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Context

An alternative [re]view of current architectural education has been launched by two recent architecture graduates. Context is a new initiative directed by Seán McAlister and Max Gane, ['class of 2010' architecture graduates of University of Dundee and the London Metropolitan University, respectively] that aims to: “challenge assumptions in architectural education, asking questions about the link between institutional training and the architectural profession.”

Context was set up as a response to current concerns within the architectural profession. According to Director, Sean McAlister: “In 2011, the future for architects in the UK and Ireland is in a state of flux and uncertainty. In a profession which requires a minimum of seven years training to qualify, it seems only fitting to ask ‘how are the next generation of architects being future-proofed’?”

“Context began as a conversation, between myself & Max, reflecting on our formal architectural education. With a set of unaccounted-for questions about this 'becoming an architect' pilgrimage, and inspired by today's popular, pessimistic prognosis of our dubiously situated profession, we devised an independent research project. Soon after this, we worked out how we could tour 22 schools across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, speaking to staff, students and seeing the faculties and facilities, and calling for any students to submit drawings and text [based on a theme]. We then devised a way to curate, exhibit and publish our findings.”

A selection of work presented by Context on their Forum can be seen below. Forum features 21 students/graduates/practitioners selected by Context’s Panel on 24th August.

Andrew Morris - Edinburgh School of Architecture

Upon entering the MArch course at Edinburgh University 2010-11 I was surprised and often skeptical of the encouragement towards a hand drawn exploration. Through persistence the course has revived my faith in the value of drawing by hand. I insist that the use of the word 'draw' opposed to 'sketch' carries significant meaning. It suggests a measured approach aligning it with the detail required in the production of architecture. The act 'to draw', or even 'to trace', is of a material dimension affording increased interaction and contemplation, whilst the physical process ingrains meaning and reasoning. In contrast, the immaterial dimension of the machine, the act of drawing on the computer, is much less intuitive and provides less opportunity for engagement.

The computer enhances commercial efficiency but diminishes the minds creativity. Next time you are using your CAD software, pause and ask, what am I thinking? Maybe of the next command or the next keystroke . . . the computer affords the creation of a design through a series of command actions. The tactility of drawing and of architecture is deprived through the computer. Acknowledged as a tool the machine has many benefits. Hand drawings are digitally archived, enhanced and [re]presented as a hybrid afforded by the computer. The preference of drawing by hand is found in the 'process' of drawing. To see other examples of my work please visit www.studiocuriosity.tumblr.com

Jayne Thomson – University of Dundee

'Your dunce thinks they are standing still and draws them all fixed; your wise man sees the change or changing in them, and draws them so,- the animal in its motion, the tree in its growth, the cloud in its course, the mountain in its wearing away. Try always, whenever you look at form, to see the lines in it which have had power over its past fate and will have power over its futurity. Those are its awful lines; see that you seize on those, whatever else you miss.' John Ruskin in Tim Ingold, Lines a Brief History, pg 130, Routledge 2007

The drawings all generated by hand were a response to the research into alternative mapping techniques. The drawings were triggered by the phrase 'drawing out' considering the drawing process as a mechanism in the endeavour to render visible the hidden attributes specific to place. Drawing by hand permitted the creation of tactile and fluid image avoiding the distance introduced using a computer. The various images created attempted to incorporate recalled views of place combined alongside visual form and scale. The images allow for distortion and exaggeration due to recall and use a collaged layered body of information. The drawings enable the viewer the opportunity to read between the lines gaining insight into the layers of hidden information specific to place.

Alternative mapping - Maps construct a view of the world never experienced in reality. The forms and information presented in maps become fact, creating an image of place accepted as part of common knowledge. It becomes interesting when this notation of place becomes altered, skewing our pre-conceived ideals questioning our understanding of the environment. Following the premise that maps exist as artefacts representing the actuality of the environment. The thesis research aims to re-enforce the ideology that alongside the accurate and measured maps engage with the enigmatic qualities and sometimes attempt to represent these less quantifiable factors.

Palimpsest - a manuscript on which two or more successive texts have been written, each one being erased to make room for the next. Creating a palimpsest of Pittenweem illustrates the processes of understanding occuring during experience of place; the image also deals with the process of representing these spatial and experiential qualities. Drawing Pittenweem's history as a palimpsest aims to highlight the multifaceted experience of the tangible and quantifiable alongside slightly less tangible qualities.

'The architect is responsible to create the spirit of a thought. And to translate through whatever medium is available a sense of place...' John Hedjuk, Berlin Night, NAI UITGEVERS, 1993

Rowan Morrice - Robert Gordon School of Architecture, Aberdeen

Our Master's Unit was led by renowned draughtsman and architect Alan Dunlop, who required that we do all our drawings by hand this year. Though sceptical at first, I now believe it is true that a hand drawing shows a level of care and belief in a project that computer drawings don't convey.  For an architect to spend a week, maybe more, on a single drawing of a scheme shows his commitment to that design. There were two other Masters Units at our Uni this year but I feel that our unit, with all hand drawings, is by far the most thrilling to visit.  The personality of the drawer comes through in the work.  That is not to say there is no place for computers, mine was a large and complex project which I wouldn't have been able to design without the use of 3D CAD, so there is still definitely a place for computers. I also have to admit that the basic outlines for the attached perspective were traced through from a 3d model, although the drawing itself, along with all the others in my presentation, is 100% done by hand · · ·

Tom Fotheringham - Edinburgh School of Architecture

CAD drawing demands millimeter precision, which, while essential for working on the scale of a building, is problematic when working on an urban scale. By contrast, drawing the city by hand requires a more selective, critical knowledge of the city, and allows the draughtsman to not get caught up in minute dimensional difference. As a working space, the drawing board gives a constant overview of the city, something that can be hard to keep in the zoom of a CAD drawing. The freedoms and demands of working by hand allow for drawing to take a creative and investigative role beyond drawing what already exists, to show potential moves for design. Processing hand drawings by computer creates a composite image, in which drawings and images of different scales are combined with a density of information around areas of particular interest. (http://www.tomfotheringham.co.uk/)

Daniel O’Donnell - Edinburgh College of Art

Pencil hand drawing was chosen as the medium to communicate this project titled Research futures. The project developed intuitively and organically through a series of sketches within my sketchbook, exploring the theme of knowledge transfer through a sequence of spacial studies . At presentation stage I felt it was important to maintain the integrity of the development work, and therefore chose pencil exclusively to give the project a singular homogenous quality. This technique gave me greater control on the feel and atmosphere of the drawings allowing me to convey an ethereal quality. The interior view also utilises spherical perspective to capture a wide field of vision, something which I felt was beyond my digital capabilities...

All images reproduced by kind permission of: Andrew Morris; Jayne Thomson; Rowan Morrice; Tom Fotheringham; and Daniel O'Donnell.