High-dense City Living - The Sixth Annual Students and Professional Design Charrette - 2000

The Sixth Annual Students and Professional Design Charrette organized by the American Institute of Architects was held on November 4th at Call Print Warehouses in Olympia. This year’s Jurors included Paul Finch, Zaha Hadid, Christina Seilern, James Pickard, Jane Wernick, and Andrew Wright. The charrette had an enthusiatic turnout of 75 students and professionals who collaborated on a conceptual design problem related to West Kensington Underground Station and its environs. This year’s challenge was to use the station site as a focus for new high density development for the area as attempt to resolve the ‘residual’ character of its location. The site is bounded by Talgarth Road as the main East-West route to Heathrow, and Northend Road running North-South and the close proximity of three underground stations. Secondly, the teams were also asked to explore concepts of environmental sustainability, and try to define them within the context of this project. Solutions ranged from the de-scaling of Talgarth road, re-position of the station into a more strategic location, to landscaping over the whole of the interchange and depressing the road below, and even the suggestion of billboards to be used as scaling devices for the thoroughfare.

The event exposed students to the process of conceptualizing ideas through a team situation sharing ideas with other students and a practisioner to guide the process. The 75 participants were separated into 11 teams ranging from 5 to 10 members. The approaches, as anticipated, were urbanistic and broad brushed, due to the complexity of the project. However all groups responded with passion and intensity about their ideas, producing a sleu of drawings and models.

The process, through the day, was very intense, as teams struggled to clarify strategies. For those groups who took the process too light heartedly, a prompt warning was given by the jury not to take the process so lightly. This comment reinstated the purpose and intent of this day – other than offering a day for students to meet other students and practisioners, the charrette as a process has a pedagogical intent. Groups receiving such comments should take them with sincere intent, as the day long process and the comments are intended to enhance their ongoing architectural experience – both students and practisioners alike. The day is a collaborative process rather than a competitive one between students, practisioners and the ultimately the jury.