An LFA event: we thought this might interest you...

Fresh Architecture!
Wednesday 16th & Thursday 17th July 2008

A showcase of architectural cinema fresh to the big screen, complementing the London Festival of Architecture’s long weekend at its Clerkenwell Hub. Including the eye-opening documentary Garbage Warrior, the UK premiere of The Rural Studio and a special screening event of the work of Unit 15 at the Bartlett School of Architecture.

For more info, visit: http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/series.asp?ID=580

Tickets from £8.50/£6 members & concessions

________________________________
Details of other events happening as part of the London Festival of Architecture can be found at: www.lfa2008.org
________________________________

DASD Summer Exhibition opening night after-party

We're sure you are all busy preparing yourselves for the summer show, and are looking forward to a night celebrating all your hard work. We'd like to invite you and your friends to join us to continue the celebrations at our opening night after-party.

________________________________________________
WHERE: Queen Boadicea, 292-294 St John Street, EC1V 4PA (down the road from Angel towards town)
WHEN: Thursday 19th June, 9.30pm - 2am

Free Entry, All Welcome.
________________________________________________

Watch out for posters up in the department this week, and there will be flyers floating around in the exhibition on Thursday (not literally).

ALSO: For any djs among you who would like to do a set on the night of the party, do please get in touch. It's all about the student participation don't you know! Decks, CDs or even ipods welcome, we don't mind - just as long as the music is good to dance to...

See you there!

An excited MA&DE team

Discounts with your MA&DE card!

MA&DE is delighted to announce that, as promised, your MA&DE card can now save you money!

Our fellow yellows, Amici Deli, Highbury Corner, will now be offering a 10% discount on sandwiches, salads and hot food on production of your MA&DE membership cards.

If you haven't done so already, joining is totally FREE and so easy. Not only do you get discounts, but the university give us money for every member, which allow us to continue organising events and parties for you!

Send the following e-mail

I, [Full Name and student ID number], wish to join Metropolitan Architecture & Design Exchange (MA&DE) society (architectural society).

Thank you.

[Full Name]

to
studentactivities@londonmet.ac.uk

and don't forget to CC us in at
made.in.spring@gmail.com

MA&DE cards can be collected at 1pm on Mondays in the foyer, and before MA&DE events.

Colin O'Brien lecture

Retrospective Images
Thursday 3rd April
6.30pm in the Forum

Colin O’Brien will be presenting his ‘Retrospective Images’: a series of photographs which take a nostalgic look back at life and span a period of over 50 years. The urban landscapes capture people off-guard in run-down buildings and streets, which have long since been cleaned up or demolished. Children play, women chat, men drink and play darts in seedy pubs, couples stroll, arm-in-arm on Sundays in the City.

The commonplace is so often overlooked, but it could be argued that many of O’Brien’s photographs are the most important documentation of a way of life that has long since ceased to exist. For O’Brien, the street becomes his stage and the passing scene is compared to scenes in a play where people talk, dance, mime and perform to an unseen audience.

The ‘Retrospective Images’ are oddly timeless with no sense of place and a telling beauty and eloquence. They encapsulate connections and misconnections between subjects, many of those, societies “outsiders”. O’Brien lives in Hackney and many of his pictures are taken in and around that area.

For more information about Colin O’Brien, see: www.colinobrien.co.uk

Election Results

Easter break is now coming to an end and we all face into the last couple of months with renewed vigour and determination, I’m sure.

MA&DE’s elections before the break have brought a new team together to carry MA&DE on into next year and continue to develop it.

The results are as follows:

Core MA&DE Team -

PG Chair: Caroline Khoo, 4th Year

PG Vice-Chair: Tabitha Pope, 4th Year

UG Chair: Linda Bjorling, 1st Year

PR: Josh Williams, 4th Year

PR/Admin: Emma Ellis, 2nd Year

Admin/Treasurer: Anna Kerrane, 4th Year

Extended MA&DE team -

Vicky Summers, Aasan Abbas, William Fairminer, Arman Borhani, Edourd Rochet, Kevin Ega-Bourgeois, Charlotte Khatso, Zara Agha, Pavol and Luke Royffe.

Raphael

We would like to express our sadness at the tragic death of classmate Raphael Pennekamp, a keen contributor to MA&DE. His enthusiasm and passion were seemingly unending, and MA&DE’s recent discussion series “The interior as background to life” was entirely thanks to him. He will be greatly missed by many throughout the school.

MA&DE, the annual elections and you

MA&DE has grown from a small student initiative, which came into being over a drink in a pub, into an active student architecture society. It has been a brilliant year, but we, that is the people filling the “official” positions as Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and PR, think it’s time to make way for new people. Some of us are leaving architecture education for good this summer to enter the “real world”, whilst some will continue at DASD and may try out a different role with MA&DE…

So, without further ado (and before we drift into deep nostalgia), we’d like to announce the MA&DE elections! If you enjoy organising events, liaising between people and putting on socials, then get involved. You can stand for one of the five “official” positions or propose a new job.

Through being part of the MA&DE team, you will get to meet interesting people from the architecture world, plus any position will look good on your CV – but of course, these should not be the only reasons you sign up to the team. You should also be reasonably committed as the positions need to be filled until the following elections in Celebration Week next year. No worries though - the work that is involved is good fun and definitely rewarding.

If you have any questions regarding the “official” positions, please do contact the relevant person:

Postgraduate chair – Stef Rhodes (stefrhodes [at] gmail.com)
Undergraduate chair
Job: Lectures, coordinating the different events, liaising between the school and the society

Postgraduate secretary – Anna Kerrane (anna.kerrane [at] gmail.com)
Undergraduate secretary – Nicky Bruun-Meyer (nib0200 [at] londonmet.ac.uk)
Job: Organising the society meetings, taking the notes, liaising between the school and the students, writing postings on the MA&DE blog and keeping the Facebook group up-to-date

Treasurer – Christian Dimbleby (cpd0014 [at] londonmet.ac.uk)
Job: Liaising between the university and the society and managing the money

PR - Kat Davis (kat.s.davis [at] gmail.com)
Job: Lectures, posters, getting the MA&DE message out there and writing postings on the MA&DE blog

We’ve actually not stuck to these job descriptions - they are more of a general guidance. MA&DE tends to work as a team, with everyone being involved in pretty much everything at some point!

In addition, there have been many more people beyond these “official roles” that have organised specific events within the MA&DE structure. These have included the cinema nights and the MA&DE public seminars. There have also been an important group of people involved with the lectures, poster making and helping the socials to happen, so you’re not alone.

Please let us know under made.in.spring [at] gmail.com or via the election box on the MA&DE board if you are interested in a position by midday, Tuesday 11th of March. The elections will take place at one o’clock at Spring House (location tbc). Anyone who can’t make it in person but would like to stand for a position can send a representative. And again… if you have any questions, please get in touch with us at made.in.spring [at] gmail.com.

Yours truly,

The MA&DE team 2007/08.

Confusing Celebrations!

MA&DE would like to thank you all for a really great night at BarCosa last Thursday, but also apologise for the confusion surrounding the location…especially if any of you didn’t get the message that it had moved… (we hope not!)

Many of you saw the studios slowly transforming into a party room over the course of the evening, and we hope you were as excited as us about the idea of school not being just about work for an evening!!!

However, communication & bureaucracy let us down, and despite having received permission from all of the University bodies who we were told to, it transpired that there were some outstanding permissions that were necessary in order for us to hold our event in the school…

Unfortunately, it was only during the lecture, when the room was ready, the beer was chilled and the dj’s had begun warming up, that an official from the University arrived unannounced to give us the bad news….

So, a special thank you to Abby at BarCosa for accommodating us at such short notice (and yes, we were all very impressed with that final blast of the speakers at the end of the night!)

A big thank you also to Tabitha and Matt for the music, and to xxxx who became our official paparazzo for the night!

We do still hope to hold a party in school for you at some stage towards the end of the year, now that we’re fully aware of the requirements… So dj’s and party planners… keep coming forward!!

Celebration Week is all over now, and it’s heads down for the next few weeks before the Easter Crits that so many of us have looming… but don’t forget the Elections coming up on Tuesday the 11th…

MA&DE PUBLIC - seminar 4

"The Interior as a Background for Life".
Raphael Pennekamp : Kettle’s Yard. A way of life.
Monday, the 3rd of March.
Studio North (E105, on the first floor)
6:30pm. (not 6:00 pm as printed on the posters!)

“Kettle’s Yard is in no way meant to be an art gallery or museum, nor is it simply a collection of works of art… It is, rather, a continuing way of life from these last 50 years, in which stray objects, stones, glass, pictures, sculpture, in light and in space, have been used to make manifest the underlying stability which more and more we need to recognize if we are not to be swamped by all that is so rapidly opening up before us.” –Jim Ede.

Raphael Pennekamp will introduce the idea that art, as a vital part of our everyday lives, can root us in the world around us and inform an understanding of ourselves in it. A setting where one can ‘be with’ works of art, seen next to more ordinary things, can allow us to develop a more personal relationship.

The Interior as a Background for Life. A continuous dialogue between Martina Geccelli, Florian Beigel, John Glew and Raphael Pennekamp.
In order to encourage a culture of open academic exchange in our department, MA&DE has established the format of the ‘public seminar’. A first series of events on four consecutive Tuesdays will address the topic of “The Interior as a Background for Life”. At any one time, one of the four guests will introduce an individually chosen topic, to be followed by a chaired dialog amongst the seminar group. Students are very much encouraged to enter into these dialogs.

MA&DE on Real Time

We wrote an article 'about us' - hopefully if you're reading this, it means you followed the link from Real Time.

It's the stepping up to be part of MA&DE time of year... here's what we said on Real Time:

The Metropolitan Architecture and Design Exchange, the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design Student Society, is now a proud one and half years old. We’ve had a lot of fun, but are thinking the time has come to pass the baton of great extra-curricular activity and antics on to some fresher-faced folks. There’ll shortly be elections in the school to which you can nominate people and/or stand for the couple of official job titles at MA&DE, but there is also loads more we do that you can do too. So, here’s a bit more about us…

MA&DE holds events for and by students - educational, recreational and social. We seek to encourage contact between units, years and courses and support student initiatives.

Last year we ran the ‘MA&DE-up cities’ cinema season, organised ‘MA&DE at night’ socials (we have a soft-spot for puns) and facilitated collecting your feedback on life at DASD to share with the RIBA, when last Autumn, they turned up in their white coats at Spring House.

So far this year, we have set up a tasty range of public ‘freshly MA&DE’ lectures, there has been more of ‘MA&DE at night’ and most recently, ‘MA&DE public’, a series of open seminar debates. We’ve also represented student concerns at meetings – the recycling boxes are here (hoorah) and we’re still working on introducing power-napping sofas as well as a mentoring system between postgraduate and undergraduate students.

You have ideas of other things that can be MA&DE, we hear you say? Whether that be to get a whole school 5-aside football league together, life drawing classes or a photography exhibition, MA&DE can support you. Not an organizer? Have no fear, ideas-people are needed too –there are jobs and roles of all sizes and responsibility.

So don’t sit in the wings, the hard bit is done – MA&DE is up, running and ready for more people and more ideas and initiative. In the meantime, if you feel like flexing your DJing muscles at the ‘MA&DE at night’ party in Celebration Week, then e-mail us at made.in.spring[at]gmail.com

You can also find us on Facebook, see what’s on next on the yellow board in department or via the web at the MA&DE blog.

...the 'celebration' in the week. For all ASD students.

MA&DE PUBLIC - seminar 3

"The Interior as a Background for Life".
John Glew : Making good things happen.
Tuesday, the 26th of February.
The forum
6:30pm. (not 6:00 pm as printed on the posters!)

“The known potential of the found rather than the ego of the new can enable a familiar, ‘Background-Presence’ - the character of the physical (and cultural) setting of a place - to flourish; Architecture can be as much about interpretation as the production of form with it’s appropriateness to empower others. Thus all that is not architecture is respected - one rich in social importance. These virtues, some pictured and some imagined can be viewed as available resources to the city, as a kind of visual registry, harnessed and deployed they have much imaginative design potential if recognised; an Architecture of the emotions and the intellect - for all the senses…”

Tales told by lamplight

We thought we'd get some special MA&DE lamps, to draw your attention to MA&DE events going on in Spring House - like bees to a honeypot. The lamps embarked upon their MA&DEn voyage and docked in (well, more precisely were plugged in at) the second 'MA&DE public: the Interior as Background for Life' seminar, given by DASD's own esteemed Monsieur Beigel. There was a rather touching moment during the talk, when M. Beigel took a seat by one of the little yellow glowing wonders, to share with the audience some big ideas. The seminar was packed and MA&DE would like to give Raphael Pennekamp a shiny gold star for showing the initiative to start up this successful discussion series.

WANTED: music guru/DJ/ turntable maestro

MA&DE is looking for DJs for the Celebration Week party next Thursday evening in the School of Architecture - short notice, but WE NEED YOU NOW!

You could play as much or little as you want via mp3 or any other format as long as it's danceable, so you'll definitely have time to enjoy the night as well. Oh, and of course there are some free drinks for the DJs... so if you're interested, please get in touch!

made.in.spring@gmail.com

Thanks and official celebration invite will follow soon... as soon as the music is confirmed!

MA&DE PUBLIC - seminar 2

"The Interior as a Background for Life".
Florian Beigel : La Congiunta House for Sculptures.
Tuesday, the 19th of February.
Studio North (E105, on the first floor)
6:30pm. (not 6:00 pm as printed on the posters!)

This week Florian Beigel will discuss a building project called 'La Congiunta House for Sculptures' in Giornico, Switzerland designed by Peter Märkli.

The description will focus on the architect's role as Baukunstler (building artist). In ancient architecture, building art was considered the highest form of art. The proposition of the talk is that we need architects today who base their work on the idea of a continuity of architectural knowledge. La Congiunta is a marriage of art and architecture. It is a well-tempered house for the works of the Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn, a close friend and mentor of Peter Märkli.

After his introduction Florian Beigel will enter into a public dialogue with John Glew and Raphael Pennekamp. (Martina Geccelli won't be able to attend this week). A number of students made contributions to last week's discussion, which we would very much like to encourage this week as well!

If you missed last weeks session or want to refresh your memory, please see below for a review written by Anna Page (Unit 1):

The first in a series of 'ASD Public Seminars' conceived by Raphael Pennekamp to encourage open academic exchange in the department was held on Tuesday 12th February. The contemporary photographer Martina Gecceli was the first of four guests to present a selection of her work to prompt the discussion. Gecceli's selection of six photographs included a streetscape in New York, a post 9/11 interior in the world trade centre, objects on a table in her studio, a row of books with the spines concealed. In each instance, the artist was concerned with describing the spaces 'simply as they are', quite aside from any personal or political readings. Both interior or exterior, composed or found themes, were examined using similar questions: what are the provisional and temporary objects? How do the objects relate to one another in space? Where is the foreground? Where is the centre line? The following debate that arose between ASD students, guest architects Professor Florian Beigal, John Glew and chair Raphael Pennekamp centered on what was useful about these ideas for architects. The possibility of creating monumentality for objects that are physically light and ideas about changing scale using Gecceli's way of looking at the world were discussed. Students also questioned whether it is possible or even desirable to separate objects in space from their political or personal context. This first public seminar provided the beginnings of a much needed open forum for academic dialogue in the department. Next week's seminar on Tuesday 19th February will be prompted by Professor Florian Beigel's presentation on Peter Markli's La Congiunta .

MA&DE PUBLIC - seminar 1

"The Interior as a Background for Life"
Martina Geccelli: Brief visits - 6 Photographs.
Tuesday, the 12th of February
Studio North (E105, on the first floor)
6pm

Martina Geccelli: Trained as an architect and sculptor, Martina Geccelli is working with photography in connection with architectural and sculptural conditions. Her work focuses on external and internal spatial aspects. Space is defined by its limitations, the physical outlines and that in between.Sometimes a found setting is treated like a Still Life: the camera concentrates on details of the room, pointing towards specific aspects. People are placing things, useful or decorative, in their everyday routine. Traces of that routine are left like markings.

"I look at things as if for the first time, in order to explore so far unnoticed aspects."

MA&DE proudly presents...

...the MA&DE public debate series.

On three consecutive Tuesdays and, erhm, one Monday, Martina Geccelli, Florian Beigel, John Glew and Raphael Pennekamp will hold public seminars on "The interior as background for life". This Tuesday Martina Geccelli will present her work to start off the discussion, to which all are invited to contribute. We hope this format will promote a more open exchange of ideas between students, artists, tutors and visitors.

Do come and contribute!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

... and welcome back. We’re not going to talk about diets or fitness or any of that tripe. In fact, maybe we should just talk about tripe. Apparently, it's "delicious in a sandwich or just as part of your calorie controlled offal based diet". Hmmm.

Anyway, back to more architectural affairs and MA&DE - we've got more events, more ideas and marvellous things coming up for you in 2008. We'll be telling you what's up next in Spring House a jiffy...

Alex de Rijke lecture

Timber is the new concrete
Thursday 10th January

A critique of architecture practice today is that it is mostly driven by formal preoccupations, the endless quest for new form providing even ambitious architects with blinkers during the conceptual design process. A willful ignorance of the sustainable industrial revolution now underway in northern Europe is coupled with the attitude that recycling, renewable energy, low CO2 etc is generally considered (by the ‘avant-garde’) to be the site of duty, not dynamic design. Yet scientists, environmentalists and even politicians, the press and hence public know energy, waste management and ozone control to be the inevitable future…

De Rijke’s abbreviated synopsis of technology as the key driver of architecture is as follows:

the 17 and 18C was the era of brick,
the 19C was the era of the steel frame,
the 20C was the era of concrete,
as global energy crisis develops and CO2 emissions become legal issues:
the 21C will become the era of renewable timber.

dRMM aim to produce useful architecture that is a expression (and critique of) social and cultural production, using industrialised materials and processes. Their direct ‘Off the Shelf’ approach to (lateral) design has been systematically researched, taught and exhibited at the Architecture Association, London, and applied in practice since 1995 as dRMM London. The practice’s projects have been published widely and have received many awards for innovation and
achievement in architecture.

Project material research has recently focused on engineered timber and ETFE, which dRMM regard as the most interesting sustainable high-performance materials of the future. dRMM is a leader of the international field in the architectural exploitation of these materials, and is exploring the correlation between concept, context, and construction. Particular preoccupations of the practice lie in structural timber systems, the possibility of all-timber buildings, and economy of means.