Dr Tom Coward

Kingston School of Art
Department of Architecture and Landscape
School of Arts

Senior Lecturer, MArch Unit Tutor

[email protected]

ORCID

About

I am a senior lecturer and module leader teaching MArch Architecture (RIBA 2) in the Department of Architecture and Landscape at the Kingston School of Art. I am a qualified British architect and RIBA Client Advisor with more than 25 years' experience in architectural practice in the UK.

I am an experienced and successful teacher and academic leader. I have taught undergraduate and postgraduate architecture courses for more than 20 years, run a postgraduate architecture course, and contribute to school management. The work of my students has been published and exhibited in the UK and internationally, and won industry awards. I have experience of innovative course and curriculum development.

As a teacher I have an international profile and have been invited as a guest teacher and lecturer most notably at Yale University as the Louis I Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor, Winter semester 2011.

I am a founding director of the award winning RIBA chartered practice AOC Architecture Ltd, "One of the most promising, successful new practices in British Architecture" (the Times). I have been invited to lecture and present the work of the practice in the UK, Europe, Asia, North and South America and projects by the practice have been exhibited internationally and published in the UK & International architectural press. The work of the office features in Hatch (2008), New Arcadians (2012), New Architects 3 (2016) and Post-Modernism, Buildings in Britain (2017).

Qualifications

2024 Doctor of Philosophy, Kingston University: Towards a conversational architecture
2021 Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
2005 Professional Practice Examination, London Metropolitan University
2002 MA RCA Architecture & Interiors, Royal College of Art
1998 BA (Hons) Architecture First class, University of Nottingham
RIBA Client Advisor; Accredited practitioner
Fellowship of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
Young Architect of the Year 2005, Runner-up
Architects Journal '40 under 40' Winner, 2005

Domains

Senior Lecturer Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 2) MArch

I have taught on PSRB accredited RIBA 1 and RIBA 2 Architecture courses since 2002, and at Kingston since 2015. I undertook Year Leadership in 2019-22; helping develop, plan, conduct and deliver, excellent, inclusive teaching.

Involvement in curriculum design, course revalidation and innovation in blended learning;

2022 Successful KU course revalidation
2020-21 A&L Access and Inclusion Working Group
2020- Focus on VLE blended learning strategies use/management of innovative pedagogic tools to aid social presence online. Presentation of departmental MIRO use at KU festival of Learning Bitesize
2019-20 MArch Unit 1 L6 L7 Design Residency on the 'Walworth Living Room' with Pembroke House Settlement, with planned public exhibition
2020-21 MArch Unit 1 engagement with client group Shinfield Parish Council , with planned public exhibition
2019-20 MArch Unit 1 field work, study visit to Sea Ranch; the work of Charles Moore
2018-19 MArch Unit 2 field work, study visit to Sao Paulo; the work of Lina Bo Bardi
2019-20 Professional Practice REF21 contribution 'The Green' Community Centre
2020-21 Contribution to 'Window into Practice' & 'Travel itineraries' lecture series

CASE STUDY 1: The Walworth Living Room Residency

Developing active learning strategies in teaching sessions

'The Walworth Living Room'; is an experimental space testing social prescription and community health / well being, in a semi derelict Victorian church hall. Pembroke House came to KSA to use the skills of MArch students in social entrepreneurship, considering short term to long term potential of the All Saints Hall building as a site for social prescription. Students worked with the local community and Pembroke House a charitable settlement.

The residency gave opportunity for students to test and develop ideas, including public presentation and immediate feedback from service providers and service users. The development of the thesis in TB2 benefitted from the residency experience; with students confident in designing through their own perspectives and experiences and responding to their critical friends. Students had the opportunity to achieve their ambitions; one L7 student succeeded to receive an end of year award / publication.

CASE STUDY 2: Learning through lock down

Developing effective learning environments/spaces

'Learning through making' and relational teaching methods rely upon group interrogation of objects in space. COVID placed department spaces and field work engagement with real buildings and landscapes at risk. The department swiftly shifted to a digital environment and made our conversation there.

Efforts made to relaunch a digital learning environment for 20-21 were transformative. The transformation required significant rapid change on a departmental and course level to a digital environment. However, some aspects of virtual space disguise the radical separation of designers from end users… "alternatives are literally unthinkable within the interface… All are good reasons why we should foster in our institutions, among our colleagues, and most importantly in our students, a critical approach to digital technology and their uses" (Lea 2015). Ongoing development of the digital space through 20-21 has been tested through student engagement.

Qualifications

ARB Registered Architect
RIBA registered Architect
RIBA Client Advisor; Accredited practitioner
Fellowship of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
2015- RIBA Pt III Internal Assessor, University of Brighton
2006-8 Professional Examiner RIBA III, London Metropolitan University
2011-12 Louis I Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University; Advanced Design Studio, 'Re-storing Public Possessions'
2011-12 Louis I Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University; Seminar Series, 'People Making Places'

Courses taught

Architecture MA (ARB/RIBA Part 2)

2018-19 AR6103 Representation Designate 'Towards a Conversational Architecture' Seminar Series
2019-20 Professional Practice REF contribution 'The Green' Community Centre
2017-22 PhD by Practice; Towards a Conversational Architecture

Member of Register Research Group at Kingston School of Art; seeking to interpret, understand and augment our built landscapes

Fieldwork

Study trip to Urbino, visiting works by Giancarlo de Carlo
Measured survey of Ca Romanino, Urbino by Giancarlo de Carlo
Study trip to Sao Paulo, visiting works by Lina Bo Bardi
Study trip to California, visiting 16 works by Charles Moore
Measured survey of Unit 9, Sea Ranch by MLTW

Recent and forthcoming publications

2016 'Putting the Green back into the Green'
Conference Paper
Inheriting the City: Advancing Understandings in Urban Heritage, University of Taipei
2017 'Forever, For everyone'
London Society
2018 Letter from Beijing
Architectural Research Quarterly, Volume 21 / Issue 3
'Saved from the wrecking ball on a daily basis'
in Expanding Fields of Architectural Discourse and Practice, UCL Press, 2020
'Invention in Action at the Museum of Childhood'
in Participatory Practice in Space, Place, and Service Design, Vernon Press, 2022
'Time in Unit 9: A Comparison Between the Projected Life of the Drawing, the Residues of Living and Lived Experience'
in The Practice of Architectural Research, KU Leuven Press, 2022

Qualifications

PhD by Practice (target completion 2022)
Architectural Researcher

Specialisms

Developing Briefs with Clients
Participation and Engagement through Design
Design in Action
Communicative Architecture

Scholarly affiliations

RIBA Client Advisor; Accredited practitioner
Fellowship of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
2015- RIBA Pt III Internal Assessor, University of Brighton
2011-12 Louis I Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University

Conference attendance

Inheriting the City: Advancing Understandings in Urban Heritage, University of Taipei, 2016. Putting the Green back into the Green.
The City of Tomorrow, 2017, Beijing Design Week; Central Academy of Fine Arts
Experiencing Architecture: Inviting Dialogue, Royal Academy, 2018
The Practice of Architectural Research, KU Leuven, 2020; Time in Unit 9; Techniques and tools of the researcher,
Society of Architectural Historians GB, Architectural Association, 2020, The Provocative Role of the Domestic Archive
Techne Congress, Kingston University, 2022, Shape Newham: Re-enchantment with the Public realm through the collective imagination
Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts Conference, Kingston University, 2022, Co-designing a new Architecture curriculum during a pandemic
Creativity Symposium, Faculty of Business & Social Sciences, Kingston University, 2023, Looking for a tonic to computational bad-being
KSA Symposium on Participatory Research, Camden Arts Centre, 2024, The Time Tangle of Enactive Space

REF21 contribution Professional Practice 'The Green' Community Centre, Nunhead, Southwark.

CASE STUDY 1: The Walworth Living Room Residency

Developing active learning with charity volunteering

Lead relationship with Charity Pembroke house enhancing the quality of student learning. Innovative learning through action residency involving community engagement and volunteering. Teaching delivery through community networks with diverse practitioners. Students supporting professional project and client funding application for GLA and Local Authority funding.

CASE STUDY 2: Community Infrastructure in Shinfield

Reflective learning through local community engagement

Lead relationship with Shinfield Parish Council to enhancing the quality of student learning. Civic engagement enhancing student research outputs considering contemporary housing development and community infrastructure provision. Culminating in local exhibition and discussion to consider housing and community needs in a rural landscape undergoing rapid urban change.