Preface to (a) Review

Brett Steele
Director, Architectural Association School of Architecture

I. Architecture as Projects, in Review

'Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.'
Francis Bacon

By longstanding tradition, Projects Review is the title for this annual compendium of student work at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, consisting of a book and, in a parallel convention, our end-of-year exhibition as well as this site. Strictly speaking, neither is a project nor a review, at least in the everyday sense that architects tend to use these terms. Even the most avantgardeof settings (or intentions) can get caught up in a web of associations (convention, repetition, habit) more architectural than even our name. I would suggest that such is the case with the AA’s enduring reuse of the same title at a school whose students have uncovered countless kinds of new architectural projects by simply going against exactly this kind of precedent.

What is illustrated here – and what makes the school such a great place – is the relentless, never-ending pursuit of new architectural projects. The AA nourishes an atmosphere more than a structure – a feeling that discoveries made, developed and communicated to huge architectural audiences not only reframes architecture as we think we know it, but also challenges architecture in ways that begin to imagine its future.


II. Thinking Big by Working Small

'Small projects need much more help than great.'
Dante Alighieri

Architectural discoveries always arrive in the smallest and most unexpected of ways, thanks to barely perceptible shifts in ways of observing cities, space, structure and social life. Architectural students are stumbling across unexpected qualities or possibilities found in the new media used to capture, record or communicate ideas; they are picking up and starting to try out entirely new kinds of design tools; they are experimenting with new materials, assembly systems, building technologies and the physical ‘stuff’ of building in such haphazard ways that they are opening up further avenues for new kinds of projects. The consequences of this kind of youthful approach to architecture are readily evident in Projects Review.

Time and again, in architectural projects and its publications, it is often the most ordinary of conversations, activities or work that lead to the biggest discoveries, provoking what architects might take to be a ‘new’ kind of project. The utility of smallness is rarely emphasised when it comes to architecture or its forms of knowledge. Strange new kinds of architectural projects often begin life as little more than the bringing together of a few acquaintances with whom to explore an idea or interest – often for audiences not much bigger than the groups of like-minded architects starting out on a design project. Hundreds of similarly small projects (efforts, discoveries and audiences) are on display in Projects Review, skimming the surface of much deeper, sustained, year-long efforts.

Of the many compelling features of the AA school today, the most interesting for me is the growing interest in new architectural topics being defined in relation to themes that nearly disappeared from contemporary architectural culture only a few years ago. Work openly explores architectural history, ornament, context, typology and large-scale 1:1 working prototypes. These topics have found their way into our units and programmes alongside new media, design tools and design methodologies. It is a heartening and provocative development, as we witness the rise of a critical re-examination of architectural culture across a much broader spectrum than normally found in an era increasingly shaped by technological transformation. That such old topics can reanimate the youthful imagination of so many of our students is encouraging, and suggests to me that the future of architecture will ultimately be measured by something other than its age. Regardless, ours is now.

Welcome to AA Year 160.