Climate

Technology teaching

Critical Material Appraisal, ongoing

Sam worked with the Students for Climate Action group at the Sheffield School of Architecture to curate and share a set of resources produced by MArch in Architecture students as part of their ARC554 module, Environment & Technology 1. The work is titled the "Critical Material Appraisal" (CMA) and asks students to work in groups to develop a body of design research relating to the material, technical and environmental themes emerging from their design studio work. The brief for the assignment asks students to develop a resource for use by their studio and, if relevant, by the wider MArch cohort, School of Architecture or external partners and collaborators. The work ranges from in-depth worked examples and critique of embodied carbon calculations, to original research into the production of construction materials using waste or byproducts of bio-remediation, as well as the exploration of the vernacular way of building in particular places around the world. The exhibition aims to make the products of tis research available and accessible to other students and to cultivate reflection on the emerging body of knowledge generated by students in the School.BESCA CMA ArchiveExhibition, Online resource, Climate Emergency, Material Cultures, Pedagogy, Sam Brown

Architects Climate Action Network

ACAN Education Working Group, ongoing

Sam volunteers with the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), participating in its working group on Education.Event, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Sam Brown

Professional organisation

AECB, ongoing

Member of the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB), attending annual conference, contributing to discussion groups and participating in continuing professional development.https://aecb.net/Membership, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Pedagogy, Sam Brown

Designing for the Climate Emergency

Reflection on use as a studio teaching tool, 2024 - ongoing

In support of the recent publication by Aidan Hoggard and others titled "Designing for the Climate Emergency", Sam Brown and Rachel Harris have organised sessions with design studio teaching staff at the Sheffield School of Architecture intended to introduce the book to key staff and support its use in studio. The sessions included an overview of the book's structure and content and an invitation to feedback on the experience of using it directly with students, to be compiled into a reflective piece at the end of the academic year. The feedback will be provided to the authors and publishers to inform further editions of the book. A concurrent strand of work aims to promote the use of the book with students so that design studio work explicitly addresses the challenges of the climate emergency in a manageable way aligned with students' progression through the undergraduate and post-graduate courses.Journal Article, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Sam Brown, Rachel Harris

Technica abstract_the two cultures.pdf

Technology teaching

The two cultures: reconciling the qualitative and quantitative in environmental design, February - May 2024

This conference paper explores, using an undergraduate Environment and Technology module as case study, how curriculum and assessment can be designed to embrace a holistic interpretation of environmental design, recognising the importance of reconciling the qualitative and the quantitative. Presentation, Climate Emergency , Pedagogy, Yun Wu

Technica presentation_the two cultures.pdf

Student resource

Retrofit Resources, January - June 2024

This is a shared resource developed by Sheffield School of Architecture in collaboration with Architecture Students for Climate Action (Sheffield) and Bath Climate Action Group. The aim of the resource is to to collate the collective knowledge within the 3 organisations on Retrofit into a single location. The intention is that the tool can be used by both staff and students.The shared resource was initiated in response to a Architects Journal survey of students within architecture schools in 2022 that recognised a retrofit teaching gap within architectural education. The survey asked important questions around where schools were teaching enough about the climate emergency and reuse/retrofit with the results set out below.Retrofit Resources miro boardTeaching Resource, Climate Emergency, Digital Learning, Building Performance, John Sampson

(p)ersonalised (VE)ntilation and shading (D)esign for residential elderly (Ca)re environment

pVEDCa, 2024

Ongoing collaboration with academic colleagues, students and a "live" client to simultaneously develop analysis and proposals for a case study sheltered housing project located in Sheffield, together with teaching materials based on the work for use in a variety of academic modules.Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Pedagogy, Sam Brown, Dan Jary

Sustainable Architecture Studies collaboration

Dobbin Hill, 2024

Ongoing collaboration with students from the University of Sheffield School of Architecture's MSc in Sustainable Architecture Studies (MSc SAS) programme to explore strategies for the thermal-comfort focuses retrofit of a typical, solid-walled semi-detached family home in Sheffield.The work will inform physical adaptations to the property to be carried out in the near future. The work will be documented and building performance analysis will be carried out before, during and after the works.Built Project, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Sam Brown

Higher Education Academy

Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, November 2023 - January 2024

I undertook my application for Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy over the last quarter of 2023. The process involved a close examination of my processes and approach to developing and leading the dual architecture and landscape programs over the last 20 years. The submission explored my work to develop both national and international recognition and impact around collaborative, interdisciplinary education. The resulting qualification made me one of only two recipients of PFHEA within the University of Sheffield this year."Your engagement and passion for your work shone through in the discussion, and was complemented well by the clarity of your thinking and the examples you provided to explain your approach to strategic leadership. Given your field and context you made an extremely strong case against the requirements of Descriptor 4, and while your sphere of influence in the institution could be broader, it’s clear that you have extensive influence across your wider profession. Your discussion of how you negotiated and persuaded others to come on board was especially insightful. Similarly, the way you draw on alumni to create a community of practitioner educators who can model your approach in supporting future practitioners nationally and internationally is incredibly powerful, and the fact that this is being adopted elsewhere is testament to your leadership."https://staff.sheffield.ac.uk/news/two-principal-fellows-names-amongst-71-new-fellows-higher-education-academy-heaClimate Emergency, Pedagogy , Howard Evans

Stories-of-Situated-Pedagogies-Proceedings-Book.pdf

Workshop

Stories of Situated Pedagogies in Architecture and ..., 3rd - 4th October 2023

This international workshop, which was held in Istanbul on 3-4 October 2023, gathered educators and learners to share their stories of situated pedagogies in architecture and other fields with an interest in critical spatial practices. The open call to the workshop was announced in April 2023 for applicants to respond with their stories of personal experiences in education, together with critical responses to themselves. This call was intended to be the beginning of a playful and productive platform for communication, through pre-workshop peer-to-peer reviews, round-table sessions and post-workshop collaborations for publication. As such, the workshop is envisioned as a manifestation of slow and caring connectivity among educators and learners who have experimented with and experienced transformative pedagogies.Workshop reportBook, Workshop, Climate Emergency, EDI, Pedagogy, Emre Akbil

Castlegate

Co-production Index, September 2023 - January 2024

This digital index brings together for the first time all the work that students and academics at the School of Architecture have produced for Castlegate over the last decade.Castlegate is the historic birthplace of Sheffield, located at the confluence of the Rivers Don and Sheaf. This now dilapidated area of the city centre was once a bustling home to 800 years of market trading, theatres, industry and one of the largest mediaeval castles in England, demolished in 1650.Since 2014, students, graduates and academics from the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield have been co-producing design work and participatory research with community groups, local independent businesses, public-sector institutions, Sheffield City Council and colleagues from the Departments of Archaeology and Computer Science, to develop an ambitious shared vision for the future development of the area.This co-production process is envisioning, campaigning for and supporting the development of a new neighbourhood, accessible to all, that celebrates the rich heritage and social history of Castlegate while creating a viable sustainable future.The School of Architecture, through its project office Live Works, is acting as an effective mediator between grassroots and the local authority, helping to build capacity towards meaningful co-production at all scales. Our students’ creative engagement activities, research and design ideas have been instrumental in building a vision, shared by all partners, to deliver an ambitious, community-driven, socially, economically and environmentally sustainable new city quarter.Website, Climate Emergency, EDI, Participation, Placemaking, History and Representation, Case Study, Participatory, Carolyn Butterworth and Emre Akbil

ARC554 24-25- Lecture 02 - Gando School Buildings_ISSUED

Technology teaching

Gando School Buildings by Francis Kéré, 29th March 2023

Sam prepared an in-depth case study on the school buildings built at Gando in Burkina Faso, initiated and designed by the Burkinabé architect, Francis Kéré. The case study was used as the basis of new teaching content in the MArch in Architecture module, ARC554 - Environment & Technology 1, in support of efforts to include content situated in climate contexts other than western Europe within a diversified offering to students. Presentation, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Material Cultures, Pedagogy, Sam Brown

Technology teaching

The work of Prism Facades: terracotta curtain walling system at Blue+William in Sydney, 8th March 2023

Sam collaborated with the facade designer Troy Donovan of Prism Facades, based in Sydney, Australia, to develop a guest presentation and associated worksheet of teaching resources covering the role of a facade designer in design teams, the innovative approach to digital sketching used by Troy to develop detail design proposals and the application of this in the context of an innovative curtain walling system in use at the Blue+William development in Sydney, designed by Woods Bagot. ARC554 22-23 - Troy Donovan worksheetEvent, Teaching Resource, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Material Cultures, Sam Brown

Fuel Poverty Research Network

Guest speaker at FPRN 'Damp & Mould' event, 1st March 2023

Question and Answer session hosted by the Fuel Poverty Research Network at which I was a guest expert. This was on account of my Retrofit knowledge and expertise. Over 110 people from industry, councils and local authorities attended.Event, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Rachel Harris

Student project awards

ASCA Education Prizes, 2023 - Ongoing

Recognising that students are influenced by what the school outwardly recognises as excellent performance I worked with Architecture Students for Climate Action to initiate and deliver a new set of awards presented at the Schools end of year exhibition. In 2023 an award was presented to a student in each year in recognition for the quality of the work in response to the climate emergency. In 2024 I supported the initiation of 2 new awards recognising excellence in climate writing. Recognition, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Material Cultures, John Sampson and Catherine Skelcher

Citizens' Assemblies

Climate Re-assemblies, 2023 - Ongoing

The project aims to rethink how citizen participation is conceived in relation to the formulation, documentation, and continuity of Climate Assemblies. Between October-December 2023, The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) is holding a Citizens’ Assembly involving 100 citizens on climate futures, asking participants the following questions: “The way our climate is changing will impact us all. How should we respond, to build a thriving and sustainable future for South Yorkshire?”Climate Assemblies are an emerging form of deliberative democracy employed to provoke conversations around the issues and impacts of climate change within communities. However, there tends to be limited engagement with participants and communities following an assembly, and it is not evident how their recommendations are acted on. For this project, we will specifically explore the potential for innovation in pre event collective agenda-setting, in-event (inclusive, visible, interactive) documentary, and post-event evaluation and progression – and how that, in turn, impacts shared climate future imaginaries, the types of solutions being put forward, and who participates in assemblies. These questions will be explored through a series of workshops on Climate Assemblies and the co-creation of an interactive documentary (idoc) with a diverse range of stakeholders as citizen-researchers, including both academics (from the fields of communication, politics, architecture and art practice) and non-academics from local authorities, community climate-focused organisations as well as communities underrepresented in the climate discourse. Event, Presentation, Climate Emergency, EDI, Placemaking, Participation, Material Cultures, Participatory, Emre Akbil and Carolyn Butterworth

Podcast

Live Works Student Placement Reflections, 2023 - 2024

Recorded for The Faculty of Social Science’s new ‘Education Edit’ Podcast series, we discuss the experience of graduate Ruth Tay in delivering and coordinating projects for The School of Architecture’s Live Works urban room and project office. Ruth’s role marked the first time that an architecture graduate has been able to undertake their professionally accredited practice experience with Live Works. Podcast, Digital Learning, Climate Emergency, Participation, Pedagogy , Leo Care

Perspectives on teaching architecture and urbanism

Urban Design Pedagogies for Staying With a Broken Planet, 2023

The book chapter aims to position the Masters in Urban Design programme of University of Sheffield School of Architecture, within the broken world pedagogies and reflect on the thematic framework that nurtures common tools and methods to endure, encounter, and co-exist with emerging uncertainties facing urban environments on a broken planet. We use ‘Ecologies of Care’ as a reflexive framework that critically repositions urban design pedagogies within three theoretical registers – the planetary as an image of interdependent worlds and source of disruption for the image of the globe as a colonial artefact; radical unknowability as a process-oriented approach to knowledge co-production that embraces incompleteness of urban life with gaps, margins, and interstices as central to knowledge resources; and cosmopolitical localism that reimagines urban ecologies as real-life laboratories for prefiguring just urban transitions that pays attention to shared vulnerabilities through mutual care amongst urban actors.Book, Climate Emergency, EDI, Ecology, Care, Pedagogy, Placemaking, Urban Design, Emre Akbil

Copy of TECHNICA_2023_Harris and Brown_Uni of Sheffield_Subject Area Review and Emerging Roles.pdf

Technology teaching

Technica Convention, 2023

Rachel Harris and Sam Brown contributed presentations to the inaugural Manchester School of Architecture Technica Convention - an event designed to bring Technology subject leads together to present work and collaborate on the most relevant issues facing our subject. Rachel presented 'Whole Life Carbon and Comfort: ARC308 final Y3 module case study'. Rachel also jointly presented with Sam Brown: 'Environment & Technology Subject Area review - a work in progress.'Event, Presentation, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Sam Brown, Rachel Harris

Technology teaching

Retrofit Fundamentals for Construction Professionals, 8th December 2022

In response to the increase in student projects and project briefs focusing on Retrofit, Sam participated in a collective training course for design studio teaching staff in the School of Architecture.The session was facilitated by experienced retrofit contractors, People Powered Retrofit, and was designed to help staff understand the fundamental principles of eco-retrofit works, build on existing knowledge and skills, and to get up to date with the latest green building techniques, products, and regulations.Event, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Pedagogy, Sam Brown

Downtown Cairo is many things, however, it is not a haven for cyclists.www.aucegypt.edu/news/auc-university-sheffield-students-collaborate-boost-egypts-first-bike-share-program

Live projects

Cairo Bike Project, 26th September - 4th November 2022

The Cairo Bike Live Project took place in Cairo, Egypt as part of the University of Sheffield School of Architecture's Live Projects Programme 2022-23. It explored the ongoing initiative by the Cairo Governorate and UN-Habitat to establish a bike-sharing scheme within wider efforts to decarbonise the Downtown area of the city. The Live Project was set within a longer-term collaboration between the Architecture Department at the American University in Cairo and the Egyptian office of UN-Habitat, with Egyptian architecture students undertaking analysis of the bike sharing scheme as part of a course in urban design. The Live Project itself invited students from the UK to visit Cairo and collaborate with local students to develop a period of fieldwork designed to understand how the bike scheme's pilot phase is perceived by residents and citizens in order to offer insight and proposals for future phases. The Live Project was funded by the University of Sheffield School of Architecture and made possible by local facilitation in the field by Momen El-Husseiny, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanization at the American University in Cairo.Journal Article, Film, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Participation, Sam Brown

Press article contribution, Novara Media

This is How Britain Can Actually Prepare for Extreme Weather, 26th July 2022

Contribution to a press article exploring the resilience of our homes in the 2022 heat wave. Press Article, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Rachel Harris

Metropolis meltdown: the urgent steps we need to take to cool our sweltering citiesAll over the world, temperatures in urban areas are rocketing. What can we do? Axe air-con, whitewash roofs, unleash buried rivers – and try to be a bit more like Norwich

Press article contribution, The Guardian

Metropolis meltdown: the urgent steps we need to take to cool our sweltering cities, 14th July 2022

Contribution to and direct quote to an article written by Oliver Wainwright during the 2022 summer heat wave.Press Article, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Rachel Harris

Book chapter contribution

Collaborative Design and Practice: A New Future for Architecture Together, April 2022

Invited to contribute to a book chapter Authored by Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios detailing my collaboration with them in incorporating FCBS Carbon calculator into my Y3 E&T module teaching and assignment. Chapter titled: 'Getting to Grips with Embodied Carbon: How a Collaborative approach made FCBS Carbon more resilient, easier to use and more relevant to the climate crisis.'Book, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Pedagogy, Rachel Harris

Student resource

ASCA Climate Resources Hub, 2022 - 2024

Within the School of Architecture we place significant emphasis on supporting and facilitating student led learning. As a Department we have embraced the emergence of ASCA and valued the role they have played as a critical friend. I secured an Education Grant in 2022 in partnership with the group that has helped to invigorate and enhance their activities over the course of the year and beyond.Recognised the long-standing challenge in universities of sharing and disseminating the exceptional work, often laden with specialised knowledge, particularly in light of the climate crisis both with and beyond the school I supported ASCA facilitated by the Education Fund to established a virtual platform called the "Climate Resource Hub." Using the widely accessible Miro platform, commonly used in the school of architecture, this hub initially became a centralised repository for all things climate-related. It featured an extensive, organised reading list, showcases master's level works on critical material appraisals for a deeper understanding of climate-conscious materials, provides an active events calendar, links to talks we hosted, climate-related articles, and fosters collaboration and suggestions from fellow students. Over the summer, the platform continued to evolve into a Climate resource website.Event, Website, Toolkit, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Pedagogy, Participation, Material Cultures, History and Representation, John Sampson

"The response to the Climate Emergency has developed into a real strength of the programme. I was amazed how the school had stepped forward in response to the Climate Emergency over the past 2 years."

Prof. Sussanne Hoffman, MArch External Examiner 2023

ReLearning High Streets.pdf

Project catalogue

Future High Streets, 2022

‘Re-learning High Streets’ has been written and compiled to represent the collective endeavour of final year architecture students, staff and collaborators. The publication offers a series of insights into how our global and local high streets might evolve in the future. Re-learning High Streets focuses on the thinking and reflection that goes on before, during and after design projects are developed. The intention here is to show the learning journey that students and staff have been on and the opportunities that they have had to explore high streets globally and locally.There are a range of voices represented within this publication, which we hope evidences the polyphonal nature of the course, and our wish to form dialogues and conversations with people in different geographic places, as well as those from related disciplines and sectors, within and outside the university. Presentation, Book, Digital Learning, Climate Emergency, EDI, Pedagogy, Leo Care, Rachel Harris and Russel Light

Sam Brown - Certificate of Attendance Masterclass Net Zero.pdf

Knowledge sharing

Getting to Net Zero: Masterclass, 14th July 2021

The increased focus on the Climate Emergency has led to a stream of declarations to achieve Net Zero. But what does that actually mean to the built environment? Do we really know how to design and deliver a true net-zero building? This masterclass was undertaken collectively by design studio teaching staff, module leaders and programme leaders in the undergraduate and MArch programmes at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture as a way to enhance our teaching practice.The event explored the issues around net zero, providing practical illustrations of what it takes to achieve both net-zero operational energy and net-zero embodied energy and highlighting what can be done at design stage to achieve the biggest impact.Event, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Building Performance, Sam Brown, Simon Baker

South Yorkshire Housing Association collaboration

SYHA / SSoA Housing Exhibition, June 2021 - ongoing

The exhibition is designed to celebrate two years of student work developed through the School's collaboration with South Yorkshire Housing Association, showcasing design projects, dissertation material and Live Projects.The exhibition is designed to be deployed indoors or externally to reach as wide an audience as possible.The exhibition would expose the excellent work of over 300 students from across the School to the general public, providing an engaging forum for discussion around topical housing issues. It is intended that several students would be involved as key members of the curatorial team.Event, Presentation, EDI, Climate Emergency, Participation, Placemaking, Material Cultures, Building Performance, Carolyn Butterworth and Leo Care

Co-design workshop

Harnessing the Elements: Towards Zero-carbon Neighbourhoods, March 2021

This online publicly accessible event sought to explore the potential for online platforms as tools for community-led design. In collaboration with The Glass-House Charity, the workshop used the universal elements of earth, air, fire and water as themes for creative co-design activities to explore how we can activate both citizens and the different sectors as collaborative placemakers. Using the area around London Road in Sheffield as a starting point for discussion, we explored how local placemaking can be informed by and drive forward the zero-carbon agenda. This was an active space, where students, practitioners, policymakers and citizens worked together with The Glass-House and with Year 2 students and tutors from The University of Sheffield School of Architecture to explore and co-design creative methods of engagement around the zero-carbon agenda.Designing Sustainable Places - The Glass-House 2020/21 Event SeriesEvent, Digital Learning, Climate Emergency, Participation, Placemaking, Emre Akbil, Ian Hicklin and Leo Care

Student project archive

Studio Just Transitions, 2021 - Ongoing

Studio Just Transitions is an MArch Design Studio at Sheffield School of Architecture.The world is embarking on an unprecedented transition. To deliver on the global commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement, the UK must achieve zero carbon emissions by the mid-2030s. Such a change will require the radical adaptation of both our energy system and the way we engage with energy as a society. Energy transitions have always been shaped by social, political and economic structures, and the transition ahead of us is as much a cultural transition as a physical one.This site was created to form an archive of the studio's work both within and outside of the School of Architecture.Website, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Material Cultures, John Sampson

ribabooks.com/Designing-for-the-Climate-Emergency-A-Guide-for-Architecture-Students_9781859469644

Climate emergency curriculum

Designing for the Climate Emergency, 2021

RIBA publication. Part 1 of a 3 part series.Part 1: Climate emergency curriculum for architects – Bachelor studentsPart 2: Climate emergency curriculum for architects – Masters students and Part 3: Climate emergency curriculum for architects in practice – TBC (may not be needed pending other publications) This book proposal is set against the background of the climate crisis and countries’ targets of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, with the Nordic region aiming for carbon neutrality sooner (e.g. Norway by 2030, Finland by 2035 etc.). These ambitious carbon neutral goals can only be unlocked through well-planned, and executed designs of new buildings, neighbourhoods, and cities, and the careful and effective (re)design of the built environment we have created thus far. This will mean a significant shift in how we practice architecture, and by extension a radical re-thinking of the curriculum for the next generation of architects is needed. Yet, in built environment education and practice a significant skills and competency gap exists to address this crisis, highlighted, for example, by the architecture profession’s own ‘architects declare' and similar 'architectural education declares’ announcing a biodiversity and climate emergency (e.g. in the UK and Denmark). Another example is the formation of ACAN (Architects Climate Action Network), and architecture students collectively forming the ‘Anthropocene Architecture School’ to conduct ‘crisis studios’ and ‘crisis crits’ to plug the design and knowledge gap in architecture education (all in the UK).Book, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Building Performance, Aidan Hoggard

Case Study 04 - Woodland Community Hall at Hill Holt Wood - Worksheet 21-22.pdf

Technology teaching

Woodland Community Hall at Hill Holt Wood, 7th December 2020

Sam prepared an in-depth case study on the Woodland Community Hall at Hill Holt Wood, an ancient woodland located on the border of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire in the UK. The hall is constructed of rammed earth and native UK timber used "in the round" and has been the recipient of a number of awards in recognition of the innovative means of construction and process of design. The work involved extensive original interviews with a wide range of people involved in the building's construction and use. The case study was used as the basis of new teaching content in the MArch in Architecture module, ARC554 - Environment & Technology 1, in support of efforts to include content on low impact construction techniques within a diversified offering to students. Presentation, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Material Cultures, Pedagogy, Participation, Sam Brown

Decarbonise your House NOW Exhibition GuideFirst Edition 211126.pdf

Exhibition and research

Decarbonise your house now, 2020 - 2022

Acting as a research mentor I supported Editional Studio to develop The Decarbonise Your House Now! guide and exhibition.The research commissioned by the RIBA explores the barriers that small practices play in communicating the importance of environmental upgrade to their domestic clients. The research culminated in an exhibition of experimental building fragments exhibited in Editional Studios local high street shop.Exhibition, Research Publication, Climate Emergency, Material Cultures, Building Performance, John Sampson

Charitable work

Protecting the livelihood of vulnerable residents in Klong Toey, Bangkok, Thailand, July 2020 - July 2021

AHRC GCRF urgency grant in collaboration with our alumni at Kasetsart University in Thailand. Value: £100,000.Journal Article, Climate Emergency, Participation, Satwinder Samra

Interview

Cities of the future: Where will we live? January 2020

Cities of the Future: Where will we live? Interviewed by HubBub UK along with Marcus Fairs, Dezeen. "The interview has come out really well, thank you so much again for your time." Sarah Divall HubBub UKFilm, Climate Emergency, Participation, Placemaking, Satwinder Samra

Y2 Housing Newspaper DIGITAL ONLY.pdf

Student project catalogue

Community: Housing Newspaper, 2020

Community is a design project undertaken by 2nd Year undergraduate students in collaboration with South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA), and forms a key part of an architecture school-wide initiative. The Housing Newspaper is a compilation and reflection on the student design projects that is thematically organised into different approaches to the design of social housing.The Newspaper format was chosen to make the work accessible to a wide range of readers and for easy distribution. The newspaper is a limited print run, but a digital version is also available online.Community - digital versionBooklet, EDI, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Participation, Leo Care

MArch project archive

Studio Learning Culture archive, 2020

The Studio Learning Culture web resource disseminates a collated and collective body of student work from 2015-2019. Organised into 8 thematic areas, each is a lense through which learning has been explored; revealing a series of crucial contemporary societal, spatial and environmental challenges. Projects exhibited here have formulated innovative approaches and critical design responses to these challenges; raising many questions as well as solutions.Since 2015 Studio Learning Culture has explored what it means to learn; to acquire skills or gain knowledge, to study or be taught, to educate or engage in a pedagogical process.Studio Learning Culture comprises a group of Masters Architecture students based in Sheffield School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. Led by Leo Care the studio has collaborated with a range of stakeholders from academia, local authorities, charities, interest groups and schools.Based in South Yorkshire and the Sheffield City Region, this body of work forms a collective set of ideas and visions to transform learning in the region and transform the region through learning.Website, Digital Learning, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Placemaking, Leo Care

Project archive

SYHAxSSoA Project Stack, 2019 - 2024

Welcome to the SSOAxSHYA Project Stack Archive!The School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield and South Yorkshire Housing Association have been working together on a number of collaborative projects since 2019. We call this the SYHAxSSoA Project Stack. This archive collects and celebrates all the fantastic work created so far from across the School, including the Y2 Housing Project, PG Live Projects, MArch Dissertations and SAS Case Studies.The archive is organised in 3 themes:

New Homes: To meet the housing crisis and to meet demand, SYHA have to build new social housing. Through the project stack, SSOA and SYHA are exploring how Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and other sustainable techniques can be used to deliver fantastic new homes with excellent environmental credentials.
Futureproof Homes: Making our homes ready for the future is a multi-faceted problem, with the two main issues being the climate crisis and an ageing population.
Living Together: Living Together healthily and happily at all scales, from neighborhood level down to communal facilities, is an increasingly important area of study and development.

The work that SYHA and SSOA have done together to asses and design new ways of living together is already having an impact within SYHA, who are now "thinking, more and more about how we can create a sustainable public realm." and are using the tools created by students and researchers to, "influence our our policy and what we do in development going forward"Website, Climate Emergency, EDI, Building Performance , Participation, Placemaking, Carolyn Butterworth and Sam Brown

"At SYHA, we've got over 6,000 homes and we need to make sure that they're going to be fit for the future" [working with SSOA] "challenges us to think in different ways about them and builds on our knowledge...to influence our policy and what we do in development going forward."

-South Yorkshire Housing Association

Collaborative production

Towards a new model for sustainable housing in the UK, June 2019

I was approached by a guest editor to submit a paper to Sustainability Journal on the future of sustainable housing. Through the use of desktop research into national white papers and industry led responses combined with case studies I wrote a 5000 word article exploring the nature of house building in the UK today. I used examples from my own practice based work and collaborated with an alumni led practice, Edge Urban Design.Book, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Howard Evans

Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods 2022 - Y2_reduced.pdf

Teaching resource

Climate Adaptive Neighbourhoods, 2018 - 2022

This is an evolving presentation that I have put together over the past 4 years that captures approaches to developing climate adaptive neighbourhoods. The presentation draws heavily from my own practice experience at URBED (Urbanism Environment Design) Ltd and references a number of award winning urban design projects. I have presented versions of this presentation across different programmes within the School of Architecture and the School of Landscape. Most recently I presented the work in 2022 to the Year 2 Undergraduates as part of their housing project.Presentation, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Building Performance, John Sampson

20210316_People Powered Retrofit (1).pdf

Retrofit approaches

People Powered Retrofit, 2018 - 2022

This is a presentation that I have put together in order to share and disseminate the learning from a number of research design projects focusing on the delivery of domestic retrofit. The presentation draws heavily on my own practical experience working with URBED and reveals the key learning points from originally establishing the Carbon Coop through to delivering initial government funded R+D projects such as Green Deal Go Early. Presentation, Built Project, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, John Sampson

Student project catalogue

Scratching the Surface, Getting Under the Skin: Portland Works, 2018 - 2020

Reflecting back on first year projects by students at the Sheffield School of Architecture from 2018 - 2020 created for Portland Works 2021 May Heritage Open Days Festival Website and Learning Resource. The student's projects explores a range of methods to begin to understand, measure, record and develop both orthographic “objective” methods and perceptual “subjective” methods of representing space. The project culminates in a student led and curated exhibition of their work. Zine, Digital Learning, Climate Emergency, EDI, Material Cultures, Pedagogy, History and Representation, Wei Chan Chia

How we build homes_URBED.pdf

Housing delivery models

How we build homes, December 2018

In December 2018 I was invited to present alongside the critic and designer Phineas Harper to the RIBA Housing Group. My presentation drew upon my experience working with URBED (Urbanism Environment Design) Ltd and also my teaching experience working with Disseration students looking at housing delivery models.I have subsequently updated the presentation over the past 4 years and most recently presented the work to students within the MArch programme.Presentation, Event, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Building Performance, John Sampson

Urban leisure spaces

Urban subversion and mobile cinema: Leisure, architecture and the “kino-cine-bomber”, April 2018

This paper introduces our bicycle-based cinema device—the “kino-cine- bomber”—as a vehicle to reimagine disused buildings and obsolete urban infrastructure for re-activated public leisure spaces. It is also a vehicle to conceptualize theoretical relations between leisure, architecture, cinematic geographies and urban spaces. Through these lenses, we focus on a series of Situationist-inspired methods using the kino-cine-bomber to identify buildings that could be removed—as architecture by subtraction—in Coventry (UK). There, the River Sherbourne flows hidden beneath the city, culverted and capped, a relic of postwar urban planning no longer fit for purpose.We explore river “daylighting” plans by postgraduate architecture students using the kino-cine-bomber, first to trace the hidden river beneath the city streets, then to project architectural designs where buildings may be repurposed and the river revealed. We discuss the possibilities of these designs and, befitting a paper celebrating Situationism, we close with a manifesto for urban leisure spaces.Urban subversion and mobile cinema: Leisure, architecture and the “kino-cine-bomber”Journal Article, Climate Emergency, History and Representation, Placemaking, Building Performance, Simon Baker

Urban design and planning

New Neighbourhood Planning: The Future of the Food Axis, January 2018

This paper considers the evolving relationship between our two most basic human needs; to eat and to dwell. The phenomena of cooking released us from the constant need to feed and thus allowed us the time to develop culture, agriculture and ultimately civilization. The Food axis, a term coined by Elizabeth Collins Cromley, is the principal structure about which food related spaces are arranged from acquisition to disposal. Throughout the history of the home, the food axis has undertaken periodic redefinition in response to the social, economic and political context of the time. This study projects the future of the food axis. At the beginning of the 21st century the supermarket reigned supreme and the rise of convenience resulted in a deepening disconnection between people and their food sources. This detachment has contributed to the deterioration of health with the rise of obesity and sedentary lifestyle while allowing the individual to disregard their impact on the environment through participation in unsustainable food practices and waste. Can collective action transform waste and waste space into a valuable resource, adding to the quality of life for the neighbourhood, establishing a sense of community/ shared activity and contributing to health benefits, food knowledge and general well-being? It is estimated that 7.3 million tonnes of food waste is generated every year by households in the UK. Our evolving relationship with food and a renewed environmental awareness and responsibility to waste will inform the new public health paradigm.This paper will trace a history of the home, looking specifically at back to back housing in Leeds and Public Health Initiatives to propose a new neighbourhood utility. The proposition re-appropriates the obsolete sites of previous communal wash and latrine facilities to address current needs including waste disposal, energy and food production. The new model can be utilised as a strategy to reuse leftover urban space through the setting up of an enabling infrastructure that is taken over by local residents.HEALTH: THE DESIGN, PLANNING AND POLITICS OF HOW AND WHERE WE LIVEConference AMPS, Architecture_MPS; University of the West of England25—26 January, 2018Page 282Journal Article, Book, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Material Cultures, Simon Baker

Professionalism_Pelsmakers_Hoggard_v5.pdf

Book chapter

Defining Contemporary Professionalism, 2018

As a society we are facing accumulated environmental, climatic and resourcing challenges. In response, regulations and standards have tightened in support of better design and building practices, although many would argue not sufficiently. Yet building performance evaluations have highlighted that the majority of buildings do not perform as intended. As a consequence, user’s comfort, health and well-being are jeapordised, in addition to resourcing and pollution issues not being tackled. Regrettably, the architecture profession, against a backdrop of its own declining influence, is struggling to meet these diverse challenges.While architects are well placed to respond creatively to site, client brief and building programme, the architecture profession seems reluctant to apply the same creativity to its own role and its responses to these societal and environmental changes and challenges. Instead many architects treat environmental context as a larger obstacle than other project constraints in creating good architecture. We would suggest however that environmental context can be harnessed to create opportunities for architectural imagination and innovation in design practice and architectural aesthetics, while simultaneously repositioning the architect’s role in society. This chapter specifically sets out how project validation, alongside interdisciplinary collaboration and sharing are essential in creating sustainable architecture and remaining socially relevant.Defining Contemporary Professionalism - RIBA BooksBook Chapter, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Participation, Aidan Hoggard

Low-energy construction

Creek Cabin, 2017 - 2020

Creek Cabin is an innovative low-energy, flood-resilient replacement dwelling in a protected wetland location of internationally-recognised importance. Working with Jon Broome Architects and MAP Architecture, Sam led the delivery of the building in close collaboration with client, contractor and various specialists required to realise such an ambitious design.The house features a pair of 'floating' green roofs set above the main body of the building with clerestory glazing concealing a lightweight steel frame. A super-insulated envelope of engineered timber cassettes filled with woodfibre and clad in kebony encloses the upper floor, whilst the ground floor accommodation is housed within flood-resilient masonry construction on a raft foundation. The project has been designed to passivhaus principles with a mechanical ventilation and heat-recovery system and relies on wood-pellet fueled biomass boiler for heating energy and a bore hole for water supply.Built Project, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, Sam Brown

Jan 10th_conf_v2.pptx

UoS Learning and Teaching Conference

Research-led Thesis projects, 2017

Content:

Background
Typical thesis module structure
Research-led thesis module structure
Student and supervisor feedback
Benefits and issues
What next – further developments and improvements

Presentation, Climate Emergency, Pedagogy, Participation, Aidan Hoggard

Grand Designs Magazine _ Walters Way_Selected Pages.pdf

Retrofit and refurbishment

Walters Way, September 2016 - March 2019

Walters Way is the sensitive refurbishment of an original "Segal House" originally built as part of an innovative housing scheme run by Lewisham council in the 1980s. The refurbishment works are extensive and include a single-storey wrap-around extension, improved insulation and glazing, a renewed rainscreen and a modern spatial reconfiguration to suit a growing family. The work was carried out by the clients themselves, working with other trades and contractors where necessary. The design work was carried out by Sam Brown, working initially with Jon Broome Architects and latterly with MAP Architecture.Press Article, Built Project, Climate Emergency, Material Cultures, Building Performance, Sam Brown

Sheffield Garden City_Options for long term urban growth.pdf

Masterplanning

Sheffield Garden City: Options for Long term growth, 2015

One of the main contributors to the report Sheffield Garden City commissioned by Sheffield City Council looking at how the ideas developed by URBED within our winning Wolfson Prize Entry, could be applied to Sheffield. The resulting report focused on how 100,000 new homes could be integrated into Sheffield by co-locating new development with sustainable forms of transportation infrastructure. The knowledge I acquired from this project fed directly into my studio teaching and dissertation supervision. I have also given talks on the project to various cohorts within the school.Report, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, John Sampson

Urban regeneration

Trent Basin, 2012 - 2018

Within my role at URBED I was responsible for leading the development of the Trent Basin Masterplan located on the northern bank of the River Trent, 20 minutes’ walk from Nottingham city centre. The scheme developed by Blueprint aims to create a new type of neighbourhood that is neither entirely urban nor entirely suburban. To do this we drew heavily on Dutch precedents for the way that the scheme relates to the water. The design creates a strong 3 and 4 storey waterside terrace punctuated by narrow streets.In many senses the scheme is a reinvention of the suburb rather than a lively urban neighbourhood. The idea is that the blocks, set back from the waterfront, feel calm and relaxed and not dominated by cars. In collaboration with Nottingham-based architects, Marsh Grochowski, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and landscape architects Landscape Projects, we have set out to create a neighbourhood based around cycling, dog walking, jogging, fishing, reading, chatting, exercising and working. Trent Basin won the Urban Design Group Practice Award 2015, see the video hereI was also involved in securing InnovateUK funding for the project to accelerate the adoption of a pioneering Community Energy Storage proposal for the development.I also worked with Nottingham City Council to develop a strategy for the wider Waterside area of the city.Trent Basin is currently being built out - creating a new and unique residential neighbourhood on the edge of Nottingham city centre.Book, Film, Built Project, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Building Performance, John Sampson

UD132_magazine.pdf

URBAN DESIGN 132 Autumn 2014 | URBAN DESIGN Journal Issue | Urban Design Group

Temporal uses

Legacy and Placemaking through Temporal use, Conference 2012, Published 2016

This paper will examine three realized projects in Leeds and York, England, to question the legacy and ‘value’ of temporal use within the city and the connections between affect and place.The three case studies are; an established annual light-based festival, a single night pop up cinema, and an art installation sited on a disused viaduct. Each project questions the future use of our heritage buildings, their sites and context. The case studies form destinations which are not part of an established cultural heritage ‘trail’ or route. The action of ‘making and doing’ reverses our analysis of art and film from a tool we were using to help understand a place, to a medium that helped to define a place as a meanwhile use. Simon Baker is a protagonist who worked to re-appropriate the underutilized spaces and Sarah Mills is a lecturer of Architecture and uses film and Situationist techniques to analyse the subversion of the everyday. Challenging the normative modes of architectural practice engenders collaboration and questions existing policies, guidelines, buildings and the current purpose of place.Book, Presentation, Climate Emergency, History and Representation, Placemaking, Simon Baker

"Preliminary Material" published on 01 Jan 2016 by Brill.brill.com/view/book/9781848884533/BP000001.xml

20111031_ALPHA FARM Report Web.pdf

Design research

Alpha Farm, 2011

Alpha Farm: A design-led research study commissioned by Manchester International Festival exploring the delivery of a Vertical Farm in Manchester. The project was a collaboration between URBED, Lancaster University, Cambridge University and Biomatrix Water. The team concluded that by taking a comprehensive approach to the integration of nutrient, water and energy flows within the building a vertical farm has the potential to be developed as a resource ‘sensible’ model. By this we mean that the farm has the potential to grow food using less energy than conventional farming based on the input of large numbers of pesticides and fertilisers and the transport of food over large distances.This resulted in a demonstrator growing project called the Biosphere being constructed at Manchester College that integrated fungiculture, aquaculture, hydroponics and vermiculture. The project won a National PACE Award for Environmental Sustainability.Exhibition, Press Article, Built Project, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Building Performance, John Sampson

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