Dmitry Aranchiy, head of the Kiev bureau Dmytro Aranchii Architects, is studying for a master's degree at the DRL (Research Design Laboratory) department at the School of the Architectural Association (AA).
Archi.ru:
Why did you choose AA, what did you expect to get from studying there?
Dmitry Aranchiy:
The choice is long-standing and deliberate. Unlike many other students, I only submitted documents to AA DRL. The fact is that my research and practical activities are devoted to computational (parametric) architecture - the master's work "Algorithmic methods of architectural shaping" at KNUSA was almost the first scientific attempt in Ukraine to disassemble the modern direction. Technical and architectural education, started PhD in artificial intelligence in architecture, commercial design are all links in the same chain. A. A. (in particular, its DRL lab) is good at bringing together the best representatives of the field - both thinkers and implementers - who have a lot to learn from. For me, a trip to AA DRL is tantamount to a trip to Florence during the Renaissance to study painting and perspective.
What are the conditions for admission to the magistracy?
- It is necessary to provide a portfolio, write a convincing cover letter indicating serious intentions, good recommendations are desirable, and a certificate of passing English for an appropriate score is also required.
As it became clear after admission, they try to take into account the sum of all the components, regardless of the background. Sometimes the desire to study plays a decisive role in the selection of applicants, but it is still very important to provide an adequate and high-quality portfolio, because the competition ranges from 6-10 people per seat.
What is your chosen training course?
- The total duration of the course is almost one and a half years (4 terms, or 16 months). There are several subjects, the workload of which is greater in the first half of the course. In fact, classes are divided into work on the main project and all the rest, which are maximally integrated into this project.
During the first 2 trimesters, seminars are held (reports and reading of more than one hundred pages of texts on near-architectural and near-computing topics in all kinds of disciplines related to the topic), the so-called synthesis (writing three scientific articles in six months) and classes in several programs, which are optional and are focused on pulling up to the required level of required technical skills.
In the first trimester, the design is divided into two workshops - by materials and by algorithms. During the first one, our studio went to Hook Park, which is 150 miles from London, because the conditions there allow us to create large-scale prototypes. The Hook Park dining room was designed by Fry Otto, and the workshop building by his students about 25 years ago. All the necessary types of trees are grown there for experiments with wooden structures.
The 3rd and 4th trimesters are completely dedicated to the final project with no additional subjects. Attention is paid not only to modeling and algorithmic shaping, but also to the theoretical component and the production of physical models (models) that are capable of proving the concepts of mobility and self-organization in motion in real time.
How does the organization of the educational process in AA differ from KNUSA? What do you like and what do not? How are presentations and public discussion of projects going?
- The main difference is the approach to the project as a complex problem not only of an urbanistic-architectural nature or in the aspect of mobility, but also as a research that originates in other sciences.
Studying daily until 10 p.m. is, of course, at first disliked, but with the exception of the absence of days off, it is very similar to working in some of the famous workshops, the staff of which AA graduates strive to get. Constant concentration on the project gives its results: all its aspects are worked out every day to the smallest detail. I like horizontal communication with teachers, as horizontal as possible in this case.
As for the project presentations, they are held every two weeks. Most often, the presentation is internal: the work is shown to studio managers, but at the end of each trimester they try to invite specialists on a specific topic from outside the DRL. For the presentation after the completion of the three-quarters of the training, which will be in the middle of this month, we were free to propose for invitation of experts, not hesitating big names. In February 2015, the "beau monde" of architecture, in particular computing, but not only, will be invited to the final jury. For example, the final presentation of the older students was attended by, among others, Michael Hansmeier, Flavio Manzoni (chief designer of Ferrari), the constant Patrick Schumacher and Zaha Hadid.
Naturally, a great burden of responsibility lies on those presenting their project. And here it is not even a matter of difficult audience questions. The problem is that when such questions arise, it means that something is wrong in the project, and a beautiful answer alone cannot fix it. Consequently, projects based on AA DRL principles should not have obvious inconsistencies, that is, unaccounted for weaknesses, and that is why the integrity and consistency of the concept in all the smallest details is repeatedly discussed with teachers both in the course of daily work and at presentations. Summing up, we can say that the emphasis is not on answering uncomfortable questions, but on the impossibility of their appearance. Criticism is more directed not at the “discrimination” of the project, but at the thoughts of others about this work, because even if the project is “ideal”, the audience can have their own ideas and suggestions, and this is an exchange of experience and enrichment.
It is clear that AA is a very “brilliant” and “status” educational institution. Do you really feel their intellectual brilliance, daring to experiment, or is it to some extent a "brand"?
- Of course, AA can be called a “brand” in the world of architectural education and the development of new paradigms. But this "brand" is not a PR merit, since the DRL department, for example, does not have enough time even to update the site. The program is not built on postulates or status, but on people who sometimes pass on knowledge from generation to generation, since experiments on crossing the computing capabilities of a computer, modern science and architecture in AA have been going on for decades. Eminent teachers are especially acutely aware of the need for the annual development and evolution of the learning process in accordance with the requirements of today. If we talk about the intellectual brilliance, then it is really visible: all the key personalities of the course - people who shape the face of computing architecture today - from the standpoint of theory, practice, and even software; they are involved in writing scientific and research papers, "ideological" design.
Who studies with you?
- People from all over the world study, except, perhaps, Britain itself, ironic as it may be: I have not met the British either in my workshop or a course older than the British, although I may have missed something. If we talk about DRL, there are many students from developing countries: in addition to Eastern Europe (though not the most numerous segment), Asia (especially China and India) with the Middle East and South America are represented. In general, in AA - the internationality is incredible, you can find people from very many countries (the exception is the African continent, which is practically not represented except for Mediterranean Egypt).
Everyone's background is certainly different, but it levels out in the process of study. As far as I know, when selecting future students by portfolio, they try to make allowances for unequal "starting" conditions, trying to discern the potential and desire to grow. It is difficult to say about the difference in education systems, but it seems that representatives of more prosperous countries (the same European ones) are more theoretically savvy, and developing ones - technically. However, this is quite selective and subjective.
In programming, besides me, two or three people had skills before admission. The goal of training for many is to acquire knowledge and experience in computing architecture in a unique environment of "like-minded people", for others - to get the opportunity to work in any workshop in the world upon graduation (however, one does not exclude the other).
Who teaches?
- Three whales of DRL now I would call Theodore Spyropoulos, Rob Stuart Smith and Shanjay Bushan. The first is the “dean of the faculty”, the main ideologist of the direction and theorist, also known recently for his conceptual installations of interactive robotics; actively publishes and lectures around the world. Smith has his own practice, in which he tries to translate theoretical ideas into real design, he is also a fairly strong theorist based on the achievements of related disciplines. Bushan, head of computing at Zaha Hadid Architects, has a PhD at the intersection of architecture and computer graphics algorithms, and is the chief techie at DRL.
Apart from them, it is especially worth mentioning Patrick Schumacher and Bret Steele, the first of which
is the co-founder of this program and the most prominent implementer of its ideas on a large scale. Steele is the first director of the AA DRL, now the director of all AA, and is quite active in publishing as the author and co-author of many articles, books and monographs.
What is the student life in A. A.?
- The team is close-knit almost 12 hours a day - within the walls of the studio and outside it. 50 yards from AA is DRL's favorite bar, the Jack Horners, where students and some of the Design Research Laboratory continue to discuss architecture every Friday. But seriously, the lectures of the smartest people that take place every week in the lecture hall of the Association are very inspiring. The last ones to remember: Lars Spybrock, Charles Jencks, Flavio Manzoni from Ferrari, inventor Chuck Hoberman, Bernard Chumi, Ben van Berkel.
Returning to horizontal communication, I would like to emphasize that this is not least the merit of Theodor Spyropoulos, who is not only an intellectual lecturer, but also an attentive and thoughtful listener, who also instilled in the DRL the tradition of mini-celebration of students' birthdays in the studio itself … Taking advantage of this opportunity, I managed to treat the director of DRL with Ukrainian bacon and vodka. But the point, of course, is not in alcohol, but in the dialogue with the teachers, which at AA DRL seemed to me to be truly two-way.
