An opening party takes place on the evening of 26 July in UCL’s Main Quadrangle on Gower Street.
The Bartlett has launched a minisite with information on this year’s show.
The annual celebration of student work is one of the world’s biggest architecture degree shows. Nearly 500 architecture students will present a range of inventive, creative and visual work, from models and drawings, to films, multimedia installations and computer fabrications.
This year’s show opener will be renowned architect, Carme Pinós, who founded Estudio Carme Pinós in 1991, after working with Enric Miralles. Carme’s most notable projects include the Pedestrian Footbridge in Petrer, Alicante; the Juan Aparicio Seafront in Torrevieja and the Cube I Tower in Guadalajara, Mexico, the models of which were acquired by MOMA in 2006. Carme combines running her practice with teaching and has been a guest professor at the universities of Columbia, Harvard and Lausanne.
The show takes place during the month-long London Festival of Architecture, and for the first time, includes a programme of family activities on 27 June, with a range of drop-in activities such as a ‘treasure hunt’ around the exhibition’s unique Unit spaces, ‘build a house’ with laser-cut models, and a Minecraft workshop.
Amongst the diversity of subjects students have explored and defined this year there is a noticeable number that address complex social issues including community spaces for teenage mothers, urban challenges through mass unemployment, housing, mining; and in addition complex fabric and production issues such as waste, energy, disaster management, heritage, climate change and global politics.
Following on from the Scottish referendum and this year’s general election, this year’s work includes MArch Architecture students studying on Design Unit 17, led by Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Niall McLaughlin and Michiko Sumi, creating work looking at Devo Max, devolution and full fiscal autonomy. While BSc Architecture students studying on Design Unit UG1, led by Patrick Weber and Sabine Storp, have been responding to London’s housing crisis; working on projects to transform spaces within Camden’s St Pancras Way Estate and reinventing new housing typologies along the Regents Canal.
ScanLAB Projects, run by Bartlett graduates Matthew Shaw and William Trossell, return this year to document The Bartlett Summer Show for the fifth year running. Their 3D scanning technology captures a cloud of over a billion precisely measured points which they then assemble into a virtual model. Exhibition spaces are individually scanned in full colour and with millimeter accuracy and used to create interactive apps (available on iTunes) allowing users to navigate the exhibitions and enjoy the work long after the exhibition closes.
Professor Bob Sheil, Director, The Bartlett School of Architecture says:
“The inspiring work of our graduating students underpins everything this School is about. As a prolific bunch, only a fraction of their work can be represented in the show and its accompanying catalogue. The show is a tribute to their talent, effort, ambition and enthusiasm.”
The Bartlett Summer Show sees the launch of the annual Bartlett Book, a showcase of student work. The publication is more than just a yearbook: beautifully designed and highly illustrated, it includes at least one image of every student’s work, each Design Unit’s brief, thesis excerpts and introductory texts by Professors and Programme Leaders. The book will be on sale throughout the show and will also be available on Amazon and at various book shops throughout the year.