The third year of the BA programme offered our students the opportunity to experiment with a wide range of urban and architectural tools, while working on ‘live’ projects. This year’s two design studio modules, ‘Sustainable Urban Intervention’ and ‘Architectural Design’ drew inspiration from the current collaboration between our School and Medway council and focused on the fascinating area of ‘Chatham Intra’. Lined with high-quality historic buildings, the high street of Chatham Intra has lost much of its original frontage, while redundant industrial structures and large-scale modern buildings cut it from the riverfront. In the autumn term, the students analysed this area, and developed new masterplans that seek to infuse new life into the declining high street, reconnecting it with the river and the adjacent areas of Chatham, Rochester, and the Royal Dockyard. Focusing on the design of new urban spaces that enhance the coherence and continuity of the city, this project paved the way for the detailed design of new buildings during the ‘Architectural Design’ module in the spring term.  

 

‘Architectural Design’ gave the students the opportunity to develop new models of community-led service provision and design a building that can support such models. Starting from the identification of innovative services related with the themes of ‘Education’, ‘Wellbeing’, ‘Culture’ and ‘Work’, the students analysed how these services are delivered and demonstrated their benefits for local social groups. This set the basis for the detailed design of new buildings and urban spaces which, according to the module’s brief, needed to be innovative, experimental, affordable, inclusive, user-centred, and sustainable. 

 

Alongside the above design studio modules, our third-year students had the opportunity to develop skills in the fields of architectural history, professional practice, and research. The ‘architectural practice’ module analysed this year’s architectural design project from the perspectives of professional ethics, planning and building law, practice management, and building information modelling. The twentieth-century architecture module explored architectural developments from the 1890s onwards providing the students with the theoretical background and knowledge necessary to understand recent architectural and urban design challenges. Finally, the dissertation module offered students the opportunity to explore thoroughly an aspect of architecture of their choice. Helping to develop new research skills, this module seeks to inspire our students as they are preparing to continue their architectural journey following the completion of the BA programme.  

 

The above modules provided a multifaceted understanding of architecture, which was further enhanced by two field trips. In the autumn term, a group of students joined Ron Yee and Michael Richards on an exciting journey around the Swale area. In the Spring Term, another group led by Nikolaos Karydis explored the cities of Bath and Bristol, which offered a unique opportunity to observe closely some of the UK’s most interesting buildings and urban spaces.

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‘Sustainable Urban Intervention’ (ARCH5570) 

Tutors: Nikolaos Karydis (module convenor), Manolo Guerci, Michael Richards, Silvio Caputo, Peter Wislocki, Rebecca Muirhead, Shaun Huddleston, Ronald Yee, Faye Tamsett, Andrew Reader 

 

‘Architectural Design (ARCH5580) 

Silvio Caputo (module convenor), Michael Richards, Ivan Del Renzio, Rebecca Muirhead, Shaun Haddleston, Chloe Young, Lee Jasson, Andy MacFee, Ron Yee, Andrew Reader, Faye Tamsett  

 

‘Architectural Practice’ (ARCH5550) 

Tutors: Peter Wislocki (module convenor), Tara de Linde 

 

‘Twentieth Century Architecture’ (ARCH5560) 

Tutors: Alan Powers (module convenor), Victoria Lourenço, Gordana Fontana-Giusti , Gerald Adler 

 

‘Dissertation’ (ARCH5970)

Convened by Silvio Caputo – students supervised by KSAP tutors.