Alessandro Columbano

Senior Lecturer, Enterprise Coordinator, Course Director MArch Architecture (RIBA Part 2)

Birmingham School of Architecture and Design

Email:: alessandro.columbano@bcu.ac.uk
Phone:: 0212 331 5857

Alessandro is a Senior Lecturer at the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design. He also co-established and leads the Collaborative Laboratory (Co.LAB) a teaching intiative and organisation within the school that integrates teaching with practice through live projects, staff research/design and external consultancy.

Prior to joining the university, Alessandro has worked in architecture and research practices in Manchester and London, with experience in evidence-based design and historical refurbishments. He graduated from the Manchester School of Architecture with a distinction in both postgraduate architecture and MA Urbanism prior to developing his portfolio as an independent artist/designer.

As anviere, a self-identified design guise, he has developed a portfolio of site-specific installations and artworks commenting on the subversive qualities of our physical environments.

Alessandro brings these characteristics forward to his teaching as an academic and researcher; taking an active role in the discussion of architectural pedagogy, urban theory and the contemporary vernacular. It is applied by engaging with the city’s cultural network through an ongoing process of collaborative practice – and encouraging students to be entrepreneurial citizens through their design ideas.

Current Activity

MArch Year 5 Leader: academic and pastoral coordination

Enterprise coordinator: academic and creative direction for enterprise and innovation activity in the Birmingham School of Architecture & Design

Steamhouse Academic: connecting academics, curriculum design, member’s design development, research collaborations and building design advisor.

Co.LAB: coordinator and co-founder of live design and research initiative within the School and wider ADM Faculty. Link here

Research theme co-leader: Collaborative and Creative Practices. Part of the School’s Research cluster.

Peer reviewer for abstracts and paper submissions for AHRA 15th conference: Festivals & the City. 2018.

Peer reviewer for journal Charrette for the Association of Architectural Educators (AAE). 2015 – present.

Areas of Expertise

Cartography and psychogeography readings of the city
Combined digital manufacturing and craft-based practices
Connectivity and conglomeration of creative enterprises in the creative city
Design entrepreneurialism and civic activism
Creative and workplace design
Cinematic design process
Installation, event and exhibition design
History of 20^th century Italian avant-garde
Trans-disciplinary design practice

Qualifications

Pg Cert Higher Education (2010) Birmingham City University
BArch Architecture RIBA pt.II: Distinction (2008) University of Manchester
MA Architecture + Urbanism: Distinction (2007) University of Manchester
BA (Hons) Architecture RIBA pt.I: First Class Honours (2005) University of Manchester

Memberships

Board Member, Centrala Gallery Advisory Board (2019)
Specialist member, Birmingham Design & Conservation Review Panel – City Planning department (2018 – present)
Fellow, Higher Education Academy (FHEA, 2012)

Teaching

Teaching on BA (Hons) Architecture and MArch in Architecture:

Module Leader:

ADM5001 Live Project
ARC5013 Co.LAB I
ARC5046 Co.LAB Knowledge Exchange
ARC7463 Material Practices
ARC7464 Co.LAB II

Module Tutor:

ADM5001 Live Project
ARC5013 Co.LAB I
ARC7463 Material Practices
ARC7464 Co.LAB II
ARC7465 Negotiated Practice
ARC7466 Architectural Thesis

Contribution to:

ARC4029 History of Architecture and Design
ARC5049 Architectural Theory
ARC6010 Critical Study in Architecture
ARC7462 Research Principles
ARC7467 Special Study

Research

My research is predominantly practice based and inherently linked with Enterprise + Innovation activity within the School of Architecture and Design. Evolving research interests can be categorised in five intertwined themes; contemporary vernacular language of digital-analogue craft processes, co-production of cultural events, the design for a community of production and making, exchanges in the Creative City, and finally, Agency/Entrepreneurialism in the design studio.

The architectural language of periodic styles is defined through a combination of culture and technology. The technological limits permit exploration of identity and tradition. Can digital technology be representative of culture in this same manner as craft-based heritage? Advanced digital modelling is overly concerned in defining a new language; the research generated through begins to explore digital forms and processes following historic precedents where heritage informs design references and a subsequent reaction to it.

Collaborative practices are tested against an ongoing model of trans-disciplinary work - drawing on theoretical understanding of local/national creative clusters and different models of creative production, for example the recent emergence of the maker movement. The outcomes are transferred to studio teaching and help inform University strategies in external engagement and designs for creative work places.

Studio Agency explores pedagogic approaches to integrate entrepreneurial skills and activities for students to present work in the public domain and demonstrate the capability of engagement with industry.

Grants, Funding and Awards

STEAMhouse Phase 1, ESIF ERDF, Jan 2017, (awarded) Oct 2017 – Sept 2020, £1.76m, (as part of the RIE team to complete the bid with Birmingham School of Architecture and Design).

National Urban Design Awards – Practice Award for Knowledge Hub, 2017.

Biffa Award, Small Grants Award for Gallery and events space refurbishment, Birmingham Open Media. 2015

Birmingham Open Media co-working space, UnLtd Social Entrepreneurship Grant, 2014

Birmingham Production Space, ACE g4a funding 2014. (awarded) April – Feb 2015, £10,000. Co-investigator. Investigation lead Ruth Claxton/Eastside Projects

Publications

Journal Articles and Features

Futuremakers: Play and Festivities in the Park, Architecture and Culture, Taylor & Francis v.7 issue 1. ISSN: 2050-7836
(Article) Permutations in the City, October 2015, This is Tomorrow
The Studio, The Architect, ThePost-Studio and the artist. Charette v.2 issue 1. Living & Learning, September 2015 ISSN 2054-6718
Create A Space for Film, Flatpack Festival, Architect’s Journal (online), London, 2013
RP Architectural Model, VPP Journal, Issue 4, Taylor & Francis, London, 2011 ISBN 978-0-9566643-0-3
(featured review) Copy Gothic case study feature, Architectural Modelmaking, N.Dunn, Lawrence King, 2010 ISBN 978-1-856696708
(featured review) Konstiga London, Expressions Magazine, Sweden, 2010
(featured review) Experimental Architecture Units, Blueprint magazine, Sept 2008

Conferences and Seminars

From Pub To Production Space, Birmingham Design Festival, STEAMhouse, June 2019
Creating a Culture of Production, Arup Studio and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, June 2019
Language of us, April 2018, Centrala, RIBA WM, IA.
May 2015, Gothic Convention & Exhibition Birmingham City University, Library of Birmingham, Copy Gothic, Experiments in Contemporary Gothic
Modular Steel Construction, Re-domesticising Steel workshop, ZHAW Switzerland, 2015.
The Studio, the architect, the post-studio, the artist; AAE Conference, University of Sheffield, Sept 2014
ISBN 978-0-9929705-2-9.
Collaboration is Not a Dirty Word, RIBA Research Matters, London, 2013
Mistakes, Emerging Group (2), The Gopher Hole, London 2011
Perception Observation Expectation Response, Emerging Group (1), McAslan Studio, London 2011
Copy Gothic. New Architectural Language in Print, Impact 7 Conference, Monash University Australia, Dec 2011
The Remote Studio, CEBE Studio Culture 6, University of Nottingham, 2010
The RP Architectural Model, RDPM Conference, Lancaster University, 2010
Cultural Amnesia with Tom Jefferies, Aesop Conference, Liverpool University, 2009

Exhibitions and Displays

Collaborative Conc(re)te.RIP, Eastside Projects, May 2019
Expanded Dining, The Shell Theatre, April 2019
Futuremakers, mac Birmingham, July-Sept 2017
Co.LAB Make Do type, Production Show, Eastside Projects, 2017
UnPublic Works, Eastside Projects, 5 Feb 2016,
Vault Experiments no.3. Gothic, Library of Birmingham, April 2015,
Hidden Space Exhibition structure, Curzon Street Station, Birmingham, June 2014
Flatpack Palais Festival Structure, Custard Factory, Birmingham, March 2013
Janus I & II, Occupy My Time Gallery, London, 2012
A Cosier Cell, Police & Thieves, Old Police Station Gallery, London, 2010
London’s Bridge, London Bridge 800 Festival, RIBA London, 2009
Konijn Island, MAS Imagine Coney Exhibition, MAS Urban Centre Gallery, New York, 2009

Media Work

Podcast, New Curiosities Box Radio Show.
(first broadcasted 5th August 2017) Podbean link

Brum Radio, Sleeve Note Sessions #47
(broadcast 22/12/2016)

Work With Industry

Conferences and Seminars

Modular Steel Construction, Re-domesticising Steel workshop, ZHAW Switzerland, 2015
The Studio, the architect, the post-studio, the artist; AAE Conference, University of Sheffield, Sept 2014
ISBN 978-0-9929705-2-9
Collaboration is Not a Dirty Word, RIBA Research Matters, London, 2013
Mistakes, Emerging Group (2), The Gopher Hole, London 2011
Perception Observation Expectation Response, Emerging Group (1), McAslan Studio, London 2011
Copy Gothic. New Architectural Language in Print, Impact 7 Conference, Monash University Australia, Dec 2011
The Remote Studio, CEBE Studio Culture 6, University of Nottingham, 2010
The RP Architectural Model, RDPM Conference, Lancaster University, 2010
Cultural Amnesia with Tom Jefferies, Aesop Conference, Liverpool University, 2009

Exhibitions and Displays

UnPublic Works, Eastside Projects, 5 Feb 2016,
Vault Experiments no.3. Gothic, Library of Birmingham, April 2015,
Hidden Space Exhibition structure, Curzon Street Station, Birmingham, June 2014
Flatpack Palais Festival Structure, Custard Factory, Birmingham, March 2013
Janus I & II, Occupy My Time Gallery, London, 2012
A Cosier Cell, Police & Thieves, Old Police Station Gallery, London, 2010
London’s Bridge, London Bridge 800 Festival, RIBA London, 2009
Konijn Island, MAS Imagine Coney Exhibition, MAS Urban Centre Gallery, New York, 2009

Links and Social Media

Birmingham Co.LAB wordpress

LinkedIn Profile

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