Niall McLaughlin Architects are delighted to have won the competition for a proposed new development for Balliol College in Oxford. The project brief is to increase and upgrade the College’s undergraduate and graduate student accommodation and provide conference facilities and a sports pavilion. The commission gives the practice the opportunity to revist the design of the student room cluster and create a series of buildings arranged around quadrangles and gardens.
Niall gave a presentation to the RIBA Education Review at a specially convened Forum and Council, which debated significant changes to the structure of architectural education. Niall spoke about the relationship between education and practice, arguing for a lifelong cycle of practice and education.
“Education should not end with RIBA Part III, or even limp along through minimum prescribed CPD events. It should no longer be possible for an architect to finish their education. I propose a more comprehensive model of life-long learning. If practitioners come back to the schools throughout their lives, they will be constantly invigorated and, by extension, they will constantly invigorate the schools to which they return. This would constitute a discourse – in the sense of a ferrying back and forth – in which practice and education are both part of a seamless continuity. The purpose of education is not so much the acquisition of set skills but – to borrow a phrase from John Hattie – learning how to learn. Once you have done this, you have built an engine for a lifetime of renewal.”