Kent School of Architecture

In parallel with their work in practice, Ed and Peter lead Masters Unit 2 at the Kent School of Architecture, University of Kent. 

Rather than tell students what to do, the Unit aims to equip them with the thinking tools and working processes that will help them make well considered design decisions themselves. The result is a diverse array of projects reflective of students’ individual interests. 

Unit 2’s brief for 2015-16 continues a recurring theme of revealing unseen aspects of a city: This year’s chosen city is Liverpool, and past locations include Stoke on Trent and the Isle of Portland.

Following a series of introductory group exercises, students develop their own briefs in response to a series of themes. Current themes include: 

Hyperstition: making fictional entities real. 
Displacement: water, people, goods, materials. 
Maps: historic, geographic, personal, political. 

Students undertake intuitive explorations and find connections between their discoveries they as a means of developing a project brief. Ideas are then pursued through drawings, models, and experiments with materials and processes. 

Project work is supplemented with parallel talks and workshops on diagramming, drawing, design, philosophy, and professional practice.

Academic Success

KSA is now ranked 3rd in the country for Architecture, having climbed 3 places in the The Guardian University Guide. 

In 2014, graduating Unit 2 student Rosie Seaman won an RIBA prize for her portfolio, as well as a special award from the Head of School. 

The British Council chose two students from the unit to spend a month on fellowships at the Venice Biennale 2014. Unit 2 students Jessica Ringrose and Jasmine Davey were selected to represent KSA and the south-east region.