University of Westminster vs UCL
This week, we’re bringing you a guest post as part of our Uni vs Uni series with a student studying at the Bartlett. We hope you enjoy reading through the experiences studying architecture at both universities!
Q1 - Introduce yourself
Dominik: Hey! I’m Dominik Do Minh. I’m a third year architecture student at the Bartlett School of Architecture in UCL.
Linda: Hi there! I’m Linda Tighlit, and I’m in my third year of Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Westminster.
Q2 - What were your reasons for choosing your university?
Dominik: I have chosen the Bartlett over other universities because of its unique design approach, teaching methods and phenomenal drawing style training! As foreseen, studying at UCL is an exciting experience which has allowed me to meet new people and create professional connections that will surely help me pick up my career quickly once I finish my degree. Besides, there is so much more to being a university student than the academic life and where else would you find this kind of exciting experience than in London! UCL is a world widely recognized institution and it comes with no surprise that the facilities they provide are of the highest standards, especially for the Bartlett. Along with the departmental workshop, Bartlett students have access to industry standard facilities such as the Here East, so there is really no constriction for your ideas!
Linda: I chose Westminster because of the unique course they offered which no other university in the UK (and Europe) offered at Bachelor’s level. The great facilities also played a massive part in my decision to study at Westminster, i.e. the fabrication laboratory, the studios etc. Plus, I got a good impression of the university having met the course leader on the open day I went to: I instantly felt welcome and that I had found my place for the next three years of my academic life.
Q3 - Why did you choose to study Architecture?
Dominik: As someone who has a passion for constantly learning new things, architecture is a very natural choice for me; it’s a course that studies everyday life and how to accommodate it as best as possible. I find great excitement in solving challenging problems through unexplored methods, involving both critical and creative input. Today, architects face many social, environmental and political issues which present many exciting opportunities in shaping our future. This makes studying architecture very important as it helps towards meaningful change to the world. However, for me personally, the biggest reason why I chose architecture is because it's fun! There aren’t many degrees which encourage you to make things and think outside the box to solve a specific problem which is what’s so thrilling about this degree!
Linda: As someone with multiple interests, I felt that the only course that would allow me to explore them all was in the field of architecture. Being both a creative outlet and an opportunity to use all my skill-sets, there’s so much that’s involved in the subject and it’s so diverse that I never get bored - there’s always something different to do. Through studying architecture, you learn how people live and interact with the world in different ways and then get to redefine how we do things through the spaces we create. Being able to use that power to positively influence people’s lives is partially what attracted me to the field of architecture.
Q4 - Describe your course in three words, and explain your choices.
Dominik: Fun: Yeah besides the nerve wrecking crits and those sleepless nights before the deadline, the design process is incredibly fun. Every architecture student will find themselves reminiscing on a lot of fun moments in the studio. The studio life is what we as students can all relate to so there is no surprise that you will make a lot of fun memories with your peers in your studio.
Messy, in architecture school, we have the freedom to explore any subject we want which is the best part for me because it means there are virtually no limits to your methods. Naturally, this means that you will find yourself experimenting a lot with materials, model making or even in smaller scale construction which can turn your studio area or your room into a chaotic mess very quickly.
Finally, architecture is very volatile. Along the lines of Sir Peter Cook who once said: “Architecture is bullshit”, architecture has no fixed objective nor has it got one right answer or a method. As a student, you will find yourself clashing opinions and ideas with lecturers, tutors or even your peers which can leave you in a state of scepticism, but the truth is, there is no such thing as the “right answer” in my opinion. As architects, we are often encouraged to challenge and question current methods and aim towards improving them.
Linda: Unpredictable, limitless and testing. Because of the added dimension of environmental design to our work, you never know where your experiments and simulations will lead your projects. We shape our buildings in response to climatic and microclimatic conditions on a more technical level, which means that a portion of our creative freedom is informed by data and parameters outside of our control. Some mistake this for being ‘less creative’, but we learn that this feature of architectural and environmental design is merely another tool that we can use to inform our structures and designs, shaping spaces in unique and unprecedented ways. As much as this opens up a new realm of design possibilities, it is more challenging to take this into account during the design process, constantly going back and forth between quantitative parameters and making spaces pleasant to experience. You truly are tested throughout your time on this course, mentally, emotionally and as a designer as you have to deal with taking on an amplified version of conflicting feedback on your design work. However, I try to see it as an experience that simply builds character, preparing us for the real world of architecture when we go out into practice.
Q5 - What did you study in preparation for university, and have your subjects helped you in your degree so far?
Dominik: For my A-levels, I took Maths, Physics and Art which is considered to be the traditional way towards an architectural school. A lot of the design process skills were transferred from my art A-level cross due to my previous material experimentation experiences which allowed me to be confident in applying trial-and-error methods to my course. However, I find myself rarely relating the mathematical subjects during my course except for during my structural design modules exams. In fact, many tutors believe that coming to architecture from a different background can be beneficial in understanding the issues architecture tackles in the society which is something I’ve been trying to grasp during my first two years in Bartlett.
Linda: I took A-Levels in Maths, French and Psychology, and chose Business, Geography and French for my additional GCSE options before sixth-form. Whilst I didn’t really develop my creative skills through the subjects I studied prior to university, I still had transferable skills that I could apply throughout my architecture degree. Maths was probably the most useful to help me grasp formulas that we use in environmental analysis calculations, as well as being familiar with geometrical terminology such as vectors and different transformations which enabled me to pick up digital software more quickly.
Q6 - How did you find your transition to university, and from first year to second year?
Dominik: The transition to university was a very radical one but exciting at the same time. Being used to a structured sixth form timetable, the new environment, style of education and increase in independence meant that I had to adapt to a new lifestyle which was no longer about preparing for exams every two weeks. Another thing which was brand new to me were group projects which I admittedly did not feel prepared for but ultimately felt very naturally comfortable with, thanks to the good community in school made up of people with all different educational backgrounds from around the world.
Going into my second year was again yet another radical transition since we had to adapt to a completely new way of working from home. This was particularly tricky for certain design units such as mine which were focusing on raw material study. This limited use of Construction Materials Testing (CMT) methods meant that some of us had to work on a smaller scale and often without tools and workshops which was slower and more laborious. However, the university made great efforts in providing safe alternative options which was very useful in the process of generating the best possible outcome.
Linda: Sixth-form is so different to university; but the transition between the two was a positive one. Whilst I had to take time to adapt to a new style of working (I was used to excelling in exams, and had to learn to perform just as well in coursework throughout the whole year), I embraced all the changes that came with studying at uni. Yes, my A-Level subjects weren’t wholly connected to the field of architecture, but I didn’t feel like it hindered my progress in first year. Up until lockdown hit in March that year, I felt that I had all the resources to build up my skills and architectural knowledge.
Between first year and second year though, the real weight of what it means to be an Architecture and Environmental Design student hit. Our designs not only had to be architecturally successful, but we had to bring in the aspect of environmental performance to our projects as well. Going from that pure design bubble in first year to implementing quasi-scientific testing methods in our work was a shock to the system. Being online didn’t help either – not having full access to the facilities at university made it hard to build on my foundation of skills.
Q7 - What did your schedule in first year and second year look like?
Dominik: In my first year, the university day would start at 10:00 am. This is the time when we would have Historical and Cultural Developments of Cities and their Architecture, Environmental Design and Structure, Materials and Forming Techniques module lectures as well as any important year announcement meetings. We would also have one or two tutorials per week after the lectures. After this it's all pretty much design time, working on one of three design projects with a collaborative film project “Making Cities” on the side during the first term. I remember spending nearly every day in the studio from 11:00am-22:00pm with the exception of the weekends when the studio closes earlier after which I would move to the Student Centre which is UCL’s which is a student study service that is open 24/7. This meant that I would spend up to 65 hours a week in the studio which sounds extreme, however, not all of it is productive hours. The studio is a space for creative thinking but there is also a lot of procrastination, and I mean a lot! The good thing is, you are sharing this space with dozens of other individuals just like you which means that you know they are going through the exact same thing as you. This means there is always someone down to procrastinate or take a power nap with you! I’ve witnessed people doing everything, from making TikToks to grilling peri peri chicken and doing hotpots.
This kind of craziness was truly missed during the second year when everything was online. Studying from home was predictably very monotonous, each day being pretty much the same as the previous one. Working from home, isolated in a bubble, meant it was much harder to get inspired from the external inputs you would otherwise get from the studio environment. Therefore it was crucial that our units made time weekly to update each other with their work progress in order to keep up the sense of community within the units despite being scattered around the world.
Linda: My first year timetable consisted of two full studio days in a week on Mondays and Fridays; a cultural context lecture and seminar on Tuesday afternoons, and technical environmental studies on Wednesday mornings. In addition to this, I also attended some of the BA Technical Studies lectures on Thursdays which were open to BSc students as well, so I was in university pretty much every day. My time in university around these contact hours were mostly dedicated to working on my design projects, with the exception of occasional site visits and trips to the library to support my other modules. Since I commuted to university, I learnt how to work on my journey to and from home, so sometimes I even found myself doing some reading or digital work on the train (if I hadn’t fallen asleep first!).
Whilst the contact hours for second year didn’t vary too much, the nature of the delivery changed which also impacted my workflow throughout the week. Tuesdays and Thursdays were our studio days, with cultural context lectures/seminars being delivered on Monday afternoons and technical environmental studies still taking place on Wednesday mornings. The days tended to merge into one whole chunk of time – my memory of second year consists of a whole blur of trying to work on my design studio projects, with short bursts of writing up my technical reports or my history essay/presentation/workbook reviews here and there. Being stuck at home for the vast majority of Year 2 made it hard to feel like I had a routine.
Q8 - What kind of projects/assignments have you undertaken on your course?
Dominik: In year one, I’ve had in total four design projects and one film project. The design projects P1, P3 and P4 were individual design projects with the last one being a building project. P1 was a project looking at the transformation of a chosen object into a new form, introducing us to the design processes for later projects. P2 was a group installation project at the Walmer’s Yard Houses called Metamorphosis. The project was split according to nine characters from Ovid's epic Metamorphoses (8AD) and translated into nine installations that were translocated to Walmer Yard. P3 was an urban representational project reflecting on the fragments of Rome from our field trip in Italy. Lastly, P4 was a project looking at different parts of Dalston community and proposing a project which directly helps to tackle some of its social and environmental problems. My project proposal was a community kitchen which would act as a community centre for the local Shiloh Pentacostal church.
My second year assignment ‘Down to Earth’ is a UG1 project which focuses on material exploration where I’ve looked at chain distribution of clay and brick around the UK. For my P1, I’ve looked at the use of rammed earth panels and how to insulate such setup to meet the thermal comfort in the UK environment. My P2 was a building project, ‘Portobello Forest Playground’, confronting the privatisation of outdoor green spaces in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, encouraging outdoor education and time spent in nature. This project explores the tension between the public and children throughout. The design layout pays tribute to the Portobello market but also creates an important separation for the children to spend time independently.
Linda: For first year, we had a few design briefs. The first was a short exploration of the human scale, where we traced around our peers on large sheets of paper and took measurements, then used this activity to help us map out a space in a small project at 1:1 scale with masking tape. Then, our first ‘proper’ design brief entailed designing a bothy for two people from a specific community or group to use. These took place in first semester. The following semester, we spend the whole time working on a studio for a sculptor where they could live, work and exhibit their creations. Our sites for both the bothy and the sculptor’s studio were located in London (one in Camden and another in Bethnal Green). For history, we had to submit a workbook based on the lectures we had; a group poster to represent manifestos from architects and a 1500 word essay. Our technical report for environmental studies entailed documenting our recordings of site visits through sketches and environmental measurements; lecture notes; and simple environmental tests of our design studio projects to show that we understand the concepts of building performance we studied.
The briefs for second year were shorter but more intense. We had four design briefs in total, all based around the same larger site. The first required us to design a ‘theme parc’ in Paddington Gardens that responded to the site both contextually and environmentally, which then became the starting point for our second project – the Climate Change Hub. The point of this was to create a pavilion type temporary structure for primary school children to go and learn about climate change, which would also include an exhibition space open to the general public. In second semester, the third brief entailed designing a new façade for a student accommodation tower in Marylebone that allowed for control of natural daylight and ventilation, in addition to making use of the space in between the façade and building in any way we wanted. This then led onto the redesigning of the interior of the accommodation tower to enhance the students’ living experience, as well as attempting to achieve an NZEB status of the building.
Q9 - Do you take part in any extracurricular activities? How do you bring your external interests outside of architecture into your work?
Dominik: Currently I’m not taking part in any specific extracurricular activities. However, during terms I always find myself distracted from work with new hobbies which often become ways of staying productive while procrastinating. I’ve picked up a lot of cooking, painting and video editing skills last year. Some of these will naturally find their way in improving my and some don’t.
Linda: I’m someone who likes to try new things, so I dabble into a lot of different activities in my (limited) free time. Aside from ArchiDabble and Westminster Architecture Society, I like to delve in the world of music, explore different languages and consequently get an insight into those corresponding cultures, as well as collage/scrapbook casually every now and then. From understanding client’s needs for each brief through my own experiences and knowledge of my external interests, to being inspired for design concepts or representational methods through studying and exploring other people’s work in related fields of art, design, graphics, illustration etc. there are lots of small ways that my interests feed into my work, whether directly or indirectly. Whilst in the first two years of my architectural education I didn’t get to focus on my interests deeply, I think the freedom of third year will allow me to really bring in my hobbies and personalise my work to make it individual to me.
Q10 - What kind of course-specific interests have you developed during your time studying architecture?
Dominik: Since studying architecture, I became very interested in the history of architecture. One of the best parts about studying at the Bartlett were surprisingly history lectures and seminars which were hosted by incredible lecturers in both years of my course.
Linda: I’ve developed a preference towards certain typologies of architecture. Projects that give people a sense of identity, whether that’s a space for artists to exhibit their work, to buildings accommodating for cultural practices that empower communities are satisfying in the sense that they allow people to feel valued in their society. I want to develop my knowledge on these types of projects because they’re fulfilling to see through from start to finish, and they’re even enlightening on a cultural level because you leave with more than just a finished building at the end of its realisation. In addition, being an environmental design student, I’ve also become curious in the world of parametric design and how this can be utilised to optimise building performance in making architecture more sustainable. The whole coding and scripting side of grasshopper in creating this type of architecture is something I also want to explore further.
Q11 - Are there a lot of opportunities to enhance your skill set, CV or general studies at your university?
Dominik: Yes! Bartlett offers many workshops every term which can help you develop extra skills for your future projects. In addition, students are regularly encouraged to join design and drawing competitions which provide vital exposure to your work. The Bartlett also hosts many guest speakers who can lead to brilliant networking opportunities.
Linda: There are lots of opportunities at and around Westminster that students can make the most of. Through the university’s Engage portal, we can access jobs, internships and volunteering options that can help build soft skills outside architecture. The Ambassador and FANs schemes are examples of roles that existing students can take on to also build up their CV in representing the university. Getting involved in societies not only as a general member, but also as part of a committee can also be a way to both support your studies if you take on a role relevant to your subject area, and make good use of your time invested in exploring your interests that can turn into something which employers value when you go out into the world of work.
Q12 - How are you assessed on your course?
Dominik: 70% of the programme is taught through a series of design projects and assessed through the design portfolio. The history and theory, computing, professional studies and technology modules are assessed through a combination of coursework, essays and examination.
The first year student will have 8 modules which are all worth 15 credits each. Of these, 4 design projects including a collaborative group project. Two exams with courseworks and a group project with the Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies students (AIS).
The second year student will have 6 modules of which 2 are individual design projects and worth 30 credits each with an additional module worth 15 credits. One coursework, a group project and a written essay all worth 15 credits each.
The third year students will have 5 modules of which 2 are individual design projects and worth 30 credits each with an additional module worth 15 credits. One coursework worth 30 credits and a written essay 15 credits.
Linda: As an AED student, we’re assessed in a variety of ways. Ultimately, first year doesn’t count towards your degree, second year forms 30% and third year 70% of your final grade. We don’t get to choose our modules so all the ones we’re given are compulsory. As we’ve discussed our module breakdowns in depth in some of our blog posts, I’ll briefly summarise it down below.
First year: Design studio counts for 40 credits per portfolio and requires the submission of two portfolios of our design projects; supplemented by sketchbook studies and material studies (these smaller modules count for 10% of your final design module grade)
Cultural context counts for 20 credits and entails submitting a workbook based on exercises relating to lectures on the history of architecture; a group poster relating to an architectural manifesto, and a 1500 word essay which also relates to the taught content in lectures and seminars.
Our laboratory report (also worth 20 credits) is what sets us apart from the BA Architecture students. This is divided into three parts: a summary of our lecture notes on technical environmental studies; documentation of our site visits to 4 different places in London (through sketches, photographs and environmental analysis i.e. graphs, thermal images); as well as evidence of applying our environmental design knowledge to our design projects (e.g. conducting basic daylighting calculations).
Second year: All of our modules count for 20 credits. We have four short design projects, the last of which has to also be submitted alongside a design statement that counts for 10% of that module grade.
Technical environmental studies is assessed through two reports: a site based report in semester 1 and a building performance based report in semester 2. The second semester is where we’re able to demonstrate our skills in conducting environmental simulations on Grasshopper or related programmes.
Cultural context has three main components that make up our grade for the module: a presentation worth 20%, group workbook worth 30% and 3000 word essay worth 50%. The essay in second year is more loose in terms of how we get to define the question we answer, in comparison to first year.
Q13 - What have been the highlights and lowlights during your time at university so far?
Dominik: For me, the highlight has definitely been the field trip to Rome. It was such an amazing experience to have discovered a city I previously visited but see it through a completely different lens.
The lowlight during my time at university has been the pandemic. Especially during the second half of the first year, I struggled to adapt to the change of dynamic at first which, in hindsight, I must admit affected my work significantly.
Linda: There is a stark contrast between some of my best memories at university, which happened to coincide with my time at university before the pandemic, and the lowlights which occurred during lockdown. I missed being in studio and being able to use the Fabrication Lab when COVID hit, which is where I had the most fun during my studies. We missed out on a whole year of progressing our physical fabrication capabilities which I often wonder if it would have become something I would have chosen to specialise in had I gotten that extra time to build on those skills using the different machinery available to us. Plus, the extracurricular things I engaged in outside of architecture at uni like attending Korean Culture Society events or working as a student ambassador towards the end of my second year were also super fun, as I got to meet amazing new people and make great memories by getting out of my comfort zone.
There were a lot of challenging times during my first and second year, a large portion of which I realised was down to my mindset and the way I viewed setbacks and struggles. Facing issues in my work during lockdown had the added difficulty of not being able to see your progress in relation to your peers - I even had moments of questioning whether I should stay in architecture if I’m ‘struggling this badly’ whilst everyone else is doing so well with their work. Anxiety got the best of me when I didn’t turn up to certain tutorials because I didn’t think I was good enough or that the conversation was worth my tutors’ time. As much as I could blame the pandemic though, I think that my outlook on my situation played its part in my moments of self-doubt and setbacks.
Q14 - What do you enjoy the most about studying architecture?
Dominik: I enjoy model making the most. Although I’ve come to like various parts of architecture, my favourite aspect remains model making. That is why I found online study extremely tedious and difficult since I had limited access to tools and materials to work with.
Linda: I think the process of slowly materialising my thoughts into tangible outcomes from thoughts to sketches and models is what I love about studying architecture. I had a turbulent experience through second-year, but through that I learnt to overcome my fear of leaving the comfort zone of the concept stage of my design where nothing has to be resolved, to actual material I can look back on in my portfolio. Yes, the most important result of architectural design is the building itself, but I realised that I can’t disregard the rest of the work that you leave with a project. Photographic documentation, research, beautiful drawings that make a statement in themselves, models (both digital and physical), these are all things that lead to the construction of the buildings we see around us. The fact that we have freedom to explore so many representations to build our portfolio throughout university is what keeps architecture interesting, multidisciplinary and diverse.
This brings us to the end of this week’s ‘Uni vs Uni’ student guest post! Thank you to Dominik for joining us today. We hope this gave a good insight into our different experiences studying architecture at the University of Westminster and UCL.
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See you next Friday for another blog post :)
