The RSAW runs two conferences every year: Spring School in North Wales, and the autumn conference in Cardiff.

For more information on conferences see below:

Practice Makes Perfect|

Planning Ahead: joined up thinking in architecture and planning|

Creative Assembly: making innovation happen in the built environment|

Make, do and mend: getting more from less - creative re-use of buildings|

Making the most of space: one size doesn't fit all|

 

 

Zero carbon: how green is your valley?

Machynlleth, 11 May 2012

Wales' Drive for Zero Carbon and the introduction of new Building Regulations

This year's Spring School will consider Wales' Drive for Zero Carbon, against the backdrop of the introduction of new Building Regulations. Where does Wales fall within the framework of global warming? Is the devolution of the Building Regulations an opportunity or a barrier? What is the timetable and the future of these new regulations?

We are beginning to look at themes around certain ideas:

• Existing buildings: what's planned, and how it can be achieved
• What are the choices of sustainable and renewable energies
• What design targets can be achieved and what can be used
• What sustainable materials and construction systems are available.

 

The Inspiration Hour will give us all the opportunity to see how low carbon can be achieved in the design terms of the WISE building at Machnylleth. The day should inspire and delight every delegate so that they can leave the event knowing that they can answer the question how green is my valley?

Download the flyer here:

 

 

Practice Makes Perfect

Cardiff, 9 December 2011

How is Architectural Practice Changing?

This year's RSAW conference considered the way in which the delivery of design has changed over recent years and how the established models of architectural practice are unravelling and re-making themselves.

We looked at themes around these questions:

• As the recession continues to bite, how are emerging architects finding new approaches to winning and carrying out their work?
• How are the established players reacting to the new challenges?
• Are the old models for building architectural practices out of date?
• Do we need to be looking at new, more flexible ways of making design happen?
• Is collaboration the answer?

The 2011 RSAW conference will bring together experts from across the UK to look at these issues:

• Christine Murray, Editor of The Architects Journal, will chair the conference, as well as speak on the issue of why print publications still count when it comes to winning clients and influencing people.
• Fran Balaam and Michael Corr (Pie Architecture) will consider how the new generation is changing the practice of architecture.

• Su Butcher (Just Practising) will talk about the importance of 21st century media, which is changing the way we work and can give you a voice.
• RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2011 winner Phil Coffey (Coffey Architects) will talk about surviving and winning in the current financial climate.
• Young Architect of the Year 2009 David Kohn (David Kohn Architects) will touch on incompleteness, coincidence and how that determines the future.

Breakout workshops with:

• Edmund Fowles and Fergus Feilden (Feilden Fowles) - starting a practice in the recession.
• Lorna Parsons - looking to new media for ideas and inspiration for the future of practice.
• Micheal Holliday and Chris Hall (Roots Design workshop) Archivan: a new business model from rural Scotland.
• Andy Thomson (BCA Landscape) - it is not down on any map; true places never are...

Inspiration Hour by Deborah Saunt (DSDHA). With her experience of observing how the profession has changed through judging a range of prizes (Olympic Delivery Authority 2008; American Institute of Architects Awards 2007; RIBA Gold Medal 2006; RIBA Presidents Medals 2006), broadcasts on architecture for BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Radio 3 and 4, and writing and commentary published widely including the RIBA Journal, Blueprint, Building Design, Deborah is well placed to comment on how the delivery of design is changing.

Download the flyer here:

 

This event is supported by bulthaup and Hobson's Choice|. THe RSAW is pleased to hold this event in association with Constructing Excellence Wales|.

Planning Ahead: joined up thinking in architecture and planning

Llandudno, 20 May 2011

Do planners and architects operate in tandem for the betterment of the communities that they serve in Wales? Do you find yourself frustrated or thwarted by the planning system? Should there be more opportunity for positive, collaborative working? Would it help you to see the other side of the coin to better understand how planners operate and what they expect from architects when dealing with the pile of planning legislation and submitting valid planning applications?

With the introduction of important Planning Guidance like TAN 22 and TAN 12, the workload of both architects and planners has increased significantly in recent years. Through this seminar day, the RSAW would like to engage with the planning profession in Wales to improve working arrangements to ensure that we better respond to the agenda for the delivery of sustainable buildings and communities. With the Code for Sustainable Homes now affecting all new dwellings and more complex designs having to meet higher levels of BREEAM ratings, greater joined-up thinking is required. 

Planners and architects lack the opportunity for dialogue outside of the planning system. This year's RSAW Spring School will try to address some of the problems that our joint planning and architecture professions face, while offering you an informal networking opportunity to talk face-to-face with planners, architects and others involved with development.

Morning speakers from RTPI, Development Control and the Welsh Assembly will highlight areas where best practice and knowledge in planning and architecture can be shared between the allied professions to deal with issues of consistency and proportionality in planning policy and delivery. 

Afternoon workshops will consider case studies within the planning process, as well as considering the importance of understanding the Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM, and the role of the Design Commission for Wales, which supports Local Planning Authorities, consultants and clients through the design and planning minefield.

Your experiences of the Welsh planning system can be aired as there will be a Q&A session for both morning seminars and afternoon workshops, so that every member of the audience has an opportunity to seek an answer to his or her particular question.

The day will be rounded off with the Inspiration Hour, focusing on the relationship between good design and planning and how the two disciplines are inextricably linked. 

Download the flyer here:

 

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Creative Assembly: making innovation happen in the built environment

Cardiff, 15 October 2010

Look at the website of any design practice and they will tell you how innovative they are. The idea of staking out new spatial and technological territory has always driven architecture forward. Yet architecture is also about knowing when to stop - and about doing the familiar and the 'ordinary' extraordinarily well, rather than constantly pursuing the new.

We are looking at the idea of creativity as the engine of design development.

• What is the twist that makes some projects special? Is the thirst for innovation a mental trap? Are we really as creative as we like to think? How has the drive for innovation helped the profession? Do architects give away the very thing that sets them apart?
• How do groups come together around a creative project? How does the architect bring these teams together? Do architects need to be more creative in the way they do business and generate work? Do we need new models for making design happen?

This year's RSAW conference chaired by RIBA Chief Executive Harry Rich brings together experts from across the UK to look at these issues:

• Cheryl Gillan MP, Secretary of State for Wales, gives the keynote address
• Eric Parry RA (Eric Parry Architects): the Stirling Prize-shortlisted architect discusses his latest projects
• Ole Smith (Heatherwick Studio): working with Thomas Heatherwick, one of the great creative forces in British design, Ole talks about the Creative Business Units at Aberystwyth and selected studio work
• Hugh Broughton (Hugh Broughton Architects): architect on the ground-breaking Halley VI Antarctic Research Station
• Sarah Wigglesworth MBE (Sarah Wigglesworth Architects): director of an award-winning practice, best known for its creative and highly inventive ways of employing readily available materials in order to achieve unexpected results

Breakout workshops with:

• Wayne Forster (Design Research Unit of the Welsh School of Architecture) and Chris Loyn (Loyn & Co Architects) discuss the relationship between the architect and the academy
• Robert Sakula (Ash Sakula Architects), architect of the RIBA award-winning Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff talks about creativity as a main strand of the practice's work
• Sarah Featherstone (Featherstone Young), discusses the scheme at Ty Hedfan, Pontfaen, Brecon, as well as other studio work

James Woudhuysen (Professor of Forecasting and Innovation at De Montfort University, Leicester), always outspoken and provocative, James gives the Inspiration Hour talk at the end of the conference.

Download the conference flyer here:

 

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Make, do and mend: getting more from less - creative re-use of buildings

Llandudno, 7 May 2010

Adaptive re-use and getting more from less is the theme of the 2010 RSAW Spring School. As architects face the challenge of meeting clients' expectations and aspirations to provide high-quality building environments against the backdrop of significant financial constraint, how can we remain optimistic and respond to design smarter buildings that provide better value for money with imagination and flair? All around us we see the damage left behind from the recession, including the empty shells of vacant and recently completed projects. These, together with many fine examples of ailing historic buildings, symbolise our architectural heritage and can offer enormous potential and opportunities for creative re-use and reinvention. 

As well as speaking on the subject of 'making old houses fit for the 21st century', Marianne Suhr, MRICS, Historic Buildings Surveyor will chair the day, which will look at a range of projects, both in and outside Wales. Other speakers include Miles Falkingham (Union North), who will talk about the Midland Hotel Morecambe, Fiona Lamb (Avanti Architects), Peter Holden (Acanthus Holden) and Ian Simpson (Ian Simpson Architects), who will lead the Inspiration Hour.

For reference, see the booking form:

 

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Making the most of space: one size doesn't fit all

Cardiff, 27 November 2009

As the ratchet tightens on public and private finances alike, the pressure is on all of us to make do with less, and make the resources we have go further. Designers of the built environment are certainly not immune to this. Recessions force us to fight harder for every square inch of the space we provide, and to resist even more the temptations of cookie-cutter solutions.

How can good architecture capture our imagination, and change the way we relate to our neighbours? How can architects revitalise neglected areas and improve our health and well-being? Good spatial design can provide a more attractive environment and stronger communities with a sense of pride and ownership, as well as attract financial investment. To sustain a vibrant community, well-designed buildings and public space are vital. In many ways the qualities needed for well-designed buildings and landscapes can mirror those needed to maintain a cohesive society: innovation, forward thinking and creativity.

Download the keynote speech from Jane Davidson AM here: