Architects - Social network / forum

Sterling Prize list looks interesting this year!

part 2 from the states here!

Part 2 myself. You might have heard of it, mostly US-based, but they are beginning to raise their profile in the UK by sponsoring events and stuff.

http://www.architizer.com

All I need to do now is get a job!

Haha!! Did not see this thread before!

I don't remember who said this one:

"L'architecture sera vivante quand on aura pendu le dernier architect avec les tripes du dernier urbaniste!"

In english (sorry, this is my approximate translation):

"Architecture will be revived when the last architect has been hanged by the guts of the last town planner!"

Loic

Brilliant - a list of people I can put straight onto ignore...

:)

Hello Architects,

Anyone know anyone who can do good stuff making small houses into bigger ones? Looking to have some plans drawn up for some work,

Thank you very much

Jenny J

who wants a bigger place

I can make big houses into small ones...

Making small houses bigger:

If you have a garden you can have an extension.
If you have an empty attic you can have a loft conversion.
If you have high ceilings you can put in a mezzanine.

If you live in a flat on an upper floor you have to knock a hole through to the neighbours flat and take it over by force.. ;-)

Post or PM some more details about what you are thinking about (size, budget etc) and I can probably point you in the right direction

Making small houses bigger:

If you have a garden you can have an extension.
If you have an empty attic you can have a loft conversion.
If you have high ceilings you can put in a mezzanine.

wow. insightful stuff!

Fuck the Bartlett. It's an art school, NOT an architecture school.

hehe... didnt you go to north london? where alot of the units are run by bartlett graduates or cross over teaching staff (who taught you!)? sounds a bit like a touched nerve...

Not sure about the bargepole accusation either, but if you mean the big archifactories dont pick them as robot cad operators, im sure most of the current students will sleep well at night. Also those pesky industry surveys tend to contradict that claim...

I can make big houses into small ones...

can you make small houses out of nothing, as that's on my list of stuff-to-do?

@ JoshScott187

Lol, it absolutely is a touched nerve! The architectural profession is fucked enough without the meandering, pseudo-intellectual, self-aggrandising pomp of schools like the Bartlett further removing their students from reality. Yes I went to London Met, where I met a similar set of ivory tower-dwelling egotists, but at least its [the school's] heart is in the right place.

The (intended?) irony of your comment regarding 'archifactories' is that they do go straight to places like the bartlett to pick up graduates. Most Bartlett students I know of went to work at very large practices; it must be tough going from years of making self-metabolising tree houses made from fictional building components to compiling drainage schedules for banal office buildings.

By the way, I'm not having a dig at the students, I just think the whole system and its hopeless, drawn-out training needs a complete overhaul. It barely even leaves graduates with a saleable trade, just a drummed-in sense of blind dedication fueled by false ideas about the greater good. End of rant.

... sounds a bit like a touched nerve...

ouch... in these times of austerity, i am just happy to have a job tbh, despite a massive pay cut two years ago, a very slow recovery and glad i don't work for Zaha's next door to us!!

so many of my friends and ex-colleagues are out of work right now..

+1 to SP he is spot-on.

my daughter wants to study architecture, hopefully glasgow, manchester or oxford brooks, if she is brave enough maybe even germany, which has a very robust approach.

I went to the Bartlett.

Hello Architects,

Anyone know anyone who can do good stuff making small houses into bigger ones? Looking to have some plans drawn up for some work,

Thank you very much

Jenny J

who wants a bigger place

I hear BRM is good at this. He just walks into a house, and bam, it's bigger. :)

@almac68

It's a long time ago now but I studied Arch at Ox Brookes in the mid 90's and thought it was excellent. Strangely very few people stayed on for Diploma though - most ended up at the London schools.. Brights Lights and all that I guess..

^ thanks for the PMs in response to my request you guys.

@hms

best grads to pass through the intership at my previous practice were from oxford brookes, nottingham, manchester, cardiff and glasgow..

mind you the manchester lot didn't have a coloured pencil between them and their hand drawn work looked inspired by Lowry lol

ps i hate it when a grad comes to an interview and their portfolio is full of slick 3d visuals,
no personality at all in there work.. no sketches, no handwriting = must be a robot or a cad monkey :(

I went to Manchester for BArch, it was great. Good facilities, good tutors and a strong cohort. The course administration on the whole was fairly shambolic but it had its advantages at times. Being part of both Manchester and Man Met unis mean you get an amazing pool of resources, both facilities and research-wise. Not so sure about the B.A. course though as undergraduates don't get proper studios so they are barely used. Plus Manchester is a boss city.

Almac, got any jobs going per chance? :)

not recruiting at the moment sorry p_a_t we have landed some work though at battersea station and docklands. manchester (main) office might be recruiting. everything is word of mouth these days, the agencies are feeling it..

get yourself linkedin. find me at Ian Simpson Architects.. :)

SP- I guess it all relates to what you want out of architecture. A technicians course would have enabled you to bypass all the areas you disliked. Technical knowledge is accumulated over time (full career) and its constantly changing. The ability to think creatively and approach a project in a unique way is a valuable skill and much harder to teach retrospectively. Just a glance at the really sharp UK practices (small/medium) shows they hail from these backgrounds. The education system seems to work as they are the ones producing the beautifully custom detailed projects rather than specifying warrantied systems from a catalogue of approved suppliers.

Also the role of an architect extends far beyond the graphic and technical skills. See many directors doing curtain walling packages? Being equipped to sell yourself and generate ideas/projects is becoming more critical as everyone is pinched by the economy and courses have to reflect this. Most graduates take themselves with a pinch of salt and are well aware of their weaknesses...

well said joshscott187..

having sound technical knowledge underpins any good design.

I do project management for high end builds in central London - if you want to make cash go down the interior design route, those guys are creaming it in at the moment, and most of my clients appoint the ID first, with the ID usually recommending an Architect.

A lot of them are charging around the 30% of total build cost, which on most of my projects means they are making hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As to the value of Interior Designers, thats a whole other discussion, but it seems that a one year course at the Inchbald and a couple of clients in Knightsbridge is a quick way to being a millionaire these days.

I work with a lot of good Architechts if anyone want some recommendations.

Hah.. I've just clocked on to this thread..
quite a funny read.

Definately Pro-Bartlett. Assuming everyone is in Clerkenwell / Farringdon area we could meet up and bitch about shit all lunch long.

^^ i agree

Worst part about my Part 2 course was an almost complete lack of technical discussion.