16 May 2007

Students aim to be Kings of `The Hill'

A striking design for a unique building being planned for the heart of London forms the centrepiece of the Degree Show exhibit from three students at the University of Dundee this week.

Fifth-year students Lesley McIntyre and Michael Williams, together with third-year Sarah Brown, have all worked on the latest project from acclaimed architect Kathryn Findlay, who is a Professor of Architecture and the Environment at the University.

`The Hill’ is a new public building focusing on sensory experiences which is planned for a site at Potters Field, next door to Tower Bridge. Created for a client, theatre expert Simon Elliot, the plans for the building include a zero gravity room, a mutating maze and slow food restaurant.

Professor Findlay’s new practice, Fieldwork, has a unique position within the University’s School of Architecture. When the practice was commissioned to work on the design for The Hill, Professor Findlay didn’t hesitate to involve her students, who have responded to the challenge in brilliant fashion.

"This has been a fantastic experience for us as students," said Lesley McIntyre (24), from Portstewart in Northern Ireland. "This is not just a piece of theory we are working on, it is a real project which may well come to fruition, which adds an extra edge to it."

Michael Williams (23), from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, added, "The plans we have worked on are for a very complex, pioneering building which offers all sorts of new challenges for us as architects. It has been great for us to be able to bring our ideas to the table for a major project right in the heart of London."

Professor Findlay said the students were benefitting from the unique positioning of the Fieldwork practice within the University.

"Our set-up here is very unusual in that we have a full working architect’s practice inside the University’s School of Architecture," said Professor Findlay.

"The work we do as a practice throws up great opportunities for research and teaching, so it makes sense to involve the students in what are real, live projects."

Sarah Brown (26) from Dundee has visited London and New York on scholarship programmes developing specialist skills in `smart geometry’ through her work on the project, which she has carried out on a year-out from her course.

Professor Findlay said `The Hill’ could be used as a park on the outside and an arts space on the inside. "We’re trying to create free-floating spaces, a very permeable relationship between inside and out," she said.

Plans for The Hill are on display at the University of Dundee School of Architecture Degree Show 2007 this week.

Degree Show 2007 takes place at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and the University of Dundee School of Architecture from May 19th to 26th. Opening times are 9.30 am to 8.30 pm Monday to Friday, 9.30 am to 4.30 pm at the weekend (closes 2 pm Saturday May 26th). Entrance is free and all are welcome to attend. www.dundee.ac.uk/pressoffice/degreeshow07/

NOTES TO EDITORS

Professor Kathryn Findlay was been appointed Chair of Architecture and Environment at the University of Dundee in 2006. She was formerly Principal of Ushida Findlay Architects and Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo.

Her appointment at Dundee was based on her international reputation as a practicing architect working in Japan, the Gulf and the UK. Her work has received international acclaim for its originality and influence since the realisation of her Truss Wall House in 1993.

At the University, she has established a new architectural practice, Fieldwork, centre for architecture, in partnership with her existing practice, Ushida Findlay Architects.

In addition, she has establishing a research unit, Field architecture design research, to explore and expand on ideas that develop from her live practice.

She is currently heavily involved in plans to embark on a feasibility study to examine the prospects of the Victoria & Albert Museum establishing a presence in Dundee (see: www.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2007/prapril07/linkup.html)

Professor Findlay has a special commitment to the environment and environment is the primary focus of her design. Her ideas and projects have drawn the attention of politicians and environmental policy makers. In particular, her New Grafton Hall project, a prize winning country house, gained international publicity after it was identified as a seminal case study in the development of the new UK Planning Policy Guidance on the development of rural buildings.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk