Tag Archives: London

Visiting London Architecture School Shows

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There have been a great range of Architecture school shows this past month some of which we have been able to visit to see what the rest of the world is offering in architectural education. This has proved very interesting and in some ways reassuring in our approach to making at MSA.

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The graduate show at Westminster gave a really good balance of processes and materials in their model work.

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Over at the Architectural Association the projects were heavily focussed on exploring CAD driven potential in their designs. There were a great selection of structural studies and organic forms. It was good to see such a wide variety of processes being used to develop the projects here with things often being made out of everyday and seemingly unorthodox materials such as scouring pads and liquorice!

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At The Bartlett show each graduate display was vast. The mix of graphic and making media on show here was immense. Despite the scale of it all I felt that there was a lot of money misused here with huge sets of models produced entirely using 3D printing on an industrial scale.

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The show was stunning but overall I felt it was much more a case of money over well considered decisions in terms of making and being waste conscious. That said I’d recommend anyone go to visit these shows in future to see the range of things produced and consider your own approach to getting the results you want. The quality of a display can look crisp, enticing and impressive but the real value of it for you as a student should be in the quality of your design and your ability to effectively convey it.

You don’t need an excess of money to do this. It takes planning and careful consideration of your aims.

Scott

Grand Designs Live, ExCel, London

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Yesterday myself and Jim travelled down to London to visit the Grand Designs Live show at ExCel. The show presents hundreds of suppliers from various design industries inspired by the hit TV series. Of particular interest to us was the use of models as sales pieces for show participants. This was not limited to scaled down architectural pieces but full size 1:1 constructions and prototype details. Throughout the day we were able to meet a variety of people and spread the word about the workshop, this blog and the courses we are involved with here in Manchester.

Several weeks ago we posted about the dwelle project that was completed in the workshop. This project was and continues to be very successful for dwelle in demonstrating the construction behind their eco house design. The model made a starring appearance at the show next to the Grand Theatre which hosts many design related lectures over 10 days.

As well as visiting ExCel we stopped by at the V & A to have a quick look at their Architecture gallery. The gallery features a good selection of model types and styles and is well worth a visit if you are in the area.