I recently visited the digital fabrication area at Chelsea so get a feel about what their set up is and how the technicians feel about it. Since I work at the School of Pre Degree at UAL it’s beneficial for me to see what students will be progressing to and how we can help ease that transition for them.
For context this is our previous workshop at CCW Foundation:
And this is the space we have inherited at Lime Grove:
We are in a much bigger space with more potential, but a benefit of our previous space was how it was directly connected to the 3D Workshop and Print Studio. This led to a flow which encouraged cross-discipline, which is something I personally believe is very important for student development, especially at foundation level, and something I try and encourage as much as possible. In our new space we are a lot more isolated which I believe is unfortunately a step backwards for the student experience.
For example here is precious feedback from a past student at CCW Foundation explaining the importance of fluidity within the workshops:
In extension to that, the workshops at Wilson Road were in the centre of the building. However at Lime Grove they are placed in a separate block away from studios, some very far away. This removes the ‘make’ from the heart of the course and pushes it, whether subconsciously or not, to the side.
With the visit to Chelsea what initially stood out to me was the fluidity of space. As the Digital Fabrication area is next to the 3D workshop (similar to how it was for us previously) it allows more interesting discussions and experimenting to happen naturally. The space almost acts as a long corridor that students can flow between, not closed off individual spaces. This allows a fluidity of movement to naturally occur amongst the space which inevitably impacts student outcomes. Workshops should be a place where ideas can happen and those ideas shouldn’t be linear.
Some examples of past student work from CCW Foundation that highlight a multidisciplinary workshop approach: