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Saturday 1 December 2012

Opening of the new Marlowe crit extension

Today was the ribbon cutting for our new digital crit space! From 17:00 until 19:00 we were all (faculty members across the entire university ranging from directors to tutors) present at this event. Good architectrural talk, good canapes, including my favorite macaroons! Not ashnamed to say I had 3 of them. They also had a selection of fancy drinks. The way the guests were treated was definitely suited to the new look of this building- sophisticated.
Although at first the extension has quite an imposing and 'out-of-place' facade, after having seen the function of the mobile interior walls, I appreciate how the form complements the function.
Now you are curious what this facade I am even talking about is... It is a series of small square panels that are metallic (as result shiny on the surface) that cover the southern facade to provide protection from direct sunlight. They are also there for an aesthetic reason when the windows are opened. I am not even going to mention ventilation.
Why was I turned off at first? Because with wind they move and a lot of them get stuck... but now I understand this is the desired effect. Sometimes you have to take the risk. In that aspect the extension goes along well with the School of the Arts building. Risk takers seem to lead the way forward in architecture anyway...
Don't judge this piece of architecture by its cover though... inside it is amazing. High-tech. Very high tech. We have 70" massive touch screens (imagine a giant ipad). And we don't have one, 8 to be precise. The walls can be moved so they become places to hang drawings and other presentation works. The main idea is to have completely digital crits with no need to do printing in the near future. We will be the test runners of how this will work on 13 December. Save the date.
So much work to do and put together before then. Will not have time to blog until after the next two weeks of intense work! Don't miss me too much :)

 


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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