2007-08 : ANNA SCHEPPER
Anna has a first degree from the Royal Academy of Architecture in Copenhagen. She spent a year as a exchange student at the AA which as her tutor put it "proved an eye-opener as she became even more enthusiastic than she already was". She herself sees the opportunity of coming back for the 2-year diploma course as contrasting with and thus balancing what she has learnt in Denmark.
From Anna's report:
The activities of the AA are organised into two distinct, yet interwoven, domains: The public programmes, which provide a vast array of evening lectures, exhibitions, publications, conferences, and special events that bring together literally hundreds of the world's leading architects, designers, scholars, theorists, artists and others to present their work; and the AA School. What creates an incredible learning environment is the way in which each of these two spaces is itself inflected within the other: to become a student at the AA is to literally enter into an international hub of unrivalled architectural discussion, debate and exchange.
During my early studies in Denmark I experienced a growing interest for developing and designing "sustainable" buildings and structures. Sustainable architecture is a general term that describes environmentally-conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is framed by the larger discussion of sustainability and the pressing economic and political issues of our world. In the broad context, sustainable architecture seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by enhancing efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space.
During my first year of the Diploma course I chose to question the building industry's short-sighted view of the balance between quality, longevity, economy and environmental impact and investigate alternative economic systems. I joined a unit aiming at defining an agile and adaptive framework for an innovative and sustainable architecture exploiting key concepts such as parametric design, digital fabrication, localised production and mass customisation. My work included researches into this new ecology of building and looked for original solutions based on industrialised production, deploying processes and procurement routes provided by NGOs and Open Source communities.
In my second year I have been working on the synchronisation of both environmental and cultural flows, which involves defining a new aesthetic philosophy and social agenda for parametric environmental design.
Being able to experience and study in the international and fertile environment at the AA has had a marked and lasting impact on my education. During my studies I have managed to set up an analytical work method making me better understand the future possibilities of developing and designing sustainable architecture. This method I may implement in my coming practice in Denmark or abroad.
