[CPU]ai has operated as an Atelier at Masters’ level for many years and this is the fourth year of it having a presence in the Undergraduate BA programme where it has developed its own identity, blurring the lines between digital and analogue means of expression. As in the wider vertical Atelier, we accept the ongoing paradigm shifts in the concept of development as it is applied to operations across the built environment and the many potential alternative areas of engagement required beyond those typical of our profession, towards sustainable futures. We also acknowledge the impact of this constantly evolving landscape of disruption in both education and practice to which our students and their future collaborators must be prepared to adapt.
3rd Year are naturally focused on developing building scale solutions within the systems and flows of the city, encouraging students to identify key design drivers from datasets discovered, but we are not technocentric. We believe students who are empowered to find and make tools to identify challenges, create interventions, project potential impact, and share insight will become better and more informed architects who are able to explore and formulate new design approaches, with which to identify and help understanding of underlying problems and latent opportunities for the benefit of future practice, clients and critically, society at large.
The central theme for this year’s 3rd year was the “future of vocation & skills”, involving real-world stakeholders and including both private and public sector organisations. This exposed the students to multiple differing opinions and different disciplines, all with their own agendas. The individual projects explored education and training through emerging innovative technologies, for example digital fabrication and their potential future within the Greater Manchester region, specifically within Stockport.
Students were introduced to the Atelier ethos and the central themes of the year through an initial design project involving creative experimentation in morphology and spatial effect using material, digital and hybrid tools, alongside a theoretical narrative which explored diverse frameworks and the wider socio-economic and cultural context of the town. Although the students knew the location of the project, they were not informed of the specific sites until after they had conceptualised their interventions. Their generic proposal was then morphed to work within one of three alternative sites as a way in which to understand the specific issues of each context. Critically this was also used as a vehicle to explore AI as a design tool. Through this, students were encouraged to continue their experimentation to challenge standard typologies towards creating novel building proposals.
