Philip Hurrell

Philip Hurrell graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Nottingham. The emphasis on the majority of his projects revolved around a keen interest in quality of life, not just for privileged individuals. This included a variety of projects, from a live Nursery school project based in a township in South Africa, to using film and post-it notes to explore a playful Architecture in housing design. His final year project, based in East London, sought to create a community forum for cultural exchange, within the ethnically diverse and vibrant Bow area. This intervention emerges from the landscape and actively engages with the historic market street of Roman road. The temporary market becomes a part of the building as the building engulfs the road during market days and then recedes to allow traffic to pass. The market acts as a catalyst for drawing people into the building and actively engaging with its community.

After graduating Philip worked briefly for a demolition company, helping with demolition documentation and co-ordination with Principle Contractors on the Birmingham New Street Station Project. From March 2011 to June 2012 he worked in London for Amanda Levete Architects. Amanda Levete, previously a director of Future Systems, has set up her own practice with projects looking to push the boundaries in material fabrication and design techniques. Philip participated in a competition for a library of the future, as well as a large master-plan for a private business campus. Other Architectural experience includes working for a small firm before University for a year, focussed on small residential renovation work and Historic Building conservation.

Working at AL_A established an interest in Computational design through it’s capacity to optimise and analyze design ideas. He is keen to explore this further in DS10, with the view to possibly integrate it with interests in Vernacular Architecture and the importance of an idea’s wider social context. Growing up in Zimbabwe during his formative years, established a sensitivity to the importance of the social and political impact Architecture can and does have on a society. This interest in the quality of life seeks to develop a relationship between the strength of Vernacular Architecture and modern material and fabrication techniques to build a better future.