“We believe good design improves lives and we need your help. We’re seeking an experienced and motivated design researcher to join our team in London.”
Calling all research hungry candidates with a passion for human-centred design - apply for our new position of Research Associate.
Application deadline: 20 April
UPDATE: WE ARE NO LONGER RECEIVING APPLICATIONS
On 3 April, two runners laced up their trainers and hit the streets of Paris to run a marathon in aid of AzuKo. Justin and Jo raised a staggering £2507 to support our current project in Jogen Babu Maath slum. Hear how they got on...
(Photo: Paris marathon)
Last Sunday we took on our biggest challenge yet. 42 kilometres through the streets of Paris. 19 degrees and not a cloud in sight. Thankfully the fire brigade was out in force with their hoses, to keep us cool.
Alongside 43,000 runners we set off at the Arc de Triomphe and down the magnificent Champs-Élysées. We trained in London, navigating the Dickensian streets for four months - now lay ahead of us boulevards so straight and so long, the finish line seemed unreachable. The sound of feet pounding the pavement becomes our soundtrack. Just need to keep moving forward. Every step, every kilometre, brings us closer to home.
(Map: Paris marathon app)
A glance to the right to sneak a peek at the Louvre, before regaining focus and taking on more fluids to fight the heat. We begin to climb Avenue Daumesnil before the first of two off road sections in the 12th arrondissement. As we emerge from the trees, we've reached the half way point. A half marathon done, one more to go. Legs. Still. Going. Strong?
We've all heard of the wall. How you manage to push past it will come down to you and you alone. But no-one mentioned multiple walls... multiple barricades. The first one hits us at around 23 kilometres on the banks of the river Seine.
“With the Eiffel tower soaring over us, the sun beats down, the distance between water stations seems to lengthen, every molehill is a mountain. But the sound of just one voice from the crowd, “Allez Justin... Allez Jo” makes us run tall, again.”
(Photos: J. Brown / Tag Heuer)
We pass Notre-Dame. It's judgement day. We pass the Musée d'Orsay and reach the 30 kilometre milestone. Pain is starting to set in now. It's moving from the knee to the left hip to the arch of the right foot. This can't be right, it's only in the mind. Just keep running.
As we enter the Bois de Bologne, we can almost taste the finish line. 10 kilometres - that's just another hour, right!? But it's too difficult to keep up the pace. The slower you get, the further away the finish line drifts. We begin to recognise faces. These people will become our family in the last exhausting moments. You start to build stories in your mind about who they are, and why they're running. All shapes and sizes, doing what they can to become heroes for a day. We're willing each other on. A runner stops to catch his breath. We shout to remind him we're in it together and will finish it together.
Counting down the kilometres now, 9... 8... 7... 6... the 5 kilometre signpost is in sight. Come on hip, stay with me. The pain is no longer in the mind. It's real. It's very real. Just keep moving.
4... 3... 2... 1 kilometre to go! Where is that finish line!?
... and there it is. After months of gruelling training in the wind and rain and snow, it's ahead of us. Right there. Tears well up in the eyes. Come on legs, bring us home. The crowd is deafening. Courage in those final steps. Keep it together. Run tall.
“Thoughts of every single person who has supported us and who is cheering for us now, choke the throat. This is for you. This is for Jogen Babu Maath.”
42.195 kilometres... done. 5 hours 36 minutes. Paris marathon you have been the challenge of a lifetime.
(Photos: Paris marathon / J. Brown)
Justin and Jo would like to thank their amazing supporters:
Allan Green / Andra Antone / Andrea Chorlton / Andrew Lewis / Anne Ashbridge / Beth Ashbridge / Cathy Russell / Chris Atkinson / Clare Willan / Craig More / Dee Formaggia / Dimitra Dantsiou / Dov Querfurth / Ed Sayce / Elaine Proud / Eleanor Earl / Elyse Howell-Price / Emma Wheatley / Emily Butt / Gabriella Piccolo / Gary Marshall / George Knott / George Proud / Glen Barlow / Grace Murray / Graham Nicol / Grant Sellars / Hannah Bryan / Hannah Dunnell / Hilary Battye / Janine Brown / Jenny Thomas / Jim Ashbridge / Jim Brown / Joey Augustin / John Harkness / Jon Humphreys / Julia Phillips / Justin Goh / Katherine Thomas / Keren Querfurth / Lucie Murray / Luke Davis / Lynne Ashbridge / Mahdi Hajiaghayi / Mark Thompson / Martin Battye / Maureen Brown / Molly Ashbridge / Paul Esslemont / Philippa Battye / Pilvi Haltunnen / Rachael Atkinson / Rachel Esslemont / Reinier Zeldenrust / Ruth Baker / Sam Bartlett / Sarah Wai / Stephen Ashbridge / Steve Baumann / Terry Ward / William Bartlett
This week Yasmeen Lari was in town. Yasmeen is Pakistan's first female architect with a body of work to behold. Alongside her passion for heritage buildings, she focuses on disaster resilience - everything from redesigning improved 'chula' (cookstoves), which offer healthy and dignified alternatives to traditional cooking methods to constructing zero carbon housing for flood victims.
Yasmeen increasingly works with women, believing they hold the key to economic regeneration within disadvantaged communities. She is training an 'army' of female barefoot architects, who will in turn pass on the baton.
Needless to say, when the RIBA invited us to support Yasmeen's making workshop, to share our knowledge of natural sustainable materials with students from the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and The CASS, we jumped to attention.
“Our work in Bangladesh features a variety of locally sourced natural materials including bamboo, jute, palm leaf and earth. Natural is the operative word. There are no straight lines in nature.”
When working with bamboo for example you need to deal with tapering culms, curvatures and uneven distances between diaphragms - this all adds a high level of complexity to jointing. It is never as easy as replicating the digital model in real life.
(Photo: J. Ashbridge)
Similarly, working with earth requires craftsmanship and respect for this most basic of materials. It needs to breathe. Achieving the right composition, using additives for strength and water resilience is just as much an art as a science. It also requires a great understanding of the local context. Cactus juice might be appropriate in Texas, US but it's not readily available in Dinajpur Bangladesh. You will need to look to the environment and to the community for answers.
In fact, this is exactly how we stumbled upon mulch from the Bijla tree which performed well against synthetic additives in our earthen plaster field tests. It was a local rice farmer from Sundarban village who suggested we investigate this natural 'glue', once used to bind kites.
(Photo: P. Battye)
We champion these materials for a number of reasons. They're low cost, environmentally friendly and beautiful.
“Earth is not a ‘poor man’s’ material, in fact we believe there’s nothing richer than a hand-finished plaster.”
For these reasons, we were excited to join Yasmeen in introducing their power and potential to the next generation of architects. A group of students from as young as 14, eager to learn more.
The 4-hour workshop was a journey through a series of building techniques, utilising three core elements: bamboo, earth and willow. Split into small groups the students were asked to build models, which explored a range of design principles and allowed for experimentation.
(Photo: J. Ashbridge)
Focusing on one section, a particular node or using a combination of elements, the teams were then asked to create a 1:2 scale prototype. The majority began with bamboo, many testing out variations on fish mouth joints. The students quickly understood the level of skill required to connect culms, which is often a complex meeting of shapes. Others attempted throwing brick 'slugs' experimenting with straw as an additive, or weaving willow panels to act as a base for a wattle and daub construction.
(Photo: J. Ashbridge)
(Photo: J. Ashbridge)
The session concluded with a mini critique to discuss the finished structures and best practice.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the day were the one to one conversations about the wider context... cost considerations when working with low-income populations... how climate change and mass migration are affecting communities and adding additional pressures on the built environment... achieving a balance between the tangible and intangible...
“Architecture does not stand in isolation. Every decision, every move has an impact. It was refreshing to hear students debate the wider implications of their discipline.”
(Photo: RIBA)
Hats off to everyone involved in the day's activities. Let's hope we see more schools of architecture take up the mantle.
Find out about our work with natural materials:
Author: J. Ashbridge
