YALE ADVANCED STUDIO
MAY 2015
Niall completed teaching his Advanced Studio for the Spring Semester in the School of Architecture in Yale University. The students presented projects based upon the theme Unreal City. They looked at the impact of devolved powers on the development of London as a quasi-independent global city, almost without a hinterland. Niall taught with faculty member Andrew Benner.
The final review was attended by Billie Tsien, David Kohn, Jennifer Leung, Pier Vittorio Aurelli, Petia Morozov, Frida Escobedo, Alan Organschi, Mike Tonkin, Michael Schlabs, Tatiana Bilbao and Bob Stern.
A+U FEATURE ON SOMERVILLE COLLEGE ACCOMMODATION
MAY 2014
The Japanese journal a+u has published an account of the practice’s student accommodation for Somerville College, Oxford. The theme of this month’s publication is ‘New Landscapes of Wooden Architecture’ and features an international selection of projects that explore new aspects of wood technology and its potential within cities. The article gives a description on the themes and processes behind the project, placing it within the context of the historic university city and the surrounding Radcliffe Infirmary Quarter.
It is illustrated with working details of the bespoke timber glazing for the stair tower lanterns, as well as the prefabricated timber projecting bay window units for the student bedrooms, with their integral desk and bench seat overlooking the street.
‘We chose to make the glazed elements in the stair towers and student rooms in wood because we wanted them to be like warm lanterns, internally lit in the evening, bringing light to the narrow street…Wood allowed us to make more three-dimensional details…we owe a debt to Louis Kahn’s work at Philip Exeter Academy Library.’ NM