Newsroom University of Manchester

Grenfell-style shortcuts by architects ‘still fairly common’, study finds

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:00:17 +0100

A new study has found that architects often take shortcuts by copying previous designs, and by relying too much on others to handle complex tasks without double-checking. The recent Grenfell Tower Inquiry found that a similar approach was taken at the London tower block which tragically caught fire in 2017, resulting in 70 deaths.

Dr Diana Osmólska and Dr Alan Lewis from The University of Manchester have studied how architects make decisions - they have discovered that architects often rely on their instincts when deciding which information to use and how to solve design problems.

Unlike maths or science, where solutions are more straightforward, design problems depend on the architect’s understanding and ideas. The researchers used a theory from psychology to look at these decisions more closely.

Their findings show that architects can sometimes make mistakes without realising it, by using what worked in previous projects without checking if it is still the best approach. This shortcut is called “intuitive substitution.”

Instead of carefully analysing a new problem, architects may just reuse an old solution, which can be risky. For example, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry found an architect on that building had assumed that cladding panels used on other projects were suitable without checking them properly beforehand.

Another shortcut is “intuitive outsourcing”, which happens when architects rely on other professionals for information and don’t check it themselves. In the Grenfell Inquiry, it was found that architects trusted subcontractors to provide the right materials without verifying them. This kind of outsourcing can create a false sense of security, making architects feel they have all the needed information even when they don’t.

Dr Osmólska explains that these shortcuts can make architects overlook important details:

The researchers are now developing a new framework that will help architects assess their design choices more thoroughly. They plan to test this framework by working with architects to see how it can improve their decision-making in future.

Inaugural lecture by Deljana Iossifova, Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:16:52 +0000

On Wednesday 28 February, the School of Environment, Education and Development and guests celebrated the appointment to professorship of , Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies

The popular event took place in the Cordingley Lecture Theatre at The University of Manchester and was chaired by Professor Martin Evans, Head of School. The University welcomed , Professor of Global Urbanism to introduce Professor Deljana Iossifova, and distinguished scholar from the University of Oxford to deliver the vote of thanks.

Lecture abstract

I reflect on efforts to reconcile contradiction in research on entanglement as a metaphor for interconnectedness and interdependence across presumed borders and scales.

Borders and boundaries are conventional constructs often used to demarcate spaces of difference, both geographically and metaphorically. Entanglement suggests a state of interconnectedness and interdependence, blurring the lines that typically define such spaces. In this talk, I use the metaphor of entanglement to work through my interest in the messy relationships between objects, bodies, people, practices, lifeforms, events, and processes as they unfold across spatial and temporal scales. I briefly reflect on efforts to reconcile ontological, epistemological, and methodological contradictions in my research and close in asking: what’s architecture got to do with it?

Watch the recording

The evening also celebrated the appointment to professorship of Steven Courtney, Professor of Sociology of Education Leadership, who delivered his inaugural lecture ‘Towards a new methodology for critical leadership and policy scholarship’.

Following the lectures, guests were given the opportunity to ask questions, before celebrating at a drinks reception.

Experts create model of Royal Albert Hall for their archive collection

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:25:48 +0100

A model of the Royal Albert Hall produced by The University of Manchester’s modelmaking workshop has been added to the Hall’s new £1m Archive Collection as the result of a collaboration with the .

The 3/4 replica of an original 19th Century building model was made by B.15 Workshop Technical Manager Scott Miller and assistant Saul-Parker Backhouse, alongside students Ruben Greyson and Cezara Mișca, and plays a key role in explaining the design process behind one of the UK’s most iconic buildings.

Following the discovery of fragments of the original model in a staircase cupboard in the hall in 2018, from the V&A Research Institute, and Royal Albert Hall archivist Liz Harper worked closely with B.15 to realise what the original must have looked like.

Efforts were made to restore and a replica of the fragment was produced including missing pieces to illustrate part of what might have been, recreating a long-lost stage of .

The replica then featured in the

Following the conclusion of Shaping Space, an agreement between the Hall and B.15 led to the model being donated to their collection. The first dedicated archive to the Hall’s 150-year history officially opened on Thursday 12 October, and can be searched online at . Future plans for the model will see it displayed to the public in one of the Hall’s main entrances.

A documentary short ‘’ was produced alongside the project by Chris Jackson, and features narration from Dr Simona Valeriani and B.15 Technical Manager Scott Miller.

91ֱ�� School of Architecture ranked 5th in the world

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 16:30:17 +0000

has been named as one of the top five architecture schools in the

MSA, a unique collaboration between The University of Manchester and 91ֱ�� Metropolitan University, is ranked 5th in the world and 2nd in the UK, climbing two places since last year and six places since 2021.

The prestigious QS World University Rankings highlight the world’s top performing universities in 54 individual subject areas. They include almost 1,500 institutions from around the world, with rankings based on subjects, destination and graduate employability, and allowing prospective students to compare the top universities for architecture globally.

MSA’s ‘unparalleled’ opportunities for collaborative architectural research across the two universities were highlighted, as was its ‘wide range of interdisciplinary research and teaching interests’ within at 91ֱ�� Metropolitan University and departments at The University of Manchester.

Its employer reputation scored a near-perfect 98.4%, maintaining its position at second overall, with citations per research paper hitting the heights at 95%, and an impressive overall score of 89.3%.

MSA unites two schools with more than 100 years’ experience, over 100 experts in their architectural fields and more than 1,000 students from over 80 countries, producing creative, challenging and academically rigorous work and research.

It offers a range of professionally recognised undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees, and has gained a prestigious reputation following appraisals by professional bodies such as the Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Royal Institute for British Architects (RIBA) and The Landscape Institute, alongside a number of prizes gained externally.

Exhibition corrects myth that demolished Brutalist housing estate was unpopular with its residents

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 13:41:09 +0000

A new online exhibition has been launched which features the views of the former residents of Robin Hood Gardens, the London estate which was both lauded as a masterpiece of modernist social housing and condemned as a ‘concrete monstrosity’ before its recent demolition.

Pioneering British architects Alison and Peter Smithson - who coined the term ‘Brutalism’ in the 1950s - created the experimental estate with its 'streets in the sky' and indoor-outdoor ‘yard gardens’ in 1972. While the award-winning development had large light-filled rooms overlooking generous landscaped public spaces, it was also written off by some as a grim place plagued by crumbling concrete and antisocial behaviour. When its demolition began to be discussed, debate suggested that only architectural writers and scholars would mourn its loss.

Lecturer Nick Thoburn from The University of Manchester and photographer Kois Miah were dismayed by this, as they felt the residents of Robin Hood Gardens were entirely absent from the debate about its merits, failings and impending demise. Therefore, they set out to chronicle the lives and opinions of the people who lived there in the years before its demolition alongside researchers Aklima Begum and Runa Khalique.

They have now which features quotes from interviews with the residents, alongside 140 striking images of them and their former homes as well as original architectural drawings and photographs by Alison and Peter Smithson. The interviews focused on the experiences of their lives on the estate, alongside their views about its demolition and regeneration, its representations in the media and politics, and the value of social housing. Nick and Kois hope that the exhibition will challenge the narrative that the estate was unpopular with its residents and that Brutalism is inappropriate for social housing.

“Robin Hood Gardens has been one of the most talked about housing estates in the UK, but whether it was celebrated as a modernist masterpiece or demonised as a concrete monstrosity, the views of the people who actually lived there were almost entirely absent from the debate,” said Nick. “Public figures who favoured demolition would often claim that residents hated the place, thus furthering their case.”

“When we interviewed the residents, it was clear that they enjoyed living on the estate. It had suffered from years of neglect and disinvestment, leaving some residents in distressing conditions - this is what frustrated and angered them, not the architecture. They understood and appreciated its architectural features - the rich social and sensory qualities of its streets in the sky, the dual aspect homes flooded with light and with glorious views across London, and the central green with its extraordinary mound providing a stress-free area protected from urban noise and pollution. Residents also enjoyed the breathtaking scale of the estate’s concrete structures, in contrast to the claim that only middle class afficionados enjoy Brutalist architecture.”

Today, a new development is being built on the site. A single flat-sized section of the estate was salvaged by the new V&A Museum in East London for a permanent exhibition - however, Nick and Kois are critical of it being celebrated and preserved only after it had been emptied of its working class residents.

“Tens of thousands of council homes have been demolished in recent decades, and around 100 London estates are currently under threat of destruction,” said Nick. “Estate demolition is a tremendously damaging process - both socially for the displaced communities, and environmentally due to the carbon emissions created by demolition and rebuilding. It is driven not by need - as is often claimed - but simply by a booming construction and housing industry that reaps vast rewards from soaring land values and house prices.”

To view the online exhibition, visit . Testimony from other residents and further social and architectural analysis of Robin Hood Gardens can be found in Nick Thoburn’s .

Lord Norman Foster returns to 91ֱ�� for inspirational lecture

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 14:27:31 +0000

Renowned architect, designer and 91ֱ�� alumnus Lord Norman Foster has returned to deliver an inspirational guest lecture to architecture students.

Lord Foster, who graduated in architecture and city planning in 1961 before studying for a master’s degree at Yale School of Architecture, is the founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, a global studio for architecture, urbanism, and design, rooted in sustainability.

Lord Foster came to earlier this week to visit their new teaching space, and to deliver a lecture to 500 architecture students as part of the School’s ‘Inspirations’ lecture series. 91ֱ�� School of Architecture is an innovative collaboration between The University of Manchester and 91ֱ�� Metropolitan University, and was named 7th in the world in the QS 2022 Architecture rankings.

During his expansive career, Lord Foster has designed some of the world’s most iconic buildings including the Millennium Bridge, 30 St Mary Axe (also known as ‘the Gherkin’), the Great Court of the British Museum in London, the Reichstag in Berlin, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, airports in Hong Kong and Beijing and headquarters buildings for Hearst (New York), Apple (Cupertino), Bloomberg (London), Comcast (Philadelphia) and HSBC (Hong Kong).

During the lecture, Lord Foster spoke to students about his extensive career and the his creations, starting with his first University projects right through to his most recent design for the Apple headquarters building.

“91ֱ�� for me was very complimentary with studying at Yale, which followed afterwards. The combination of those two institutions with different backgrounds, I think I'm privileged to have studied at both.”

Professor Kevin Singh, Head of Manchester School of Architecture, said: “It’s an absolute honour for us to have Lord Foster visit in person and to deliver an evening lecture as part of our “Inspirations” series as his works and career have been an inspiration to architects far and wide.

“Speaking personally, it was his work, along with contemporaries such as Rogers and Grimshaw that was a huge inspiration to me as an architecture student at a time when contemporary design was not the mainstream. The 500 tickets available to students were snapped up in less than an hour which shows how excited our students are about hearing from one of the greatest architects in the world, with the added bonus that he studied here in 91ֱ�� in the 1950s.”

Over the past five decades, Foster + Partners has pioneered a sustainable approach to architecture and urbanism through a wide range of work, from masterplans to offices, cultural buildings, airports and industrial design.

Lord Foster said: “Sustainability has been the lifeblood of practice for me from the 1960s. It's gained momentum, of course, since then, and it's very much in the public eye. Everybody's aware of the implications of global warming, carbon footprints and designing responsibly. But that's always, I think, been an ideal pursuit in terms of saving energy and pairing that to a better quality of life for everybody.”

Lord Foster has been awarded some of architecture’s highest accolades, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in Japan, the RIBA Royal Gold medal and the AIA Gold medal. In 1999, he was honoured with a Life Peerage in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

He is president of the Norman Foster Foundation, based in Madrid, which promotes interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of architects, designers and urbanists anticipate the future.

During his lecture, Lord Foster gave one piece of advice to the young architects: “I would give the advice that I’d have given myself, stay a student. And what do I mean by stay a student? I mean stay curious, question everything, challenge it, stay hungry for opportunity, but above all, be humble.”

Piecing together the history of the Royal Albert Hall

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 10:52:36 +0100

The exhibition explores the role of physical models in architecture through their history, craft and changing technologies that support their continued use in new digital ways.

The workshop made a significant unique contribution to the project that has helped researchers better understand the design process behind one of the UK’s most iconic buildings; The Royal Albert Hall. Records of planning meetings that took place during the Hall’s development made mention of a model being used to inform design decisions. It was assumed this model was lost until 2019 when it was rediscovered in a heavily damaged state in a room at the Hall itself. Efforts were made to restore the piece and a reconstructed fragment was completed showing a part of what might have been.

B.15 staff took on the task of analysing the fragment in order to replicate the model in a more complete form as it might have appeared in the mid-1800s. This involved the comparison of reference images and original plans. Workshop technicians Scott Miller and Saul Parker-Backhouse began the task alongside 91ֱ�� School of Architecture students Ruben Greyson and Cezara Mișca to produce a faithful interpretation of the original in time for the exhibition opening.

Workshop Technician Scott Miller said: “It was a pleasure to collaborate on such a precarious project and a truly insightful experience for me, Saul and our student assistants.

"We look forward to our continued involvement with the exhibition and are honoured to support the V&A, Building Centre and superb range of architectural practices that make up the content of the Shaping Space exhibition.”

More information:

Find out more about our and on social media @b15workshop.
is open at the Building Centre until 28 January 2022. Free to visit Monday - Friday, 9am - 6pm, Saturday 10am - 4pm.
More about the Royal Albert Hall project can be found on the .

Space habitats for life beyond earth revealed as 91ֱ�� takes next graphene-enhanced leap

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 14:08:39 +0100

Advanced manufacturing experts from 91ֱ�� have revealed what human life in space could look like – with a graphene-enhanced space habitat developed to meet anticipated demand for human settlements beyond Earth.

A community of specialists at The University of Manchester have teamed up with global architect firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to research the design and manufacturing of space habitats for the space industry.

With projections that the global space economy , the innovation will raise the technology readiness level (TRL) of new lightweight composites using 2D materials for space applications.

In an international collaboration, Dr Vivek Koncherry and his team – supported by the 91ֱ��-based – are creating a scaled prototype of a space habitat with pressurised vessels designed to function in a space environment.

SOM, the architects behind the world’s tallest building - Burj Khalifa in Dubai - are contributing design and engineering expertise to the space architecture. Daniel Inocente, SOM’s senior designer in New York, said: “Designing for habitation in space poses some of the greatest challenges - it means creating an environment capable of maintaining life and integrating crew support systems.

“As architects, our role is to combine and integrate the most innovative technologies, materials, methods and above all the human experience to designing inhabited environments,” added Inocente. “Conducting research using graphene allows us to test lightweight materials and design processes that could improve the efficacy of composite structures for potential applications on Earth and future use in space.”

In the next five to 10 years most governments are expected to want a permanent presence in space to manage critical infrastructure, such as satellite networks – as well as considering the potential opportunity of accessing space-based resources and further scientific exploration.

Dr Koncherry said: “A major barrier to scaling up in time to meet this demand is the lack of advanced and automated manufacturing systems to make the specialist structures needed for living in space. One of the space industry’s biggest challenges is overcoming a lack of robotic systems to manufacture the complex shapes using advanced materials.”

The solution is incorporating graphene for advanced structural capabilities, such as radiation shielding, as well as developing and employing a new generation of robotic machines to make these graphene-enhanced structures. This technology has the potential to revolutionise high-performance lightweight structures – and could also be used for terrestrial applications in the aerospace, construction and automotive sectors.

James Baker, CEO Graphene@91ֱ��, said: “The work being led by Dr Koncherry and his colleagues is taking the development of new composites and lightweighting to another level, as well as the advanced manufacture needed to make structures from these new materials. By collaborating with SOM there are opportunities to identify applications on our own planet as we look to build habitats that are much smarter and more sustainable.”

The space habitat launch coincides with a series of world firsts for graphene in the built environment currently happening here on Earth – including the first external pour of graphene-enhanced Concretene and - all supported by experts in the city where the super strong material was first isolated.

Tim Newns, Chief Executive of MIDAS, 91ֱ��’s inward investment agency, said: “This exciting piece of research further underlines the breadth of applications where advanced materials and in particular graphene can revolutionise global industries such as the space industry. In addition to world-leading expertise in graphene, facilities such as the new , will also support the development of advanced machines and machinery required to bring these applications to reality.”

Unlocking the British School at Rome's fine arts archive

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 14:53:33 +0100

As part of The University of Manchester’s programme, an interdisciplinary team of Postgraduate Researchers have curated an interactive, digital exhibition to showcase an unexplored Fine Arts archive at the British School at Rome, a prestigious research academy supporting the Arts, Humanities and Architecture.

Over the last 120 years, painters, sculptors, engravers and printmakers, architects, archaeologists and scholars have carried out residencies at the British School at Rome. Until now, the wealth of archival material produced by the artists has remained understudied and inaccessible to the wider public.

Working together with the British School at Rome, (The University of Manchester), Dr Nia Davies (University of Salford) and Dr Peter Buckles (University of Liverpool) have drawn on innovative research, digital and creative writing methods to bring the materials and their history to light.

“'The specificity of the archive prompted us to expand our knowledge and research skills in art history, especially in the context of the early 20th century. As a result, the platform explores a range of artistic mediums such as mural painting, engraving, sculpture and architecture, and how they were practised at that time. It also offers new insights into the institutional history of fine arts education and classical studies in the UK and cultural and diplomatic connections between the UK and Italy during 1913-1930.” - Ksenia Litvinenko, PhD Researcher in Architecture, School of Education, Environment and Development, The University of Manchester.

Designed around the concept of a network, the exhibition explores the complex relationships between individuals, objects, places and themes to showcase the archive, tell its stories and ignite interest among the public through a semi-curated museum-like experience.

“I’m happy that we were able to explore and conceive of new ways to encounter, research and present to the public this fascinating fine arts archive.” – Dr Nia Davies, School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies, University of Salford.

The prints, letters, postcards, photographs, equipment, meeting minutes, drawings, maps, engravings and stories of notable artists such as Winifred Knights and are waiting to be explored in the archive.

“The team reminded us that the BSR’s collections are exciting, relevant and worth celebrating. This has renewed our determination to further research and make available this outstanding resource.” - Alessandra Giovenco, BSR Archivist.

This research project was facilitated by the Programme, based at The University of Manchester and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Architecture academic receives RIBA award

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:06:09 +0000

The 2020 award was granted to for his study Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War.

The study investigates the collaboration between Eastern European architects, planners and construction workers with those in West Africa and the Middle East during the Cold War. This cooperation largely altered the urban landscapes of once colonised countries such as Nigeria, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

Dr Łukasz Stanek said:
"When writing Architecture in Global Socialism, I imagined its future readers to be architectural historians, but also my students at the 91ֱ�� School of Architecture. Many of them are coming from the Global South, and it is essential that they get to know how non-Western actors produced 20th century architecture as a global project. I am very honoured that my book received a RIBA President's Award for Research 2020."

The annual RIBA awards are granted by the in celebration of architecture in the UK and around the world. The awards have been running for over 180 years and are internationally recognised as a great achievement in the field.

This is the second major prize for the book, by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain in December 2020.

and view the related video on the .

Staff Spotlight: Łukasz Stanek

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 15:45:00 +0000

In our latest 'staff spotlight' for the December-January newsletter, we ask Łukasz Stanek about his research, career highlights and more.

What is your career highlight so far?

I am not sure if it was the academic highlight, but certainly an exciting moment was my discovery of an unpublished book manuscript about architecture by the French theorist Henri Lefebvre (Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment, University of Minnesota Press, 2014). Given the importance of Lefebvre for the redefinition of architecture as a practice and as a discipline since the late 1960s, which I discussed in my own book (), the publication of this manuscript changed our thinking about architecture culture of the second half of 20th century.

Tell us about your current research and what you see as your key academic challenges over the next five years.

I am currently finishing a book about architects, planners, and contractors from socialist countries who worked in West Africa and the Middle East during the cold war. Based on archival materials and interviews in Ghana, Nigeria, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait as well as 9 Eastern European countries, this book shows how the globalization of architectural practices was informed by competing visions of world-wide solidarity in the cold war, among them socialist internationalism and the Non-Aligned Movement.

What is the dream scenario for you in terms of the impact of your work?

The material structures which the protagonists of my book designed and constructed, the master plans and regulations which they co-wrote, and the curricula which they drafted continue to influence the conditions of urbanisation around the world. I am currently initiating collaborations with governmental and other organisations from Ghana and Iraq to help them to understand this influence better and, quite simply, to provide documentation which is often missing. A case in point is my study of the master plan of Baghdad by planners from socialist Poland (1967, 1973), a document which still guides the development of Baghdad in spite of numerous attempts to replace it.

What do you see as the benefits to working in a broad research institute like MUI?

My research straddles architecture and planning, and it is informed by discussions in geography and urban studies, the economic history of the cold war, and studies on technology transfers. This is why exchanges with scholars in other fields at the MUI are essential.