A stainless steel door in aberdeen, no idea what hides behind it but it is a real bruiser.

AE foundation’s next lecture in the ‘The Architect in Public Life’ series will take place this friday in Glasgow, Tickets are still available and can be purchased online. Speakers are Rolf Jenni and Tom Weiss along with Jan Kinsbergen. See aefoundation.co.uk for more details

Events | AE | Foundation for Architecture and Education.

London Architects Gundry & Ducker‘s extension to a victorian terrace house uses a restricted palette of materials, simple forms and a legible construction to provide a sublime space full of light.

The extension focusses attention on the garden beyond, bringing the external space into the house by means of a large glazed opening and by employing similar and contrasting tones and colours. The black faced units of the kitchen present a continuous line in conjunction with the dividing fence.

Externally the blackened larch cladding has a subtle rhythm which does not distract from the form as a whole. The material appears to be stained timber but is reminiscent of the charred timber cladding used by Reiach and Hall at weavers cottage or that employed at Raven Row. However this cladding appears more homogeneous and intentional.

Read More at www.gundryducker.com

Students of Architecture, Architects in practice and interested parties should mosey on over to AE – Foundation for architecture and education, A project started by Penny Lewis and Samuel Penn.

While this author can’t pretend to be understand all of the cerebral highlights on offer, I do respect their intelligent approach to raising the intellectual consideration of architecture.

They run a series of lectures, provide essays, videos and critical comment on all aspects of architecture.

AE | Foundation for Architecture and Education.

He has suggested that students follow a general programme of architecture, urban design and landscape during a three year course, providing a foundation for further specialist training.

His comments will chime with a great number of practitioners who are increasingly concerned that the traditional role of the architect is changing without being supported by the education system which concentrates on a traditional project driven programme.

Core skills and knowledge required by practices are not being taught to students at undergraduate level, with students entering the workplace with a limited understanding of the generic skills required to run projects effectively. There is however concern that concentrating education away from creative development would weaken the architects position.

With admissions to architecture schools across the UK falling, this blog agrees that something should be done. However we feel that a more radical approach to the issue of architecture education is needed to ensure that the profession continues to exist.

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Rogers calls for broader architectural education | News | Building Design.

I visited the new library at the university of aberdeen yesterday and despite the odd broken pane, the building is very impressive. While not a library in the traditional sense, it does seem to operate as a ‘hub’ for the various activities you might associate with a university; there are private study areas, quiet rooms and pod like meeting rooms, most of which are arranged around the periphery of the building, providing quite astounding views over aberdeen and the beach.

Perhaps the most surprising element its the open atrium which runs vertically through the building. Offset on each floor and irregular in shape, it provides light into the depth of the plan whilst avoiding the chasm feel which sometimes accompanies atria.

There are some disappointing elements; the ground floor space is bereft of character and only serves as a viewing point for the cleverness of the atrium. The obligatory cafe area seems disjointed from the design, as if parachuted in after the fact.

There are some finishes which perhaps could have been better, specifically the oak handrail round the central void which has shrunk since installation. To be expected I suppose, but the application of a rough piece of lagging, taped over the open joint is poor and really shows that there is a vast difference between what architects and facility managers deem acceptable.

Overall the building is very impressive, given the poor quality of buildings erected in aberdeen over the last thirty years, I’d have to say that this might be the best we have. My fear is that it will remain in isolation.

David Vardy Architects have, this week, submitted an application for planning permission for a self contained block of student accommodation in Aberdeen. Named ‘Skinny House’ for good reason, the building is easily five times as long as it is wide and presents it’s wider facade to the street as it slips between the railway line and elmbank terrace. 7 studio flats are proposed, each designed to maximise available floor space.

Isi Metzstein, who has died aged 83, was jointly responsible for some of the most remarkable and distinguished modern architecture in postwar Britain. Under the umbrella of the Glasgow practice of Gillespie Kidd & Coia (GKC), for whom he worked throughout his career, he and his colleague Andrew MacMillan designed a series of striking churches in and around Glasgow, as well as school and university buildings further afield, including Robinson College, Cambridge. They were also the architects of St Peter’s Seminary at Cardross, Argyll and Bute, once widely regarded as the finest modern building in Scotland but now a derelict ruin.

via Isi Metzstein obituary | Art and design | The Guardian.

From Dezeen  this movie shows how French studio FREAKS freearchitects stuck huge dimension arrows onto the facade of a building by architects Oscar Niemeyer and Jean Prouvé in Paris in a bid to educate the general public about the importance of architecture. Watch the movie »

via Dezeen » Architecture.