ARCHITECTURE

  This manifesto is not an easy one for me to write. My upbringing has been quite different to most others. In many ways I do not think that I have much to write about when it comes to facing adversities. I have been blessed with amazing opportunities and experiences and I am thankful for everything I have, but it is difficult to write about stuff where I do not have any experience of it. Coming from a Christian background I have always been brought up with the value of “love your neighbour as yourself”. This points towards the idea of equality, acceptance, respect. These are points I want to discuss in my manifesto. Living in Oxford my whole life I know there is a huge problem with so many people being homeless. When I was in year 10, we did a charity fundraiser where we raised money for the homeless in Oxford. We turned off the heating, the electricity, hot water and all electronics were handed in for 24 hours. This was in winter so it was pretty cold without heating. We ate ve...

 RIBA 2022 London Awards Winners: my opinion on a few (Part 2) Continuing on for my post yesterday, these are my final 2 and my opinions on them. Kiln Place by  Peter Barber Architects This is a cooperative housing scheme in the London Borough of Wandsworth. This housing scheme is stunning and actually looks very inviting as well as modern. I think it's a great housing scheme and is very impressive. Things I like about the design: I really like the use of basements to create access to outdoor areas for people to use. I also think the aesthetics of are beautiful and compliment the surroundings. I think the way they are layered and put together almost blocks put on top of each other is great design. I think the balconies as well that are on the build is really interesting. The use of glass inside and on the exterior makes it feels spacious and bright. The contractor's were able to vary the interiors to what the client wanted which allows each one to have it's own specific fin...

 RIBA 2022 London Awards Winners: my opinion on a few On the 5th of May RIBA announced the London Award Winners. I think there is some spectacular architecture being designed and constructed at the moment with some of the most innovative architects being located in London. As a first year architect I believe it is imperative that I look at the current architecture being constructed in one of the most diversely architectural cities in the world. It was a list of 42 buildings with a huge range of buildings including schools and council housing. I have selected 4 buildings to comment on in two separate posts  some of which I had looked at before when they had first been written about. Plumstead Centre by  Hawkins\Brown This a very impressive building is located in Greenwich. It is a centre for the public to use that contains two libraries one for adults and one for kids, as well as a gym and a badminton court. There is also a cafe and two large studios for people to use for ...

 Norman Foster: The rebuild of Ukraine Norman Foster has come out and said he wants to help rebuild Ukraine's cities. Having discussed previously how Ukraine will rebuild after this catastrophic war. Norman Foster and Partners have put together a plan for the rebuild for Kharkiv. Working with the "best planning, architectural, design and engineering skills in the world" he aims to rebuild the city having met the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekho. Having written a manifesto on what he would want out to create, he pitched to the mayor his master plan on how he would do it.  Foster has been thoughtful about making sure it is still related to Ukraine by using the talented architects and designers of Ukraine. Combining them and the expertise of Norman Foster and Partners and others around the world. The project should be successful in creating the infrastructure and buildings for the city. It will also boost the economy brining back jobs for people. However Ukrainian architect Ba...

 Modular capsule homes: A way to create housing for the homeless? Every week I receive  an email of stuff happening in the architecture world. Something that caught my eye was the demolition of the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. At the time I was also considering my manifesto idea, I wanted to write about how to create housing for the homeless. Seeing this and the pictures of the capsules gave me some ideas for how this housing could be created. I love how they would be modular as well. Although the interior is very ugly I thought the use of a circular window to let light in was ingenious. I think that there is an opportunity to take inspiration from this original design and integrate into the future designs for small housing for the homeless.  Other examples include two homeless housing projects in LA which have inspired my manifesto. I like the idea of bringing together these ideas that could change the world for many people. I believe combining the interior of the Nak...

  Accountability in Architecture The world I would say is lacking in accountability. Not many of us enjoy being wrong in life especially things we think we know well. The most recent example of this would have been the Downing Street Parties, where the evidence of parties happening was too much for the police not to follow it up. However the Prime Minister and colleagues will not take accountability for their actions. In the same way architects may not take accountability for a poor design. I believe being able to hold your hands up and go yeah I made a mistake is a characteristic which is greatly admired. But also from there being able to say r ight how do I correct that mistake. In the architectural profession, accountability is huge, for example when a client does like your design, accountability could look like "yes I chose to do this because... I believe this would aid the design because...", instead of going "well this is what you asked for" or something along...

Climate change and architecture   Architecture has a huge role in the future of climate change. I believe it is imperative that we start to make a difference now. The climate is worsening at a rapid rate and it is scary how quick it is changing. The future is partially in the hands of architects. The use of new technology and old can make a drastic change. I think the future of the climate technology is huge and there's huge opportunity for the architecture profession to use it.  One of my favourite pieces of technology that I would be looking forward to using is the tesla solar tile. It is a solar tile which looks like normal roofing tiles. I believe it's an ingenious way to create a slick aesthetic for the roof instead of having ugly solar panels.  I think other ways architecture can make a change is to use low carbon materials such as steel, but also using concrete which reuses aggregate. The development of materials so they have no embodied carbon. There has been...

Problems that Architects can (and need) to Solve  In a world where there are constant problems how can architects help solve a few of them. A lot of my blogs have been about helping other people and this one is no different. I think that architects have a huge opportunity to do a lot of good in the world. I want to see architects have a stronger say in the world and even more influence in the world. One of the biggest problems is the housing crisis. This is something I discussed in my essay. The state of the housing market is horrific, house prices are rising and so is the cost of energy at the moment. This makes owning a house even more expensive. Therefore people are unable to afford housing. But how can architects make a difference and help this crisis? I believe there are possibilities to make low cost housing which includes using cheaper alternatives when it comes to materials. Something I discussed in my essay was the use of buildings that are no longer wanted. Instead of kno...

 Architecture and Beyond (week 2) This week I want to discuss the Ukraine situation. I think for me it is getting more and more scary. Speaking to my dad mid week for him it has been very interesting. He works in pharmaceuticals, and currently there are a lot of difficulties. First of all some of his team members are in Ukraine and are having to take cover or have been able to flee. As a company they have given away all their product that is in Ukraine to help anyone. But one of the most difficult decisions they are having to make is should they do business in Russia. With many companies deciding not to trade Russian products and not to send products to Russia. Over 330 companies have either withdrawn or suspended action in Russia. Now it's difficult from where my dad is sat as the company don't want to be seen as supporting Russia but they also provide a life changing treatment. On top of that restrictions on flying to Russia has made it difficult to fly products in.  On top ...

 Gender and Identity: Does space have gender or sexual identity. This weeks lecture was from Phevos Kallitis on gender and identity. This is a topic that I don't have the understanding I would like to have. I grew up in a Christian home where the bible teaches Man and Woman. As well as teaching on gender it also teaches on sexuality. I find the idea of there being more than one gender hard to get my head around having always been around people who would say they were either man or woman. However I have more understanding on sexuality as I know many more people who choose to identify as a different sexuality. I found the tea break very interesting especially the stuff about gender. I think from the tea break though I found the development of how kitchen's were designed in a time when the view was women should be working in the kitchen and stay at home. However I think we should have looked less at the past and more how can we change it in the future. Spaces need to change to be ...