How to understand the relation between design and research is a longstanding question in design t... more How to understand the relation between design and research is a longstanding question in design theory and practice. It is also a question in design pedagogy, especially in taught postgraduate programmes where students are expected to engage with and conduct research in formal ways, often for the first time. In this article, we discuss a curriculum that we have developed for introducing research literacy to taught postgraduate students in architecture and design disciplines. The curriculum draws both explicitly and implicitly on an analogy between designing and researching developed through the lens of cybernetics, a transdisciplinary field that relates to both design and science. When cybernetics has been invoked in the context of design, it has usually been as a form of explanatory theory, contributing to the theoretical foundations of design research and its relations with other disciplines. Our approach instead positions cybernetics as a mode of transdisciplinary engagement with...
In this article Jon Goodbun and Ben Sweeting engage in a conversation about design and its comple... more In this article Jon Goodbun and Ben Sweeting engage in a conversation about design and its complex relation to communication. They look at the role of dialogue, the dialogical (signifying signs), and the limitations of the dialogical as one considers contemporary processes of cybernetisation and how “asignifying signs” are produced and exchanged within complex systems of all kinds. Prompted by the opening question referring to cybernetics as a general study of information processes, focusing on the production, exchange, and consumption of meaning, not limited to a focus on digital logic, Goodbun and Sweeting revisit a plethora of positions on dialogue including those of Gordon Pask, Gregory Bateson, Ranulph Glanville, David Bohm among others. In so doing, they make clear certain semantic confusions related to terms such as communication vs. conversation, dialogue vs. discussion, and analogue vs. digital, and provide a richer understanding of why these semantic revisions are necessary for the context of everyday design practice. Using examples from their own research and teaching work, they point towards models where an alternative approach to communication that critically acknowledges the complications related to “asignifying signs” can help designers grapple with the ecological crisis in the contexts of politics, research, and education.
Proceedings of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, 2021
Heinz von Foerster's influential distinction between decidable and undecidable decisions may be t... more Heinz von Foerster's influential distinction between decidable and undecidable decisions may be taken to imply an ethics that is personal and pluralistic, summed up in invocations to decide the undecidable and to act in ways that increase the number of choices. While this approach is helpful as a critique of moralism and objectivity, it is of limited assistance in situations characterised by conflict, inequality, or the need for collective action. In this paper, I return to Foerster's discussion to suggest a different way of thinking about ethics in terms of undecidability. I argue that it is not enough to decide upon (take responsibility for) undecidable questions. To confront the injustices that are embedded in the present world, decidable decisions-those that Foerster characterised as decided already by the frameworks in which they are asked-also need to be challenged. Whereas Foerster traces undecidability back to foundational metaphysical questions, positioning the ethical within the context of a choice between distinct worldviews, I situate decidability and undecidability as frames to move between within the context of practical situations. To complement the need to decide the undecidable, I explore the value of undeciding the decidable. By undeciding, what I mean to suggest is a process of reconceiving the framework in which a decidable decision is asked such that the framework is itself undecidable, thus requiring a decision to be made as to the decidability of the decision that is at stake. A consequence of putting decidability in question is that it is not sufficient to discharge one's responsibilities as they arise. One must become responsible not just for one's responsibilities but also for what these are and how their boundaries and scope are conceived. From this perspective, I offer an alternate reading of Foerster's call to increase the number of choices, understanding this in the sense of acting to increase the number of decisions that are to be made rather than increasing the number of possibilities to be chosen between.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to put forward a way that ethics may be applied recursively ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to put forward a way that ethics may be applied recursively to itself, in the sense that how we speak and reason about ethics is an activity to which ethical considerations and questions apply. Design/methodology/approach The paper is built on parallels between design and cybernetics, integrating elements of ethical discourse in each field. The way that cybernetics and design can each act as their own meta-disciplines, in the design of design and the cybernetics of cybernetics, is used as a pattern for a similarly recursive approach to ethics. This is explored further by drawing parallels between Heinz von Foersters’ criticism of moral codes and concerns about paternalism in designing architecture. Findings Designers incorporate implicit ethical questioning as part of the recursive process through which they design their design activity, moving between conversations that pursue the goals of a project and meta-conversations in which they question ...
In this chapter I review the intimate relationship between cybernetics and design, drawing on the... more In this chapter I review the intimate relationship between cybernetics and design, drawing on the work of Ranulph Glanville and Gordon Pask . The significance of each of these fields for the other follows from the mutualism between them, such that cybernetics can be understood in terms of design as well as vice versa. The full value of this can be seen in the assistance they offer each other in building support from within. Design may serve as an example for how cybernetics can be practiced cybernetically, i.e. in accordance with its own insights and principles. In turn, cybernetics may help design understand itself in its own terms, in contrast to the way that it can become distorted by theories imported from elsewhere. Moreover, this mutualism connects design research to the vast array of topics with which cybernetics is concerned. Recalling its origins as a transdisciplinary project, cybernetics may help mediate diverse concerns within design, while also enabling cybernetic processes in other fields to be explored through the insights and methods of design research.
Systemic Design: Theories, Methods, and Practice, 2018
While the relationship between ethics and design is usually thought of in terms of the applicatio... more While the relationship between ethics and design is usually thought of in terms of the application of the former to the latter, it is not as if ethics is a settled body of theory that can authoritatively guide design practice. Depending on which theories or ideas we refer to, we receive different guidance as to what to do. Indeed, design may have as much to contribute to ethical theory as vice versa. This essay builds connections between design and ethics, looking to the similarities of structure between wicked problems in design and those dilemmas that are of central concern in normative ethical theory. Understanding design and ethics in mutual terms, ethical questions in design need not be understood in terms of external limitations or trade-offs between competing priorities. Moreover, the way designers cope with the ethical challenges presented by wicked problems may inform how we approach complex ethical challenges in other contexts, including some of those that arise within ethical discourse itself.
In designing architecture we put forward ways in which to live, enabling particularpatterns of li... more In designing architecture we put forward ways in which to live, enabling particularpatterns of living while limiting other possibilities. In this sense architecture has anormative function and can be compared to the way that ethical theories and moralcodes purport to guide us on how to live. Given this, I suggest that ethical reflectionabout how we design—and in particular about how we constitute the relationshipbetween designers and those they design for—can be used to help formulate ethicalquestions regarding how we speak and reason about ethics itself. Recognising Heinz vonFoerster’s criticisms of moral codes as an instance of this, I use the example of designingarchitecture to challenge and extend von Foerster’s position, suggesting the recursiveapplication of ethics to its own discourse.
Baron locates the decolonisation of the curriculum within the classroom, repurposing radically co... more Baron locates the decolonisation of the curriculum within the classroom, repurposing radically constructivist approaches to teaching and learning and giving them a sense of social and political …
In this paper I speak directly to the subject matter of this conference: to its theme of flourish... more In this paper I speak directly to the subject matter of this conference: to its theme of flourishing, and to the subject areas of systems thinking and design that this conference series as a whole seeks to bring together. The conference theme of flourishing is a direct reference to ethics, and in particular the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. There has been a revival of interest in this in recent decades under the heading of virtue ethics. Aristotle defined the good as that at which all things aim, and so in terms of goals and purpose. He described the goal of human life in terms eudemonia, which is usually translated as either human flourishing or the good life. There is a clear connection between this conception of ethics in terms of purpose and both design and systems. Design is an explicitly purposeful activity, which can be understood as the attempt to devise “courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones” (Simon, 1969/1996, p. 111). Purpose is of...
> Context • The relationship between design and science has shifted over recent decades. One brid... more > Context • The relationship between design and science has shifted over recent decades. One bridge between the two is cybernetics, which offers perspectives on both in terms of their practice. From around 1980 onwards, drawing on ideas from cybernetics, Glanville has suggested that rather than apply science to design, it makes more sense to understand science as a form of design activity, reversing the more usual hierarchy between the two. I return to review this argument here, in the context of recent discussions in this journal regarding second-order science (SOS). > problem • Despite numerous connections to practice, second-order cybernetics (SOC) has tended to be associated with theory. As a result, SOC is perceived as separate to the more tangible aspects of earlier cybernetics in a way that obscures both the continuity between the two and also current opportunities for developing the field. > Method • I review Glanville's understanding of design, and particularly his account of scientific research as a design-like activity, placing this within the context of the shifting relation between science and design during the development of SOC, with reference to the work of Rittel and Feyerabend. Through this, I summarise significant parallels and overlaps between SOC and the contemporary concerns of design research. > results • I suggest that we can see design research not just as a field influenced by cybernetics but as a form of SOC practice even where cybernetics is not explicitly referenced. > implications • Given this, design research offers much to cybernetics as an important example of SOC that is both outward looking and practice based. As such, it bridges the gap between SOC and the more tangible legacy of earlier cybernetics, while also suggesting connections to contemporary concerns in this journal with SOS in terms of researching research. > Constructivist content • By suggesting that we see design research as an example of SOC, I develop connections between constructivism and practice.
How to understand the relation between design and research is a longstanding question in design t... more How to understand the relation between design and research is a longstanding question in design theory and practice. It is also a question in design pedagogy, especially in taught postgraduate programmes where students are expected to engage with and conduct research in formal ways, often for the first time. In this article, we discuss a curriculum that we have developed for introducing research literacy to taught postgraduate students in architecture and design disciplines. The curriculum draws both explicitly and implicitly on an analogy between designing and researching developed through the lens of cybernetics, a transdisciplinary field that relates to both design and science. When cybernetics has been invoked in the context of design, it has usually been as a form of explanatory theory, contributing to the theoretical foundations of design research and its relations with other disciplines. Our approach instead positions cybernetics as a mode of transdisciplinary engagement with...
In this article Jon Goodbun and Ben Sweeting engage in a conversation about design and its comple... more In this article Jon Goodbun and Ben Sweeting engage in a conversation about design and its complex relation to communication. They look at the role of dialogue, the dialogical (signifying signs), and the limitations of the dialogical as one considers contemporary processes of cybernetisation and how “asignifying signs” are produced and exchanged within complex systems of all kinds. Prompted by the opening question referring to cybernetics as a general study of information processes, focusing on the production, exchange, and consumption of meaning, not limited to a focus on digital logic, Goodbun and Sweeting revisit a plethora of positions on dialogue including those of Gordon Pask, Gregory Bateson, Ranulph Glanville, David Bohm among others. In so doing, they make clear certain semantic confusions related to terms such as communication vs. conversation, dialogue vs. discussion, and analogue vs. digital, and provide a richer understanding of why these semantic revisions are necessary for the context of everyday design practice. Using examples from their own research and teaching work, they point towards models where an alternative approach to communication that critically acknowledges the complications related to “asignifying signs” can help designers grapple with the ecological crisis in the contexts of politics, research, and education.
Proceedings of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, 2021
Heinz von Foerster's influential distinction between decidable and undecidable decisions may be t... more Heinz von Foerster's influential distinction between decidable and undecidable decisions may be taken to imply an ethics that is personal and pluralistic, summed up in invocations to decide the undecidable and to act in ways that increase the number of choices. While this approach is helpful as a critique of moralism and objectivity, it is of limited assistance in situations characterised by conflict, inequality, or the need for collective action. In this paper, I return to Foerster's discussion to suggest a different way of thinking about ethics in terms of undecidability. I argue that it is not enough to decide upon (take responsibility for) undecidable questions. To confront the injustices that are embedded in the present world, decidable decisions-those that Foerster characterised as decided already by the frameworks in which they are asked-also need to be challenged. Whereas Foerster traces undecidability back to foundational metaphysical questions, positioning the ethical within the context of a choice between distinct worldviews, I situate decidability and undecidability as frames to move between within the context of practical situations. To complement the need to decide the undecidable, I explore the value of undeciding the decidable. By undeciding, what I mean to suggest is a process of reconceiving the framework in which a decidable decision is asked such that the framework is itself undecidable, thus requiring a decision to be made as to the decidability of the decision that is at stake. A consequence of putting decidability in question is that it is not sufficient to discharge one's responsibilities as they arise. One must become responsible not just for one's responsibilities but also for what these are and how their boundaries and scope are conceived. From this perspective, I offer an alternate reading of Foerster's call to increase the number of choices, understanding this in the sense of acting to increase the number of decisions that are to be made rather than increasing the number of possibilities to be chosen between.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to put forward a way that ethics may be applied recursively ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to put forward a way that ethics may be applied recursively to itself, in the sense that how we speak and reason about ethics is an activity to which ethical considerations and questions apply. Design/methodology/approach The paper is built on parallels between design and cybernetics, integrating elements of ethical discourse in each field. The way that cybernetics and design can each act as their own meta-disciplines, in the design of design and the cybernetics of cybernetics, is used as a pattern for a similarly recursive approach to ethics. This is explored further by drawing parallels between Heinz von Foersters’ criticism of moral codes and concerns about paternalism in designing architecture. Findings Designers incorporate implicit ethical questioning as part of the recursive process through which they design their design activity, moving between conversations that pursue the goals of a project and meta-conversations in which they question ...
In this chapter I review the intimate relationship between cybernetics and design, drawing on the... more In this chapter I review the intimate relationship between cybernetics and design, drawing on the work of Ranulph Glanville and Gordon Pask . The significance of each of these fields for the other follows from the mutualism between them, such that cybernetics can be understood in terms of design as well as vice versa. The full value of this can be seen in the assistance they offer each other in building support from within. Design may serve as an example for how cybernetics can be practiced cybernetically, i.e. in accordance with its own insights and principles. In turn, cybernetics may help design understand itself in its own terms, in contrast to the way that it can become distorted by theories imported from elsewhere. Moreover, this mutualism connects design research to the vast array of topics with which cybernetics is concerned. Recalling its origins as a transdisciplinary project, cybernetics may help mediate diverse concerns within design, while also enabling cybernetic processes in other fields to be explored through the insights and methods of design research.
Systemic Design: Theories, Methods, and Practice, 2018
While the relationship between ethics and design is usually thought of in terms of the applicatio... more While the relationship between ethics and design is usually thought of in terms of the application of the former to the latter, it is not as if ethics is a settled body of theory that can authoritatively guide design practice. Depending on which theories or ideas we refer to, we receive different guidance as to what to do. Indeed, design may have as much to contribute to ethical theory as vice versa. This essay builds connections between design and ethics, looking to the similarities of structure between wicked problems in design and those dilemmas that are of central concern in normative ethical theory. Understanding design and ethics in mutual terms, ethical questions in design need not be understood in terms of external limitations or trade-offs between competing priorities. Moreover, the way designers cope with the ethical challenges presented by wicked problems may inform how we approach complex ethical challenges in other contexts, including some of those that arise within ethical discourse itself.
In designing architecture we put forward ways in which to live, enabling particularpatterns of li... more In designing architecture we put forward ways in which to live, enabling particularpatterns of living while limiting other possibilities. In this sense architecture has anormative function and can be compared to the way that ethical theories and moralcodes purport to guide us on how to live. Given this, I suggest that ethical reflectionabout how we design—and in particular about how we constitute the relationshipbetween designers and those they design for—can be used to help formulate ethicalquestions regarding how we speak and reason about ethics itself. Recognising Heinz vonFoerster’s criticisms of moral codes as an instance of this, I use the example of designingarchitecture to challenge and extend von Foerster’s position, suggesting the recursiveapplication of ethics to its own discourse.
Baron locates the decolonisation of the curriculum within the classroom, repurposing radically co... more Baron locates the decolonisation of the curriculum within the classroom, repurposing radically constructivist approaches to teaching and learning and giving them a sense of social and political …
In this paper I speak directly to the subject matter of this conference: to its theme of flourish... more In this paper I speak directly to the subject matter of this conference: to its theme of flourishing, and to the subject areas of systems thinking and design that this conference series as a whole seeks to bring together. The conference theme of flourishing is a direct reference to ethics, and in particular the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. There has been a revival of interest in this in recent decades under the heading of virtue ethics. Aristotle defined the good as that at which all things aim, and so in terms of goals and purpose. He described the goal of human life in terms eudemonia, which is usually translated as either human flourishing or the good life. There is a clear connection between this conception of ethics in terms of purpose and both design and systems. Design is an explicitly purposeful activity, which can be understood as the attempt to devise “courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones” (Simon, 1969/1996, p. 111). Purpose is of...
> Context • The relationship between design and science has shifted over recent decades. One brid... more > Context • The relationship between design and science has shifted over recent decades. One bridge between the two is cybernetics, which offers perspectives on both in terms of their practice. From around 1980 onwards, drawing on ideas from cybernetics, Glanville has suggested that rather than apply science to design, it makes more sense to understand science as a form of design activity, reversing the more usual hierarchy between the two. I return to review this argument here, in the context of recent discussions in this journal regarding second-order science (SOS). > problem • Despite numerous connections to practice, second-order cybernetics (SOC) has tended to be associated with theory. As a result, SOC is perceived as separate to the more tangible aspects of earlier cybernetics in a way that obscures both the continuity between the two and also current opportunities for developing the field. > Method • I review Glanville's understanding of design, and particularly his account of scientific research as a design-like activity, placing this within the context of the shifting relation between science and design during the development of SOC, with reference to the work of Rittel and Feyerabend. Through this, I summarise significant parallels and overlaps between SOC and the contemporary concerns of design research. > results • I suggest that we can see design research not just as a field influenced by cybernetics but as a form of SOC practice even where cybernetics is not explicitly referenced. > implications • Given this, design research offers much to cybernetics as an important example of SOC that is both outward looking and practice based. As such, it bridges the gap between SOC and the more tangible legacy of earlier cybernetics, while also suggesting connections to contemporary concerns in this journal with SOS in terms of researching research. > Constructivist content • By suggesting that we see design research as an example of SOC, I develop connections between constructivism and practice.
The Invisible Machines exhibition, which took place in Brighton at Grand Parade, 8th December 201... more The Invisible Machines exhibition, which took place in Brighton at Grand Parade, 8th December 2010 to 7th January 2011, explored the complex relationships between architecture and machines. This is the digital edition of post-exhibition catalogue. Limited edition physical editions were assembled and vacuum packed at RARA (the Redundant Architects Research Association) in London on the 6th June 2011. Contributions from Mike Aling, Ersi Ioannidou, Tom Foulsham, Glenn Longden-Thurgood, Tim Norman, Charlotte Raleigh, Ben Sweeting and Michael Wihart. Edited by Ben Sweeting.
In this thesis I have explored some of the ways in which the contexts of epistemology, ethics and... more In this thesis I have explored some of the ways in which the contexts of epistemology, ethics and designing architecture are each concerned with undecidable questions (that is, with those questions that have no right answers). Drawing on design research, second‐order cybernetics and radical constructivism, I have understood this undecidability to follow in each case from our being part of the situation in which we are acting. This idea is primarily epistemological (being part of the world we observe, we cannot verify the relationship between our understanding and the world beyond our experience as it is impossible to observe the latter) but can also be interpreted spatially and ethically. From this starting point I have developed connections between questions in architecture, epistemology and ethics in two parallel investigations. In the first, I have proposed a connection between design and ethics where design is understood as an activity in which ethical questioning is implicit. Rather than the usual application of ethical theory to practice, I have instead proposed that design can inform ethical thinking, both in the context of designing architecture and also more generally, through (1) the ways designers approach what Rittel (1972) called “wicked problems” (which, I argue, have the same structure as ethical dilemmas) and (2) the implicit consideration of others in design’s core methodology. In parallel to this I have explored the spatial sense of the idea that we are part of the world through a series of design investigations comprising projects set in everyday situations and other speculative drawings. Through these I have proposed reformulating the architectural theme of place, which is usually associated with phenomenology, in constructivist terms as the spatiality of observing our own observing and so as where the self‐reference of epistemology (that we cannot experience the world beyond our experience) becomes manifest.
Following last year’s projects set in Regent Street and Regent’s
Park in London, this year Studio... more Following last year’s projects set in Regent Street and Regent’s Park in London, this year Studio 01 has been exploring the related Regency context of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. The Pavilion was built in several stages, beginning in 1787 and culminating in the 1815-1822 designs by John Nash, as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became Prince Regent in 1811. The Pavilion is not only one of Brighton’s most famous landmarks but also a key part in its development as a popular seaside resort. It was bought by and for the people in 1850. The wider complex of spaces around the Pavilion (Pavilion Gardens, the Dome, New Road, the Old Stein) and the sequence between the Palace Pier and the Level is one of the most convincingly civic spaces in Brighton and Hove, which became a city only in 2001. As well as having the quality of an urban set piece, it is also an intensification of various public cultural programmes, from entertainment (the Pier, the Aquarium, the Dome, the Theatre Royal, Brighton Festival) to education (Grand Parade and the new plans for Circus Street) as well as the setting for institutions such as the Brighton Town Hall and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. Following initial interpretations of architectural “pleasure”, the studio has made close studies of the interior spaces of the Pavilion itself and of public places within Brighton which have a memorable urban character. Students have then proposed an addition to their own house in Brighton on the pretext of receiving a guest, reflecting the Pavilion’s original social function. From these studies, they have developed a model, exploring architectural possibilities to take forward, in terms two and three, in proposals for a new public building within this complex. Ben Sweeting, Tim Norman Thanks to: Alex Arestis, Duncan Baker-Brown, Kate Cheyne, Richard Davies, Penelope Haralambidou, Keiran Hawkins, Alexandra Loske, Jim Mayor, Kirsty Sutherland and Owain Williams
Students: Florence Fathers Arshia Hatami Nikolaos Kofopoulos Maria Mavrikou Samrita Mudher Eve Olsen Andreani Papaioannou Samuel Plank Joe Randall Thomas Thornton Myy Tran Glenn Turner - Rachel Chee Niki Chouvarda Katerina Demetriou Thalia Girerd Alex Parry Kathryn Rackett Neda Soltani Eugenia Trias David Waldren Jordan Winzer
This year the University of Brighton’s BA Architecture Studio 01 is working in the context of Lon... more This year the University of Brighton’s BA Architecture Studio 01 is working in the context of London’s Regent Street and Regent’s Park. As with previous years spent exploring Winchelsea and Alfriston, we are investigating the planning and making of the built environment. We are interested in how we can learn from the character of a place when developing our architectural ideas and what it means to design new buildings within a distinctive established context.
Regent Street is a line drawn through the city by an architect’s hand, a meridian that runs from St James’s Park to Regent’s Park through the heart of London. But this is not a straight axis; it is a sinuous line that bends and curves to step around different land ownerships, to plug into pre-existing streets and buildings, to create views and vistas, to build profit as well as beauty. This grand project of urban planning, architecture and landscaping was conceived by John Nash in the early 19th Century for the Crown Estate and named after the Prince Regent.
Regent Street and its linked spaces cut a section through London. This line stretches from the ‘rural’ trees of St James’s Park in the south up the grand stairs at Carlton House Terrace, through residential streets and civic spaces, past cultural institutions and members’ clubs to a crescendo of movement at Piccadilly Circus. From there, intensive commercial life and retail consumerism line the route to Oxford Circus after which the line moves out again past professional institutions and terraces to the open greenery of Regent’s Park. Finally, at the northern end of the scheme the Regent’s Canal ties this whole territory to the former industrial quarters of Paddington, Camden, King’s Cross and the Docklands.
The Nash scheme brought together dreams of urban grandeur with property development. It manifests the idea that a city’s buildings and spaces can be designed together as an elegant stage set for life while also meeting the requirements of commerce, housing, transportation and industry, producing a townscape of drama, contrast, civility and architectural invention.
In the work of Studio 01 this year we position ourselves within Regent Street, Regent’s Park and the Regent’s Canal as they are today. Though much of the original architecture is no longer standing, the power and overall logic of the design endures, a testament to the way cities and buildings change and how spatial designs both evolve and leave their traces over time. This is a world of neoclassical facades, brand new buildings, colonnades, level changes, alleyways, stone and stucco, brick and glass, crowds, quiet libraries, trees, neon, tow paths, barges, palaces and a zoo.
The following pages illustrate the wealth of work produced by second and third year students in term 1 of the academic year 2013-2014. Through five exercises we have investigated Regent Street at different scales to explore its many characteristics. In the first of these, Meridian, we have reflected on a personal interpretation of architectural ordering and developed this as a spatial exploration. In Line Through The City we interpreted Nash’s section through London as a whole, while in Draw Everything we focused in detail on some of the particular spaces opened up or left behind by this and other grand gestures. We have responded to these places by proposing an Addition to them, accentuating or contrasting their spatial character. From these initial probes we have identified spatial and architectural themes which we have explored in a series of Fragments suggestive of the built proposals that we will design in the next two terms.
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Papers by Ben Sweeting
Park in London, this year Studio 01 has been exploring the related
Regency context of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. The Pavilion was
built in several stages, beginning in 1787 and culminating in the
1815-1822 designs by John Nash, as a seaside retreat for George,
Prince of Wales, who became Prince Regent in 1811.
The Pavilion is not only one of Brighton’s most famous landmarks
but also a key part in its development as a popular seaside resort.
It was bought by and for the people in 1850. The wider complex
of spaces around the Pavilion (Pavilion Gardens, the Dome, New
Road, the Old Stein) and the sequence between the Palace Pier and
the Level is one of the most convincingly civic spaces in Brighton
and Hove, which became a city only in 2001. As well as having
the quality of an urban set piece, it is also an intensification of
various public cultural programmes, from entertainment (the Pier,
the Aquarium, the Dome, the Theatre Royal, Brighton Festival) to
education (Grand Parade and the new plans for Circus Street) as
well as the setting for institutions such as the Brighton Town Hall
and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.
Following initial interpretations of architectural “pleasure”,
the studio has made close studies of the interior spaces of the
Pavilion itself and of public places within Brighton which have
a memorable urban character. Students have then proposed an
addition to their own house in Brighton on the pretext of receiving
a guest, reflecting the Pavilion’s original social function. From
these studies, they have developed a model, exploring architectural
possibilities to take forward, in terms two and three, in proposals
for a new public building within this complex.
Ben Sweeting, Tim Norman
Thanks to: Alex Arestis, Duncan Baker-Brown, Kate Cheyne,
Richard Davies, Penelope Haralambidou, Keiran Hawkins,
Alexandra Loske, Jim Mayor, Kirsty Sutherland and Owain
Williams
Students:
Florence Fathers
Arshia Hatami
Nikolaos Kofopoulos
Maria Mavrikou
Samrita Mudher
Eve Olsen
Andreani Papaioannou
Samuel Plank
Joe Randall
Thomas Thornton
Myy Tran
Glenn Turner
-
Rachel Chee
Niki Chouvarda
Katerina Demetriou
Thalia Girerd
Alex Parry
Kathryn Rackett
Neda Soltani
Eugenia Trias
David Waldren
Jordan Winzer
Regent Street is a line drawn through the city by an architect’s hand, a meridian that runs from St James’s Park to Regent’s Park through the heart of London. But this is not a straight axis; it is a sinuous line that bends and curves to step around different land ownerships, to plug into pre-existing streets and buildings, to create views and vistas, to build profit as well as beauty. This grand project of urban planning, architecture and landscaping was conceived by John Nash in the early 19th Century for the Crown Estate and named after the Prince Regent.
Regent Street and its linked spaces cut a section through London. This line stretches from the ‘rural’ trees of St James’s Park in the south up the grand stairs at Carlton House Terrace, through residential streets and civic spaces, past cultural institutions and members’ clubs to a crescendo of movement at Piccadilly Circus. From there, intensive commercial life and retail consumerism line the route to Oxford Circus after which the line moves out again past professional institutions and terraces to the open greenery of Regent’s Park. Finally, at the northern end of the scheme the Regent’s Canal ties this whole territory to the former industrial quarters of Paddington, Camden, King’s Cross and the Docklands.
The Nash scheme brought together dreams of urban grandeur with property development. It manifests the idea that a city’s buildings and spaces can be designed together as an elegant stage set for life while also meeting the requirements of commerce, housing, transportation and industry, producing a townscape of drama, contrast, civility and architectural invention.
In the work of Studio 01 this year we position ourselves within Regent Street, Regent’s Park and the Regent’s Canal as they are today. Though much of the original architecture is no longer standing, the power and overall logic of the design endures, a testament to the way cities and buildings change and how spatial designs both evolve and leave their traces over time. This is a world of neoclassical facades, brand new buildings, colonnades, level changes, alleyways, stone and stucco, brick and glass, crowds, quiet libraries, trees, neon, tow paths, barges, palaces and a zoo.
The following pages illustrate the wealth of work produced by second and third year students in term 1 of the academic year 2013-2014. Through five exercises we have investigated Regent Street at different scales to explore its many characteristics. In the first of these, Meridian, we have reflected on a personal interpretation of architectural ordering and developed this as a spatial exploration. In Line Through The City we interpreted Nash’s section through London as a whole, while in Draw Everything we focused in detail on some of the particular spaces opened up or left behind by this and other grand gestures. We have responded to these places by proposing an Addition to them, accentuating or contrasting their spatial character. From these initial probes we have identified spatial and architectural themes which we have explored in a series of Fragments suggestive of the built proposals that we will design in the next two terms.
Studio 01 is led by Alex Arestis and Ben Sweeting