The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design
Location Birmingham | Courses BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch, Architect Degree Apprenticeship Level 7 | Head of school Jemma Browne | Full-time tutors 13 | Part-time tutors 23 | Students 402 | Staff to student ratio 1:19
Undergraduate
Simran Mahmood
Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Rituals of Resistance
Project title Newtown Smart Centre
Project description The project begins with the discovery of littered boxes throughout the project site of Newtown, Birmingham, filled with books, stationery equipment, binoculars and pencil cases. This is the phenomenon of ‘passing on knowledge’, an idea this proposal celebrates by providing a space for these boxes to be collected, sorted, stored, used and then distributed back into the community. The landscape includes several repair workshops connected to the items in the boxes. A key element is the book binding workshop at the heart of the scheme, which provides an opportunity to restore social engagement and encourage knowledge-sharing.
Tutor citation Rather than imposing radical change, Simran’s quasi-fantastical narrative champions existing opportunity in one of the UK’s most deprived areas. As such it is an unusual and mature approach to our degree project theme this year of social injustice. Oliver Chapman
Postgraduate
Andreea-Claudia Buzuloi
Course MArch
Studio/unit brief Arena – […] In The Modernist Block
Project title Multiple Blocks, Multiple Lives
Project description This project responds to Lambeth Council’s 2017 decision to demolish its social housing estate, Central Hill. It proposes an alternative approach that will conserve the estate and bring more opportunities and residents to the site. The intervention is modular and adaptable, able to be placed within different areas on the site. With most of its facilities shared between the towers’ residents, the design celebrates the estate’s architect Rosemary Stjernstedt’s vision of a community-led development.
Tutor citation Andreea-Claudia responds creatively to the unit agenda as well as the intersectional issues of environmental and social sustainability through the reuse of this post-war estate. Her use of film offers new ways of creating dialogue within the discipline and city. Alessandro Columbano