Live projects at the Portsmouth School of Architecture: A Critical Review

Concurrently with the setting up of the Project Office in 2008, the Postgraduate Diploma in Architecture course at the Portsmouth School of Architecture was restructured. Two new studio-based teaching programmes; a two-semester ARB compliant project for design throughout year one and a practice based design thesis project in year two, now focus upon selected live projects. Through these teaching programmes students have been offered interaction with real sites, clients and stakeholders and their work can be seen to contribute to the development of live projects rather than remaining within the confines of hypothetical design. Project Office collaborations have also enabled the School to run interns programmes during the academic vacations providing students with employment whilst, in some instances offering further engagement with studio projects. During the summer of 2010, the Project Office and postgraduate architecture students were given the opportunity to work with the Diocese of Portsmouth; 8 interns, 3 projects, a 6 week programme with a budget of £32,000. The 2010 interns programme looked at 3 areas of specific community need; 2 churches in Havant and Fareham and a community drop-in centre in Portsmouth. Using a selection of live projects undertaken as part of the core curriculum and interns programmes at the Portsmouth School of Architecture this paper aims to answer the following questions: What are the expectations of ‘real’ clients when working with students of architecture on ‘live’ projects? Have ‘live’ architectural projects been used as effective vehicles for teaching? Have the interns programmes significantly contributed to the development of new skill-sets within the students who have taken part?