ARCHITECTURE AS AN INSTRUCTION-BASED ART – HARVARD UNIVERSITY EXHIBITION
SEPTEMBER 2024
An exhibition has opened at the Druker Design Gallery at Harvard University titled ‘Architecture as an Instruction-Based Art’. The exhibition is a selection of drawings which are used to coordinate the process of construction, that is, drawings which reflect the nature of architecture as an “instruction-based” art. We selected a drawing from our International Rugby Experience project in Ireland that shows the complex co-ordination and layering of construction from ceiling to roof level. Here each bay of the sculptural ceiling transitions upwards from an expansive oculus aligned with the building axes, twisting through 20 degrees to accommodate eye-shaped north-facing skylights and bespoke solar shades at roof level.
The exhibition has been curated by the Farshid Moussavi and runs until the 15th October. More information can be found on the Harvard website here.
BALLIOL FACADE TRIP
APRIL 2017
We are working on new student residential buildings for Balliol College, Oxford. As part of the detailed design development we have been working with a façade sub-contractor based in Belgium, and recently made a visit to their manufacturing factories. The itinerary for the day – a design workshop, a factory tour and a review of samples. Lots of coffee after an early Eurostar, and a good lunch.
There had been several similar design workshops before; where gathered around the meeting table, sketches were scattered as we questioned the architectural intent and the construction details equally. Brick samples sat in front of us, books piled up with precedents opened, past project drawings and models pulled out for reference. How to compose the language to create a calm and unified façade across the site. The engineers, the architects, the craftsmen who will build the façade.
These sorts of discussion are an aspect of everyday practice, and incredibly valuable part of the process – marrying the conversations of design aspiration with the actual making of. The bricks and mortar that see the architecture delivered from the paper to the physical form.