The G.R.A.D. Programme: an alternative form of practice

The Graduate Retention And Development (G.R.A.D.) Programme was a response to the difficulty which many architecture graduates were having in securing relevant work. It was conceived as a means to: - •help unemployed architecture graduates, and graduates from other built environment disciplines, into work, •benefit the region by identifying problems that might have design-based solution, • apply the skills and enthusiasm of the participants (known as GRADs) to speculative and real projects, and •develop opportunities leading to funded work for either the GRADs or for local practitioners. The GRADs are able to work with real clients, gaining relevant experience and knowledge, so improving their portfolios and CVs. The GRADs can commit to the Programme the time they chose and can leave at any point should an employment opportunity arise. Anecdotally, GRADs attending job interviews often express the view that more interest is shown in the work undertaken for the Programme than in their degree portfolio. “Live projects” provide GRADs with experiences typically they might not have until post-Part II, including; meeting with clients, developing and understanding the project brief, communicating effectively with clients and reporting on the work undertaken, managing a team of people, understanding their motivation and group dynamics. Twenty hours per week certified time spent working for the Programme has been recognised as contributing up to 3 months of the participants’ Professional Experience and Development Record (PEDR) by Northumbria, Newcastle, Leeds Metropolitan and Huddersfield Universities. This paper will describe some of the challenges faced by the Programme since starting in January 2010. These include the changing relationship of the Programme to local practices and the schools of architecture; managing the participants involvement, their motivation, expectations and pastoral needs; finding and managing the workload and maintaining a professional output with voluntary, part time and inexperienced participants

Portmerion, Proportion and Perspective

The holiday village of Portmerion was created by Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883 1978) over a period of fifty-one years, starting in 1926. It was grade II listed in 1971. However, Portmerion has become a part of western popular culture rather than of mainstream architectural history. Its use as the setting for the cult 1967 television series “The Prisoner” ensures continued worldwide interest and a constant stream of visitors. Williams Ellis’ design methods were empirical, initial designs being adjusted by eye on site in close collaboration with trusted builders. This paper analyses the development of Portmerion as a gesamtkunstwerk; considering the experience of movement through the village as a dynamic composition of shifting vistas, focussing the visitor on a series of constructed views. Through this analysis, Portmerion is revealed as both a manifestation of the architecture of pleasure and an exercise in the pleasure of architecture

Citizen planners: mapping the future of ‘the City’

Ponència presentada a la sessió

Assessing the effectiveness of architectural design communication through public participation methods

The range of communication methods available to architects to present design development has expanded over recent years. With an increase in competition between architectural practices and the resulting reduction in professional fees, it is becoming increasingly important to deliver quality projects in an efficient manner. A greater understanding of user interaction is invaluable for architects in order to assess specific requirements and produce design solutions. Effective design communication is also beneficial in the reduction of backtracking during the design phase and remedial work to buildings during construction. As a result, Architects are required to make difficult decisions about which method to use to present work at specific stages of the design process. Principles from public participation processes provide an underpinning for data collection from stakeholder representatives of an educational refurbishment project in the UK. Three forms of media were used to present the design: 2D drawings; a 3D model; and a VR (virtual reality) model. The stakeholders were divided into three groups with the environment, presentation and method of expressing opinion controlled. The results showed that a similar number of opinions were expressed in each presentation although with reference to different aspects of the design. The balance between positive and negative opinions also differed between each of the media. The findings of this paper suggest several themes, including that a balance of media should be used at different stages of the architectural design process. 2D drawings appear essential in representing the arrangement of spaces; the 3D model encourages a balanced view, providing architects with information to aid critical design decisions; and finally, the VR model could be used for marketing purposes as critical analysis appears to be adversely affected by high quality rendered images

Playing Out: The Importance of the City as a Playground for Skateboard and Parkour

The authors document young skaters and freerunners’ improvisational use of public space and the development of their interpersonal relationships and learning

Mapping the City: : participatory mapping with young people

In this article we discuss an ongoing research project that uses participatory mapping to gain insights into the worlds of young people. For the last ten years we have worked with hundreds of people in schools, youth groups and at public events, asking them to use low-tech cartographic techniques to reveal the rich, complex and important aspects of their lives missing from most depictions of cities. We explain the importance of such work and the approaches to mapping used in the project, and explore some of the insights gleaned from over 2000 maps produced

Heavy Quarks and Heavy Quarkonia as Tests of Thermalization

We present here a brief summary of new results on heavy quarks and heavy quarkonia from the PHENIX experiment as presented at the "Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization" Workshop in Vienna, Austria in August 2005, directly following the International Quark Matter Conference in Hungary.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization Workshop (Vienna August 2005) Proceeding

Feral City: A Dystopia

Arts, literature and philosophy mirror the spirit of their times and so too utopian works embody the fears, experiences, aspirations and desires of the people whom imagine them. With reference to literary examples, this paper begins with a description of the themes defining the utopian/ dystopian tradition. It then considers Dr Richard Norton’s 2003 concept of an urban - military condition, which he terms the “Feral City”, in relation to this tradition. It elaborates on the three conditions – economy, security and services – which contribute to societal collapse once a city has become “feral”. These conditions are explained with reference to the social, geographic and political features that define today’s cities