June 2014 – School of Architecture & Design

June 13, 2014Catherine Chibnall No Comments

Recto Verso: Redefining the Sketchbook

We are pleased to share that two of our College of Arts Senior Lecturers have collaborated and released a book on Studies in Architecture.

Angela Bartram works in live art, video, sculpture and published text. Bartram’s artwork has been included in a variety of exhibitions, including the Miami International Festival of Performance (2013); and at the gallery Grace Exhibition Space (New York 2012). She is a senior lecturer in fine art at the University of Lincoln.
Douglas Gittens is a researcher and senior lecturer at the Lincoln School of Architecture. He is also an active member of the Architectural Contexts Research Group and the Drawing Research Group at the University of Lincoln, and a member of the Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA). His research interests include spatial theory, the phenomenology of architecture, architectural representation and the documentation of architectural memory and lost space.

Overview –
Bringing together a broad range of contributors including art, architecture, and design academic theorists and historians, in addition to practicing artists, architects, and designers, this volume explores the place of the sketchbook in contemporary art and architecture. Drawing upon a diverse range of theories, practices, and reflections common to the contemporary conceptualisation of the sketchbook and its associated environments, it offers a dialogue in which the sketchbook can be understood as a pivotal working tool that contributes to the creative process and the formulation and production of visual ideas. Along with exploring the theoretical, philosophical, psychological, and curatorial implications of the sketchbook, the book addresses emergent digital practices by way of examining contemporary developments in sketchbook productions and pedagogical applications. Consequently, these more recent developments question the validity of the sketchbook as both an instrument of practice and creativity, and as an educational device. International in scope, it not only explores European intellectual and artistic traditions, but also intercultural and cross-cultural perspectives, including reviews of practices in Chinese artworks or Islamic calligraphy, and situational contexts that deal with historical examples, such as Roman art, or modern practices in geographical-cultural regions like Pakistan.

A copy of their book can be found at http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409468660

June 13, 2014Catherine Chibnall No Comments

Design for Exhibition & Museums – Success Stories

What is Design for Exhibition & Museums?

DEM specialises in the design of three-dimensional environments that ‘tell a story’. The design of exhibitions for commercial and heritage practises is continuously evolving and presents many challenges to designers’ creativity and technical know-how. Great exhibitions communicate ideas and information effectively to audiences in purpose built spaces, leaving them with a lasting impression. By understanding the evolving nature of the industry, DEM produces designers who can communicate a story in a 3D space.

Throughout the course students learn how to manipulate space and structure, design graphics, create storyboards and create exhibition content that is targeted and accessible.

Part of the course’s appeal is its studio-based culture where students undertake project-based creative work such as drawing, modelling, written and computer aided design skills.

Projects are extremely varied, integrating theory, professional studies, technology and design skills to promote creativity, innovation and curiosity. We also offer this programme at

masters level with the MA in Design for Exhibition and Musuems; applications can be made online at www.lincoln.ac.uk.

Recent design agencies and museums that recent graduates have progressed to include:

Museum Design:

Duxford Air Museum
Eureka Children’s Museum
Glasgow Science Centre
Imperial War Museum
The British Museum
The Science Museum

Exhibition Design

Event Communications
Furneaux Stewart
Haughton Kneale Design
Imagination
Janus Design
JJA Design Consultants
Merlin Entertainments
(Alton Towers, Legoland, Sealife and Madame Tussauds)
MET Studio Design
Photosound Communications
Pico International

(Dubai and Singapore)
Redman Design Associates
Small Back Room

June 12, 2014Catherine Chibnall No Comments

Saturday Club – End of year Summer Show

The National Art&Design Saturday Club offers young people aged 14–16 the unique opportunity to study art and design every Saturday morning at their local college or university for free.
Now in its fifth year, the Saturday Club runs in 33 locations across the UK, in colleges, universities and at the Victoria and Albert Museum. As well as more than 100 hours of specialist tuition, young people also benefit from visits to museums and galleries, Masterclasses from leading art and design practitioners and an exhibition of their work in London’s Somerset House.
The Summer Show, which marks the end of the year, reinforces the nationwide scope of the Saturday Club programme and treats the creative work of young people seriously. Featuring work by every Club member, it is visited by 3,000 people.

This year the Summer Show is once again taking place in the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House.

Tutors have selected pieces from across the range of disciplines and projects they have taught this year, and some have included work from the Masterclasses, too.

We have students from across Lincoln involved in the visit, with Dave Bramston, Principal Lecturer of Art & Design coordinating the Saturday Club, and Ali Shepley leading their previous trip to Milan.

For more information, visit http://saturday-club.org/

June 4, 2014Catherine Chibnall 1 Comment

Architecture students create Twitter-reactive garden

A Twitter-reactive garden could provide a prototype for the future development of ‘smart’ buildings that can adapt to our emotional state.

The structure has been created by academics from the University of Lincoln, UK, taking its inspiration from the University’s Digital Capabilities garden, which won Gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2013.

The STAN (Science Technology Architecture Networks) research project, which involves computer scientists and architects, is exploring whether architecture is able to reflect and map human emotions.

The garden consists of an articulating raw steel structure, which sits vertically and horizontally, and is controlled by people’s responses via Twitter. In this way it is continuously revealing what the landscape is covering, while also remodelling itself.

The STAN project will be making its first public appearance at the Garden Up horticultural event in Sheffield on 7th and 8th June 2014.

The garden will react to activity on Twitter when people use the #gardenup hashtag, translating this information into movements of the garden’s mechanical landscape.

Richard M Wright, Senior Lecturer in the Lincoln School of Architecture, developed the construct, together with fellow academic Barbara Griffin and students Amy Hayeselden, Nicholas Sharpe and Liam Bennett from the University’s School of Architecture.

He said: “The garden essentially points to a future in which buildings could modify themselves in response to monitoring our emotional state via social media. For example, if we feel like wearing a big cosy jumper and sipping a cup of boiling hot soup, it will turn the temperature down and open a window. Buildings may also begin to reflect the mood of a populace by changing colour or shape, constantly remapping our perception of our urban environment, with façades becoming animated, reflective and mobile in response to communal desires and emotions.

“The fact we decided to retain the structure’s raw metal appearance is a tangible reminder of Sheffield’s industrial past, changing and weathering as a result of the environment.”

Dr Duncan Rowland, a fine artist and Reader in the School of Computer Science, developed the software application. He added: “We exist in a dynamic flux of social information; the software aims to intercept and expose some of this data in a tangible representation.”

The STAN project will also be making an appearance at the Lincolnshire Show which takes place on 18th and 19th June 2014.

Horticultural experts, Crowders Nurseries of Horncastle, will be providing the plants for Lincolnshire Show with Samantha Snowden providing horticultural and plant design expertise for both events.

Follow @thestanproject on Twitter to learn more about the project.