BSc ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY

BSc ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY combines specialism in the technological, environmental, material and detailing decisions necessary to solve architectural design problems, from concept, through research and design development, to completion. It requires complex understanding of design processes, architectural composition, design development, construction technology and management tools, and the effective communication of technical design information.

In the Architectural Technology studio this year, 1st Year students were introduced to the developmental process of design through a live project, meeting Clients, visiting site and responding to a domestic brief for a Caretaker residence at a Forest School in Lewisham. The 2nd Year students engaged in a community project to reduce food waste in Deptford, South East London, with airtightness a driving focus. 3rd Year students saw a successful bid to the University's ArCCAT Green Fund grant to work on a recycled plastic furniture design collaboration with Brazilian social enterprise Pedra Furada Transformation Workshop, leading to a multi-functional set of large-scale buildings for research, development and retail, on a complex urban block site in Bermondsey, South London.

2nd Year studio is a component of two parts: the design process, (site analysis and research of precedents, development of organisational considerations and sketch development leading to Planning Application stage) and the technical report (digital software skills, technical research, technical sketch development and technical resolutions to elements of the building section.) The second year studio works in synopsis with the Technologies of Architecture module incorporating experimental model making and physical understanding of construction, with passive design theory and strategies explored throughout, leading to testing and analysis of individual designs in the context of the site.

3rd Year is broken down into 3 stages:

Research

Initial research is key, in both Semester One and Two, in order to understand any constraints that might follow from the site, building use, and Client. In Semester Two, technical aspects of the progressive design are investigated, including construction materials and structural considerations. Architectural and technical precedent research lead to an analysis of existing buildings and technologies relevant to the design project.

Development

With a clear understanding of the design task from the research phase, students go on to develop individual designs and technical solutions. Sketches, physical models, 3D visualisations, and digital models are produced in order to progress ideas and as an aid to weekly discussions with lecturers, visiting Architectural Technologists, Architects and other students.

Realisation

Architectural design and construction are collaborative endeavours, even more so as new technologies are introduced, and in response to the Climate Crisis. Adopting and embedding the Westminster Climate Action Network’s design strategy guidelines, communication (particularly visual communication,) is of the utmost importance and students must graduate with the ability to sketch ideas and concepts, construct physical and digital models, and produce technical drawings and specifications.



Architectural Technology students have benefitted from a range of extra-curricular activities over this academic year, including CoProduction workshops with medical students from Imperial College, work experience in architectural practices, technical studies lectures and a field trip to Oxford - all of which have enriched a thoroughly busy and productive year to be celebrated!

The studio aims to scaffold students' essential architectural design skills through workshops and lectures. Students produced an individual illustration essay about the architecture that inspired them in the first semester. Then in the second semester, they design a small dwelling with a site context. Students were taken on a local walking tour, seeing Walter Segal's self-built houses, Richard Roger's Ladywell Place pre-fabricated social housing, Owen Luder's Catford Centre and the neighbouring buildings, aiming to be inspired by the area's creative and community history. The small dwelling project was a keyworker house proposed in the newly established forest school in the St Mary Primary School, Lewisham. The site was a small landlocked land within the residential and community buildings. Students were requested to respond to this small, complex, overshadowed site by constructing a dwelling to add positive spatial and functional quality to the forest school. What was on the site, and what would the students retain? Where would this gatekeeper's house be placed on this site, and how does this coexist and contribute to the quality of the student's study? Did the site constraints form the architecture and programme? Did the student respond to the brief playfully, poetically, and logically? What will be preliminary sustainable, spatial, materiality and structural approaches? Many questions would need to be unlocked, setting the exciting beginning for the student's archit

AT2’s design brief this year involved a local community fridge project, aiming to reduce food waste and support community initiatives. An initial meeting with the founder of Hawkhurst Community Fridge allowed students to expand their brief to meet stakeholder needs and design a medium-scale project to house flexible spaces for community use, on a former industrial site in Deptford, South East London. In synopsis with the Technologies of Architecture 2 module, students sought to understand the principles of airtightness within their designs, building on a series of theory lectures delivered by Research Associate Krista Zvirgzda, and a practical workshop from a manufacturer of air and windtight building envelope materials. Physical models were then tested to analyse performance in line with the passive design strategy employed.

This year we have again focused on sustainability, specifically the problem of plastic pollution and plastic recycling and recycling and the circular economy. With reference to the UN Sustainable Development Goal’s (consideration of peoples and communities at a global scale, as well as the environment). Students were asked to design 3 objects in an ascending scale, an item of furniture, a temporary / demountable structure and a research, development and manufacturing facility where products which utilise recycled materials could be developed, produced and sold. The common theme for all three projects - how to facilitate the transformation of an economically valueless material into something of high value and in so doing mitigating damage to the environment and promote social and global justice.

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