CLOCKWORK LONDON Excerpt

During the three weeks of summer school, the twenty-three students of Unit 1, coming from a dozen countries around the globe, have investigated the possibility of representing Time through Spaces.   We entered London by exploring twelve iconic rooms that have shaped the city throughout history. Within these rooms, the students found their own interests and eventually their obsessions. Whether they were physical, conceptual, political or social, each student had to translate that obsession into a large scale drawing.   All twenty-four drawings were assembled in a clock-like manner that we looked at, critiqued, manipulated and ultimately reorganised into six groups, each embodying a Time Typology: Aligned, Relative, Sedimented, Experienced, Traced and Gravitational. These typologies allowed us to translate abstract ideas of Time into very concrete physical models   Each group dived into its Typology and constructed a large scale object using found materials that revealed both the intrinsic principles of Time and the great potential of spatially understanding abstract notions.   The unit performed a live spectacle at the end of the Summer School, during which it became clear to all of us that Time and Space are indissociable, but also that one of the core strengths of an architect is our capacity to physically construct what others can only abstractly explain.   For more information: Summer School 2016 - London Time Unit 1 Clockwork London Brief Unit 1 on summerschool.aaschool.ac.uk Antoine Vaxelaire Ariadna Barthe Frida Escobedo Derek Dellekamp