AA School Celebration of Talent - Unveiling of Annual Summer Pavilion
- AA School launches latest in extraordinary line up of multi-disciplinary projects-
- Winning pavilion embraces invention, experimentation and design intelligence -

The ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE (www.aaschool.ac.uk) will take over Bedford Square, London on 3 July 2009 with its annual celebration of young architectural talent - showcasing the architectural intelligence that defines it as the world's most renowned and influential school of architecture. Over 3000 visitors from across the world will come to view AA School Summer Pavilion and Projects Review on the evening of the 3rd as part of the schools extensive public programme at Bedford Square.

Home to international architectural alumnae such as Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and Lord Rogers, the AA School has led the way with its radical, innovative and experimental approach since 1847. The summer pavilion competition winner Driftwood is just one example of the vibrant projects on offer this July when the school's Projects Review transforms Bedford Square into a showcase for the future greats of the art and architecture world.

  • Press Preview of Driftwood and the Projects Review :
    10:00-12:00hrs, 2 July 2009.
    Please RSVP to Katie Jackson: 020 7221 7883 /
    Katie.Jackson@kallaway.co.uk

Driftwood was designed by concept designer Danecia Sibingo a 3rd year student, and a team that includes Lyn Hayek, Yoojin Kim, and Taeyoung Lee. It is neither art nor architecture, science nor ecological adventure, but a sculptural installation and prototype that defies classification. It embraces invention, experimentation, new materials and aesthetic intelligence. The pavilion was selected by a panel of seven eminent judges from the worlds of architecture, engineering, design, media and ecology. It provides a thoughtful, provoking reminder of the UK's inextricable link to the sea - its undulating form created by the motion of the water, carried by waves and coming to rest in busy central London.

Now in its fourth year of building pavilions, Intermediate Unit 2 pavilion projects are
led by tutors Charles Walker and Martin Self with technical advice from ARUP, this year led by Ching Luan Lau, Senior Engineer. The unit challenges students to create architectural space through the construction of a sustainable timber pavilion and is also sponsored by HOK architects who pride themselves on their global reach and ability to respond to the most demanding of design challenges. Driftwood is on show in Bedford Square until 25 July 2009.

Driftwood consists of an internal, sustainable spruce 'Kerto' plywood structure supplied by ecological Finnish timber suppliers FinnForest and adheres to a target of minimal material wastage. It was fabricated at Hooke Park, the Architecture Association's 350-acre campus and workshop in West Dorset where the 2006 winning Fractal pavilion is permanently installed. The winning pavilion for 2007, Bad Hair was donated and re-homed at Kingston Maurward College, Dorset.

Brett Steele, Director, The ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE says: "The annual summer pavilion competition provides a unique opportunity for students to work together to design, develop and ultimately fabricate a professional standard architectural structure for the public to enjoy. Unparalleled in any other architectural school, it creates a collaborative working environment, nurturing inspiration and encouraging radical and fresh ideas which come to life in the form of these incredible structures."

For further information on the ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE and its public programme please see notes or visit www.aaschool.ac.uk


Press information

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Notes to Editors:

Pavilion Sponsors

  • ARUP (www.arup.com): global firm of designers, engineers, planners and business consultants
  • FinnForest (www.finnforest.com): suppliers of ecological, high quality Nordic wood
  • HOK (www.hok.com): global provider of planning, design and delivery solutions for the built environment


Judges

  • Lisa McMullen, Architect
  • Amanda Baillieu, Building Design
  • Saffet Bekirogl, Zaha Hadid Architects
  • Renato Benedetti, McDowell+Benedetti
  • Warren Dudding, Finnforest
  • Ian Fleetwood, HOK
  • Alex McCuaig, MET Studio
  • Theo Spyropoulos, Architect


Biographies

  • Martin Self
    Martin Self holds degrees in aerospace engineering and architectural theory. He was a founding member of the Advanced Geometry Unit at Arup where he worked as a structural engineer with many internationally prominent architects, including Alvaro Siza with whom he realized the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in 2005. He currently works as a consultant to Zaha Hadid architects.

  • Charles Walker
    Charles Walker is an architect, structural engineer and industry leader on the effects of digital technology on modern architectural design and construction. He was a Director at design based engineering firm Atelier One where he designed the domes at the Singapore Arts Centre and later joined Ove Arup + Partners where he co-founded with Cecil Balmond the Advanced Geometry Unit. At AGU he was masterplaner of the Battersea Power Station site. In early 2007 Charles founded from-work projects and joined Zaha Hadid Architects where he currently works.

  • Brett Steele
    Brett Steele is the Director of the AA School of Architecture, AA
    Publications and the AA Public Programme. He is the founder and former Director of the AADRL Design Research Lab, the innovation team and network based M.Arch programme at the AA. He is a frequent visiting lecturer and design critic at schools, public and private institutions around the world and is the editor of numerous publications including 'Negotiate My Boundary' (London 2002) and 'Corporate Fields' (London 2005). His articles have appeared in Arts and Architecture Magazines and publications including Arch+, Monocle, Icon Magazine, in a range of newspapers, the BBC and in other media. For further information please visit www.brettsteele.net

  • Danecia Sibingo
    Danecia Sibingo is the concept author of the Driftwood Pavilion. Danecia was born in Angola and is currently in her third year of study at the AA. Following the concept selection Danecia led the development of the design with her design team colleagues below.

  • Lyn Hayek
    Lynn Hayek joined the Driftwood team to design the pavilion. She is a Canadian / Lebanese national in her second year of study at the AA.

  • Yoojin Kim
    Yoojin Kim is a Korean national who joined the AA this year in the third year. He is a graduate engineer, who recently complete a master of science degree in structural engineering at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, in London.

  • Taeyoung Lee
    Taeyoung Lee is a Korean national who joined the AA this year in the third year. He was the lead designer and 3-d modeller on the Driftwood design team, full utilising his computer modelling skills to realise this complex design.

The AA School
The ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTUREis the world's most renowned international and influential school of architecture. Since 1847 it has pioneered a belief in architecture as profession, culture and form of human enquiry and is credited with fostering the creation of worldwide leaders of architecture.

AA School alumni include architectural leaders Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Lord Rogers, Will Alsop and many others. Through its unique, year-long, unit based system of teaching, direct intervention in cities and its intensively collaborative team based approach to learning, the school brings together disconnected worlds, fresh ideas and inspiring insights. The AA School is celebrated worldwide as an imaginative setting for architectural culture.

An Association of Architects
The AA School sits within the wider context of the worldwide membership of the Architectural Association. Founded in 1847 by a 'group of troublesome students', its membership has since grown to over 3200 worldwide. The School is about to embark on a major capital project to expand its historic home on Bedford Square and create a single unified campus for the 21st Century where it can continue to lead architectural education and welcome international public visitors and audiences interested in shaping the future of architecture, cities and natural resources.

The AA's research cluster initiative, launched by the AA Director in 2005 formalises the school's ongoing interest in contemporary collaboration, design and research interests. Over the past four years, research clusters have addressed a broad range of contemporary challenges, including new digital and fabrication techniques, cross- disciplinary ways of learning and emerging technologies in relation to the environment. This research has been opened up to an international audience through exhibitions, publications and symposia.

The AA has a legacy of experimentation and collaboration that has allowed it to create ground-breaking forms of best-practice out of many landmark personalities and projects emerging from the School, its students and teachers. From Archigram in the 1960s to the Office of the Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in the 1970s, the collaborative experimentation of NATO in the 1980s to the formation of team based learning and teaching of the AA's Research Lab founded at the school in the 1990s, the principle of shared enquiry and exploration spans across the entire spectrum of the AA School.

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