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.