New Standards Workshop

The New Standards series identifies and confronts some of the barriers to architecture, its education and practice, and considers how these can be overcome to embrace wider forms of creativity. Each event in the series addresses the idea of comfort to challenge the idea of ‘standards’ as a bare minimum or one-size-fits-all approach. Together, we will question how we might better provide comfort in all its nuanced forms.

As the next event in the series, this workshop invites teams made up of participants from the lectures last autumn alongside students, staff and members of the public to propose an intervention in the AA that will make it a more accessible, comfortable and inclusive place. This could be through various mediums – sculpture, drawing, performance, installation etc. – keeping in mind the brief and time frame. As well as physical design interventions, groups will also be encouraged to put forward new policy suggestions to think about different ways to open up who can participate in life at the school.

There will be five groups, each focusing on a theme from the series, although we hope that there will be areas of intersection. Attendees are invited to sign up to one of the following:

- Senses led by Poppy Levison

- Movement led by Chris Scarffe

- Neurodiversity led by Luisa Pereira Pires

- Safety led by Thomas Faulkner

- Queerness led by Madeleine Liyen Ang Griffiths and Rachael Jodie Milliner

The groups will each present their work at the end of the day for collective discussion with other participants and local stakeholders from in and around the AA. These presentations will be documented and put forward to the school as suggestions that could catalyse long-term and meaningful changes.

Schedule:

11.00 - Introduction to the day
11.30 - Split into groups, review material about the AA, choose a site within the AA to intervene, and start to sketch out ideas

13.00 - Lunch break

14.00 - Group leaders rotate between groups to provide an intersectional perspective
15.00 - Finalise proposals
16.30 - Review of proposals by groups and respondents
18.10 - Wrap up discussion about the themes across the day and how to take these forward
18.30 - Drinks reception

Respondents include:

Catherine Du Toit is the President of the AA Council. She is a founding Director of 51 architecture and an advising architect to City Year UK, a leading youth and education charity. She has received two RIBA awards and an AIA award, and was made a Fellow of the RSA. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Fundacio Tapies, the Triennale di Milano, the Venice Biennale and the Royal Academy, and she was a curator of the Richelieu Sculpture Biennale in France, in partnership with the University of Paris. Catherine has experience in education and lecturing worldwide, and taught a unit at the AA for ten years.

Belinda Flaherty is the Registrar at the AA and has worked at the School since 1989. Over this time, she has seen the AA change in size and footprint; from the occupancy of 34-36 Bedford Square and a small rental studio in nearby Percy Street, to the AA today which occupies 32-39 Bedford Square, 16 Morwell Street, 1/1A Montague Street and Hooke Park in Dorset. Her commitment to making the AA a more inclusive place was informed by her time working with the late Andrew Walker in the early 1990’s with the launch and delivery of the AA’s post-graduate diploma course in Environmental Access, the first course of its kind in the UK. Confined to the rear of the AA buildings as the only part of the premises that was directly accessible, this course posed questions and presented challenges that continue to be relevant today.

Stephen Gould is the Head of Building for The Bedford Estate dealing with all aspects of construction, refurbishment, maintenance and facilities for the 200+ properties in Bloomsbury, he is a Chartered Building Surveyor and has almost 30 years’ experience in the property industry. Prior to joining The Bedford Estates Stephen has undertaken a wide range of surveying roles across both private practice, local authority and The Grosvenor Estate.

Ravin Ponniah is the Vice President of the AA Council. He is an architect and consultant leading design and research practices in London and Kuala Lumpur with projects focusing on construction technology, affordable housing, sustainability and residential development. He studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and the AA and has an MPhil in Environmental Design and a PhD centring on housing and the Capability Approach at Trinity College, Cambridge University. He is actively involved in the research and development of affordable housing outcomes valued by the residents and communities themselves.

Christopher Scannell is the Deputy Facilities and Projects Manager at the AA since May 2022. His extensive experience in Building, Facilities and Project Management includes previous roles with an artist studios provider (Acme Studios), the University of London, and a Housing Association. He has had an interest in architecture since a young age, and in particular, admires the creative work of Zaha Hadid and the aesthetic style of Tadao Ando.

Ingrid Schroder is the Director of the AA. She a British-American architect and academic, and was previously a Cambridge University Lecturer in Architectural History, and Urban and Landscape Theory, an institution which she taught at for over 20 years. Her ongoing research is concerned with shifting perceptions of nature and landscape in the face of climate change, and the architecture and urbanism of liberation movements.

Michael Weinstock is an Architect, Founding Director of the Emergent Technologies and Design postgraduate programme and is Director of Studies for PhD in Design. Michael studied at the AA and has taught here since 1989, he is also currently the Chair of the Academic Committee. His principal research and teaching has been at the AA and has been published widely since 1994 with over 1,200 peer reviewed citations. He has lectured widely and taught seminar courses, studios and workshops globally.

Armstrong Yakubu is a Senior Partner and a permanent member of the Design Board at Foster and Partners. He plays a unique role that combines his responsibilities on the Design Board with close involvement in carefully selected projects that benefit from his expertise. Armstrong has a keen interest in the ecology of the built environment and urban design.

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Ramps will be in place to enable access to the AA buildings. A quiet room will be available. The room will be well-ventilated and have areas of distanced seating.

Please get in touch to let us know of any additional access requirements that you might have and how we can best accommodate these. If you are unable to attend physically but would like to participate in the event remotely please email publicprogramme@aaschool.ac.uk

The New Standards event series is organised by the AA Public Programme team with special thanks to Jordan Whitewood-Neal and Jos Boys for the conversation, collaboration and guidance.