Cambridge

Have you had a chance to look around Cambridge? What buildings stood out to you?

‘TOAST’ store: clear Dutch influence, mirrors that of Norwich, the wave-like semi-dormer windows

‘Sahara’ store: the timber framing from the 17th century, pargetting design on the forward face of the building - links to pattern making, small size highlights features

King’s College Chapel: scalloping of the ceiling drags the eye outwards, juxtaposes angular exterior with curvature.

What is your favourite building and why?

Gloucester Services: sustainability and landscaping are inspiring, impressively designed inside and out.

Innovative buildings:

Beechwood Village - Pollard Thomas Edwards: A co-designed modular, contemporary neighbourhood

Renovation of the Bourse de Commerce (Pinault Museum) in Paris, 2018-2021 - Tadao Ando, Tadao Ando Architects & Associates

Hisao & Hiroko Taki Plaza, 2020 - Kengo Kuma & Associates

Ookayama Campus Library “The Cheesecake”, 2011 - Koichi Yasuda

WoHo Berlin, yet to be constructed - Jonny Klock, Mad Arkitekter.

Who is your favourite architect and why?

Antonio Gaudi: influence of nature and natural form, his work blends influences creating a unique perspective;

Michael Green: inspiring use of sustainable architecture and natural light through wood and glulam.

Why Cambridge?

Cambridge is an exemplary university for Architecture for a multitude of reasons

  • the student to teacher ratio

    • allows for unique exploration of ideas

    • opportunity to gain capitalise on the specific expertise of the incomparable professionals and academics,

    • would provide second-to-none advice on how to expand my creativity and push the limits

  • amount of studio time; really valuable, as it

    • allows for collaboration and brainstorming in a group environment

    • having personal studio space to be able to get your head down and work

  • The quality of the fellow students and staff

    • atmosphere of hard work and aspiration, something that I have liked about my sixth form

    • everyone inspires success and strives for the best

What are the characteristics of a good architect?

  • creativity - designs that are not only efficient and useful, but also fascinating to look at and use material in an innovative way

  • communication skills - not only conveying your own ideas, but also being able to listen, understand and create based on the ideas of others and knowing when to compromise

  • organisation - many projects / sub-sections within projects being worked on simultaneously, stay on top of their own work, but also on the project as a whole (may include communication with other professionals including structural engineers for example)

How do you fit these attributes?

Creativity:

  • having a strong interest and draw to the creative aspects of both art and design

  • A-Level Art; expressing my creativity in a range of methods and styles.

  • Wide range of designers and artists to inspire my work, including pattern making (something i had never tried before; as seen in my portfolio) and incorporating this with my traditional highly-refined style, and even reimaging this as a whole.

  • By pushing myself out of my comfort zone, invaluable

  • experienced creative block far less

  • opened my mind to a multitude of medias and techniques for example that I would have never considered before.

Communication skills (also works for project managing):

  • my role as a head prefect in particular in my school has led me to interact with a range of people I may have seldom before.

  • I had to reach out to everyone, see who was available when and which job would work best for them

  • find areas for compromise so that all jobs would be completed to the highest ability, whilst also suiting their pre-existing timetables.

  • I had to communicate with the staff involved with the prefect management

  • effectively highlighted the issue

  • I was able to eliminate this problem by doing a swap with another team.

  • I felt a great sense of pride in that my team were able to do jobs that suited them due to effective communication.

Organisation:

  • I completed my Art GCSE outside of school, which meant I had to handle my 9 subjects within school as well as all of the coursework that Art brought.

  • I started to embrace planning on a larger scale, which led to me creating Revision Timetables for during exam periods, up to this day.

  • I am able to balance my work and the subjects I do within that, with other commitments and activities in my day-to-day life, without in any way sacrificing my attainment.

  • For example, I achieved a Grade 9 in my Art GCSE, with full marks in the coursework section, alongside my other high graded GCSEs.