Bartlett collaboration wins architectural award

UCL architectural research practice sixteen*(makers) have received an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects for '55/02', a shelter in Kielder Forest and Water Park, Northumberland that was designed, made and installed in collaboration with German manufacturers Stahlbogen GmbH, led by UCL alumni and former Bartlett staff Nick Callicott and Kristina Ehlert. The RIBA Awards have been running continuously since 1966 and are presented for excellence in building design on an annual basis. 55/02 was commissioned by The Kielder Partnership, who have established a renowned programme in experimental art and architecture over the past decade. In 2008 '55/02? was commissioned alongside five other projects 'to provide some form of shelter' and 'engagement with the landscape'. In response to the site's industrial history and sixteen*(makers) ongoing research in digital design methodologies and fabrication, '55/02? was developed as a 'bespoke' manufactured construct, tailored to the specific vistas and geometries of the site, and crafted through the combination of tacit knowledge in making and the complex capabilities of new digital design and fabrication techniques. Director of Technology at The Bartlett School of Architecture, co-designer of '55/02', and partner in sixteen*(makers), Bob Sheil explains that two of the explorations within this project are the relationships between design and making, and the designer and the maker.