The Architectural Association’s visiting workshop took place once again on 20 and 21 April, with a team of AA tutors conducting half-day sessions of creative teamwork for Instituto de Empresa’s MBA students. The workshop is conducted at IE’s campus in Madrid, where the students are offered a brief exercise in thinking, designing, and making in architectural mode.

The theme for this edition of the workshop was “Anti-Ordinary Urban Furniture”; the challenge: to produce a prototype for an original piece of urban furniture — “prototype” meaning a life-size object made from cheap materials. The object should not be a conventional but rather a unique piece of urban furniture with architectural qualities. The team of AA tutors Christopher Pierce and Christopher Matthews concentrated on a construction method; João Bravo da Costa focused on enclosure.
Using cardboard, cutters, adhesive tape, magazines, markers, and whatever came to hand, the management students were given a taste of a design project — from first ideas to discussion of the final results in 4 hours. Some similarities as well as differences in the work dynamics of management and design eventually emerge, while such skills as creativity, teamwork, and leadership are put to the test.
The IE AA Workshop, together with the AA’s Visiting School in Madrid, is part of an effort to diversify and enhance each school’s education offer and to establish a productive exchange between the disciplines of management and design.

The city of Santarém (80 km northeast of Lisbon) launched an ideas competition for the refurbishment of its bullring and the design of the surrounding area.

João Bravo da Costa and Tiago Simões submitted an entry for a multifunctional urban complex; the site was redesigned to stimulate constant and intensive use, with a focus on the local equestrian culture. To replace the existing, isolated bullring, one large envelope contains a loosely arranged, diverse architectural program.

Presentation booklet - SIL competition 2009 (screen)

Click the link above to view the presentation booklet on screen (text in portuguese).

In recent years, a few urban bullrings in the Iberian Peninsula have been converted into multifunctional venues with attached shopping centers. Spatially, they remain unconnected or indeed incongruous accumulations: an augmented arena plus a standard shopping center.

This proposal is an attempt at a typological reinvention of the outdated bullring. A single envelope is introduced to blend outdoor public space into indoor commercial space and into the events venue in a seamless spatial flow.

Inspired by the local culture of horsemanship and historical examples of equestrian activities in the urban realm, the proposal celebrates those activities (such as horse races and displays of riding skill) which presently do not have a wide public participation, with a view to using the urban space as a showcase of local culture to the world. Conversely, the multipurpose venue would bring a diverse offer of cultural events from the world into Santarém.

The Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture and the Instituto de Empresa (IE) Business School teamed up for an experiment in innovative education. This weekend, a delegation from the AA — including director Brett Steele and tutors João Bravo da Costa, Anne Save de Beaurecueil, Ricardo de Ostos, and Peter Ferreto — conducted an interdisciplinary module, one of the innovations in IE’s new MBA curriculum.

The module consisted of a 6-hour workshop during which MBA students were given architectural design tasks. These tasks served to introduce the business students to the thought and work processes involved in contemporary experimental architecture and were aimed at stimulating innovative ideas, creativity, and teamwork.

The workshops (each of which was led by an AA tutor with the assistance of IE staff and attended by students working in teams) were preceded by an introduction — opened by IE School of Architecture dean Javier Quintana and completed by each of the AA staff, who presented recent investigations of work space design. The importance of how places of work are designed was the guiding theme of the workshop.

The cooperation between the IE and the AA is the result of a common interest in innovation and disruptive learning. By bringing business and design activities closer together, this initiative aimed at developing skills in communication, leadership, critical thinking, and creativity.

Cécile Brisac and João Bravo da Costa presented Diploma Unit 1 at the Architectural Association. Unit 1 is debuting in 2008-2009 as an academic project titled “Real Futures”; this new proposition was introduced during this year’s AA School Unit presentations — one of the events that marks the beginning of the academic year. The tutors gave a summary of Unit 1’s agenda and an overview of their professional background.

The “Real Futures” agenda focuses on studying contemporary urban problems, challenging building typologies, and developing new and usable architectural forms. The academic program advocates a strong connection to practice: the main assignment for students will be to design a large building for the city of Doha, in Qatar. The unit’s program is fueled by an interest in the challenges imposed by context-less rapid urban growth, as seen in Doha.

Cécile Brisac and João Bravo da Costa’s prospective contribution to the AA school is a combination of professional accomplishment and academic ambition.

Cécile Brisac (France, 1969) graduated from the AA in 1995 and went on to found Brisac Gonzalez Architects in 1999. The practice has built on a string of successful competition entries, commissions, and built projects since, including the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, and a concert venue in Aurillac, France.

João Bravo da Costa (Portugal, 1975) graduated from the FAUTL (Lisbon) in 1998 and from the AA’s Design Research Laboratory Master’s program in 2008. Between 1999 and 2006 he worked for the Cie in Amsterdam and for OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) in Rotterdam, where he collaborated on the design for the new urban complex of the Chinese Central Television (CCTV), as well as numerous other architectural projects, urban plans, and exhibition designs.

With Unit 1 the tutors intend to bring into the academic arena some of the main challenges of professional practice; they seek an innovative discourse based on a combination of professionalism and academic invention.

The design features an intricate arrangement of compartments intertwined with open-air spaces, all connected by a path of bridges, stairs, ramps, and an elevator. Nicknamed the “Treasure Box”, the design evokes the elaborate and ingenious curio boxes crafted in China since many years to store and carry precious objects.

The competition was organized by the local government of the Special Administrative Region of Macao, one of the regions of China — alongside Hong Kong and Taiwan — that will be represented at the Expo 2010 by their own pavilions next to the Chinese national pavilion.

Good weather in London encourages more and more passers-by to stop and enjoy the DRL Ten Pavilion. Already an attention-grabber since it was completed in mid-March, it has become a much sought-after spot for a pause on Bedford Square.

The DRL Ten pavilion was once again under the spotlight today at the Architectural Association (AA), on the occasion of a roundtable discussion. The event brought together the project team to share their experiences designing, engineering, fabricating, and building the pavilion.

It was remarked early on that this was the first time that representatives of all the task teams came together around the same table — a sign of the vicissitudes imposed on this initiative by budget struggles, a tight deadline, and a dependence on voluntary work by participants with other obligations. The pavilion was an initiative of the tutors of the Design Research Laboratory, a graduate program within the AA, and counted on the support and commitment of a large group of people.

AA director Brett Steele opened the session explaining the significance of this built experiment and learning experience for the AA school and the DRL in particular. DRL tutor and project coordinator Yusuke Obuchi then gave background information, first about the competition that led to the chosen design, then about the construction process and some of the complications it brought about. Pavilion designer Alan Dempsey followed with a commentary of the design development — particularly the time constraint which limited the refinement of the design. Head engineer Hanif Kara of Adams Kara Taylor placed the pavilion at the focus of his plea to bring architectural education and construction education together. He was followed by Reuben Brambleby and Jugatx Ansotegui (both AKT engineers), who gave accounts of the calculations, testing, and detailing carried out to develop the design. Wolfgang Rieder, owner of the company that manufactured the primary building material (fibreC) presented some of their recent work and current capabilities; he also manifested his enthusiasm for new initiatives such as the DRL Ten Pavilion. Next, site manager Joao Bravo da Costa spoke about the construction process, voicing over a time-lapse video recording that condenses the 5-week site activity into a 6-minute clip. He emphasized the challenges faced by the construction team (essentially a group of students turned building contractor team). This commentary was completed by Max, a current DRL student who took part in the construction.

DRL tutors and pavilion initiators Patrik Schumacher, Theo Spyropoulos, and Tom Verebes added some thoughts and remarks to the discussion, which centered on the role that initiatives like the DRL Ten Pavilion can have in architectural education.

The DRL Ten Pavilion was designed by DRL alumni Alan Dempsey and Alvin Huang, who won a competition initiated by the DRL tutors. It was built by students under the direction of tutor Yusuke Obuchi, with materials donated by Rieder of Austria, and expert support by Adams Kara Taylor engineers, who also contributed financially. Further donations were made by Zaha Hadid Architects, Icon magazine, and others. Philips provided lighting and Reza Nobakht offered surveying services.

The organization of the London Festival of Architectural has announced the DRL Ten Pavilion as part of the selection of buildings to be included in its architectural guide.

The official opening of the AADRL Ten pavilion took place today at the architectural Association. The front members’ room was crowded beyond capacity for a toast to the completion of the built project and a viewing of the DRL Ten exhibition.

Speeches by AA school director Brett Steele and project leader Yusuke Obuchi thanked all parties involved in the project and emphasized the importance of this achievement in the curriculum of the DRL. It is the first time that the graduate program of the AA completes a built project. All the work on-site was carried out by students and tutors. Nevertheless, the pavilion was made possible only with the co-sponsorship and contribution of many parties (see project page for full information).

The DRL Ten exhibition, on display until April, documents a decade of architectural design and research within the studio, as well as work by DRL graduates and tutors.

A large crowd of AA students, faculty, guests, and visitors attended the opening of an exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Design Research Laboratory (AADRL), one of the graduate programs of the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

The exhibition introduces the DRL through images and models of thesis projects. Also on display are significant projects in which DRL graduates took part as practicing architects.

The opening of the AADRL Ten exhibition coincides with the publication of DRL Ten: A Design Research Compendium. The book is an exhaustive showcase of student work as well as ideas, activities, conversations, and writings by DRL graduates, staff, and guests.