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Liz Clayton, Architectural Assistant here at Axis, shares what she’s been up to in the final year of her Part 2:

I’m due to finish Part 2 of my architectural education within the next few weeks. It’s been a long haul but freedom is just around the corner! The final year (for us part timers at least) focuses solely upon an Integrated Design Project. I chose Birmingham as my city of interest with particular focus on Birmingham’s historic metalworking quarters, where my project site is located.

My project is called ‘The Music Forge’ it contains a hot-metal-works for converting scrap metal into sheets, workshops for instrument making and performance, and practice spaces for use by the local music academies. The concept was conceived off the back of the dwindling number of metal manufactories in this once prosperous metalworking centre and the need for the repopulation of creative metalworking business in the area.

The project quickly became about two things; the process of making instruments and sound – from both the performance and the fashioning of these beautiful objects. The dichotomy of sounds that would emanate from the two building programmes drove the project to become about two interrelating but contrasting halves.

Music and Architecture have fascinating experiential comparisons. They are both constructed of moments, relationships, collision, contrast, structure and patterns. Harnessing and communicating these comparisons has been controversial as there is no universal synesthetic reaction that translates music into a visual form and vice versa. Art can provide the integral link between understanding music as architecture or similarly time as space. Famously, Kandinsky provided visual expressions of the relationships of musical tones and patterns. His work, interestingly, is easy to relate to the work of Steve Holl and his ‘Stretto House’ in Texas. At first glance the Stretto House is cumbersome, not what you associate with music, but it is in the details that the delicacy of music is materialised. The building holds two contrasting rhythms which touch, just as a flute would interject upon an oboe.

I’m not sure if I have managed to achieve this level of delicacy but this project has been about contrasting sounds imagined together as a cacophony, which I feel the building I have drawn and developed over the year has at least managed to express.

This week (which is week 16 for those of you who’ve been paying attention), Rob was invited to talk about housing design excellence at the Midlands Regional office for the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA).

Organised and run by the HCA in central Birmingham, the main aim of the event was to share ideas and results about Housing Design Quality. The HCA organised the event for their delivery partners to share key findings from their recent QAIV Quality Counts report (Quality Assurance and Impact Visits).

Over the last 4 years, the HCA has been visiting tenants to get an idea of what they think of their homes. The information gathered about what could be improved and what lessons can be learned will inform the affordable homes programme over the next 4 years.

Alongside the other keynote speakers (Richard Baines from Black Country Homes and Architect Glenn Howells), Rob gave a presentation that expanded on a previous piece written for Building Design Magazine’s Housing Blog examining the impact of technology and services on the history of housing. Entitled ‘Scullery Made: Servicing the housing industry’, it proposed a return to a better appreciation of the need for greater storage and its integration with mechanical services.

The remainder of the event was made up of workshop-style discussion sessions. Workshop topics included tenant engagement, sustainability & technology, internal layout quality and external design. We were able to share our experience of sustainable design such as our Passivhaus research, along with the web-based consultation we have carried out on projects such as Hill Top in Warwickshire and the Eco Terrace project in Newcastle under Lyme.

…our latest recruit: Lorna Parsons.

Lorna joined us in December 2011 and will be helping us to improve our business development and marketing as well as supporting our ongoing commitment to progressive use of digital tools and the web. We’ve asked her to introduce herself:

My career in architecture began in 1999 but over the last few years I’ve been pursuing an interest in how web-based tools and technology can help to improve communication within the industry. I may have been with Axis Design for just a couple of months but I’ve been working alongside Rob for the last 3 years having organised two Be2Camp ‘unconferences’ together in Birmingham in 2009 and 2010.

My interest in using the web for improved communication within architecture is key. It overlaps two specific areas: internal communications within the office, but also helping the practice communicate the design process externally with clients and citizens. The latter forms an important part of Axis’ working ethos, particularly as they work predominantly in social housing and community-based projects.

My skills lie in making stuff happen. So far, working with Axis has resulted in changes to their website, improved marketing techniques and the delivery of an event aimed specifically at Housing Associations. On an ongoing basis, I’ll be working in a business development capacity alongside the directors, as well as ensuring outward facing communications are kept up-to-date, helping to improve web-based organisational systems internally and finally being an extra pair of hands to assist in day-to-day running of the practice alongside office manager Debbie.

Out of hours (when I’m not at work nagging architects to write blog posts) I play the ukulele. Yes, really.

We believe our clients will benefit from Lorna’s support and input. If you’d like to get in touch with her to discuss any business to business collaborations, events or networking feel free to e-mail her at lp@axisdesignarchitects.com

In week #5 of 2012 we’ve been talking about drawing in 2012 and how it should speak of the poetry and the data in our architecture…

Last week we took part in the WMCCE seminar on Building Information Modelling and presented a talk on how our decision to adopt BIM across the office has improved our work. We’re interested in how better use of our computer processors can help us raise our game and provide a better service, as well as helping us consider the quality of the way we draw.

Here’s a copy of the slides:

Here’s the first of a new series of posts called ‘week notes’ – an idea created by Matt Webb and Jack Schulze at BERG to see what happens when you take the time to reflect on what you’re doing and what you’ve achieved every seven days.

We’re not sure how well this will translate in the slightly slower moving world of architecture and construction, but it’s got to be worth a try…

Week note #1

We’ve kicked off 2012 with technical challenges and event planning, with some of the office working on construction details and some of us plotting ways to develop the work ideas we’re interested in pursuing this year.

Our latest BMHT sites achieved planning approval at the end of last year, so now we’re turning our hand to a few details to help guide the construction costing as it goes out to tender this month. Katie has been getting to grips with the product that I covered in my review for BD’s Envelope magazine last year – Ibstock’s Tilebrick.

Lorna has started her second month with us after spending December getting our web site back in to shape and wrestling Highrise – our CRM system – into submission. This month will be about crafting things to share with clients such as newspapers, iPad apps, bookleteers and planning seminars on Passivhaus and Retrofit. Elsewhere in the office admin department there’s a New Year tidy underway, bringing with it a decision to finally throw out many of the old magazines we’ve hoarded for years. Thanks to a twitter conversation I’m hoping they’ll be heading to Birmingham School of Architecture rather than lost forever.

Mike is busy drawing, and site layouts for more BMHT projects are filling up pieces of tracing paper. Next week we’ll need to start working them up in BIM. The challenges of creating new streets and communities in some of the city’s infill sites means once again we have to return to first principles in places and question the house type and tenure possibilities for the neighbourhood. Liz is pulling together the final pieces of the puzzles that were presented to us in BMHT’s Phase 3, coordinating levels, manipulating landscape and arranging surfaces of buildings and gardens.

Meanwhile, I’m working on our live retrofit projects, talking to builders about costs and load-bearing structures at one end; working up our first estimate with a QS at the other and trying to make sure that the more innovative products like Porotherm and Homatherm are well understood. ‘R&D’ into the new map making tool by CASA and attempting to install a time management tool on our web server is ensuring the usual levels of geek research are maintained. Oh, and the file server is misbehaving. It’s a good job I like I.T.

This week we have been mostly listening to Radio 6, although I’m hatching a plan to introduce more dubstep and see what the results on productivity are.

Happy New Year!

We thought we’d finish the year off by sharing what some of the team have been up to over the last 12 months or so…

Mike’s year:

- The tree house was completed and baptised with a summer sleepover by three grandkids, BurgerKing Whoppers & fries and watching a DVD. Also the household extension – we have lift off… windproof and watertight at least. Completion of interior…? when the architect gets the drawings done.

- The reinvented artist…. painting and sketching for enjoyment or maybe going a bit mental… Painting scottish mountains fine but drawing flowers on holiday…? Highly suspect.

- Tail end of last year’s architectural tour was two nights spent in the Duncan House (above), a reconstructed 1951 Usonian timecapsule down the road a bit from Fallingwater. Low cost, prefabricated housing for lower income families now there’s a thought… maybe not?

- Discovery of the year: Hines’ book: Architecture of the Sun, LA Modernism over 50 years. Sachs apartments already influenced one of our schemes in Birmingham, which just got planning approval.

Katie’s year:

I started RIBA Part 3 in September at BCU which included an essay on BIM which was timely given the changeover to the system at the office this year.

My biggest achievement of the year was finishing the 2011 Birmingham Half Marathon in 2 hours 12 minutes and raising £215 for Cancer Research Uk.

I’ve already signed up for the 2012 Birmingham half Marathon and another local running event. There are also plans in the pipeline to climb Ben Nevis & Snowdonia in 2012.

Rob’s year:

This year I have been mostly having a busman’s holiday and designing a house for my family. In 2012 we hope to finally start the self-build project we started planning nearly 4 years ago. The latest drawings are all available at http://home4self.tumblr.com and although there have been some dramatic changes to the design we are looking forward to barn raising party involving friends with muscles and lots of pieces of wood.

There’s been a modest of amount of writing over on the BD web site. Putting aside the time to write more often – both there and on my own blog – is a resolution for next year.

The parenting project continues and has been further complicated with the addition of a dog. She’s been a useful comfort though when dealing with the emotional turmoil that comes with an 8 year old in national ballroom dancing competitions and a 10 year old on the rugby pitch. The latter of which proved, surprisingly, to be the least violent.

My architect-by-day / geek-by-night aspirations continue with numerous side projects and tinkering online; including the use of a soldering iron and some circuit boards in an effort to learn how to do some new energy monitoring projects next year.

Liz’s year:

In September I embarked on my final year of Part 2 of my architectural education at the Leicester school of Architecture. Most recently I completed a dissertation on the ‘Architecture of Creativity’ exploring the integration and exposure of spatial and elemental relationships in school building and its possible impact upon the psyche and the development of creative thinking within the individual.

I got a dog this year! Macy, a 7 year old rescue dog (left).

I’m also looking forward to completing my house project in 2012 including installing internal wall insulation, knocking a wall down, and possibly adding a small extension – looking forward to getting rid of the old carpets! However, everything is on hold until I’ve completed my final design project for university. The project in progress is ‘The Entrepreneurs Foundry’. Based in Birmingham’s Gun Quarter, it accommodates a social enterprise that manufactures musical instruments from recycled household appliances.

Once again we’ve chosen to continue with our tradition of putting our Christmas card budget towards a charity – this year we’re supporting Kiva. Our donation has given Francisco in Nicaragua and Evelio in El Salvador (below) access to capital to improve their homes, enabling them to lead more stable lives. We’ll be following Francisco and Evelio‘s progress online – when their loans are repaid, our donation will be reinvested on an ongoing basis with another Kiva ‘borrower’, and will continue to make a difference to people around the world.

Merry Christmas from Mike, Rob and all the team at Axis Design!

Axis Design have adopted a full BIM strategy this year and all our future projects will be delivered using Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD. There are many aspects to how this will change the way we work and collaborate with others in 2012 and beyond.

As part of our ongoing to commitment to sharing best practice knowledge we have joined a new group of BIM experts organised by WMCCE and in January we will be helping to deliver the group’s first event. Rob Annable will be speaking about our experience with BIM so far and exploring its impact on smaller practices.

We hope you can join us. Here are the full details:

Breaking Down the Barriers to BIM Adoption

Date: 31 January 2012: 9:00am – 4.00pm
Venue: WMCCE, Faraday Wharf, Birmingham Science Park Aston, B7 4BB
Fee: £150 + VAT

Keynote speaker:

David Philp – Head of BIM Implementation at the Cabinet Office and Director of Tech Services, Balfour Beatty

Summary:

Would you like to learn how the transition to Building Information Modelling can make the Design, Construction and Management of your projects more efficient and cost effective?

Do you want to find out how the Government intends to drive the roll out of BIM throughout the Industry by 2016?

This is YOUR opportunity to listen to a keynote address from David Philp to hear the Government’s viewpoint and get ahead of the game. By 2016 all public sector construction projects will have to use BIM.

Bringing together leading practitioners this conference aims to showcase the benefits of using Building Information Modelling (BIM) and explain how its adoption will require changes in workflow, practices and procedures.

The event will also include case study presentations, workshops, Question and Answer session and opportunities to meet software providers.

Workshop session topics

1. Breaking down the barriers for SMEs – Diagnostic tool
2. Open BIM – Collaborative Working
3. Legal Considerations
4. Facilities Management

Who should attend?

• Engineers
• Architects
• Installers
• Manufacturers
• Design consultants
• Software solutions providers
• Project managers
• Facilities managers
• Academics

To book your place, or for more information, please contact Frankie Yorke at events@wmcce.org or follow us @WMCCE on Twitter.

We’ve been visited today by an A-level student who had the foresight to visit a number of offices to find out more about the profession before she committed herself to life as an architect. To complete her experience it seemed appropriate to ask her to blog about her experience…

When I tell people I want to be an Architect, they usually reply with one of two things. The first (usually from from my fellow A level students) is to remark on the length of the university course, the second is to decide that it’s a fantastic choice because I’m a girl. Basically, people point out the obstacles. In truth, neither of these things really phased me. Many of the architects I visit have (jokingly) tried to put me off, but it can’t really be that bad? 

I want to be an architect because the skills seem really appealing. I see buildings as a public art that everybody sees, as well as a clever use of light, space and materials. I love art and maths, and architecture seems to find the perfect balance between the two. The offices I’ve visited (Axis Design is the third) have all shown me what they do and so far I can’t complain. They’ve shown me drawings, sketches, models and how to survive on multiple cups of tea. I’ve been to client meetings, site visits and finished projects. I’ve also been shown the importance of organization, the relationship with clients and the responsibilities as a designer. Importantly for me, I’ve really enjoyed the atmospheres. Architecture involves many skills, one in particular being able to communicate with people and because of this, everybody I have met has been friendly and helpful, and although some try not to show it, enthusiastic about my future plans for university. 

The best part of my visits to architecture practices is that I’ve been shown things I already know how to do. I can’t pretend I wasn’t nervous visiting a group of new people for the first time over and over again, but I was quickly reassured by the fact I can already draw, already alphabetize and MAKE tea. I haven’t found anything boring and at certain points in the day, hours have flown by. I just need to get myself a university degree and a stronger need for caffeine and hopefully one day I’ll fit in an architect firm just right. In truth, all careers have obstacles, and for the time being I’m still going to pursue this one.

Our thanks to Phil Price and his colleagues at Ibstock for their support in supplying a memorial stone for us to include in some of Tony’s final projects.

(more here)