an architect,

you’ll make it”.’

007

www.theAOC.co.uk

To contact the AOC please e-mail:[email protected]

THE AOC

Their organisational structure stimulates dialoguethrough:

1. The presence of AOC Participation, adistinct, in-house unit specialising in methods ofconsultation and participation.

2. Placements in other organisations - asproject managers, advisors and teachers – exchangingknowledge and building communities of interest.

The AOC approach projects through rigorousdialogue, feedback and research, encouraging theparticipation of others at every stage. Whether duringbrief-building, construction or throughout occupation,they believe that broader conversations create richerresponses.

The AOC was established in 2003 by TomCoward, Daisy Froud, Vincent Lacovara and GeoffShearcroft, building on experience gained at respectedpractices and regeneration bodies in London and abroad.Current work includes masterplanning 300 houses inSouth London, designing an Early Years Unit inSouthwark and developing an urban regeneration card-game for RIBA. Listed in The Observer’s ‘The Best andthe Brightest of 2005’, included in the AJ’s ’40 Under40’ and runners-up in the 2005 ‘Young Architect of theYear Award’, their work has been widely published andexhibited.

The AOC embrace challenging projects andencourage clients to be demanding; generating open,honest and generous proposals. They are interested inthe ways in which places are shaped by forces besidesarchitecture and aim to deliver projects that fully engagewith their social, environmental and political contexts.

PROFILED ABOVE – six new emerging practices and pr

www.designheroine.co.uk

To contact Design Heroine please e-mail:[email protected]

DESIGNHEROINE

d practitioners, aged 26-31, who are actively redefining

Founded in 2004 by Harriet Harriss andSuzi Winstanley, Design Heroine is an architecture andconsultancy studio specialising in the co-design ofinnovative buildings and spaces for learning andworking. Their clients are complex organisationsserving multiple communities. Future-aware andconstantly evolving, they include DEMOS, CreativePartnerships, Manchester City Council, London Schoolof Economics, EDS and the NHS.

They are currently working on the firstwave of ‘Building Schools for the Future’ projects inManchester. They are co-designing specific aspects ofthree new and refurbished school buildings with pupilsaged 11-15. These will be on site in September 2006.

Their methods engage and facilitate peopleto contribute to the conception and design of buildingsand places that they will use. They use film, graphics,narrative and play alongside traditional designtechniques combining the rigour of architecturalenquiry with the inspiration of new media.

Their focus is inspired and supported bytheir research in future trends, consultation withindividuals and organisations and training inarchitecture, art and youth work.

As instinctive collaborators, they jigsawwith client organisations, end users and theprofessional building team. They employ creativity as alever to consolidate an organisation’s or community’scollective intelligence.

www.glowacka-rennie.com

To contact Glowacka Rennie please e-mail:[email protected]

GLOWACKA RENNIE

ng the way architecture is conceived and practiced.

Agnieszka Glowacka and Eleanor Rennie setup the architectural practice Glowacka Rennie in 2004after winning an international competition to design alandmark in the East of England. They have recentlysuccessfully completed a feasibility study for theirlandmark idea - potentially the first pier to be built inBritain for 50 years - for the East of EnglandDevelopment Agency. For this project they appointed andlead a team of sub-consultants including Arup,Expedition Engineering and Savant International.

Glowacka Rennie always look to collaboratewith others who complement and enhance their ownabilities. Part of Glowacka Rennie’s success to date isdue to the fact that they have allied themselves withmore experienced practices in order to take on largerprojects, and that, despite being a young practice, theyare accomplished at working within tight constraints.They particularly enjoy working closely with engineeringcompanies, and see design as a collaborative processtowards a common goal – the best overall solution.

One of their particular interests lies in howarchitectural thinking and design could add value to civilengineering projects – in particular flood and coastaldefences. Glowacka Rennie are currently looking forR&D funding to explore this area of interest further. Theyalso continue to develop their architectural thinkingthrough teaching and critiquing at the Bartlett, UniversityCollege London.

www.makearchitects.com

To contact Frances Gannon please e-mail:[email protected]

FRANCES GANNON:MAKE

Frances Gannon joined make in July 2004 – a studio of highly creative and innovativearchitects and designers. The practice was founded by Ken Shuttleworth in January 2004 and has alreadyestablished itself as one of the UK’s foremostarchitectural firms, with offices in London, Edinburghand Birmingham. Frances is currently working on TheCube - a mixed use development at the Mailbox inBirmingham. She is also involved in setting up make’sBirmingham office.

Frances cites make’s environmentalawareness as a key part of why she has chosen to workthere - the practice being committed to producing themost sustainable and energy efficient buildings possible.make’s flat hierarchy is another reason why Francesenjoys working there. Their commitment to innovationand social responsibility is directly reflected in thestructuring of the practice - uniquely, the company’sentire share capital is held in trust, with each employeereceiving a share in profits.

make architects are also encouraged to goout and find work, talk to the press and to be identifiedwith their projects. Gannon, just two years qualified,describes it as an environment where: “If you have anidea, you know you can just ask “Can I do this?”-usually, you can.”

www.sheppardrobson.com

To contact Jamie please e-mail:[email protected]

JAMIE WOOD:SHEPPARD ROBSON

Jamie Wood joined Sheppard Robson in2003 - a 65 year-old practice that has won numerousawards for design and deliverability over the past sixdecades with the highest number being achieved in thelast two years. Whilst focussing on the UK, they haveprojects in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. They havea staff of 240 in their offices in London and Manchester.Jamie is currently working on 3 Hardman Street,Spinningfields, Manchester, which is being designed as alandmark commercial building.

After working on a variety of planningapplications and PFI projects when he first arrived, Jamiewas given the job as project architect designing a newchapel on a university campus in South West London.Jamie cites the trust, responsibility, assistance andguidance extended on this, his first built project, by theSheppard Robson associates and partners as a keyreason why he gets so much from working there.

He also sees the Design Lab process - aparticipatory involvement in the creative process forclients, consultants and staff - as an important aspect inkeeping the staff at Sheppard Robson innovative in theway that they design.

www.architecture00.net

To contact 00:/ [zer’o zer’o] please e-mail: [email protected]

researchers in collaboration with funding and regenerationspecialists. They are currently working with a diverse rangeof clients and partners including DEMOS, National YouthTheatre, Presentation Social Investment Agency, the ArtsCouncil, as well as a number of private individuals.

00:/ [zer’o zer’o] was established in 2005 byInderpaul Johar and David Saxby, as an entrepreneurialdesign practice working in the fields of architecture,research and regeneration. Their experience comes fromtime spent in some of the UK's leading practices, workingat the forefront of socially and environmentally consciousdesign, delivering significant public and private sectorprojects.

Their projects to date include developing aStrategic Design Guide for Affordable Housing /Neighbourhoods, co-writing a position paper on the futureof planning, designing a network of street theatre venuesacross the UK, a 58-unit affordable housing scheme inNorth London and an exemplary low carbon rural house.

00:/ [zer’o zer’o] is led by the desire to addevidence-based social and environmental value to allprojects, frequently through analysis, strategy and catalyticaction. They operate as a multi-disciplinary studiocomprising architects, urban designers and policy

00:/ [ZER'O ZER'O]

Around every issue’s theme, we will beholding an Eventscape – each one in a differentlocation around the UK. These events are a vehiclefor bringing together people with interest,experience and passion around the theme. The aimis to raise the debate and create an informalplatform for young architects, artists, otherprofessionals and experts - to discuss pertinentissues in architecture and collaboratively producea body of work for the next issue of Injection.

On April 5th 2006, in Jaguar ShoesBasement Bar in Shoreditch, London, we invited sixyoung architects to join us for a debate exploring newand alternative forms of practice in architecture: IndyJohar (00:/ [zer’o zer’o]), Vincent Lacovara (AOC), SuziWinstanley and Harriet Harriss (Design Heroine), FrancesGannon (make) and Aoife Keigher (Edward CullinanArchitects).

The topics ranged from the future of theprofession and opportunities for young architects, toquestions like: “Why set up in practice?” and “Shouldarchitects take a moral stance?” Although it becameclear during the debate that the practices’ aspirationsand design values differed widely, it was interesting tonote the significant commonalities between them.

Collectively, a new way of working seemedto be emerging. All shared a belief in the importance ofbeing pro-active in engaging clients and employees. Allpractices were centred around strong partnerships andbased upon common values, interests and principles ofequality. All had a broad and critical view of their work inthe context of the wider industry, society and theeconomy. All showed entrepreneurial flair by identifyingbusiness opportunities from their personal interests andskills plus the need to develop their own markets.

It was good to see a mixture of so manyyoung and more senior architects in the room. It wasparticularly good to see Sunand Prasad in the audiencewho, many years ago, left Edward Cullinan Architects toset up Penoyre & Prasad. On the night he was listeningto Indy Johar who, just nine months ago, left Penoyre &Prasad to set up 00:/ [zer’o zer’o]. It was great to seeestablished practitioners supporting innovation andentrepreneurship in the profession.

Sooner or later these emerging practiceswho spoke at Eventscape 001 will be spawning the nextgeneration of practices seeking their own routes throughthe architectural profession. Interesting practices attractambitious, intelligent people and retaining suchindividuals is something that is always difficult.

However, if practices such as these becomethe norm - focusing less on authorship and more onpartnerships, equality and entrepreneurship in the waythat they go about business and design - perhaps therewon’t be the same frustration for ambitious youngarchitects working as ‘employees’. Over time, it mayobviate the feeling that they have to go it alone in orderto make their personal stamp on the built environment.

For the full transcript of the event, please log on www.peopleinspace.com/events_emerg

EVENTSCAPE 001: EMERGING FORMS OF PRACTICEHolly PorterNEW BLOOD

“We’re not that interested in style. Rather than form, we’re interested in user ecologies, thecultures of neighbourhoods. Beyond form, there is real value in architecture. We’re developingtools to allow us to understand architecture as system flows rather than as a linear process.Saying ‘no’ to competitions was a key part of our wanting to do things differently. Competitionsare a beauty contest, a parade of images. There’s no dialogue with the client.”Indy JoharDesign your own client; architecture as curation

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“When you’re young you have to be efficient - you generally have no money and you’re lucky if you have an office space. We have embeddedourselves in other practices and organisations, such as Openhouse, Croydon Council and teaching in several places. This makes us stronger;it infects, improves and enriches what we do. We are like a satellite of other projects - it keeps the feeling and the conversation going. The danger for a‘serious practice’ is that you can become myopic and internalise your work.”Vincent LacovaraThe complex, messy world around you

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“We view the diagram of traditional architectural work as a triangle, with the small tip beinginitial consultation, and the bulk of the resources, energy and time spent on design andconstruction. We want to invert the triangle, so that consultation becomes the bigger part ofthe work. Because, if you get this wrong, the rest of the work is wasted. We’d like to think thatwe have opened up a new niche market for young architects through our work. If in five yearsthere are several practices working in this field, that would be the ultimate compliment.”Suzi Winstanley Work/play/architecture – client co-design and user interaction

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“At make, it’s a flat hierarchy - with all the staff equally named asPartners. It’s not about one person, but a group who are good atdifferent things. Every team member attends competition interviewsand presents their part of the work. This is a strategy to keep hold ofambitious and talented staff - those who will head for the door iffrustrated.”Frances GannonWhose project is it anyway? Working in a flat partnership structure

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“Working at Ted Cullinan’s has given me an insight into the erratic challengesof practice. It’s amazing for someone of my age to get this. I am a Directorand share the work, including the risk and the rewards (all the staff canbecome directors after one year). Salaries are open - and capped at the upperechelons. All directors are involved in the management of the practice - givingeven Part 2’s like me chance to get involved. Ted Cullinan created acooperative practice 40 years ago – a direct translation of his egalitarianbeliefs into a ‘model practice.”Aoife Keigher Ethics in practice - cooperative management structure

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STUDIO SNAPSHOT:THOMAS HEATHERWICK STUDIO

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Studio ProfileWith the effervescent enthusiasm of a 19th

century inventor, Thomas Heatherwick is one of the best,most prolific and versatile designers working in the UKtoday. He describes himself as a 3D designer rather thanan architect. At the age of just 36 his built portfoliobulges with bridges, urban landscapes and immensesculptures.

The studio occupies an open-plan, wedge-shaped building near King’s Cross. Full sized maquettesand scale models fill every corner and sketches line thewalls of the central double-height space.

A Scale 1 : 1 maquette in steel for a newproject in Aberystwyth:

“We wanted to use the thinnest materialpossible and let it buckle. We’re using 0.1mm stainlesssteel filled with expanding insulation which makes ittotally rigid. The building project is located in a forest, so you will see the reflection of the trees around it.”(Thomas Heatherwick)

B Thomas Heatherwick

C Copper Maquette:“Another 1:1 material maquette for the

Aberystwyth Project: we tried it here with copper – itlooks quite interesting” (Thomas Heatherwick)

D Test mortar colour pieces:“We’re creating a round building like a pot,

carved rotationally out of aircrete (aerated concreteblocks). We’re using different coloured adhesives tobond the pieces together so that as we carve it we’ll getan extraordinary textile effect.” (Ole Smith)

E Spiral Handbags for Longchamps, 2004:This project led to a commission to design

the client’s new flagship store in New York. The shelvingunits displaying the handbags will be part of the displaysystem for the store when it opens on May 23rd.

F Abigail Yeates:Abigail finished her diploma at the Bartlett

last June. She is currently working on the landscape fora major new mixed-use development at NottinghamEastside.

“The rubble from demolition of the existingbuilding is going to be re-used as infill to make the poolsand islands.”

G Peter Ayres:Peter’s current projects include a temple in

Japan, a pedestrian bridge in London, a seaside café andrestaurant in Littlehampton.

Illustration: Richard Henson

WORD ON THE STREET

Finnian O’Neill - 28, Advertising Executive, LondonWhen I was a kid, instead of getting to go to Disneyland I got to go

to places like Le Corbusier’s Ronchamps Chapel - my Dad’s an architect. I spenta lot of my childhood being used as a prop to illustrate perspective againstfacades and doorways for photos – but I can’t complain, it exposed me to gooddesign at an early age which I really loved.

Everyone thinks architects are minted- but it’s just not true. I tend to enjoy the spaces between buildings now, more than the

buildings themselves. My favourite space in London is Gordon Square - I like itsnatural English landscaping - it’s a nice contrast to the big city buildingssurrounding it.

Paul Treciokas – 27, Bike Courier, Old Street, LondonI prefer the West end to the City. In the City there are too many tall

buildings – no sunshine gets through and it’s very cold underneath. CoventGarden and Soho are nice early morning on Saturday and Sunday, not too manytourists. I live near Brick Lane - the Sunday market is nice but mostly it’s barsround there, and I don’t drink.

I was just reading in the paper about people who like to go intoabandoned buildings, just being curious to see what’s inside. When I was a kid Iused to do that with my father. Say this old building over the road, it could be ahuge space inside, with a big basement. There’s not enough freedom to explorebuildings here.

Marco Boettcher- 33, Mechanical Project Engineer, Heathrow T5Architects see themselves too much as artists and too little as

producing something technical. Meetings with architects are always fairly long, there can be crowds

of 10/20 people discussing for hours what a check in desk should look like. Ofcourse the artistic side takes a longer time, and it is important. A technically-correct building doesn’t need to be visually offensive or ugly, but does it reallyneed to take so long?

Architects should spend more time on site- for example, to actuallysee where the service openings are or need to be. Otherwise they design tootheoretically, away from reality.

ANSEWRS TO ARCHIWORD No. 01: Across:1: Play the horses; 8: Riser; 9: Tremolo; 10: Peckham; 2: Avert; 13: Tariff; 15: Prefab; 18: Dress; 19: Quarrel; 21:Rotunda; 22: Odeon; 24: Crystal Palace. Down: 1: Parapet; 2: Ass; 3: Torch; 4: Entomb; 5: Open-air; 6: Spoken for; 7: Scott; 11: Carpentry; 14: Fastnet; 16: Balance;17: Squall; 18: Doric; 20: Agora; 23: Era.

SUPERSEDEDTHE LUBETKIN / TECTON PENGUIN POOL, LONDON ZOOClare Pollard, 27, is a poet, playwright and managing editor of the Idler Magazine

‘Porcupines shuffle in a slightly grubby, drained pit, like breathing ballsof tumbleweed. Stripped of its function, the pool seems as melancholic as a tiger pacing back and forth in the English rain.’

Visiting London Zoo to research my new play, I found a place as full of rare and curious buildings asbeasts. It is quite dramatic how many architectural stylesare crammed into the park, telling the story of radicalchanges in aesthetics, animal rights and the entertainmentindustry over the last century.

The dreary, leaky aquarium contrasts withinventive modern ‘attractions’ such as B.U.G.S – aspiralling insect house full of glass-walled offices, wherestaff in lab-coats pore over experiments and are gawked at like particularly clever apes. The poky cages and low-grade murals of the small mammal house rub up againstcageless ‘urban eco-safaris’ like ‘Meet the Monkeys’,where visitors enter a sealed garden and follow a tree-linedpath, hoping for photo-friendly encounters with thecreatures.

However, whilst the latter may be the future ofanimal housing, the quality of spaces built in the past israising new problems. The beautiful, listed 1934 Lubetkinand Tecton penguin pool, preserved for its bold, modernistlines, has become an embarrassment in the zoo’s nowanimal-centred policy. The penguins, having been movedtemporarily during a refurbishment, were found to be‘happier’ elsewhere and now live in a tiny mock-up of South Africa’s coastline, so specific as to even be scattered with the right type of pebble.

Meanwhile, beneath the (listed) sign ‘PenguinPool’, porcupines shuffle in a slightly grubby, drained pit,like breathing balls of tumbleweed. Stripped of its function,the pool seems as melancholic as a tiger pacing back andforth in the English rain. Whilst it seems right that it hasbeen preserved, it is a shame a use cannot be found for itthat reinvigorates, rather than providing such a powerfulvisual image of obsolescence.

Injection Magazine 2005, 'The Story of a Practice.' [Feature on Design Heroine Architects]

Documents

Transcript of Injection Magazine 2005, 'The Story of a Practice.' [Feature on Design Heroine Architects]