Reflections on the assessment, in S. Bader and A. Lepik (eds.), 'Experience in Action. DesignBuild in Architecture' (Munich: Edition Detail, 2020) pp. 62-67

Standing items: critical pedagogies in South African art, design and architecture, 2019

‘Deficit thinking’ is a phrase used to critique educators’ perceptions that students lack the necessary academic abilities to succeed or are ‘underprepared’ for the rigours of academic study. In South African tertiary institutions that offer art and design training there is usually a mandatory module that focuses on historical and theoretical knowledge and writing skills. Regardless of their titles or content, these modules require critical thinking, proficiency in writing and presentation, visual analysis, research skills and academic referencing. Undergraduate art and design students often battle with this subject, leading to low pass rates which staff address in deficit terms with developmental interventions. However, it is important to consider other reasons for these ‘deficits’. For example, practical creative work is the primary focus and interest of many art and design students, while academic writing may seem irrelevant or tangential. In addition, art and design history and theory can be ontologically or linguistically alienating, especially because the necessity of writing in English may decentre students whose heritage is more linguistically diverse. In view of this, I propose the adoption of ‘surfeit thinking’, which focuses, in a Vygotskian vein, on students’ existing skills and literacies in order to leverage their learning. I argue that richness of thought and writing can be generated if learning and teaching in art and design theory is more flexible, adaptable and receptive to the ‘everyday’ knowledge of undergraduate students. This could provide students with better epistemological access, and, in being receptive to diversities of heritage and language, could constitute a form of decolonising practice. The work of theorists such as Walter D Mignolo, Paulo Freire, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Achille Mbembe is drawn upon to support the assertion that educators need to be fiercely critical of cultural representation, the power of language, and what constitutes ‘knowledge’ in art and design theory. Mignolo’s (2009) notion of “epistemic disobedience” and Mbembe’s (2016) concept of the “pluriversity” provide alternative conceptions of the ‘purpose’ of knowledge in a decolonising university. Finally, I argue that, rather than lowering academic standards in art and design theory and history, allowing students to try more generative and self-reflexive approaches to academic writing may encourage more synergy between theory and practice in undergraduate studies, leading to more confident postgraduate students.

Proceedings of DRS Learn X Design 2019 Insider Knowledge, 2019

Gift exchange is a repetitive behaviour of everyday life. We give and receive gifts during many rituals and social practices, which are both pre-determined and arranged to happen in a specific time (e.g. anniversaries, Mother’s day, graduations, weddings), or ad-hoc, like when we buy a souvenir for a friend to share feelings or to build up social networks. Theodor Adorno (1951/2005) describes the pleasure of giving and argues that “real giving had its joy in imagining the joy of the receiver” (p. 42). Echoing the words of Lacan and Hegel, Dilnot (1993) underlines the recognition as the most desired want, and therefore, the thing that the receiver gets besides the gift-object. “The object, no matter what its mundanity, is like a collective gift: it is issued for all of us, and its function or work is gift like in that its form embodies recognition of our concrete needs and desires” (p. 58). So, through recognition, a gift can act as a tool to indirectly improve human-to-human interaction.

Draft Magazine05, 2019

A collection of ideas, processes and projects Interior Architecture & Design Middlesex University

This study concerns itself with examining the degree to which Live Projects can deliver learning experiences that enable architecture students to gain specific professional practice-ready skills and capabilities currently perceived to be lacking within the existing school curriculum - (1) collaborative interaction within and between inter-disciplinary teams, (2) participatory engagement with clients & civic concerns and the (3) capability to manage emergent ambiguities in risk exposure & decision-making – and as a consequence examine (4) how embryonic Live Project assessment rudiments might contribute to this acquisition? Architects are under increased pressure to demonstrate the value of their contribution within the process of building design and construction. They are tasked with working effectively in teams, collaborating effectively with clients and end users and to cope with growing levels of risk and liability, uncertainty and ambiguity, often requiring greater creative leadership and commercial risk-taking in order to succeed. The need for architects to acquire three skillsets to cope with these conditions imposes changing expectations around the architect's role in practice and places increased pressure upon schools of Architecture to ensure their students are equipped with gaining these skillsets. The question emerges as to whether a less-established teaching model – Live Projects - might be able to deliver skills that will not only respond to, but also endure the ongoing changes within professional practice? And if so, in relation to what skillsets? In contrast to other research enquiries concerning Live Projects and literature concerning architectural education in general, this thesis gathered evidence from a highly diverse range of sources – including data on emergent economic and industrial trends outside of the construction sector - as a means to define what the most valuable skillsets might be. For schools of architecture, the specific challenge is to not only to work out how to teach these skillsets but to design and then assess learning activities that facilitate and reward their acquisition. Subsequently, this thesis also examines whether tentative assessment rudiments can play an enabling role in this respect. Within a broader learning theory context, this enquiry supports a wider body of emergent evidence that Live Projects offer learning experiences consistent with much of the literature regarding effective pedagogy - one that involves authentic and active engagement with real situations being more effective at enabling learning more relevant to the nascent demands of wider industry. Subsequently, the main question being considered – as reflected in the title - is: To what extent do Live Projects enable the acquisition and application of three ‘practice-ready’ skillsets? This question is then operationalised by examining this efficacy in relation to four sub-questions. 1. To what extent can Live Projects enable students to acquire inter-disciplinary teamwork capabilities? 2. To what extent can Live Projects enable students to acquire client collaboration & civic engagement capabilities? 3. To what extent can Live Projects enable students to acquire ambiguity tolerance & risk management capabilities? 4. To what extent might Live Project assessment rudiments assist in the acquisition of the three skillsets? In order to answer these questions, the enquiry employed qualitative as well as quantitative data collection methods. The qualitative evidence largely utilised grounded theory methods and analysis as a means to examine the perceptions of educators, architects and students. This involved the discovery of theory through the analysis of data and real world research, which focuses upon problem solving with a view to creating meaningful change. The mixed methods approach relied upon triangulation as a means to cross-examine evidence from the different data sets and to strengthen validity. The themes relating to the missing skillsets were then inter-related to highlight any interdependencies and to ensure a rigorous level of analysis and abstraction. Findings in relation to each skillset were isolated within focused chapters. Mixed method or ‘multi-method’ analysis - involving a series of matrices - was used to compare both quantitative and (selected sections of) qualitative data. In line with practice-based research methodology, an extended and iterative period of data gathering and analysis allowed the researcher to consolidate observations regarding the acquisition of specific skills in both an academic as well as a practice context to consolidate into a concise set of learning concepts. The thesis subsequently used these learning concepts to define tentative assessment rudiments. The samples chosen for this study were situated in two distinctly different contexts; in practice and in education: encompassing architects, trainee architects, students and educators both with and without Live Project experience, to enable a clear set of variables for comparative analysis. The samples were also drawn from both the US and UK – a useful consequence of research funding in terms of providing quantitative data and comparable cohorts. These insights were then used to tentatively explore practical ways the acquisition of these skillsets could be assessed. The conclusions of this study identify that Live Projects can enable students to acquire the three skillsets due to their ability to offer experiences that more closely align with professional practice. However it also pinpoints specific contingencies such as ensuring Live Project success is measured in terms of processes and not just outcomes - and - that keeping Live Projects as non-compulsory, extra curricula options or adjuncts to more established teaching models allows them to retain their inherently flexible, adaptive and responsive nature. Whilst there is general view that a lack of formal acknowledgement of Live Projects within the curricula-validating infrastructure of RIBA & NAAB has contributed to a collective sense that Live Projects are undervalued, the evidence suggests that the opposite is true – that Live Projects do have the ability to meet the criteria for validation extensively and effectively and can make the validation criterion more accessible and meaningful to students – and - because Live Projects encompass a hugely diverse range of projects by their nature of being holistically responsive to a set of site and community specific circumstances – assessment rudiments (rather than a design brief) might be the only unifying criteria. Given the current crisis in underemployment and the rise of the unpaid internship, these capabilities are of increasing relevance and value. Furthermore, it is transposable skills – which all three of the skillsets are – as opposed to those that are exclusive and unique to architecture – that are most likely to best serve students in future, whether or not they choose to become professional architects. Traditional subject specific skills are undeniably important, but transposable skills deserve greater emphasis and investment given the economic reality of finite resources and demands for greater user participation. Finally, for architectural educators already engaged in or initiating Live Projects, this thesis provides theoretical as well as an applied-knowledge framework to draw from, encompassing a practical as well as passionate advocacy for their wider implementation. https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/7504258d-d3e9-4ee5-8350-ff0028035e3a/1/

Landscape Research Record (1): 214-218, 2013

Climate change is projected to have impacts on increased temperature as well as frequent and intense rainfalls in the Northeast region of the United States. Integrated green infrastructure planning with both structural and non-structural stormwater management practices has emerged as a critical climate change adaptation strategy. Under the uncertainty of climate change impacts on long-term flooding hazards, this paper employed SWAT hydrological modeling for an empirical study examining the effectiveness of using detention area for long-term (45 years) flooding hazards mitigation under 36 climate change scenarios. Results from regression analysis illustrated detentions were most effective when temperature increased no more than 2˚C. Moreover, regression model results indicated that a range of 12 to 18% and 0 to 9% of drainage subbasin area would be required for detention area to achieve zero and baseline level of Hazard Index hazard mitigation policy goals respectively. Under current limitation of adaptive land uses and availability of large lands for detention in the urbanized watershed, this paper suggested that innovations in employing detention techniques in currently built urban areas on impervious and non-natural pervious areas play an important role in integrated green infrastructure network in urban stormwater management systems for mitigating climate-induced environmental hazards.

Design Transactions presents the outcome of new research to emerge from ‘Innochain’, a consortium of six leading European architectural and engineering-focused institutions and their industry partners. The book presents new advances in digital design tooling that challenge established building cultures and systems. It offers new sustainable and materially smart design solutions with a strong focus on changing the way the industry thinks, designs, and builds our physical environment. architecture; architectural design; built environment; physical environment

2010

Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Design, Construction and Operations III, 2019

BIM technologies, which are rapidly spreading in the construction sector, are able to support all the phases of implementation of the construction process – from conception to demolition – regulating the entire life cycle of the building; however, the use of these, in most cases, is limited to the design phase only. The case described – studied in a degree thesis developed within the framework of the international cooperation agreement for research between the Faculties of Engineering and Architecture of the Universities of Pisa and Seville – explores the use of BIM as a useful technology for programming and managing the safety during the restoration of the façade of an important historic building located in Seville: the “Royal Tobacco Factory”. The building, built between 1728 and 1771, served as a factory for the production of tobacco and cigars from its construction until 1950, when it was used as the seat of the Rectorate and some faculties of the University of Seville. Thanks to the use of Autodesk, Revit and STR vision CPM software, a simulation of all the phases of the work was carried out in order to understand how to reduce the levels of risk. The work process was broken down through the use of the “Work Breakdown Structure”, a conceptual hierarchical structure branched on three levels. This operation has made it possible to obtain a general index of the works that contains the codes used by the software as a basis for the organization of work. On the STR Vision CMP BIM platform, it was possible to perform metric computation directly from the Revit model through the “Quantity Take Off” operation. The measures were thus linked through WBS codes with the estimation calculation and the Gantt diagram. Thanks to this type of approach, a 3D model was obtained that contains information not only on the geometry of the building but also on the spatial and temporal organization of the site and on costs. Further research includes the use of Autodesk Navisworks to run 4D simulations to refine the risk assessment and reveal many real issues in advance.

Alegre, A., Bacharel, M., Fernandes, A. (2018). The Design of Educational Buildings in Portugal: a Feminine Contribution in the 1960s. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, France Stele Institute of Art History, Založba ZRC, MoMoWo, pp.1025-1034. ISBN 978-961-05-0106-0 , 2018

In the 1960s, the paradigm of school architecture in Portugal shifted from a traditional to a more experimental educational approach. Maria do Carmo Matos (1935-89) played a central role in this process, since she led a team of architects in the Department of Construction for Technical and Secondary Education (1934-69). In a men’s world, she stood out not only for her ideas on an innovative design and construction approach but also by promoting international contacts with intergovernmental organizations. Maria do Carmo largely contributed to the pursuit of the right to education to all children with the adoption of rational procedures in school building design. A new approach was adopted to increase school construction efficacy based on a new design methodology, on industrialized and rationalised systems, and on effective cost and planning control procedures. This paper focuses on the contribution of Maria do Carmo to the promotion of an innovative design for educational buildings. The schools constitute simple and pragmatic buildings, without any particular architectural aspirations or significant expression of modern design vocabulary. However, those schools accomplished the social aim of the modern movement, and Maria do Carmo played a crucial but mostly anonymous role.