Reflections on practice: capturing innovation and creativity
Wednesday 19 September, Jarvis Hall, RIBA
The 2007 Research Symposium took its theme from Leon van Schaik's book 'Mastering Architecture – becoming a creative practitioner'. Launching the event, Professor van Schaik's keynote presentation described his international reflective practice research programme. In the programme practitioners acknowledged as innovative examine, before critics and their peers, their own body of work and its impact – and reflect on their ways of working and future directions. For many practitioners, a design approach is implicit and intuitive. But through this programme of reflection and examination, processes become more visible and accessible, and a language emerges to capture them – to the benefit of critics, educators, and the practitioner community.
A range of established and up-and-coming UK practitioners responded to the theme by presenting their own recent work to illustrate their design position and the routes they have taken in pursuing innovative practice. The symposium also included examples of action research where designers engage directly with stakeholders to challenge perceptions and to devise creative new solutions in sectors as diverse as healthcare and disaster relief.
Edited and illustrated transcripts of the speakers' presentations are available to download below.
Symposium convenor
Katharine Heron, Head of Architecture, University of Westminster
Chair
Paul Finch OBE, Editor, Architectural Review
Opening address
Sunand Prasad, RIBA President, Penoyre & Prasad
Session 1: Reflective Research
Leon van Schaik AO, Innovation Professor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
'Mastering architecture and creative innovation'
Richard Blythe, Terroir and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
'Reflections on reflecting: an archaeology of reflective design practice or research in the medium of design'
Session 2: Practitioners/Academics on key moments in their transitions in practice and in the academy
Kathryn Findlay, Ushida Findlay Architects
'Key moments in research: transition in practice and the academy'
Sean Griffith, FAT
'Keep up the bad work'
Session 3: Practitioners on key moments in their transitions within their practice
Piers Gough CBE, CZWG Architects
'Embracing D&B: the seven-year itch'
Declan O'Carroll, Arup Associates
'Unified design: from multidisciplinary to pan-disciplinary thinking'
RIBA President's Awards for Research
Jane Rendell, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
'Some Notes on Architecture and Design Research'
Session 4: Case studies - research-led frameworks enabling innovation in practice and the academy
Gillian Lambert, voluntary Design & Build
'Adventures in making'
Tom Chapman-Andrews, Heatherwick Studio
'The Truffle pig'
Susan Francis, CABE
'The social relevance of designing for health'
Tony Lloyd-Jones, University of Westminster
'Building back together - how action research and professional networking can make a difference to disaster reconstruction and risk reduction'
Session 5: Delivering quality through innovative design
Deborah Saunt, DSDHA
'Specificity and research: never the same building twice'
Peter Barber, Peter Barber Architects
'Low rise, high density urbanism at Donnybrook Quarter'
Alex de Rijke, de Rijke Marsh Morgan
'Flatpack without boredom'
Original leaflet and programme
Sponsors of the RIBA Research Symposium 2007
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