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22.05.12

NA Education & Science workshops

 

 

AF recently facilitated two half day workshops with Nightingales Associates for two of the practice’s ongoing projects – the Bio Innovation Centre in Liverpool (science sector) and the Baron Road Primary School in Blackpool (education sector).  The workshops are the second and third with the practice following an initial workshop held on St. Mary’s Hospital, Kettering Old Persons Unit project (healthcare sector) rounding out the practice’s three major sectors of work. The workshops were organised by David Rowley one of NA’s Directors of Design Research and Innovation and attended by members of the project team and sector held in their Liverpool and Rochdale offices.  The workshops help test the applicability of the AF toolkit utilising a series of exercises as a platform to discuss the project and its adaptability while providing the practice with an expanded view of how they may approach adaptability on the project (and future projects).  One of the attendees at two of the workshops Chris Brightman-White said afterwards:

“These were both stimulating and challenging and generated a wide range of responses and ideas. The review of each project provided new insights and also identified practical opportunities to enrich the project as well as offering a route to broaden our contribution to these clients.

Thought leadership sets us apart from the majority of practitioners and, in addition to its knowledge value,  offers both a route to engagement with new clients and a tool for producing more effective and creative buildings.”

 

The workshops have proven additionally beneficial for the AF team as well, Robert Schmidt III from Loughborough University added:

“NA’s knowledge of adaptability has brought additional insights to the research and has provided significant direction in transferring the research into practice.” 

 

 

The AF team have since compiled workshop reports summarizing what adaptability aspects had already been addressed on the projects and suggesting other ways adaptability could be, whilst considering the drivers and constraints on the projects. The reports are formatted in three sections providing the team feedback in both written and visual forms:  a text summary, annotated drawings and appropriated AF diagrams.

 

Baron Road Primary School in Blackpool

 

Bio Innovation Centre in Liverpool

 

In addition to the workshops, two presentations were given to a wider group from both offices.  David Rowley spoke on the numerous sustainability activities the practice is involved in helping to put NA at the forefront of practicing sustainable architecture.  On the AF side, we provided a general overview of the research and its future direction (slides).  You can watch the AF presentation online on our Vimeo channel (we recommend you download the slides to follow easier!). For a summary of NA’s involvement so far with AF click here.

 

AF Presentation to the Rochdale office

 

 

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