A little Austerity + Alof of CAD...

A double dip prompts a reapplication of CAD skills.  

This piece of architectural jewellery was the result of my current exposure to the world of the grid...I see lines in my sleep.

Theatre Of Protest

I've spent the last couple of weeks in preparation for 'Theatre of Protest', which was a response to the many different forms of protest which swept the world in 2011. The series of events held at Camden's Roundhouse and conceived by Kay Ashead,covered the uprisings of the Arab Spring through to the London Riots.

As part of the project I was commisioned to make a film, 'Stones', in collaboration with Simon McCabe and Kay Ashead.

'Stones' was made in the first two weeks of 2012, it comprises web sourced material about the uprisings and footage shot over two storm swept days in London. It draws a line from the Arab Spring to the London riots, linking them with a protester's journey.

The evening comprised, several mainly theatre pieces, presented in workshop form. The commentary on the Arab spring focussed on the treatment of women by the new regimes and culminated in a stunning solo piece written by Kay Ashead and performed by Sarah Niles.

The London student protests and summer riots were addressed by the students of Barking College. Their performances were intelligent, visceral and energetic, incredibly moving, a reminder of what an empowering tool theatre is. Here was a group of 'inner city' kids telling an audience how things are, from their perspective - how often does the adult world really listen? Yet in this space, they were captivated.

The evening at the Roundhouse sold out. It will hopefully be the first of many such Mamma Quilla projects which provide a platform for comment and response to the events shaping our world.

For more about Theatre of Protest the blog:

http://mmqcollective-diaries.blogspot.com/

Remembering Sam Potts 1978 - 2011

This evening I went along to RARA studios for a celebration of the life of Sam Potts. It was an evening of music, thoughtful words and beer, a fitting tribute to Sam, who died recently at home with family in Uganda. It was only two years ago that I met Sam for the first time. However it is not understating things to say the effect of that meeting on me was profound. In the midst of a tough year, in which we had both been made redundant along with many other architect's, Sam's optimism and vision were infectious. It wasn't long before I rented a desk space, in the studios which he co-founded.

I have maintained the space, despite having returned to the world of paid employment, which post banking crisis, is a very different place, filled with the fast moving far eastern projects, that fund much of the profession today...The space at RARA is a reminder of a vision of a very hands on way of practicing and architecture, one closely connected to the people one is creating it for. This was something Sam conveyed a passion for in that first meeting, when I arrived at RARA to interview him for this blog. I turned up, characteristically a little flustered after rushing; Sam was, characteristically, cool - he offered me a beer and we went and sat out by the railway line.

I left that day buoyed up by his sense of fun and positive vision...much needed in 2009.

RARA outlives Sam; this is also a fitting tribute to the spirit of the man.

Discussions On Film at RARA - 2011

So it's all go...Cinema See You Next Tuesday is up and running at RARA and Discussions will hold its first 'season' this July. We're kicking off with some Havana inspired journeys through cities, and then taking a political turn.

Details are now on the 'discussions' blog:

http://discussionsonfilm.blogspot.com/2011/05/postcard-from-havana.html

Look forward to seeing you there for a glass or two, some film and a chat.

...and so...

Metropolitan Journeys from discussions on film on Vimeo.

Extracts from Films Screened at RARA this summer.

...I did find a job...However the time spent out of work has left a residue of exciting projects, which I continue in my reduced free time.

Over the coming months we hope to hold regular screenings, for which we will be creating a little...(and do excuse the over used term) Pop-Up cinema.

One project is a collaboration borne out of the meeting with Sam Potts;
at this year's London Festival of Architecture RARA played hosts to 'Discussions on Film'. There we screened a collection of films inspired by journeys through cities. These were collected from friends, filmmakers whose work I had previously screened, those who had responded to submission calls and also included my own work.

Over the coming months we hope to hold regular screenings, for which we will be creating a little...(and do excuse the over used term) Pop-Up cinema at the warehouse. It will feature screenings by RARA and Discussions on Film respectively...submissions calls will be up on Death By Architecture, Shooting People and other websites...and I suspect we'll be looking for volunteers to help realise the vision. So, well watch this space>>>>>>

Protozoa & Jellyfish

Other projects have included working with Kay Ashead, whose play Protozoa opens, this week at the Jellyfish Theatre - The first ever built out of recycled material...more about that to come.

http:// www.oikosproject.com/

Space for Making

I meet Sam Potts, co-founder of RARA (Redundant Architects Recreational Association). At the organisation’s warehouse on an industrial estate in East London. The unit is filled with the sound of making, of projects in progress.

RARA is a design facility for creatives set up by Sam following redundancy. The project is one of the latest ventures by ELDB (East London Design Bureau), the practice started with friends Joe Swift and Dan Nation after graduating from university. RARA grew out of frustrations with office based design processes and a desire to be proactive about and actively engaged in making.

Prior to being made redundant he had worked at Levitt Bernstein for two years. He had also spent his year out there before embarking on a Barcelona based masters in International Cooperation in Architecture.

As specialists in housing and regeneration his employers were ‘hit hard, making several waves of redundancy’. This meant that by the time it cam to Sam ‘the signs had been on the horizon for a long time’.

The shock of leaving work was therefore mitigated slightly; there had been some time to think. In fact within about three days his mind was ‘spinning with opportunity’. The direction he took followed on from a project for the London Festival of Architecture, which had been undertaken by ELDB. So when he left work he had‘already been doing stuff outside the office for a while’. Redundancy created the space to explore this further.

The project for the festival had been designing and building furniture for an installation called ‘Bop to Architecture’. It was enabled partly because Levitt Bernstein sponsored ELDB’s contribution; allowing them to use the company’s workshop for free. The experience of this project, the opportunity to not only design but build a had made the restrictions of trying to create things without dedicated workshop space acutely apparent. Whilst one can run a desktop business from home, making things presents challenges; ‘obviously you can’t do this in your living room’.

The this experience of working on ‘Bop to Architecture’ was to be the impetus for renting the unit that would become eventually become home to RARA. ‘We found some cheap industrial space and built a mini workshop’. Though the shared facility did not emerge immediately. ‘Initially it began with making things based on a few sketches I had that I wanted to materialise’. However they soon saw the a potential project. ‘After a while we realised that if we stuck our necks out a little bit we could probably rent out the whole of the space and if we were able to manage it, this would create a place that people with the same ambitions or frustrations as us could use as well’.

Thanks to this moment of vision there now exists a fabulous little facility in East London, which is affordable and flexible it what it offers. It is places like this that allow the fertilisation characteristic of recessionary periods to occur. It offers the opportunity to continue developing their way of working. ‘My friends and I were very interested in making things, getting away from the computer, not just for the sake of it; we found there was a lot to be learned from making’. This is why they ‘rented 180sq ft of air’, put some partitions up and gradually created RARA.

We had a feeling in our bones that it was a good idea, we imagined it would run on a non-profit model, a bit like a social enterprise’.

We do a tour of the warehouse, which is ‘low cost and modelled on an architecture school studio’. Indeed it does the have the feel of somewhere that offers the same sort of opportunity; there are desks, spaces and machines for making stuff, drawing, exhibiting; the things a young studio might need to get started.

'...this is a time where ideas are built’

The process of creating RARA and it’s evolution have been illuminating for ELDB, ‘we are attempting to create a sort of club or an association’. The process itself has taken them beyond the typical architect's function. ‘It’s a project which mixes designing a space with being a Landlord and making a manifesto or a direction for a practice'. This Manifesto he says is ‘about grabbing hold of the fact that we are in a recession and that this is a time where ideas are built’. The intention was to ‘create a place where people can do that and maybe bump into others with whom they can create future practices of their own’.

I wonder how he thinks the experience of doing this will affect his future practice as an architect? He thinks he'll be a lot more hands on and have more input from the start of projects, maybe making them happen. Something he feels should be more common. 'Architects should start off a lot earlier in the process, identifying the need and then finding finance for it and building it’. These ideas come in part out of the Masters Sam did in Barcelona. Its philosophy was to 'go into situations that were developing, in the broadest sense, so maybe a post conflict or regeneration situation' and engage in the process from the early stages. 'We studied on some large estates in Barcelona, we travelled to Sarajevo and I did my thesis in Uganda, in a refugee camp’. This proactive energy to effect change in the urban context seems exciting to me, however, though it may be possible in developing countries to identify a need and build quickly in response, what about a place like London where legal structures and frameworks mean that architectural production happens in a very restricted way? He thinks it is ‘up to the architect to change that', to initiate potential projects in response to particular contexts and 'work with local authorities’ to achieve the desired outcome. 'It’s up to the architect to, dare I say it, to become a bit of a developer'.

For Sam Recession has allowed him not only to think about but test, in microcosm, entrepreneurial models and ways of practicing. Hopefully this will also be the beginning of an exciting hub which will foster the creativity of others.