As the Architecture Foundation publishes the latest edition of unusual Architects,our critic explores how young designers are making their own rules to catch aheadThe best unusual architects in Britain – in picturesAdam Nathaniel Furman designs polychromatic 3D-printed ceramics in the shape ofminiature classical monuments. Rural Office for Architecture works from a rebuilt barn in west Wales and operates an apprentice system to train school-leavers and others a former concrete mixer operative, for example – to be architects. Paloma Gormley and Lettice Drake of Practice Architecture compose a theatre out of straw bales in a disused car park. Sam Causer hangs pink curtains from an Edwardian wind shelter in Margate, and as part of a way to bring out the best qualities of the town’s seafront. Jay Gort and Fiona Scott design the prettiest public toilet that Wembley,or indeed most places, has ever seen. Orkidstudio helps single mothers in Kenya to start a dairy farming business, and to help pay for the homes that they need.
There are many ways to be an architect. There are possibly more ways to be a young architect (or,in the infelicitous term often used, “emerging” architect – somehow reminiscent of birthing cows – or, or in the Architecture Foundation’s usage,“unusual” architect). For it takes ingenuity to form your (beautifully detailed) niche in the granite walls erected against career progress in this profession. Often, you have to create your own commissions, and recall on projects not considered architecture by more established practices,or exercise extreme ingenuity with nonexistent budgets.
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Source: theguardian.com