r
news & events 2008

ARCHIVE

News items listed below.

DUNDEE INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS AWARDS DINNER 2008

The Annual DIA Awards Dinner will be held in the Invercarse Hotel, Dundee on Thursday 20th November 2008.

The cost for the evening is £45 per person. Dress is Formal.

The Dinner will start at 7.30pm prompt in order to fully appreciate the illustration and presentation of Design Awards. This year has seen over 70 entries in all categories and the standard is extremely high.

Places will be reserved on a first come first reserved basis.

I require _________ place(s) at the DIA Dinner to be held on 20th November 2008.

I enclose a cheque made payable to Dundee Institute of Architects for the
sum of £ ____________.

Name _________________________________________

Return to: Rodger Brunton, Secretary, Dundee Institute of Architects, 95 Dundee Street, Carnoustie, DD7 7EW before 13th November 2008.

PRESS RELEASE

LOCAL SUCCESS IN NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

Nicoll Russell Studios are celebrating the success of two of their employees in reaching the final of a national photographic competition organised by the international manufacturer Steelcase Office Furniture. Scott McIntyre and Agnes Hegedus, have both reached the final thirteen and have seen their work published in a commemorative book. They await the judges’ decision at a gala dinner and exhibition to be held in London’s Farringdon on Friday 5th September 2008.

Scott is an interior designer who has worked for the practice for three years and was a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone, he has been involved in many of the practice’s restaurants including the recently opened “Playwright” in Dundee.

Agnes is Hungarian and graduated from the Budapest Technical University in Architecture and Engineering and has worked on some of the practice’s key projects over recent years including the Calyx in Perth.

Scott and Agnes are delighted that their work has been so well received, and were surprised that they were both in the final as they did not realise that the other had entered. The competition was organised by Steelcase and sponsored by On Office, to photograph their iconic Westside Chair. It was open to all design practices including architects, interior designers, product designers, and graphic designers in the UK, and received a colossal 600 entries from around the country. Scott enthused that “the competition has been so successful because every entrant received a chair which they then photographed, Steelcase gave us a very open brief, and I suppose we just tried to look at the challenge with a fresh eye. Agnes and I both chose to photograph the chair in a position which is clearly out of context with its clean modern appearance. That sense of humour seems to have paid off, and we have high hopes for the final.”

The competition has been judged by the internationally renowned architectural photographer Tim Soar, whose work is regularly published around the world.

Nicoll Russell Studios’ senior partner Ric Russell enthused “our practice has won many awards over the years, so we are particularly pleased that two of our younger members of staff are clearly maintaining that tradition. We are very proud of their achievements as the only successful entries from Scotland, and because we have two representatives in the final. Everyone in our office is keeping their fingers crossed that Agnes and Scott will both come to the top of the judges list”.

CREATIVE SPACES2008 - BIGGEST EVER DESIGN CHALLENGE

A total of 80 children, representing 20 schools, battled it out on Wednesday, April 16, to determine the winners of Creative Spaces 2008.

Taking place at Dundee College Kingsway Campus this was the fifth, and largest, Creative Spaces challenge to be held so far with schools from all over Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross, and Fife taking part.

Each of the 20 teams of four S2 pupils did not see the design brief until the day of the contest when they were asked to design a multi-purpose building for use by schools in the community, offering an all-weather classroom for use at weekends as a base for outside activities including hill walking, climbing, football, fishing and canoeing.

The site for the building – in a rural woodland setting on an island with an easy link to the mainland – added to the pupils’ challenge as no trees could be felled as part of the building works.

Creative Spaces maintains a ‘green’ approach to construction and the pupils had to incorporate recycled and sustainable materials in their design.

As well as preparing design drawings the teams had to produce an outline schedule of costs and build a model to demonstrate the finished product.

Tough? At least they had professional support provided by experts from the design professions and the construction industry.
To top the whole thing off, however, each team had to give a two-minute presentation to the judges, and their fellow competitors.

“Creative Spaces is designed to give S2 pupils, and their teachers, an introduction to the world of design and the construction in a creative and inspiring environment,” said Doug Binnie of Nicoll Russell Studios who is one of the organisers.

Creative Spaces links the four local authority education departments, Dundee Institute of Architects, Dundee College, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and Construction Skills all of whom sponsored the event.