John Sampson
University Teacher
john.sampson@sheffield.ac.uk
I have spent the last 14 years working at the interface of education and practice. Within the School I am the Joint Director of MArch Programmes with oversight of the MArch, MALA (Dual Architecture and Landscape) and the innovative practice based Collaborative Practice pathways.
I lead the MArch studio Just Transitions which this year is based in Aberdeen and will explore how the move from an extractive to a regenerative economy can be delivered in a way that ensures the benefits of climate action are shared widely and the costs do not unfairly burden those least able to pay, or whose livelihoods are directly or indirectly at risk as the economy shifts and changes.
From 2016-2020 I lead the MArch Arrival City Studio which seeks to address the profound implications of mass migration and urbanisation on the lives and well-being of migrants and the global geopolitical landscape.
Alongside my role in the School of Architecture I am also an Associate Principal and Director at the design co-operative URBED. I have a strong interest in urbanism, ecological development and biophilia. I am currently co-developing URBED’s response to the climate emergency.
Prior to joining URBED, I gained experience in participative and ecological design working with the atelier d’architecture autogérée in France, Germany and Northern Ireland and toured South America on an Architecture Foundation Public Space Travel Scholarship.
JustTransitions.studio - 2021-ongoing
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
Decarbonise your house now - 2020-2022
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
Love Wolverton - 2019-2022
The redevelopment working in collaboration with MOLE, Mikhail Riches and CIVIC Engineers will restore a historic street, Radcliffe Street, which was originally lost forty years ago as part of the Agora Centre’s development. The creation of two new, car-free, “little streets” also echo the historic streets of Wolverton and will connect key parts of the town, providing social and play-friendly spaces for residents, neighbours and their children.
The scheme has been designed to be one of the most environmentally ambitious regeneration schemes in the UK with and includes collaboration with Community Energy Wolverton to deliver a community energy network. The project will also house Still Green, an over-50s co-housing community based locally.
The development is being brought forward by the developer TOWN who were responsible for delivering the Cohousing Development Marmalade Lane in Cambridge. Jonny Anstead and Neil Murphy, founding directors of TOWN, co-ran our MArch Studio, “Degrowth” last year.
Film, Built Project, Placemaking, John Sampson
arrivalcity.studio - August 2019
This year Leo has secured funding for 3 studios to produce a publication of the studio work. Arrival City is one of the studios to have access to the funding. I propose to use the funding to pay students to assist developing the site, new content and the critical reflection. I will also use the money to pay for hosting over the next 3 years.
Presentation, EDI, Placemaking, History and Representation, John Sampson
Arrival City International Exhibitions - 2018-2019
2018 at Klokke, Mannheim. Exhibition of student work in collaboration with Mark Stancombe and Yanni Pitsillides and Klokke.
2019 at Mapping San Siro, Milan. The exhibition of student work in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano.
Exhibition, Placemaking, Participation, John Sampson
Demystifying Architectural Research: Adding Value to Your Practice - 2019
Book, Placemaking, Participation, John Sampson
Pedagogies of Inclusion - 2019
Book, EDI, Pedagogy, Participation, John Sampson
Climate Adaptive Neighbourhoods - 2018-2022
Presentation, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Building Performance, John Sampson
People Powered Retrofit - 2018-2022
Presentation, Built Project, Climate Emergency, Building Performance, John Sampson
How we build homes - housing delivery models - December, 2018
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
"Living the Region" DAM Workshop - 2017
URBED were one of five teams and were joined by AWP from Paris, LOLA Landscape Architects from Rotterdam, KCAP Architects&Planners from Rotterdam and feld72 from Vienna.
Over three days we were tasked with developing a vision for the future of the Frankfurt RheinMain region, bringing together innovative housing and transport solutions. At the same time we also had to illustrate how this future vision might manifest itself at a smaller scale, by designing a conceptual urban quarter based on a fictitious town within the region.
We had great deal of fun working on this project, sharing the workshop space with our international colleagues and exploring Frankfurt in the evenings. The workshop culminated in a short presentation by each of the teams, but the project doesn't end there! All five teams are now working up their concepts to be displayed in an exhibition in the DAM next year. We look forward to sharing our ideas and seeing what the other teams have developed.
Book, Placemaking, John Sampson
Allotment of the Future: 2016 City of Science - 2016
The Science in the City festival (22nd-29th July) ran alongside the conference and engaged the public in all aspects of science. One of the key content strands for Science in the City was food; activities, experiments, tastings, conversations unpicking the science of taste, truth & myths about food and health, and imagining the farms, factories and menus of the future. A key element of Science Feast was an allotment of the future in St Ann’s Square.
Co-ordinated by Marketing Manchester, I led a team at URBED to design the allotment. Content partners included Squirrel Nation, the University of Manchester Plant Science department, the University of Salford School of Environment and Life Sciences, Sow the City and Real Food Wythenshawe. Salford based m3industries worked with us to turn the designs into reality.
Event, Placemaking, Participation, John Sampson
2Up 2 Down - 2015-2020
Press Article, Built Project, Event, EDI, Placemaking, Participation, John Sampson
Sheffield Garden City: Options for Long term growth - 2015
Report, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, John Sampson
ASRM Festival of Architecture, Frankfurt - 2015
The subsequent ASRM Expo 2015 Region im Fluss exhibition at the German Architecture Museum (D.A.M) gave URBED an opportunity to present ideas for the region based on our central theme: cities growing together. It also gave us an opportunity to focus the discourse on Offenbach, a vibrant but often neglected part of the Frankfurt conurbation on the southern bank of the River Main.
These events culminated in November 2015 in the ARSM Future Pavilion situated in the Goetheplatz in the centre of Frankfurt. The pavilion, codesigned by URBED and Ian Shaw Architekton, formed a public forum for discussion and debate around urban and regional development. URBED took a week-long residency within the pavilion following its inauguration, running a participative public exhibition to highlight the significance of Offenbach as a building-block of the creative city. To stimulate discussion and debate we built a scale model of the Frankfurt conurbation with the public over a number of days, and exhibited the attached drawings of Offenbach and the Northern Quarter in Manchester, the latter having some similarities as a cultural quarter.
I utilised links established with DAM to set MArch Studio in Offenbach, Frankfurt.
arrivalcity.studio
Built Project, Event, Placemaking, John Sampson
Trent Basin - 2012-2018
I 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
Space to Park - 2014
As one of the practice partners on the project URBED in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Design for Homes prepared the Space to Park study. This tests assumptions about parking provision in residential developments using data collected on more than 400 new house schemes in Kent, six case studies, residents’ survey and focus groups.
Space to Park has resulted in a web-based, user-generated resource of best practice for those seeking parking solutions in new build residential developments.
Its final report and findings were presented at a parliamentary launch in Westminster on 12th February 2014 by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
The project was also nominated for an RIBA President's Award for Outstanding University-located Research.
A copy of the full report along with the executive summary and good practice case studies can be found at the Space to Park Website (Link to http://www.spacetopark.org/)
Event, Journal Article, Website, Placemaking, John Sampson
Brentford Lock West - 2012
Within my role at URBED I worked in collaboration with Johannes Tovatt Architects, Klas Tham, Tibbalds and Camlins to achieve an outline planning for a 500 home mixed use neighbourhood.
The design process was one of collaboration with the local community based on URBED’s ‘design for change’ technique. This started with workshops run over two evenings at the start of the process in a local café. Residents and stakeholders from the area used the first to develop a shared understanding of the area today. The second evening focused on generating a number of different options for the site through ‘collages’ and plasticine models.
The project was Awarded the Urban Design Group Practice Award 2012. The project continues to win architectural awards as it is built out.
Press Article, Built Project, EDI, Placemaking, Participation, John Sampson
Alpha Farm - 2011
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, hydroponicsand vermiculture. The project won a National PACE Award for Environmental Sustainability.
Exhibition, Press Article, Built Project, Climate Emergency, Placemaking, Building Performance, John Sampson