WORKING ARCHITECTURE GROUP [WAG]

The end of year exhibition is now open until 17th June.(Maritime Campus - Queen Anne’s Court)Learning - EcologyAtelier 6 (WAG) ’s students were looking at the Thames Gateway Project as a whole and the industrial Dagenham Docks in particular. The year was structured around a series of workshops which aimed at exposing the students to the competing ecological, material, social and formal forces that shape architectural thinking and practice - and to empower students with technical and intellectual skills as well as knowledge of sustainable practices required at this stage of their education.The year started with pattern and morphology exercises. The objects produced were examined at a variety of scales as architectural fragments, and formed the basis of an exploration of the social experience and occupation of spatial form.This led to the development of two main projects:- a ‘learningspace’ that embodied chosen learning themes and types- an ‘attractor-tower’ with Barking’s as well as the student’s own ambitions for the site in mind.The developed programmes and interest were tested against the existing and envisaged future demographics and the sustainable ethos of the site,which were understood through the existing master plan, research and site visits.We also drew inspirations from our fieldtrip to the Zollverein in the Ruhrdistrict.