The building and construction industry has to change. It’s clear that our small planet simply can’t sustain our current destructive approaches forever. As architects, designers and builders we have a huge opportunity to take action, but how to do so?
In Unit 17 we explore how we can fundamentally shift our existing processes. We seek to combine the tangible and material with the aspirational and hopeful. In the Unit we have a backbone of reality, understanding how our buildings are made and who they are being made for. We explore historical low-tech construction methods, such as stone, earth, and timber, adapting these existing processes to future uses. This is fused with visionary investigation of new materials and processes that might not be used in practice yet.
This year Unit 17 explored buildings over time. We considered past, present and future. Where do the materials come from, how are they processed, how do they perform and what happens once its current use is over? We are interested in the temporary vs permanent, organic vs synthetic. Proposals seek to envision worlds where the fusion of people and our material world is not just an after through but is rich and rewarding.
Lee Fox
Matthew Brooker, Kaja Hayes & Shiyu Jin
The MArch Architecture is a two-year full-time or three-year part-time programme offering exemption from ARB/RIBA Part 2. It combines rigorous professional training with creative and speculative design exploration. In the first year, students join a themed design unit to undertake a creative building design project combined with a technical and professional report. In the second year, students pursue a comprehensive speculative architectural design project, and an in-depth theoretical thesis tailored to their personal interest. The programme fosters independent thinking, innovation, theoretical and technical excellence, preparing graduates for advanced architectural practice and ongoing professional development in a dynamic global context. See further details on our prospectus page.
