Ravensbourne students attend World Architecture Festival

Press Release

29 October 2008

Ravensbourne students invited to inaugural World Architecture Festival

Rave chosen to compete alongside world’s top architecture schools

A team of 8 4^th Year students from MA Environment Design were invited to the first ever World Architecture Festival to compete in the Student Charette, an intense 36-hour session in which students brainstormed to answer a brief and were given 10 minutes to present their idea for immediate judging. Going head-to-head with 5^th-year students from Bartlett (University College London), Hafencity Universitat (Germany), the School of Design and Environment (Singapore) and Kazan Architectural University (Russia), Ravensbourne was the only non-architectural school to be invited.

Chaired by Professor David Dunster of Liverpool University, and judged by German architect Stefan Behnisch, Barcelona architect David Mackay and journalist William Menking of The Architect’s Newspaper, the students’ brief centred around the regeneration of a disused industrial complex in the Barcelona suburb of Sant Andreau. The site was chosen by Barcelona’s Head of Urbanism, Oriol Clos, for the challenges it presented on reworking old buildings for new uses, particularly around the community and public spaces.

All teams were working to the theme of ‘water’, but each school was given a different sub-theme; Ravensbourne’s was the cryptic “F**k Art, Let’s Dance”, which the team chose to interpret as a ‘performance space’ in the new complex. The idea pitched was that of a public space dedicated to harvesting rainwater, through the use of channels amid an uneven, tessellated groundscape, allowing drainage into a central storage area for water. The groundscape also acts as a ‘slow’ area for cars and pedestrians, deterring speeding motorists or cyclists. Weather-sensitive ‘tree’ armatures would be located around the site, forming canopies to catch and drain water when it rains or opening up to display solar panels when the sun shines. Inside, the upper level hosts a swimming pool that drains a thin sheet of water over a screen on the level below, which acts as a projection screen for the performance space. A Primary School and Education Centre connects the two sites by creating a bridged structure over the road, and is covered with a skin that encourages and captures condensation, that adds to the infinite loop of recycled water.

Daniel Evans, Ravensbourne MA Environment Design student, said: “Representing the United Kingdom, at this most prestigious event in architecture was a great honour and we really enjoyed the experience of being part of something so great.” The team also made friends, fostering possible future collaborations with fellow competitors.

Judge David Dunster, author and architectural historian, said: “The jury and myself thought that this was a very lively interpretation. We liked the pool, the use of water and the exuberance of the drawings. We were very impressed with the presenter and her ability to bring the drawings together and we were impressed by the drawings – not the usual architecture school stuff. I hope that if the Charrette is run again Ravensbourne will contribute.”

Lord Norman Foster, architect, said: “Barcelona is the ultimate model of regeneration and pioneer for the world, which is critical to the future of cities. The younger generation have made their mark in a very serious and inspirational way.”

Ravensbourne have been invited to participate in the Student Charrette next year, this time joining 19 other colleges and universities competing for the honour of winning.

Visual mock-up of the outdoor space

MA Environment Design students (left-to-right): Lee Miles, Hearan Kim, Daniel Evans, Course Leader Layton Reid, Sadie Bossom, James Briley, Affan Beg, Lewis Preston, Shane McCrea

Ends

Notes to Editors

For information, please contact Lisa Johnstone, Head of Marketing and Communications on 020 8289 4815, l.johnstone@rave.ac.uk or visit www.rave.ac.uk

1. World Architecture Festival

The Festival is being launched as an annual event by Emap, the media group which runs other festivals including the World Retail Congress and Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

The best that global architecture has to offer will be on show at World Architecture Festival, a unique event celebrating the world’s finest work from the world’s greatest architects. The festival starts Wednesday 22nd October and runs until Friday 24th October at the CCIB International Conference Centre in Barcelona.

World Architecture Festival is set to become one of the most significant dates in the global architectural calendar. It is the biggest architectural event in the world, which looks beyond borders to celebrate the finest work from the world’s greatest architects.

At the heart of the Festival is the World Architecture Festival Awards (WAF Awards), the biggest architectural awards programme in the world, which celebrates the work, concerns and aspirations of the international architectural community.

The delegates attending the Festival have access to something previously reserved for a select few – the opportunity to hear and see a shortlist of 224 architects from 42 countries present their schemes to a panel of expert judges. For more information visit: http://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/

2. Ravensbourne

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication is a University Sector College, validated by the University of Sussex. It is currently based in Chislehurst, Kent. Ravensbourne specialises in the creative exploitation of digital technologies in design and communication within a lively interdisciplinary learning community. It believes that students need to be fluent in the use of digital technologies, not just as a tool but as a medium, in order to stand head and shoulders above their peers when entering professional practice.

The College enjoys an excellent reputation, based on the quality of its learning and teaching, its excellent relationships with the creative industries and the calibre of its highly employable and award-winning students. It has a community of approximately 1,400 students that follow either pre-degree (Further Education), undergraduate or postgraduate (Higher Education) programmes, and are drawn from the UK, Europe and around ten percent from International (non-EU) destinations.

Ravensbourne programmes span broadcasting; interaction, media and sound design; animation and performance video; fashion, product, interior, graphic, and moving image design. In 2010 Ravensbourne will be relocating to an iconic, purpose built college on the Greenwich Peninsula to mark its educational transformation. For more information visit: www.rave.ac.uk