The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About the Department of Architecture and Interiors
Location London SE10 | Courses BA (Hons) Architecture, BA (Hons) Interior Design Environment Architectures | Head of school Alberto Villanueva | Full-time tutors 6 | Part-time tutors 25 | Students 258 | Staff to student ratio 1:18
Undergraduate
Kristiāna Genca
Course BA (Hons) Interior Design Environment Architectures
Studio/unit brief Future Ecologies
Project title Play at the Playtower
Project description Once Ladywell Playtower was a public baths but for 20 years the Victorian building has been left neglected. Play at the Playtower aims to reawaken the listed historic structure’s charm by exploring the future of work. It explores how work and private life can co-exist, proposing a multi-facility sports centre and range of co-working spaces that provide for working parents and their children. As well as restoring the existing building, the scheme adds new extensions without disrupting the existing street façade. A tennis court is placed at the building’s rear, while co-working pods half sunken into the ground of the garden are placed in spaces between mature trees.
Tutor citation Kristiāna’s project is highly relevant to the challenges of reusing disused buildings that hold local affection, as well as addressing the needs of working parents and their children. Her work consistently shows a high level of care and attention. Polina Pencheva, Hwei Fan Liang
Postgraduate
Sumaia Abbas
Course MArch (now discontinued)
Studio/unit brief Design Thesis
Project title Heart of Slough
Project description At the centre of Slough is a failed shopping complex due for replacement by housing and a scaled-down retail offering. Sumaia identified this site as an opportunity for something better and more reflective of the multicultural community, proposing a complex mixed-use solution with elements attractive to all age groups and ethnicities. She made countless sketches to explore and analyse various options around a central urban space, linking the main shopping street to more challenging urban spaces. Her solution brings together a complex and diverse mix of uses that work together to create a genuinely relevant and new heart to the town.
Tutor citation Sumaia’s project is commendable not just for the proposal but for the level of investigation across a wide range of themes – social, cultural and environmental – using her excellent grasp of graphics and own artwork as a core for her ideas. Tim Jeffery, Kay Sedki, Hwei Fan Liang