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>> The Architecture Lab
for us is a test for
a new form of urban life.
We expect that students look
beyond the ordinary and come
up with incredibly inventive
solutions that are a result
of a limited budget and question
the way that we live currently.
>> So this is Megan
and Camille, and
they're both dealing
with the air space above our
site and looking at 
different ways to
inhabit the sky.
Camille's looking at a
project using a flock
of kites, a field of kites.
>> Camille: The idea
started with the idea
of bringing nature
back to the city
and changing the whole attitude
with not just wanting
to do something sustainable
but working
with the environment; not
just fearing the
consequences of our actions
but actually thinking
about how we can make things
work in a different way.
And also possibly looking at the
idea of kinetic energy as well,
how the the wave created by  
this is creating
some energy.
>> My project's about building
a self-sustaining eco-habitat
where someone can
occupy the space.
>> The idea of the project is to
create a large Faraday cage
which will act as a
shelter to protect you
from electromagnetic radiation
from a variety of sources,
from radios, from
wireless networks,
from Bluetooth sources.
And I've created this
essentially using a large basket
weave and it's made almost
entirely out of Ethernet cables.
It should take my weight.
It's quite cozy.
It's quite cozy inside.
It's good.
>> Basically the idea is
the symbiosis between tree
and radio stimulating the tree's
growth by giving a small amount
of energy. All of this acts as an aerial
to generate free energy which is
in the air to power
a radio station.
As you can hear now it's tuned
itself into 5 Live.
>> This project is also
about engaging the students
in a debate, in political
and social debate that
I think we need to have
at the university level
because it is them
who, once they finish,
they will shape,
they'll be our future
architects.
They'll be building our cities.
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>> It's definitely the best
opportunity I've had so far
to get to terms with real
materials and real architecture.
And I think it'll be
invaluable in the long run.
>> It's a unique opportunity
to start actually
building things rather
than just working on paper.
>> The site is a typical site
as we have quite a few
of them in East London
as a result of the recession.
We're about two stories
off the ground.
So with this remaining
bit of viaduct 
in Shoreditch, the main
problem was to get access
and we've gotten a scaffolding
and there's a series
of ladders that students
use for access.
Obviously the site's
really overgrown
and we're being very careful
to trim a bit of the overgrowth
out of the way without
harming trees and larger bushes
that have found a new
habitat here because obviously
that would be really against
the aims of our project.
>> I think one of
the real successes
of the project has been the way
that the students have
taken the beginnings
of what were very abstract
and speculative ideas
and they have worked
through them and managed
to ground those ideas in a set
of fully working physical
prototypes on site.
They've been dealing with
the realities of making,
of how different materials
come together and the science
of a lot of new technologies,
and made a series of projects
that actually do work.
>> I think I've learned
a lot about working
in slightly harsher conditions.
[Laughing]
>> It's just generally
good to get away
from the drawing table and
to actually make something.
>> It's been really useful
realising that things that I do
on paper most of the time, and
there are things that you make
in your head, don't always
come about the same way.
In reality you have
to compromise.
It's a very good learning
experience in that way.
>> These are all prototypes
and they are real.
And they go beyond an idea
because they're realised
on site.
Whether they can be
scaled up to the size
of a building is
another question
but I don't think
that's so important.
What's important is that the
students have put environmental
issues right at the heart
of their design approach
and it's an attitude that
I want to teach them.
So when they next do a building
and they design a building
in a similar way they
will put these issues right
at the centre.
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