This week, I’d like to introduce another guest blogger.

Rob Charlton is an architect and CEO of the formidable Space Group, one of Britain’s most respected multi disciplinary building design companies and advocates of BIM technology for almost a decade.  I met with Rob in Doha, Qatar, back in February, and since then, we have had numerous meetings discussing education and how we, as professionals, can encourage more young people to discover our Great British industry. I’ll be writing more about Rob and the guys at Space Group and BIM Technologies over the next few months, but as an introduction, here’s Rob’s latest musings from his http://www.spaceliferob.blogspot.co.uk/ site….

30th April 2012

A few things have happened over the past few weeks which have made me look at the impact of this recession differently.

I have been to the Middle East several times recently and had quite a few discussions with young people from within the construction industry. At the end of last year a close friend of the family emigrated to Perth, Australia. At the beginning of this year a friend who I had worked with throughout the BSF programme emigrated with his whole family to Canada.

When in the Middle East, I have met so many people who have moved from the UK to make a new life.

Only last week one of our young architects in our Newcastle office decided to emigrate to Canada where they are crying out for young professionals.

My concern is not the short term, but more the long term impact this will have on UK PLC. Lots of our brightest talent is leaving the country. In the future we will pay the price for this.

Whilst in the short term, it is great there is a market for our skills but once they are gone they are gone.

Our government needs to make staying in the UK attractive to our young people and must give them exciting and creative opportunities if we are going to be a respected knowledge base across the world.

“I spend a great deal of time and money travelling to attend events. This means an event on my door step in Nottingham is a welcome break from trains, planes and automobiles, the boredom of which is only eased by gamification with Four Square!

Today’s event, held at the Space Nottingham Contemporary on my door step was a symposium entitled:

‘Fields + Tactics: the future of architectural praxis in our 21^st Century’

The event was organised by Nottingham University School of the Built Environment, along with the Architectural and Tectonics Research Group and T&G, the student run architecture society at the University of Nottingham.  The event was also supported from industry by the RIBA, Ibstock and Schock.

I’ll confess when I first saw the advert for the event I had to do a quick “define praxis” on Google! ‘Praxis’ put simply is accepted practice or custom.

The line up of speakers was broad and clearly, thought had gone into ensuring a narrative would be built up leading to the closing panel discussion.

There were three distinct sessions:

• Practice-Research Synergies
• Prototyping Performative Architecture
• Sustaining Urban Life

Angela Brady, president of the RIBA and director of Brady Mallalieu Architects , opened proceedings aptly covering all the session themes with thought points and also directly addressing students on the subject of debt and the need to look beyond the UK for job opportunities.

Discussions on Practice-Research Synergies was introduced by Tim MacFarlane of GLASS Engineers.  Tim’s presentation took the audience through a potted history of structural glass, and how collaboration with Pilkington over 20 years has resulted in codes of practice for structural glass. The presentation highlighted the difficulties of leading innovation and the importance of building relationships with people that are skilled experts at manipulating materials. Tim concluded by showing GLASS Engineers best known work, the signature glass staircases found in Apple retail stores.

The Practice-Research Synergies session was continued by Billie Faircloth, Research Director at Kieran Timberlake.  Billie managed to condense the essence of Kieran Timberlake’s research centred design approach into a 20 minute presentation, starting by explaining the core team of 7 individuals with diverse backgrounds and education, but a common interest in building better spaces and places.  In part this approach is assisted by the structure of tertiary education in the USA that allows students to study different subjects at under graduate and post graduate, providing a broader range of fields.  Billie explained the simple breaking down of design problems into input, output and feedback; faciliting finding pathways to problem solving.  If the existing tools don’t work the group customise existing tools or build bespoke tools, extending to building and embedding sensors to amplify the input, output, feedback cycle. The presentation had the feel of a TED talk and I have since discovered Billie gave a TEDx talk in 2010.

Julian Marsh was left with the daunting task of summing up, and was bold and brave regarding the need to rethink the way architecture is taught in the UK and that Foundation courses should be considered opening up a broader intake of students as well as engaging with primary and secondary schools pupils.

The Prototyping Performative Architecture sessions provided an interesting contrast between the work of Frank Barkow, Barkow Leibinger Architeckten and Tom Emerson, 6a Architects.

Frank Barkow has pioneered the prototyping and fabrication of architecture with manufacturing, what might be described as scripting to scribing.  This is an approach that is now becoming democratised at the small scale via MakerBot etc.

There is a strange discomfort, but common sense, to the machine fabrication of buildings and to an extent it’s a process that has come of age with affordable and powerful design software able to drive fabrication.  Frank’s presentation repeated and reinforced points raised by Tim MacFarlane, especially the need to find industry partners to enable delivery.

Tom Emerson presented an approach to prototyping that was pure, thoughtful and stripped down.  Tom described a challenge presented to students at the ETH Department of Architecture in Zurich  of working with only timber pallets, nails and hammers. The focus was material transformation and collaboration as students had to cooperate to construct a space.  For example how many nails are needed at intersections to ensure the structures own weight plus potential snow load is accounted for?  The students had to use calculations to design out risk, but ultimately use the construction as a prototype to test.

Michael Stacey chaired the panel discussion for this session and challenged the speakers to think about how prototyping could be applied to solve real world and immediate challenges such as the need for housing and schools allied to eliminating fuel poverty.  This was perhaps an unfair question for this point in proceedings and better suited to the closing panel discussion, but a great question that I hope will resonate in the minds of speakers and delegates alike.

The final session, Sustaining Urban Life, began with Hans van Heijden of Biq Architects, presenting a Dutch perspective of sustaining urban life.  The work shown placed a strong emphasis on reusing urban fabric, respecting the past but not preserving the past. Hans demonstrated how the Blue Coat building in Liverpool was extended paying homage to the eclectic history and unique role the building plays in the cultural history of Liverpool. Hans had returned to the Blue Coat building 3 years after the project was completed taking photos of the space in use, including knocks, scrapes and weathering.  This beautifully illustrated a slice of sustained urban live and how careful material choices helped.

In the absence of Julian Lewis of EAST Urban Designers and Architects, John Morgan from University of Nottingham School of the Built Environment stepped up and presented Julian’s Powerpoint stack.  The presentation used Rainham to examine intervention in unexpected spaces such as the rear of a supermarket as well as more obvious but neglected space such as the river edge. The focus was people centric, acknowledging urban life can not hope to be sustained without people using spaces.  This linked back to Hans’s photos of the Blue Coat building filled with people happily using the spaces.

So how is this all relevant to the aims and ambitions of Class of Your Own?

It turns out extremely relevant and it almost seems like stating the obvious that establishing AEC in the national curriculum will contribute to AEC praxis.

Lean economic times are making architects – and industry in general – rethink praxis and consequently elitist attitudes of old are eroding. Creating space and place increasingly needs to be responsive to the disruptive forces of climate and economy. The next generation of Architecture, Engineering and Construction professionals that Class of Your Own is fostering will have to work and operate across a range of fields, applying broad spectrum tactics that do not fit neatly in role based silos but rely on developing transferable skills.

The closing panel discussion delivered a bombshell, shock statement from Angela Brady, President of the RIBA. She concluded:

“Wouldn’t it be brilliant if architecture was on the national curriculum?”

<Many thanks to Andrew for this incredibly timely article!  It’s quite clear that industry must do more to enlighten and engage young people to discover the built environment. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact alison@classofyourown.com. >

Just a few days later, I was invited to co-host a ‘careers day’ in a local school and asked to talk about careers in the built environment. I asked the students what they knew of the construction industry and got the usual ‘all about bricklaying’ responses. In an OFSTED ‘Outstanding’ school attended by children who, in the main, have come from comparatively privileged backgrounds, I had hoped for better. Generally even these young people didn’t have a clue about professional careers and how to get there.

I showed them a short animated film (which even now gives me a thrill to watch, and more so to watch the kids’ faces as they watch it) about technology in the built environment. I played on steroetypes, showing them pictures of Wembley Arena and the Selfridges Centre: “don’t be a footballer lads, design the stadium!” and “girls – you know what makes shopping the best experience in the world – design the shopping centre!” Their eyes were on stalks as the film ran. I think the penny was dropping.

“In the Built Environment,” I told them, “there are so many different jobs, you can be almost anything you want to be. Lawyers, Environmentalists, Designers, Financiers, Directors….not to mention Engineers and Surveyors”. Well, I had to root for my sector.

I then asked the million dollar question.

“So what do you want to be when you leave school?”

One boy wanted to be a plumber.

“Nothing wrong with that” I told him. “But tell me, what attracts you to plumbing?”

He replied, “You get a company car, good medical, and a pension”. I NEARLY FELL OFF MY SEAT.

“So do you actually like plumbing? Have you ever had a go? Perhaps there’s a family member who’s a plumber?”

“Nope – it just looks okay. I dunno.”
I composed myself, then directed him to the website of Mott MacDonald, a world class engineering company which, amongst other things, is highly respected for mechanical and electrical engineering. They are currently working on Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, the world’s first zero-carbon, car and skyscraper-free city. He was visibly impressed.  I also told him that a strong knowledge of sector specific design technology was more important now than it had ever been.

“Skills like this are future proof,” I told him, “And our government says so too.”

“Wow!” he said. “I never knew I could do that. So how do I go about it?” Start with http://www.careers.mottmac.com/ …

Finally, I told all these students about my meeting with business leaders earlier that week. I didn’t pull punches, I told them verbatim what was discussed, and how these potential employers had described the average youngster.

“Do you think it’s fair that local businesses think the way they do about young people today?” I asked.

I expected a mutiny, and so was astonished that most of the students tended to agree with the business leaders.

“But I’m not too worried by it” said one. “I don’t need to start thinking about it yet, I mean, I’m 15. Got loads of time….”

I’ll leave you all to reflect on that one…. <sigh>

Sponsored by CEFPI and the National Association of Realtors® in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,  the American Institute of Architects, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and more than 20 other associations and private companies, the annual competition strengthens public awareness of the importance of well-planned, healthy, sustainable school buildings that enhance student and teacher performance and contribute to community culture and vitality.

The competition challenges students from across the globe to think creatively as they plan and design tomorrow’s green schools to enhance learning, be healthy, conserve resources, be environmentally responsive and engage the surrounding community.

After an exciting UK semi final at the Manchester offices of BDP, one of Europe’s leading interdisciplinary design practices, students from Highfield Humanities College, Blackpool, were chosen to represent Britain with their ‘Ocean Observatory’ learning centre and headed off to America’s capital city to take compete in the final leg of The School of the Future Design Competition, centerpiece of the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) School Building Week.

“For the past three years, we’ve been trying to encourage more young people to discover architecture, engineering and construction. We’re big fans of the CEFPI competition, and it’s a fantastic challenge for those students who have worked their way through our curriculum” said Alison Watson, Director of Class Of Your Own Limited. “They already possess a great degree of knowledge, and having the chance to travel overseas and demonstrate their skills is a fantastic achievement. We’re very proud of the students at Highfield for getting so far and extremely grateful to BDP, Blackpool Council and Autodesk for their support.”

All six teams had 15 minutes to present their projects to jury members, then grilled for a further 15 minutes by jurors who pull no punches!  “Facing a formidable 22-person jury would be a daunting experience for most adults, but these students took them on without a moment’s hesitation!” remarked David C. Edwards, CEFPI Chairman of the Board.  “The students continue to raise the bar each year in the rigorous competition. This year’s submissions epitomised project-based learning and demonstrated a deep understanding of the planning process and creating a sustainable future.”

An Award of Excellence went to joint winners Imago Dei Middle School from Tucson, Arizona and Teeland Middle School from Wasilla, Alaska. Both teams received $2000 for their schools for their extraordinary environmentally efficient designs. A very respectable runners up place and well deserved Award of Distinction was presented to Highfield Humanities College of Blackpool, Lancashire.

Imago Dei students acknowledged that they were fortunate to receive a good education and caring teachers so they designed a school for the children of Niger in West Africa who did not have the same opportunities.   They constructed their school from local, sustainable resources creating “polybricks” assembled from plastic water bottles and using bamboo walls to repel malaria-carrying mosquitoes prevalent throughout the area.  Powered by solar energy, the building also makes great use of natural light and employs shade sails of woven bamboo to offer some relief from the extreme heat.  The students’ research efforts were impeccable, leading them to also design a portable school made out of the same materials to bring to communities where children cannot travel to the main school.

The Teeland Middle School team chose to build their facility on a landfill – truly embracing “renew, reuse, recycle” by creating walls made of materials mined from the landfill and covering them with solar wallpaper.  The cement building is constructed with carbon nanotubes, one of the strongest materials available synthesized from carbon-rich compounds such as plastic, which act as rebar.  The green roofs collect storm water and provide insulation. Again exemplifying “renew, reuse, recycle”, one of the three “aerodynamic” school buildings constructed to withstand the strong Alaskan winds houses the homeless, providing them with educational opportunities, an introduction to careers, use of all the community facilities and three meals a day.  Food for the facility and community was grown on campus.

Award of Distinction winner, Highfield Humanities College, UK, received $1,500 in prize money. Coming from a seaside resort community in northwest England, the students designed a building embedded into a sand dune on the sea front that would serve as a space for all learners, including the local community and visitors. Hard hit by the current economy, the team hoped that their unique school would encourage tourism and add to the local economy. The front of the building is constructed of glass that can withstand the pressure of the waves, allowing students to observe underwater sea life when high-tide covers the building. The building is powered by renewable energy including wind and wave power.  Dormitory space in the rear of the building can accommodate 42 students, giving them the opportunity to discover the alternative nightlife of Blackpool.

Three other US Middle schools – Newtown (Connecticut), Seneca (Michigan) and University (Texas), were presented with the Award of Merit, each receiving $1,000 for their own remarkable designs.

“Chairing the jury affords me one of the best days of the year,” remarked David Schrader, AIA, CEFPI  international board member.  “As we watched the presentations, it was clear that no matter how knowledgeable and talented each of the jury members were, the children’s message, knowledge, passion and enthusiasm humbled each and every one of us.  This remarkable day left us all aware that these students truly represent tomorrow’s leaders and our future is in good hands.”

The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) is the only US professional organisation whose principal purpose is improving the places where children learn.  CEFPI embraces a diverse group of professionals with one single goal – building healthy, safe, high performance and sustainable learning environments that enhance student and teacher performance and support culture and community vitality.  To learn more, visit www.cefpi.org.

Class Of Your Own Limited is a high profile provider of design, engineering and construction related education programmes to schools throughout the UK and abroad. For more information, visit www.classofyourown.com  or contact Alison Watson on  07903704599.

If our students are to learn modern day real life technology for the real world of work in the built environment, it’s CRITICAL they are given the tools to do so. We visit many schools and find a ‘one size fits all’ PC which is unable to support some of the world’s leading design software which young people find as exciting as a ‘shoot em up’ on Playstation. Please support dynamic, forward thinking Technology teachers everywhere by signing the D&T campaign at http://www.believeindandt.org.uk/. And persuade education leaders that investment in 21st century teacher training and 21st century ICT is fundamental to the success of tomorrow’s workforce and the creation of a new great Britain.

Saturday 3rd March, Taupo, New Zealand

“Here I am sitting in my new classroom in our brand new Design & Innovation Centre. We deliberately did not call it a Technology Block, because we want to break the stereotypes that exist towards technology education in some communities. This building houses all of our technology and visual art subjects.

It is only four weeks since we moved into this new building – and I am looking out of the window into what should have been a beautiful late Summer’s day …… It is still summer here in NZ isn’t it??? The gale force winds and threatening rain outside would suggest otherwise though.

Actually today I should have been able to see scores of “mad” Ironman athletes racing by on their very expensive cycles but the weather was so bad that Ironman NZ had to be cancelled!! My thoughts go out to the competitors many of whom have travelled here from all over the world. It must be very frustrating after the effort and training commitment of the last year. To have the chance of proving that you are indeed an Ironman or Iron-woman (or is it Iron-Person??) snatched away by mother nature must be devastating!

The long term goal setting to complete an Ironman must be admired. Think about the hours of exercise and training; adhering to a strict diet; not to mention the impact on family and friends – the commitment is huge and I am sure that there are a great deal of disappointed people in Taupo today. While I am NOT an athlete who is remotely in their league – actually I am not an athlete; thinking about the commitment of these athletes and their frustration today I find myself empathising with them as I have in a way, been working towards my own “Ironman” – a long term goal to empower and help educate the students in my care, in aspects of design generally, CAD especially and BIM in particular. The effort and commitment to achieve this is huge.

I am not ashamed to admit that I use CAD as a tool to “hook” some kids into the idea that design can be a lot of fun – it helps them to visualise their ideas which makes them more real. If kids can see their ideas presented in a realistic, professional looking manner, their confidence will grow and they will seek to extend their knowledge and creativity in using these tools.

Sadly, it is at times very frustrating trying to convince people who are not connected with technology education (Actually even some who are in Tech Ed!) of the merits of what we teach. Many people do not understand or appreciate the potential career opportunities that this area offers our young people; or the value of the ideas that they will generate.

It is also frustrating to try and convince some of my peers to make the time commitment required, to understand and learn about some of the tools that we use in this area. Learning how to use Autodesk’s Revit Architecture or Inventor program  is not quite the same as learning how to type a word document and people tend underestimate the effort required. I had a colleague approach me the other day and said, ‘Hey! I have a new computer at home. Sometime this week, can you teach me CAD?’ After I stopped laughing I said that we would work on it, but that it would take a little more than a week!

Needless to say that we could speed things up by attending professionally run courses. Sadly the cost of doing so is prohibitive for most schools in this country due to cost of commercially run courses. To send two teachers to a two or three day course would  cost more than some schools’ have for their annual operational budget for that subject!

I really appreciate the efforts that Autodesk have gone to in providing software to students at no cost and developing online resources such that are available on the Digital Steam and Education Community website; however I can’t help but think that these resources are to a degree underutilised due to difficulties in engaging teaching staff with this technology.

Can you imagine what it would be like in a school, if every technology or design teacher had even a basic skill level with some of these products? Think about how many kids every day, could be using this stuff; think about how many kids we could turn on to creativity and design! Think about how life changing this might be for many kids? Think about future problems that many of them may help to solve?

I would love to see Autodesk run a series of workshops to educate the teachers not only in how to drive the software, but more importantly in how to get the most out of the resources available. In the meantime we will  soldier on with a keyboard and mouse in one hand and a text book in the other learning their products and figuring out how to use the resources….

However we must remain positive and take the “victories” when we can.

For me victory comes when I see kids experience that ‘eureka moment’ when their design comes up on the screen and their model meets their expectations of how they imagined it to be. Or their building model finishes rendering and it is exactly how they imagined it; better still when they realise that something is not right and they go back and fix it. I like the idea of learning to fail and learning from these failures. Victory also comes with higher levels of engagement which have been matched with improved levels of attainment within the students school work.

As teachers we have to develop the confidence to let go of control in our classrooms and empower our students in some of their learning. At times we have to be prepared to swap roles with the students and let them teach. We have to learn to connect with the students, to understand how they think and how they view the world that we live in. Only by doing this can we help to steer out teaching (and their learning) in a direction which they will want to and which we want them to follow.

A master teacher who I have had the privilege of working with for the last ten years, once said “We can’t teach young people anything ….. unless they let us. They have to want to learn from you and the best way to achieve that is to connect with them as people first. Find out who they are and what they are interested in. The rest will follow.”  Best advice I have ever been given as a teacher.

This is probably obvious to many teachers, but I survey my classes at the end of each year to identify their interests so that I can develop units of work and assessment tasks for the following year that they will want to engage in. I try to keep these opportunities as realistic and as much fun as possible – context matters to teenagers.

Much like the Ironmen and women who should have been cycling past my classroom today, we too experience frustration and fatigue. But in the end the journey will be worth it.”

At least now, I now know why since the start of the school year, I have had many sleepless nights waking up at 1:30am od 3: 00am……. only to fall asleep on the couch later that evening as I watch the late news!

Rod Forrest, Teacher in Charge of Design & Visual Communication

Taupo-Nui-A-Tia College, New Zealand

All four judges were incredibly impressed, not only by the designs, but also by the level of knowledge possessed and presented by these young people. Choosing a finalist to take their design forward to the international final in Washington DC was a very difficult task, however the Ocean Observatory was crowned prize entry with judges thrilled by the student’s level of creativity and imagination, presentation of a great 3D model including sections, and efforts to demonstrate a highly sustainable construction design at relatively low construction cost. Four excited students from Highfield Humanities College will  now be representing the UK in just a couple of months time, competing against schools from across America with the same dreams of being crowned with the prestigious title of  ’School of the Future’ designers 2012. Highfield students are the first ever British students to take part, and will set the bar for other UK schools who have already expressed an interest in taking part next year.

The runners up, students from Sentamu Academy in Hull were highly commended by the judges for their technical knowledge and professional presentation skills, usually demonstrated by degree level students ten years older!

We will be featuring both the winner, and the runners up in special features in the next few weeks. Watch and learn from the next generation of architects, engineers and construction professionals…..

When we set up Class Of Your Own a few years ago, it was in the belief that young people should have access to the same tools they would use when they leave school, and that, through project based study, the subjects of design, engineering and construction could not only offer an insight to exciting career opportunities, but also help them to recognise ways to address sustainability issues by looking at the way they live their lives and the buildings they inhabit. It’s not been easy. Even naming our new KS3 curriculum gave us problems, and indeed the platform by which to deliver these subjects had its own challenges. “Don’t make this a BTEC – our kids are academic…” Oops. We happen to like the BTEC and its vocational  style. Much more useful to an employer? Well, possibly…. and after all, is it so wrong to have a little fun and flexibility before joining academia?

So my visit to  the Advanced Technologies Academy in Las Vegas was a breath of fresh air. Here, students from 16 years old are introduced to the same modern day drawing tools which we are encouraging UK teachers to adopt in Design and Technology classes. To quote from the school profile document “The faculty members of the academy are trained in and are representative of the field(s) in which they teach. Additional training and enhancement are provided for academy faculty in all facets of computer hardware, software, and networking technology. The integrated academic and career computer-enhanced curriculum prepares students for entrance into post-secondary education and/or provides skills for a successful school-to-career transition. With a student/teacher ratio of 22·1, our curriculum ensures that a student is not only knowledgeable in theory but also experienced through hands-on, highly individualised learning techniques… Creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, skill expansion, and project-based learning are encouraged in all subject areas.” Sounds great, doesn’t it?

The drawings you see here are those of a 17 year old. Yes. SEVENTEEN. Starting with sketches and transferring these to Autodesk Revit software, these kids are producing work worthy of a third year University student. Go into a typical classroom and these girls and boys are normal, happy students from a wide range of backgrounds, listening to Coldplay, Adele and Usher pumping into the classroom courtesy of inspiring teacher Richard Knoeppel. They are chilled out, courteous and friendly and obviously enjoying themselves. They are, it seems for the most part, left to their own devices, helping each other to work through their problems. Learning rather than being ‘taught’.

Richard is keen to link his students with ours as older mentors. We can’t wait. Gradually we’re seeing a sea change in education with the introduction of University Technical Colleges and specialisms in construction and engineering. We’ve seen teachers absolutely fanatical about rendering their buildings (Mr Robinson), and students as young as 13 demonstrating their knowledge to architects who have yet to encounter and embrace this new technology (but knowing they need to play catch up quickly if they are to meet government guidelines). However, thankfully some forward thinkers in the industry are massively keen to support these youngsters. Globally recognised, multi award winning engineering and project management company Mott MacDonald, world dominating design software corporation Autodesk, and highly respected Building Information Modelling pioneers Space Architects are about to support our KS4 curriculum, sharing our belief that hooking the imagination of (some very) young people can produce the great designers, engineers and construction professionals this country needs in the future.

Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the most influential American architects of the last century, once said “The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.”

Clearly, we are not alone….it’s happening in a school near you.

Class Of Your Own feature in this week’s Times Education Supplement magazine ‘TESPro’…..