Modelmaking in the Digital Age Symposium Videos: Dr. Milena Stavric, TU Graz, Austria

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“If you’re really involved in the design process and in fabrication process you can link both of these things and then students can see that everything is part of architecture. Everything is really as one. There is no segregation and that’s something that for us is really important”

In our fourth presentation of the day Dr Stavric of TU Graz brought an insight from architectural education in Austria. Dr Stavric presents a range of teaching techniques that revolve around making and the idea of un-concious learning when making.

There is an interesting argument here for the compulsory use of a foundation year of making and software learning before students are deemed skilled enough to advance to more advanced architectural briefs.

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Modelmaking in the Digital Age Symposium Videos: James Smith, Amalgam Modelmaking Ltd

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“As commercial modelmakers we look at all the options available to us to make sure that we’re making the best model for the client’s money. I think this is what makes modelmaking companies like ourselves a bit different than the generic 3d printing bureau who will just be pushing this one method.

When you come to a commercial modelmakers that does a lot of things under one roof they can advise you on the best way to do something rather than just saying this is the way to do it”

The profession of modelmaking exists outside of the walls of architecture in almost every creative field you can think of. Amalgam Modelmaking Ltd in Bristol prides itself on being able to take on as many of these projects as it can handle. James Smith, Head of Architectural Modelmaking at Amalgam, explains how the wide array of skills under one roof has helped them to meet commercial demands no matter what the requirement. James’ insight from the middle of  the architect/client relationship is provides a facinating and often overlooked viewpoint of the process.

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Modelmaking in the Digital Age Symposium Videos: Ken Grix, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

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I’m not a trained modelmaker. I was a qualified Architect when I started and at first I felt a little like a fish out of water until I realised you could make models do whatever you want. It’s more like an art sometimes, especially when you’re working with concept models than an actual process of representation Ken Grix

In the second of our presentations from Modelmaking in the Digital Age in-house modelmaker and architect Ken Grix talks through his approach to modelmaking at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios in Bath. The relationship between the studio and workshop environment is considered integral to the design process at FCB and Ken’s projects clearly convey this.

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Modelmaking in the Digital Age Symposium Videos: Professor Nick Dunn

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“We often, in a good way – don’t know what we’re doing. We don’t know what the possibilities may be which is why making a model can be very productive. […] They explore a journey. They tell us things that we didn’t necessarily know and we can get surprised sometimes by what’s produced. These are part of a narrative behind the design that becomes very very important.” – Professor Nick Dunn

Our first speaker at Modelmaking in the Digital Age was Professor Nick Dunn who currently works at ImaginationLancaster and was a former lecturer here at MSA. Professor Dunn opened the talks by explaining as he puts it ‘the archaeology of application’ of architectural models.

For those unsure about the origins and development of architectural models as tools Professor Dunn provides a fascinating insight here.

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Modelmaking in the Digital Age Symposium Videos: Introduction from Dr Raymond Lucas

“Modelmaking is one of these core activities within architecture and it’s something that we often take for granted. It’s a key way of us actually exploring what it means for us to produce architecture” – Dr Raymond Lucas

On March 9th we hosted a day long symposium on the theme of Modelmaking within architecture and how its role has changed from the different perspectives in which it takes place. The presentations and debates from the day were recorded in full and we are pleased to able to present them here to all who were unable to attend or have an interest in the field.

The event was chaired by Head of Architecture at the University of Manchester Dr. Raymond Lucas who, in our first video explains the key areas in question.

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Thank you to all who took part and supported Modelmaking in the Digital Age

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Just a quick message to everyone who came to speak and helped us make yesterday’s symposium event possible. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and everyone was extremely positive about our approach to modelmaking and it’s future in architecture.

In all we had 90+ registered guests from a variety of backgrounds all with a shared interest of the subject. Thank you for all your support, it means a lot.

The event was full of interesting presentations and discussions that we are hopeful will lead to further expansion and future events orientated around the subject of how we use models in architecture.

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Syposium Pics (8)

We will be uploading footage of the event for those who missed it in the coming months so stay tuned for those.

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Many thanks to all again – we can’t thank you enough!

Scott and Jim

Modelmaking in the Digital Age Symposium Running Order

We are happy to announce the following guide to our Symposium ‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age‘ taking place this Monday 9th March.

These time serve as a guide and we will endeavour to stick to them but expect some under and overrun due to the amount of material we are trying to fit into the day.

Registration is now for the symposium is now closed.

09.00 Tea and Coffee available in the foyer
9.30 Chair Dr Ray Lucas Intro
9.45-10.30 Nick Dunn
10.30-11.15 Ken Grix
11.15-12.00 James Smith
12.00 Morning Summary and open Q+A
12.30 – 13.45 Lunch break / Exhibition and Workshop open to visitors
13.45 Welcome Back
14.00 – 14.45 Milena Stavric 
14.45 – 15.30 Foster and Partners
15.30- Closing Address and Q+A
Vacate Theatre by 16.00
Look forward to seeing you all on Monday!
Scott and Jim

Dr Raymond Lucas to Chair ‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age’ Symposium

We are very pleased to announce that our own Dr Raymond Lucas will be our chair speaker for ‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age‘ taking place on March 9th. Ray will be introducing and overseeing the converse of our day to help get the insights we all want to get from our fantastic group of visiting speakers.

Dr Lucas has recently been appointed as Head of Architecture in Humanities at the University of Manchester and as such will have a close relationship with our workshop activities in future.

His involvement teaching at MSA and research with the Manchester Architectural Research Centre (MARC) however has been ongoing for the last 4 years so Ray is well versed in the active role our cause plays for our students.

rlucasDr Lucas describes he teaching role as part of Manchester School of Architecture:

I teach in the Manchester School of Architecture in a variety of roles.  

In the recent past, this has included teaching in studio and coordinating the humanities for the undergraduate BA in Architecture.  I have worked closely with colleagues across institutions in developing the humanities curriculum, teaching and coordinating the following courses: Architectural History: Epochs; Architectural History: Paradigms; Architecture & Observation/Graphic Anthropology; Agenda Building; World Urbanism.  Further to this, I have taught in the postgraduate studios Continuity in Architecture and Intimate Cities and supervised a number of postgraduate dissertations.

The teaching ethos of humanities in MSA is important, and involves a close integration of the various humanities disciplines with design studio.  Humanities in architecture is relevant to the process of design, be that in determining the survey and understanding of a site; understanding the context of a place, typology, practice or material; or as precedents which can inform today’s architectural practice.  The second part of this teaching ethos is to deliver current research to students as much as possible.  Whilst maintaining the structure of a foundation in architectural history and theory, it is important to move beyond the classicist surveys of the past and to exploit the wide range of contemporary research being conducted in Manchester School of Architecture both within MARC and our MMU colleagues.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Foster + Partners Join B.15:45 ‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age’ Symposium

We are pleased to announce that Foster + Partners will be joining our ‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age’ Symposium taking place on March 9th.

As one of the biggest architectural practices in the world, this presentation from Foster + Partners will add an insight into the ever present use of architectural modelmaking in projects taking place worldwide.

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Additional speakers from Foster + Partners will be:

Gregor_CorpGregor Anderson, Associate Partner at Foster + Partners and manager of the in-house Rapid Prototyping Facility. Gregor studied at the Royal College Of Art where he focused his research on all forms of digital manufacturing. On graduating, he was a key member in the development of Rapidform, the RCA’s in house additive manufacturing unit. In 2008 he moved to UCL to set up and run The Digital Manufacturing Centre in the Bartlett School of Architecture, before joining Foster + Partners in 2011.

Ed Bartlett
Ed Bartlett, Associate and Modelshop CAD Support Manager at Foster + Partners. Ed joined the practice in 2008 after graduating from the Arts University Bournemouth, where he studied Modelmaking for Design and Media, specialising in computer-aided design. He now heads up a team of CAD specialists within the practice, working on a wide variety of projects around the world.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age’ Symposium, 9th March 2015

B.15:45 Presents….

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As part of our continued look at the role of Modelmaking in Architecture we are very pleased to announce our upcoming symposium event: Modelmaking in the Digital Age

The day will comprise of a series of talks and discussions around the subject of modelmaking in architecture, in particular the impact the introduction of digital tools has had on the approach to making and learning with models.

Registration for the symposium has now closed.

Confirmed Speakers for the event are:

Ken Grix, Architect and Modelmaker at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Bath. Since 1999 Ken has been both the inspiration behind and creator of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios’ concept models, design process models and presentation models. He became a Partner of the company in 2012, and the following year he achieved the great honour of winning the Lend Lease/AJ Grand Award for Architecture at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2013 for his concrete concept models of the Festival Wing, Southbank.

Dr. Milena Stavric, studied Architecture at the University of Belgrade where she also received her PhD. Since 2004 she has worked at the Graz University of Technology, Austria. Author of Architectural Scale Models in the Digital Age: Design, Representation and Manufacture.

James Smith, Director and Head of Architectural Modelmaking at Amalgam Models, Bristol. James joined Amalgam in 2000 having gathered model making experience across the UK for several years, followed by 3 years based in  Barcelona where he managed many high profile architectural projects. James became a Director at Amalgam in 2008.

Professor Nick Dunn, Professor of Urban Design at Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts.Previously studied and taught at the Manchester School of Architecture, Author of the international best selling book, Architectural Modelmaking.

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Gregor Anderson, Associate Partner at Foster + Partners and manager of the in-house Rapid Prototyping Facility. Gregor studied at the Royal College Of Art where he focused his research on all forms of digital manufacturing. On graduating, he was a key member in the development of Rapidform, the RCA’s in house additive manufacturing unit. In 2008 he moved to UCL to set up and run The Digital Manufacturing Centre in the Bartlett School of Architecture, before joining Foster + Partners in 2011.

Ed Bartlett

Ed Bartlett, Associate and Modelshop CAD Support Manager at Foster + Partners. Ed joined the practice in 2008 after graduating from the Arts University Bournemouth, where he studied Modelmaking for Design and Media, specialising in computer-aided design. He now heads up a team of CAD specialists within the practice, working on a wide variety of projects around the world.

rlucasThe event will be chaired by our own Dr Raymond Lucas. Dr Lucas has recently been appointed as Head of Architecture in Humanities at the University of Manchester and as such will have a close relationship with our workshop activities in future. His involvement teaching at MSA and research with the Manchester Architectural Research Centre (MARC) however has been ongoing for the last 4 years so Ray is well versed in the active role our cause plays for our students.

The event will be held on March 9th in the Cordingley Lecture Theatre here at the University of Manchester’s Humanities Bridgeford Street Building. Presentations will begin at 09.30am and will continue throughout the day with Q & A sessions and general discussions around the subject concluding no later than 16.00.

Further updates to the event will be posted here leading up to the event.

Tickets are no longer Available

Registration for the symposium is now closed.

For those who have registered We’ll see you on Monday!