Tuesday 5 January 2016

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO ...

Had a great day today back at Bath University's School of Architecture.  My old mate Martin Gledhill, who runs their graduating fourth year, invited myself and Mike Devereux to help kick off the students' final degree project.  It's based in Chepstow on the Welsh/English border, and so is concerned with Borderlands.

My lecture in the morning was a critical discussion of Richard Long's piece A Line Made By Walking: it was made nearly 50 years ago, but I thought it provoked relevant insights into learning a lot from a little; and from the practice of walking as a form of investigation.

Then after lunch Mike spoke about his own ongoing research into Borders, and Storytelling as a means of mapping borders.  

We had great fun in the discussion with the students afterwards: they had clearly been listening to every word, and they had such confidence in framing intelligent and insightful questions.  Things are motoring when the lecturers learn as much from the students, as they do from us.

... but better still was Martin's own comment afterwards about what he expected from his students as they embark on this huge challenge.  This should be declared before every major design project:

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO
AS LONG AS YOU CARE WHAT YOU DO

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