Seven architects have been shortlisted to pitch ideas for the next generation of student housing design. UPP, the UK's leading provider of on-campus student accommodation, is looking for designs that will be inspiring with high sustainability credentials while also reflecting the needs of students' mental health and wellbeing.
The practices are: Al-Jawad Pike, DROO Architecture, Gray and Cross, IF_DO, Office Sian, Okra Studio and Projects Office.
Each architect has just three minutes to pitch to a panel that includes Jason Clarke, Head of Energy and Environment at UPP, Greg Ducie, Director of Estates at Swansea University and architect Ben Humphries, Director at Architype.
The winner will be offered an opportunity to work as a paid consultant to UPP.
The Pitch attracted 46 submissions from practices across the UK and Europe.
UPP’s Managing Director of Asset Management, Adam Tyson, said the Architect Pitch will “help challenge our way of thinking and shift our expectations in many areas that we might not have thought of otherwise.”
The pitch will be held on May 18th at UPP’s London headquarters in front of a live audience.
Here, the selected architects tell us why they want to pitch.
Okra
Tell us about your practice
Okra is a multidisciplinary studio specialising in architecture, engagement, urban research and educational outreach. Through each project we apply our expertise to strengthen, celebrate and empower communities. Clients and collaborators include Merton Council, Lambeth Council, Poplar Harca, The Architecture Foundation, London Metropolitan University, Open City, Barbican, Frank’s Café, Bold Tendencies and the South London Gallery.
How old is your practice?
4 years
Why do you want to take part?
Okra has completed and is currently undertaking design and construction projects in community gardening, community infrastructure and public realm improvements, all employing radically low-carbon technologies. We believe we have a great deal to offer UPP in assisting in the design and delivery of unexpected, informed and innovative models of student housing for the future.
Al-Jawad Pike
Tell us about your practice
Al-Jawad Pike is a London-based architecture studio. Private residential projects have allowed us to hone our skills of building, using modest means to enhance people’s daily lives. Another major focus has been two pioneering social housing schemes developed with Hackney Council, both currently on site. More recently we have begun working with The Liliesleaf Trust to create a new museum and learning centre, bringing visibility to the history of the anti-Apartheid movement in the UK.
How old is your practice?
7 years
Why do you want to take part?
Having gained a wide range of experience in the design and delivery of social housing and co-living projects, Al-Jawad Pike is uniquely positioned to bring new ideas of communal living into student housing. We recognise moving into student accommodation is a critical and formative time in young people’s lives. We would like to propose a new vision of student living that is both a refuge and social integrator for a diverse student body, but equally well-integrated into its wider context.
IF_DO
Tell us about your practice
IF_DO was founded by three good friends, bored by inaction and excited by the possibility of doing things differently. One of our earliest projects, the Dulwich Pavilion, was designed to draw in a young and diverse audience to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London. The flagship of the 2017 London Festival of Architecture, it used readily available low-cost materials to create architectural delight. This is our approach across all our projects - people focussed, and using an economy of means to deliver spaces and places that bring people joy.
How old is your practice?
7 years
Why do you want to take part?
As members of the Passivhaus Trust, we are advocates for the need to radically transform the environmental performance of the built environment. We believe that these ideas are fundamental to the design of successful, sustainable student housing - enabling young people to build friendships that will last their entire lives, and providing them with an environment in which they can succeed, learn, and grow, by supporting their physical and mental wellbeing.
Office Sian
Tell us about your practice
Founded by architect Gurmeet Sian, the studio has established a portfolio of completed commissions for private and public clients. We work with collaborators to develop and make meaningful places and buildings and believe that the best way to do this is to establish strong relationships and shared goals with clients. We frequently develop and conduct engagement workshops to create a transparent design process.
How old is your practice?
11 years
Why do you want to take part?
We see this challenge as an opportunity to examine how a small community is formed in a nurturing environment, where well-being and growth in both private and communal spaces can flourish. We’re excited about incorporating products and holistic practices; colour, materiality, touch, daylight are all key in our sensory absorption of a space and if we place importance on these elements, they will help improve the daily life of students of all backgrounds.
DROO Architecture
Tell us about your practice
We are an emerging South London based practice. We believe that any intervention we make in the built environment comes at a cost be it environmental or financial, so every intervention has to make a significant contribution to its location, context and the people it impacts through use.
How old is your practice?
10 years
Why do you want to take part?
If good quality and affordable student housing models do not exist our cities are the poorer for it. Students bring a richness to the city. They learn from it and the city benefits from their presence by creating urban culture, bringing life to events ( street culture, festivals, cafés). The demographics in our cities are getting narrower, and we want to make sure that we are considering the crucial role different groups play in creating vibrant academic and urban environments.
Projects Office
Tell us about your practice
Projects Office produces innovative and considered architectural designs, spatial strategies and engagement processes. Our projects include inclusive interventions in the public realm, co-designed spaces for NHS mental health services, and office designs for ambitious start-ups. Our portfolio, which also includes designs for homes, communities and hospitality, is united by a focus on conversations and co-creation, as well as careful use of resources, commitment to deliverability, and an enduring sense of playfulness.
How old is your practice?
7 years
Why do you want to take part?
The communities built at university can last a lifetime and they’re fostered by the places students have to live, work and play. Our pitch would expand the user-focussed approach we’ve developed through our NHS spaces for young people, in which design for good mental health is a fundamental design-driver. We would promote co-designed briefs and collaborative processes to deliver thoughtful, characterful spaces.
Gray & Cross Architecture
Tell us about your practice
We are a young dynamic, design led practice. We enjoy employing simple materials beautifully driven by a soulful minimalistic approach. Conversely, we enjoy a restrained maximalism coupled with a passive environmentalism because buildings should be sustainable and not just look it. We challenge unconventionally and take pride in being resourceful and strategic with our clients’ budgets. We put people at the heart of our work and above all we are radically optimistic.
How old is your practice?
2 years
Why do you want to take part?
The early years of university is a critically formative period of self-discovery, development, confidence building. For many students, the experience of student residences will be a major step towards building independence but also an engagement between the self and the wider world. We believe therefore that the experience and relationships gained there where one resides is of equal importance to the academic learning.
To apply to be in the audience, please go to Ticket Tailor.
Images: Phoenix Garden Community Building, Office Sian Architecture + Design (top)
Thorpeness Beach House, IF_Do (bottom)
