Technical Studies Beyond Studio
Pete Silver, Will McLean, Simon Banfield, Scott Batty, Aleksandra Cannock, Ana Gatóo, Chris Leung, Urna Sodnomjamts & Andrew Whiting
Simon Banfield is an architect, educator and entrepreneur working on projects across the UK. Simon is interested in the hands-on act of construction within the building process.
Scott Batty is an architect with 30 years’ experience making, building, designing and shaping the profession of architecture. He devised the University of Westminster’s Sustainable Design Principles, and his work has been presented at the Architect’s Climate Action Network (ACAN).
Aleksandra Cannock founded architecture firm TAK Architecture and Design. She teaches students to create architecture grounded in sustainable practices.
Ana Gatóo‘s research specialises in affordable housing solutions for low-income populations using natural materials and digital tools for which she holds a PhD from the Centre for Natural Material Innovation (CNMI) at Cambridge University.
Chris Leung is an architect and associate professor at The Bartlett (UCL). He tutors environmental design and fabrication strategy for final year degree and MArch students.
Will McLean lectures, writes and publishes about the technology of architecture. With Pete Silver, he has been commissioned to write a book due out in 2024: Sustainable and Regenerative Materials for Architecture: A Handbook (Laurence King).
Pete Silver is an architect and former building contractor, with many years of teaching experience. Pete has recently successfully registered a patent for his invention, Helical Structural Framework with Torsional Integrity.
Urna Sodnomjamts is an architect who has worked on retrofit schemes using design & build, and traditional procurement, sensitive to the needs of commercial requirements, client quality and construction viability. Her research explores the metamorphosis of the Mongol Steppe’s nomadic herders into urban dwellers of Ulaanbaatar city.
Andrew Whiting is the director of HÛT Architecture. He has a particular interest in education and practice and teaches at Degree and MArch level. He is an RIBA Awards judge, and RIBA Part III Professional examiner.
The Technical Studies teaching in the School of Architecture + Cities has been designed as a linear progression from first year Undergraduate through to final year MArch. For each year of study, a lecture series underpins the structure of the teaching. In first year, Pete Silver and Urna Sodnomjamts deliver a lecture series that sets out an approach to the structure, form, material and environmental principles that constitute the ‘technologies’ of the built environment. Students were challenged to build a small staircase reaching a height of one metre that could safely support its designers.
In second year, Ana Gatóo works with colleagues across the course to explore environmental design and human comfort principles through lectures, digital skills, The Fabrication Lab and site visits. In third year, Will McLean delivers a lecture course on sustainable materials and innovative construction processes and approaches.
Consultant Surgeries
Consultant Surgeries are organised for our final year Degree and Masters students of architecture. his provides students’ access to professionals including architects (with specialist construction/fabrication knowledge), structural engineering, environmental engineering and materials science.
Visiting Lecture Series
Will McLean organises the Thursday evening ‘open’ lecture series, which highlights new technological developments in the fields of architecture, engineering and environmental design. This year, talks featured bricks made from construction waste, a new industrial paradigm in Dagenham, retrofit, contemporary structural stone and fire safety. The talks were held in in person and simultaneously streamed and recorded.
Guest Lecturers and Visiting Consultants: Ian Abley (Fire Protection Association), Jan Balbaligo (Carbonmade), Paul Bavister (Flanagan Lawrence), Hugo Braddick (Haworth Tompkins), Tom Budd, Henry Burling (Elliot Wood Engineers), Paolo Cascone, George Christofi, Abderrahim Elmenani (AWMA), Kirsten Haggart (Waugh Thistleton), Alice Hardy, Cath Hassell (ech2o), Tom Hesslenberg (Elliot Wood Engineers), Sho Ito (Studio – ITO), Alison McLellan, Matei Mitrache, Kamran Nayyer (Foster + Partners), Natalie Newey, Danae Polyviou (Danae Polyviou Engineering), Dylan Radcliffe, Mohammed Rahmany (AWMA), Michael Ramage (University of Cambridge), Dave Rayment (Rayment Structures), Sian Ricketts (Carmody Groarke), Martin Sagar (University of Greenwich), Ian Seabrook (Laing O’Rourke), Amandeep Singh Kalra (BeFirst), Guy Sinclair, Sofia Steffenoni (Materials Assemble), Steve Webb (Webb Yates) and Camilla Wilkinson
We would also like to specially thank Teo Cruz who films the evening lectures which are available on the Technical Studies YouTube Channel: @WillMcLeanTechnicalStudies
Archive of Technical Studies works from previous years:
