Weak, as in a summary of my physical state come 4pm most days, thanks to lifting, shifting and fixing on site. After 2 years of extremely challenging work the budget for a contractor on my refurb of a late 60s timber frame house has been spent, meaning I am now on the tools. In many respects its less stressful than running a job as project manager, with the gap removed between architect and material, decision making and action can happen quicker. It is, however, abundantly obvious that I am a decade older than the last time I did this. It’s possible my architectural ego has written cheques that my body would prefer not to cash.
It’s a split level house, with spaces cut into the hillside that are suffering from failing waterproofing. We’ve been brushing on tanking products but irradicating all moisture is unlikely. Breathable materials will be critical and instead of layering oil based boards over the uninsulated concrete floors (risking the unknown trapping of damp underneath beneath impervious surfaces in years to come) I’ve poured an insulated screed. It’s a new product to me and I must admit the top surface is more delicate than I’d imagined. The install team said it was like Angel Delight. We poured it last week and on Monday it’s clear more drying out time is needed.
Other benefits include air-tightness. I’ll be taping the vapour barrier to it around the perimeter. The u-value will be poorer than aforementioned oil based products, but this is the trade off we all have to get better at.
Tuesday brings the arrival of the RIBA Journal and the pleasure of seeing my project for Birmingham Settlement feature in its MacEwan Award shortlist. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer client.
Teaching this semester dips into 3 different cohorts from Wednesdays to Fridays. Always enjoyable having to switch gears and topics every day. Our ‘CoLab’ module, connecting students in groups to work on live projects, will be developing proposals to bring Bluuprint’s food pantry project to a community room owned by a Walsall Housing Group. We’ll be using it explore mutual aid, broaden understanding of infrastructures and discuss domestic scale community spaces inspired by the client’s ‘sharing table’.
Ursula Franklin’s checklist, as shared by Erin Kissane, may be a timely discovery:
Should one not ask of any public project or loan whether it: (1) promotes justice; (2) restores reciprocity; (3) confers divisible or indivisible benefits; (4) favours people over machines; (5) whether its strategy maximizes gain or minimizes disaster; (6) whether conservation is favoured over waste; and (7), whether the reversible is favoured over the irreversible? The last item is obviously important. Considering that most projects do not work out as planned, it would be helpful if they proceeded in a way that allowed revision and learning, that is, in small reversible steps.
Thursday brings the major design module for final year undergraduates. My studio has been imagining a future of community arts and culture challenges in the face of austerity in our fiscally broken city. Neighbourhood Exhibition Halls is the pitch, with precedents from the canon that display tectonics so performative they become sceneographic. Pompidou, Mummers Theatre and the Fun Palace.
Learning about the latter is made easier by the opening of an exhibition of Cedric Price’s drawings in our foyer. Giddy at the opportunity to be in their presence, I found myself explaining what Letratone was and reflecting on its impact on the illustration aesthetic of the period.
I’ve asked for painterly work at the end of the semester, to encourage an engagement with colour and light. Oils and adhesive shade here we come.
Alongside the canonical, my suggestions for contemporary precedents are Sunspot, East Quay and Sands End; by HAT Projects, Invisible Studio and Mae. Three of the best practices at work in the UK, IMHO.
Friday brings tutorials with our substantial first year cohort. It’s a surprise for new students to discover how the teaching is not always about Architecture, but decision making. Mandy Brown’s post highlighting that a decision is something you create, brings a book reference I’ll be digging into.
Saturday brings the joy of hosting a house full of friends, plus phenomenal work by Chris with a handcrafted cocktail menu and the expertly served Firing Squad.
Firing Squad [Mexico] 1
60ml Tequila
22.5ml Grenadine
22.5ml Lime Juice
2-3 dashes Bitters
Shake and pour over ice.
I also predict more Sidecars in my future – 2:1 cognac:cointreu, lemon juice, orange slice.
Other noticings:
Re-discovering Molly Steenson’s work on Cedric Price, plus her latest talks on AI and ethics
Tomorrow morning, the windows arrive.
- nomenclature explanation here: drinksanddrinking.substack.com/p/the-mexican-firing-squad ↩︎